News - Friday, July 12, 2024

Of the millions of podcasts that have been launched since British journalist Ben Hammersley coined the term in 2004, none of them may be as unique or focused on its subject matter as longtime Nashville emergency dispatcher Brandon Hall’s Music City 911 true crime streaming program.

There are podcasts on every subject matter these days, including arts and entertainment, cooking, crafts, literary, politics, pets, sports, wine and more. Pick a category and you’ll likely find a podcast.

True crime podcasts are among the most popular, which is why Nashville television station WSMV4’s investigative team led by Jeremy Finley has decided to broaden its reach by expanding into the ever-growing podcast field.

Logan Threadgill, a devoted soccer player and enthusiast, finds his match in law. After eight years at Chambliss, Threadgill advanced in January from associate to shareholder.

The youngest of five, Threadgill grew up playing outdoor sports with his older siblings, “whether it was soccer, football or basketball. I ended up falling in love with soccer.”

Frank Trimble finds an electric lifestyle in real estate. After 22 years in insurance, Trimble heads Trimble Homes at Keller Williams alongside his wife, Cheryl, and his diligent team.

Trimble earned his insurance license and began working for the Trimble family agency while still in college at age 19. His parents, “granddad,” two of his brothers and Trimble’s now-wife Cheryl also worked at the agency when it later merged with Huffaker and was eventually purchased by BB&T. After the buyout, Trimble says he didn’t enjoy the bank atmosphere and decided to pursue a career he had been eyeing for years.

If you have been on any social media channels, you have probably seen a post or two along the lines of: “I went outside today and saw two Hobbits trying to throw a ring into my backyard.” Or “This summer, don’t forget to hydrate and don’t go back outside until November.”

You can’t predict financial emergencies – but you can prepare for them.

To do that, you can build an emergency fund to pay for unexpected expenses, some of which may be sizable. Without one, you might be forced to dip into your investments, possibly including your retirement accounts, such as your IRA or 401(k).

As little as three years ago, Dalton Knecht was playing for a junior college in Colorado. Today, he’s a first-round NBA Draft pick playing for one of the most illustrious organizations in sports.

 The Los Angeles Lakers selected Knecht with the No. 17 pick overall in the first round of the draft two weeks ago.

Joe Rogers is taking a couple of weeks off. We hope you enjoy this column from July 15, 2022.

I don’t think of myself as a rebel, college alma mater (Hotty toddy!) notwithstanding. But I staged a mini-protest the other night at a Sounds game by refusing to stand and take off my hat as requested.

Do you ever wonder what your life would have been like if you had taken a different path? What if you had studied something different in college or worked in a different industry? What if you had a different role at work?

When I was in graduate school, a professor casually suggested I should go into consulting at a big firm. I had no idea what that meant. I never asked, and he never explained. I have wondered what my path would have been like if we had just one conversation.

Toyota has come out with an all-new 2024 Land Cruiser. This latest model of this long-running SUV is smaller and less expensive than before and comes with a hybrid powertrain that gets better fuel economy than the previous V8.

Yet, true to tradition, the Land Cruiser comes standard with four-wheel drive and ample ground clearance for help over rugged terrain. It should be a no-brainer for anyone shopping for an outdoorsy SUV.

There are few certainties in life, but alongside death, taxes, and the arrival of hot weather in July, at least one other thing is unarguable: baby penguins are almost impossibly cute.

Guests visiting the Tennessee Aquarium during the Fourth of July holiday can join Aquarium staffers in excitedly welcoming the newest addition to the Penguins’ Rock gallery – a fluffy (and shockingly fast-growing) Macaroni Penguin chick.

NASHVILLE (AP) — When Bonnie Seymour took a job as assistant curator of Nashville's Parthenon museum, one of the first things she did was to look through the collections. Among paintings by American artists and memorabilia from Tennessee's 1897 Centennial Exposition — the event for which the Parthenon was built — she found a random assortment of pre-Columbian pottery from Mexico.

NEW YORK (AP) — Dollar General has agreed to pay a $12 million fine and improve conditions at its thousands of retail stores nationwide to make them safer for workers, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.

The discount retailer and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration reached the settlement to resolve alleged violations that included unsafe storage, blocked emergency exits and fire extinguishers, and inaccessible electrical panels.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Beastie Boys are suing the parent company of Chili's in a case that accuses the chain restaurant of running an advertisement that used the hip-hop trio's smash hit "Sabotage" without permission.

The rap group, in a federal case filed Wednesday in New York, alleged Brinker International created a Chili's ad that used significant portions of "Sabotage" and ripped off the song's music video.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A New Jersey man who authorities say was on his way to Ukraine to join a volunteer fighting unit has been arrested in an alleged plot to attack a U.S. electrical substation to advance his white supremacist views, the Justice Department said Thursday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's lawyers are imploring a New York judge to overturn his hush money conviction and dismiss the case, arguing his historic trial was "tainted" by evidence that shouldn't have been allowed because of the Supreme Court's recent presidential immunity ruling.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nancy Pelosi's phone lit up the night of President Joe Biden's debate performance with a question that has yet to be fully resolved: Now what?

Calls kept coming the morning after Biden's agonizing face-off against Republican Donald Trump, and anxious lawmakers surrounded Pelosi later on the House floor.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden's tribulations were previewed in Hollywood days before he got on the debate stage.

At a fundraiser organized by George Clooney and packed with luminaries including former President Barack Obama, Biden was a listless figure, perhaps merely jet-lagged after flying straight from Italy but clearly not the man they knew.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden used his closely watched news conference Thursday to deliver a forceful defense of his foreign and domestic policies and batted away questions about his ability to serve another four years, declaring: "I'm not in this for my legacy. I'm in this to complete the job."

NEW YORK (AP) — Toward the end of his closely watched news conference Thursday night on the sidelines of the NATO summit, President Joe Biden was talking about being examined by doctors for his mental acuity. Suddenly, a little frustration slipped through.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden faced a test Thursday that he had avoided so far this year — a solo news conference with questions from the White House press corps.

The news conference was meant to reassure a disheartened group of Democratic lawmakers, allies and persuadable voters in this year's election that Biden still has the strength and stamina to be president. Biden has tried to defend his feeble and tongue-tied performance in the June 27 debate against Republican Donald Trump as an outlier rather than evidence that at 81 he lacks the vigor and commanding presence that the public expects from the commander in chief.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A conservative think tank that is planning for a complete overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win is suggesting that President Joe Biden might try to hold the White House "by force" if he loses the November election.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four years ago, candidate Joe Biden stood before supporters at a Detroit high school, flanked by Kamala Harris and other rising Democratic stars, and called himself a bridge to the next generation of leaders.

Biden, now a president seeking reelection, returns to the city Friday with many in his party now pleading for him to fulfill that very promise and step aside. But Biden remains defiant that he'll remain in the race despite a disastrous debate performance that triggered a wave of calls for him to end his candidacy.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hungary's nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, traveled to Florida on Thursday and met with former President Donald Trump following a NATO summit in Washington, a move likely to aggravate frustrations among Western allies over similar secretive trips he made to Russia and China in recent days.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden's tribulations were previewed in Hollywood days before he got on the debate stage.

At a fundraiser organized by George Clooney and packed with luminaries including former President Barack Obama, Biden was a listless figure, perhaps merely jet-lagged after flying straight from Italy but clearly not the man they knew.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Relatively few Americans fully endorse the idea that a fertilized egg should have the same rights as a pregnant woman. But a significant share say it describes their views at least somewhat well, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices in the United States rose by a larger-than-expected 2.6% last month from a year earlier, a sign that some inflation pressures remain high.

The increase, the sharpest year-over-year increase since March 2023, comes at a time when other price indicators are showing that inflation has continued to ease.

HONG KONG (AP) — China's exports beat forecasts in June, customs data showed Friday, while imports grew less than expected.

Exports grew 8.6% from the same time last year to hit $307.8 billion, according to data released by Chinese customs, beating estimates of about 7.4% to 8% growth. Imports however fell 2.3% from a year earlier to $208.8 billion.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose Friday after some mixed signals on big banks' profits and inflation did little to dent Wall Street's belief that easier interest rates are on the way.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to close its fifth winning week in the last six. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 247 points, or 0.6%, and Nasdaq composite added 0.6%. All three indexes had been on track to set all-time highs in afternoon trading but finished shy of them.

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech brewer Budvar, which has been embroiled in a long legal dispute with U.S. beer giant Anheuser-Busch over the use of the Budweiser brand, said Friday it increased its net profit, output and exports in 2023.

Budejovicky Budvar NP said its net profit jumped 46.3% last year to 293.8 million Czech crowns ($12.6 million).

NEW YORK (AP) — Signs of consumers slowing down their spending and falling behind on their bills weighed down shares of the big banks on Friday. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo saw their adjusted profits fall, while Citigroup saw sluggish spending on its credit cards.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Western intelligence agencies have uncovered Russian plots to carry out assassinations, arson and other sabotage in Europe against companies and people linked to support for Ukraine's military — one of the most serious being a plan to kill the head of a German arms manufacturer, a Western government official said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — NATO leaders met this week to celebrate the alliance's 75th anniversary under the cloud of deep political uncertainty in its most powerful member — the United States.

But even as questions swirled about President Joe Biden's future and the implications of a possible return to the White House by NATO skeptic Donald Trump, the 32 allies put a brave face on their strength and unity going forward, particularly in relation to Ukraine.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge presiding over the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump in Florida dismissed the prosecution on Monday, siding with defense lawyers who said the special counsel who filed the charges was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

NEW YORK (AP) — The second phase of the civil trial against the National Rifle Association and its top executives began Monday in Manhattan, with New York Attorney General Letitia James seeking an independent monitor to oversee the powerful gun rights group.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Sunday urged Americans to reject political violence and recommit themselves to resolving their differences peacefully, saying the upcoming presidential election will be a "time of testing" in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The 20-year-old man who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump first came to law enforcement's attention at Saturday's rally when spectators noticed him acting strangely outside the campaign event. The tip sparked a frantic search but officers were unable to find him before he managed to get on a roof, where he opened fire.

BUTLER, Pa. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump called for unity and resilience Sunday after an attempt on his life injected fresh uncertainty into an already tumultuous presidential campaign, while President Joe Biden implored Americans to "cool it down" in the final stretch and "resolve our differences at the ballot box."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Within minutes of the gunfire, the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump spawned a vast sea of claims — some outlandish, others contradictory — reflecting the frightening uncertainties of the moment as well as America's fevered, polarized political climate.

NEW YORK (AP) — It's summertime, and the bargains seem easy at a time when many consumer prices are high.

July sales events have become a seasonal revenue driver for the retail industry since Amazon launched its first Prime Day back in 2015. While consumers may be enticed by the advertised can't-miss savings on some products, personal finance experts say shoppers should be careful not to fall for potentially misleading marketing or give in to impulse buys.

WASHINGTON (AP) — What if there was a way to peer into your body and spot early signs of cancer and other life-threatening ailments before they became serious?

That's the pitch from a new cluster of companies selling high-tech scans to healthy people interested in learning more about their wellness.

BANGKOK (AP) — China's economy expanded at a slower-than-forecast 4.7% annual rate in the last quarter, the government reported Monday, while emphasizing signs of improvement in factory output, income and investment.

The expansion was sharply below the 5.3% annual pace of growth seen in the first quarter of the year.

NEW YORK (AP) — OpenAI whistleblowers have filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission and asked the agency to investigate whether the ChatGPT maker illegally restricted workers from speaking out about the risks of its artificial intelligence technology.

LONDON (AP) — British luxury fashion house Burberry said Monday it has appointed Joshua Schulman, formerly head of Michael Kors and Coach, as its new chief executive officer as the company warned it expected to record an operating loss in the first half of the year amid slumping retail sales.

BEIJING (AP) — China's ruling Communist Party started a four-day meeting Monday that is expected to lay out a strategy for self-sufficient economic growth in an era of heightened national security concerns and restrictions on access to American technology.

DALLAS (AP) — Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey unofficially opened the league's first football season as 16-team league Monday in a massive hotel ballroom in North Texas, a new setting for SEC Media Days at a time when everything about college sports seems to be in flux.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Former President Donald Trump chose Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate on Monday, picking a onetime critic who became a loyal ally and is now the first millennial to join a major-party ticket at a time of deep concern about the advanced age of America's political leaders.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has directed the U.S. Secret Service to protect independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the Homeland Security secretary said Monday.

Kennedy is a longshot to win Electoral College votes, much less the presidency. But his campaign events have drawn large crowds of supporters and people interested in his message.

DETROIT (AP) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Monday appeared to confirm a report that the company's much-ballyhooed event to unveil a robotaxi will be delayed beyond its scheduled Aug. 8 date.

Musk didn't give a new date for the event, but in a posting on X, the social media site he owns, he wrote that he requested a design change to the front of the vehicle.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chair Jerome Powell said Monday that the Federal Reserve is becoming more convinced that inflation is headed back to its 2% target and said the Fed would cut rates before the pace of price increases actually reached that point.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks ticked to the edge of records Monday as Wall Street's momentum keeps driving it upward.

The S&P 500 rose 15.87 points, or 0.3%, to 5,631.22 and finished just shy of its all-time high set last week. It's coming off its 10th winning week in the last 12, lifted in large part by expectations that inflation is slowing enough to convince the Federal Reserve to ease interest rates soon.

Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin came to SEC Media Days on Monday still grieving the death of his father, Monte Kiffin, a longtime and well-respected NFL assistant.

Monte Kiffin died last week at 84. One of the architects of the successful and widely used Tampa 2 defensive scheme, Kiffin spent 13 seasons as defensive coordinator of the Bucs under former coaches Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden from 1996 to 2008 and helped the franchise win the first of its two Super Bowl titles.

NEW YORK (AP) — The second phase of the trial in a civil lawsuit against the National Rifle Association began Monday in Manhattan, with New York Attorney General Letitia James seeking an independent monitor to oversee the powerful gun rights group's finances.

LONDON (AP) — An Australian computer scientist found to have falsely claimed to be the mysterious creator of the bitcoin cryptocurrency will be referred to British prosecutors for possible perjury and forgery charges, a London judge said Tuesday.

Judge James Mellor, who ruled after a civil trial in March that Craig Wright was not the man behind "Satoshi Nakamoto," the pseudonym that has masked the creator of bitcoin's identity, said he will refer evidence from the case to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider whether to bring charges.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first night of the Republican National Convention kept its official focus on the economy Monday even after Saturday's shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania in which former President Donald Trump was injured.

Speakers argued that Trump would fix inflation and bring back prosperity simply by returning to the White House as president. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin lamented, "Tonight, America, the land of opportunity, just doesn't feel like that anymore."

LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Joe Biden returns to the campaign trail Tuesday for the first time since the attempted assassination of his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, aiming to sharpen the choice voters will face this November in the wake of the attack.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Libertarians in Colorado want to put Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the ballot to create chaos.

Petition drives for Cornel West in Virginia and North Carolina are being run by groups with Republican ties.

And in Arizona, a convicted fraudster who's been repeatedly investigated for using deceptive tactics to gather signatures for conservative groups is also working on West's behalf.

The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, who is running for reelection, is fueling a range of false claims and conspiracy theories as authorities seek information about the 20-year-old shooter's background and motive, how he obtained the AR-style rifle he fired at Trump and security at the venue that failed to stop the shooting.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are trying to offer political counterprograming to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, announcing $15 million to fund campaign operations in seven key swing states — even as some in the party have urged President Joe Biden to bow out of November's election.

MSNBC "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough said Tuesday he was "surprised and disappointed" the news show was pulled off the air the day before and hasn't received a good explanation about why.

LONDON (AP) — British regulators opened a preliminary investigation on Tuesday into Microsoft's hiring of an AI startup's key staff over concerns that it could thwart competition in the booming artificial intelligence market.

The Competition and Markets Authority said its review of the hirings from Inflection AI, including its co-founder and CEO Mustafa Suleyman, turned up "sufficient information" to open an investigation.

NEW YORK (AP) — Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky says it's shutting down all of its operations in the United States, just weeks after the Commerce Department banned the use of the company's software in the country.

Kaspersky will "gradually wind down" its U.S. operations starting July 20, according to a statement from the Moscow company. Positions based in the U.S. will also be eliminated, the company said, without immediately confirming how many employees would be let go.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is ready to propose a 5% cap on annual rent increases for tenants of major landlords as he tries to show he's doing something about the high cost of housing, according to a person familiar with the plan.

The proposal, to be announced while the president visits Nevada on Tuesday, is being championed by Biden in the middle of a tense presidential campaign and a time when housing costs have been a major driver of overall inflation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund is upgrading its economic outlook this year for China, India and Europe while modestly lowering expectations for the United States and Japan. But it says worldwide progress against accelerating prices has been slowed by stickier-than-expected inflation for services, from airline travel to restaurant meals.

NEW YORK (AP) — Open Society Foundations, the philanthropic organizations that billionaire investor George Soros has built up since the 1970s, revealed its first new major commitment on Tuesday after a years-long internal reorganization, pledging $400 million over eight years to support green economic development.

NEW YORK (AP) — Shoppers paused their spending in June from May, defying economic forecasts for a pullback and proving their resilience in the face of an uncertain economy

Retail sales were unchanged in June from May, after being revised upward to a 0.3% increase in May, according to the Commerce Department. Last month, April sales were revised downward — a 0.2% decline, from unchanged. Sales rose 0.6% in March and 0.9% in February. That comes after sales fell 1.1% in January, dragged down in part by inclement weather.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America said its profits fell in the second quarter, as higher interest rates ate into BofA's expenses, including its large consumer banking franchise.

But like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America saw a resurgence of activity in its investment banking division which helped make up for some of the weakness in other parts of the bank.

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon Prime Day is here, and experts are reminding consumers to be wary of scams.

Deceptions such as phony emails from people impersonating online retailers like Amazon are nothing new. But phishing attempts increase amid the heavy spending seen during significant sales events, whether it's Black Friday or Prime Day, according to the Better Business Bureau.

NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart has spent three years overhauling its mix of adult apparel to make it stylish as well as sensible for middle America. Now, the nation's largest retailer is seizing the back-to-school shopping season to take another shot at fashion respectability.

NEW YORK (AP) — Goldman Sachs is posting a 150% jump in second quarter profits Monday, helped by a resurgence of dealmaking and underwriting that has revived investment banking after the slowdown of the previous couple years.

The New York investment bank posted net earnings of $3.04 billion, $8.62 per share, compared with $1.22 billion in the same period a year earlier. For the three months ended June 30, compared with $1.22 billion, or $3.08 per share, a year earlier.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez has been convicted of accepting bribes of cash, gold and a luxury car from three New Jersey businessmen.

The jury's verdict was still being read Tuesday at a federal courthouse in New York City.

Over a nine-week trial, prosecutors said the New Jersey Democrat abused the power of his office to protect allies from criminal investigations and enrich associates, including his wife, through acts that included meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials and helping that country access millions of dollars in U.S. military aid.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a group of Mexican accountants and firms allegedly linked to a timeshare fraud ring run by the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel.

Three accountants were hit with sanctions, along with four Mexican real estate and accounting firms. In addition, Treasury and the FBI issued a notice to banks with a reminder to be vigilant in detecting and reporting timeshare fraud perpetrated by Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations.

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon's popular Prime Day sales event has been "a major cause of injuries" for warehouse workers who pick and pack customer orders at the e-commerce giant's facilities across the United States, according to a report released Tuesday by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A company is now selling $299 sneakers showing an image of Donald Trump with streaks of blood on his cheek and pumping his fist in the air after he was the target of an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

The white high tops are being sold as "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT High-Tops" for $299 on a website that sells Trump-branded shoes that is run by CIC Ventures LLC, a company that Trump reported owning in his 2023 financial disclosure. The company says the new shoes are limited edition with only 5,000 pairs available and estimated to ship in September or October. It also said 10 pairs will be randomly autographed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A contingent of House Democrats is wary of swiftly nominating President Joe Biden as the party's pick for reelection, circulating a letter Tuesday raising "serious concerns" about plans for a virtual roll call as soon as July 21, ahead of the Democratic National Convention in August.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose to records after several big companies delivered better-than-expected profits for the spring.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% Tuesday to top its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped 1.8% a day after setting its own record, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.2%.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk says he's moving the headquarters of SpaceX and social media company X to Texas from California.

Musk posted on X Tuesday that he plans on moving SpaceX from Hawthorne, California to Starbase, Texas. X will move to Austin from San Francisco.

DALLAS (AP) — Southeastern Conference quarterbacks fall into a few categories this year.

There are the cover boys: Texas' Quinn Ewers, Georgia's Carson Beck and Alabama's Jalen Milroe who are all featured on the deluxe version of the new EA Sports College Football video game.

DALLAS (AP) — Flashing a horns down hand signal while playing Texas won't automatically draw a penalty in the Southeastern Conference.

SEC coordinator of officials John McDaid explained the league's approach to officiating opposing players doing the derisive play on Texas' beloved horns up at SEC Media Days on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is seriously considering proposals to establish term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices, and an ethics code that would be enforceable under law amid growing concerns that the justices are not held accountable, according to three people briefed on the plans.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge's stunning decision to dismiss the classified documents case against Donald Trump brought an abrupt halt to what experts have considered the strongest and most straightforward of the prosecutions of the former president. But it's hardly the final word.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former CIA employee and senior official at the National Security Council has been charged with serving as a secret agent for South Korea's intelligence service, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Sue Mi Terry accepted luxury goods, including fancy handbags, and expensive dinners at sushi restaurants in exchange for advocating South Korean government positions during media appearances, sharing nonpublic information with intelligence officers and facilitating access for South Korean officials to U.S. government officials, according to an indictment filed in federal court in Manhattan.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly two-thirds of Democrats say President Joe Biden should withdraw from the presidential race and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to a new poll, sharply undercutting his post-debate claim that "average Democrats" are still with him even if some "big names" are turning on him.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats will look to hold a virtual vote to make President Joe Biden their party's nominee in the first week of August, as Biden has rebuffed calls from some in his party to quit the race after his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general said Wednesday it has opened an investigation into the Secret Service's handling of security for former President Donald Trump on the day a gunman tried to assassinate him at a Pennsylvania rally.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden and Donald Trump are two presidents with unfinished business and an itch to get it done.

Their track records and plans on abortion, immigration, taxes, wars abroad — you name it — leave no doubt that the man voters choose in November will seek to shape the landscape of American life in ways wholly distinct from the other.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Joe Biden returned to the campaign trail on Tuesday for the first time since the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, continuing his calls to calm the divisive rhetoric on both sides but also arguing that doing so "doesn't mean we should stop telling the truth" about his Republican rival.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Ohio Sen. JD Vance traveled to the Munich Security Conference earlier this year, he wasn't there to reassure Europe and other global allies that America would aid Ukraine in its war against Russia, as all of the other senators were.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican JD Vance on Tuesday had their first chat since the Ohio senator became the GOP vice presidential nominee, but the two sides are still working on terms for participating in a debate, according to three people familiar with the matter.

There aren't a lot of facts. There are, however, an avalanche of conclusions.

So it goes in many corners of the news media and among its frequent commentators in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

Authorities haven't established why a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man attempted to assassinate the former president — and, now that the gunman is dead, may never know. That hasn't stopped media figures and politicians from robust speculation. President Joe Biden, Democrats and left-leaning media have all been blamed, with no proof. Then there's the ever-popular, amorphous, definition-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder target — "they."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Having worked in the Federal Reserve system her entire career, Loretta Mester rose to become president of the Cleveland Fed for a decade until her retirement on June 30.

During most of her years on the Fed's interest-rate-setting committee, Mester was likely to favor relatively higher interest rates to contain inflation. This stance earned her the label of "hawk," which describes officials who typically worry most about controlling inflation. ("Doves," by contrast, tend to focus more on keeping rates low to maximize employment.)

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England is facing a dilemma about whether to cut interest rates next month after official figures Wednesday showed inflation holding steady at its target against expectations of a modest decline, possibly as a result of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Mirage is about to vanish from the Las Vegas Strip.

Gambling ends and the doors close Wednesday at the iconic tropical island-themed hotel-casino that opened in 1989 with a fire-spewing volcano outside, and Siegfried & Roy's lions and dolphins inside.

NEW YORK (AP) — Five Below said Tuesday that its CEO and President Joel Anderson has stepped down amid languishing sales at the discount retailer catering to teens.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee election officials who sent letters last month to 14,375 registered voters asking them for proof of citizenship now say the recipients won't be kicked off voting rolls if they don't respond. The state clarified the position in a follow-up letter to all those didn't respond to the first correspondence. Nearly 3,200 have provided evidence of U.S. citizenship, and more than 300 have requested to be removed from the voter rolls, according to the state elections office. Those on the original mailing list were chosen based on data from the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security, which has information about whether residents were U.S. citizens when they first interacted with that department.

WASHINGTON (AP) — California Rep. Adam Schiff on Wednesday became the highest-profile Democrat to call for President Joe Biden to drop his reelection bid, even as the party pushed ahead with plans for a virtual vote to formally make Biden its nominee in the first week of August.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Navy has exonerated 256 Black sailors who were found to be unjustly punished in 1944 following a horrific port explosion that killed hundreds of service members and exposed racist double standards among the then-segregated ranks.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street's record-breaking rally ran into a wall, as worries about potentially worsening trade tensions with China hit stocks of chip companies.

That dragged indexes to their worst day in months on Wednesday, but conditions were less discouraging underneath the surface.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bob Menendez has shown no sign he will voluntarily resign from the Senate following his conviction on bribery charges, leaving Democratic senators contemplating an expulsion effort to force him from office.

While Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, has six months remaining in his term, Democrats have made clear they don't want him in office any longer. Within minutes of the guilty verdict on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for his resignation and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who would name Menendez's replacement, said that the Senate should expel Menendez if he refused to step down.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro, released from prison Wednesday, condemned the Biden administration for what he called the "weaponization" of the justice system, even as he pledged to offer a message of national unity when he speaks to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee issued a subpoena Wednesday to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle compelling her to appear before the committee on Monday for what is scheduled to be the first congressional hearing into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of U.S. homes to Chinese, Canadian and other foreign buyers have fallen to the lowest level in more than a decade, hampered by a strong dollar and more hurdles that have kept the housing market in a deep sales slump for over two years.

NASHVILLE (AP) — César Araújo and Ramiro Enrique each scored a goal, Pedro Gallese recorded his fifth shutout of the season and Orlando City beat Nashville SC 3-0 Wednesday night.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday refused to lift a judge's order temporarily blocking the Biden administration's new Title IX rule meant to expand protections for LGBTQ+ students.

The ruling from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals kept in place a preliminary injunction issued last month by a federal district judge in Kentucky. That order blocked the new rule in six states — Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia — though similar legal fights are taking place in Republican-led states across the country.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats worried about President Joe Biden's ability to win this November are making a renewed push for him to reconsider his reelection bid, using mountains of data, frank conversations and now, his own time off the campaign trail after testing positive for COVID, to encourage a reassessment.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has made it clear basically any which way you ask him: he's definitely, assuredly, "one thousand percent" staying in the presidential race.

But in response to questions from journalists over the last few weeks, the embattled Democratic president has given some clues as to what could make him step aside — especially as the calls from his own party to end his candidacy continue unabated.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 while traveling Wednesday in Las Vegas and is experiencing "mild symptoms" including "general malaise" from the infection, the White House said.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will fly to his home in Delaware, where he will "self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time." The news had first been shared by UnidosUS President and CEO Janet Murguía, who told guests at the group's convention in Las Vegas that president had sent his regrets and could not appear because he tested positive for the virus.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Donald Trump takes the stage Thursday at the Republican National Convention to accept his party's nomination again and give his first speech since he was cut off mid-sentence by a flurry of gunfire in an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Four days after a gunman's attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, the public is still in the dark over the extent of his injuries, what treatment the Republican presidential nominee received in the hospital, and whether there may be any long-term effects on his health.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Republicans welcomed JD Vance as Donald Trump's running mate on the same night devoted to blasting President Joe Biden's leadership on the world stage.

Vance, the 39-year-old Ohio senator, offered his life story as a son of Appalachia to reaffirm Trump's connections to Americans who feel alienated socially, economically and politically.

HONG KONG (AP) — The new chair of Hong Kong's leading media professional group on Wednesday said she lost her job at The Wall Street Journal after she refused her supervisor's request to withdraw from the election for the leadership post.

Reporter Selina Cheng told a press briefing that a senior editor told her that her job was eliminated due to restructuring. But Cheng said she believed the real reason was linked to her supervisor's request about three weeks ago to withdraw from the election for chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, a trade union for journalists also advocating for press freedom.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An iconoclastic filmmaking legend and one of the world's most enduring musical acts headline this year's crop of Kennedy Center Honors recipients.

Director Francis Ford Coppola and the Grateful Dead will be honored for lifetime achievement in the arts, along with jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, blues legend Bonnie Raitt and the legendary Harlem theater The Apollo, which has launched generations of Black artists.

BEIJING (AP) — China's ruling Communist Party wrapped up a top-level meeting on Thursday by endorsing policies aimed at advancing the country's technological power and fortifying its national security.

A statement released when the four-day meeting ended provided only a broad-brush summary. More details are likely to emerge in the coming days.

NEW YORK (AP) — Farm equipment maker John Deere says it will no longer sponsor "social or cultural awareness" events, becoming the latest major U.S. company to distance itself from diversity and inclusion measures after being targeted by conservative backlash.

HELSINKI (AP) — Wireless and fixed-network equipment maker Nokia Thursday reported a double-digit fall in profit and sales in the second quarter due to a continuing weak market as clients are holding off investments in 5G technology.

The Espoo, Finland-based company reported a net profit of 328 million euros ($359 million) for the April-June period, down 20% from 409 million euros ($447 million) a year earlier. Net income attributable to shareholders was 325 million euros ($355 million), down from 410 million euros a year earlier.