News - Friday, August 30, 2024

Ed Rode didn’t know what he didn’t know. Fortunately, he was in a room with someone who did. As a newly hired photographer at the Nashville Banner in Fall 1990, Rode found himself being assigned large-scale projects like chronicling the emerging work of the recently opened Saturn manufacturing plant, but also smaller, unique-to-Nashville assignments around the music business.

When photographer Ed Rode’s documentary-style images started to gain traction and calls for display, he needed someone to help turn his “fly on the wall” photos into “hang on the wall” prints.

Rode tried his luck with different shops around Nashville, but a conversation with a mutual friend from Rode’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, brought Chattanooga’s Mark Lakey into his viewfinder.

Coming from humble beginnings and a dream, Rachael Ruiz looks to provide positive service throughout her career. Having recently been listed in Best Lawyers’ ‘Ones to Watch’ list for real estate law, Ruiz initially entered the field looking to make a change.

In the Aug. 23 edition, the Hamilton County Herald published a list of Chattanooga-area legal professionals named to the recent publications “The Best Lawyers in America” and “Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch In America” that was, despite our efforts, incomplete.

As Realtors, we understand buying a home is one of the largest financial transactions most people will ever undertake, and you deserve to have all the information you need to navigate it with confidence.

We are prepared to be a trusted source of advice and stand ready to help you navigate your home buying journey and make the choices that work best for you.

Consumer sentiment has risen for the first time in five months, the latest numbers from the University of Michigan reveal. While it only edged up 1.4 index points compared to July, it’s the first positive sign that economic optimism could spread in the second half of the year.

Airports, highways, beaches and theme parks are expected to be packed for the long Labor Day holiday weekend as a lot of Americans mark the unofficial end of summer the same way they celebrated the season’s unofficial start: by traveling.

The Transportation Security Administration anticipates screening more than 17 million people between Thursday and next Wednesday – a record for the Labor Day period.

 During your working years, you know where your income is coming from because you’re working. But once you retire, you’ll have to identify your income sources, know how much you can expect from them and know how to manage them to help support a retirement that could last two or three decades.

American workers participating in 401(k) plans in 2023 continued to save at unprecedented rates, Vanguard’s annual report, “How America Saves,” reveals.

While the overall trends in savings and investment were positive, there were signs of financial strain among some participants. The report notes a 12% increase in loan usage from 2022. More concerning was the rise in hardship withdrawals. Nearly 4% of non-retirees took money out in 2023 for emergencies.

Tradition is starting to take a back seat at many schools as the landscape of college athletics evolves. Finding ways to accumulate more money to share with athletes and not get left behind by other colleges has resulted in changes few could have imagined only a few years ago.

As the Tennessee Titans turn the page on their run-heavy past and try to put a more modern offensive scheme on the field in 2024, there are some changes coming for their running backs.

Most importantly, the running backs will now be expected to learn the entire route tree and run actual pass routes beyond just leaking out of the backfield to be a check down option for quarterback Will Levis or taking the occasional screen pass.

There is perhaps no better example of the changes afoot in examining the new-look Tennessee Titans offense than with the running back position.

The Titans have had their share of star running backs during Titans portion of the franchise history, including Eddie George, Chris Johnson and Derrick Henry. Throw in a LenDale White, Travis Henry and DeMarco Murray for shorter stints, and the list of backs to have been featured pieces of the Titans offense has been impressive.

Now is a great time to purchase a used electric vehicle, as the average price for a used EV has dropped about 20% compared to this time last year, Edmunds transaction data reveals.

To top it off, you can qualify for a federal tax credit of up to $4,000 if you purchase an EV for $25,000 or less.

How far from your hand is a book? Probably not far and, look, you have this article in your fingers so you’re obviously someone who knows where to find reading material. Chances are you went to one of two main sources to get your book, right? Read about them in (guess what?) more new books....

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee hired Josh Heupel in January 2021 with a mission of restoring the Volunteers to not just relevancy but championship contention.

Now expectations for the 15th-ranked Vols are their highest in years despite losing 28 scholarships over five years after an NCAA investigation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Arlington National Cemetery official was "abruptly pushed aside" in an altercation with former President Donald Trump's staff during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor service members killed in the Afghanistan War withdrawal, but she declined to press charges, an Army spokesman said Thursday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Next month's debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump won't have an audience, live microphones when candidates aren't speaking, or written notes, according to rules that ABC News, the host network, shared this week with both campaigns.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, sat down Thursday for their first major television interview of their presidential campaign as the duo travels in southeast Georgia on a bus tour.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Donald Trump is scheduled to campaign Thursday in Michigan and Wisconsin as the former president ramps up battleground state travel heading into the traditional Labor Day turn toward the fall election.

Trump's intense focus on recapturing states he won in 2016 but lost narrowly in 2020 continues with stops in the middle of Michigan and western Wisconsin.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference will release player availability reports in football, baseball and basketball before league games this season as part of safeguarding efforts in college athletics amid the growth of legalized gambling, the conference announced Thursday.

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The 2026 World Cup is coming to North America with an ambitious plan, expanding the field by 50% and spreading the soccer spectacle over 16 cities in three countries with multiple climates and elevations.

FIFA, aiming to create the perfect pitch for every venue, partnered with turf experts at the University of Tennessee and Michigan State University to research and develop the best surfaces for the tournament.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump asked a federal court late Thursday to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, seeking a pathway to overturn his felony conviction and indefinitely delay his sentencing next month.

Lawyers for the current Republican nominee asked the federal court in Manhattan to seize the case from the state court where it was tried, arguing that the historic prosecution violated his constitutional rights and ran afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent presidential immunity ruling.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday defended shifting away from some of her more liberal positions in her first major television interview of her presidential campaign, but insisted her "values have not changed" even as she is "seeking consensus."

After avoiding a probing interview by a journalist for the first month of her sudden presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris' first one Thursday was notable mostly in how routine it seemed.

CNN's Dana Bash, sitting down with Harris and running mate Tim Walz in a Georgia restaurant, asked her about some issues where she had changed positions, the historical nature of her candidacy, what she would do in her first day as president and whether she'd invite a Republican to be a Cabinet member (yes, she said).

POTTERVILLE, Mich. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump says that, if he wins a second term, he wants to make IVF treatment free for women, but did not detail how he would fund his plan or precisely how it would work.

"I'm announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for — or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for — all costs associated with IVF treatment," he said at an event in Michigan. "Because we want more babies, to put it nicely."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is scheduled to appear Friday at the annual gathering of Moms for Liberty, a national nonprofit that has spearheaded efforts to get mentions of LGBTQ+ identity and structural racism out of K-12 classrooms.

ATLANTA (AP) — The effort to make the peace between Donald Trump and Georgia's powerful Republican governor began in a sprawling neo-Victorian mansion in the exclusive Atlanta enclave of Buckhead.

It was at an Aug. 7 fundraiser hosted by former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler that fellow Republican Lindsey Graham approached Gov. Brian Kemp. Graham, the South Carolina senator and longtime confidant of the former president, was already planning to attend the fundraiser.

NEW YORK (AP) — The reported altercation at Arlington National Cemetery involving Donald Trump's staff was far from the first time that veterans or the families of service members have criticized the former president for words or behavior they saw as disparaging.

NEW YORK (AP) — Swedish supergroup ABBA has asked Donald Trump to stop using their music at campaign rallies, but the Republican presidential nominee's campaign says it has permission.

"ABBA has recently discovered the unauthorized use of their music and videos at a Trump event through videos that appeared online," said a statement to The Associated Press from the band, whose hits include "Waterloo," "The Winner Takes It All" and "Money, Money, Money."

NEW YORK (AP) — In a new book, former President Donald Trump calls his 2018 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki "a GREAT meeting" and threatens to imprison Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg if the tech mogul does anything this year akin to his $400 million donation to local election offices in 2020.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Every day, millions of people use Spotify to stream music. A few years ago, it would've felt like an impossibility: Click, and bam — a seemingly endless catalog of recorded music opens up, right at your fingertips.

Streaming now accounts for most of the money generated by the music industry — a whopping 84% in the United States, according to the RIAA, and 67.3% worldwide, according to a 2024 report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which tracks global sales.

A Boar's Head deli meat plant in Virginia tied to a deadly food poisoning outbreak repeatedly violated federal regulations, including instances of mold, insects, liquid dripping from ceilings, and meat and fat residue on walls, floors and equipment, newly released records show.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Strong growth for stocks on Wall Street this year have helped juice gains for savers with retirement accounts.

The average 401(k) plan balance stood at $127,100 at the end of the second quarter, an increase of 13% from the same period last year, according to data from Fidelity Investments drawn from 24 million accounts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation measure closely tracked by the Federal Reserve remained low last month, extending a trend of cooling price increases that clears the way for the Fed to start cutting its key interest rate next month for the first time in 4 1/2 years.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Inflation in the 20 European Union countries that use the euro fell sharply to 2.2% in August, opening the door for the European Central Bank to cut interest rates as the ECB and the U.S. Federal Reserve prepare to lower borrowing costs to support growth and jobs.

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing and Washington will plan for a phone call in the coming weeks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden, the White House said Wednesday after National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing.

MEMPHIS (AP) — The Memphis City Council on Friday sued the commission that oversees the Tennessee city's elections for removing three gun control questions from the November ballot after top Republican state leaders threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in state funding.

NEW YORK (AP) — After struggling to drum up interest following its Cannes Film Festival premiere, "The Apprentice," starring Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump, has found a distributor that plans to release the film shortly before the election in November.

NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans are counting heavily on an almost completely revamped secondary and finally get to see them all work together Sunday in their season opener in Chicago.

Cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, signed as a free agent from Cincinnati in March, missed essentially all of the preseason after hurting a calf muscle in the opening days of training camp. L'Jarius Sneed, who had 10 interceptions in his four seasons with Kansas City, has been on a management plan since the Titans traded for him in late March.

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Defensive lineman Emmanuel Okoye will miss this season after injuring his knee in fall camp for the 15th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers.

Spokesman Bill Martin confirmed a report Monday that Okoye won't play this season for the Vols (1-0).

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — After a summer of historic tumult, the path to the presidency for both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump this fall is becoming much clearer.

The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president will devote almost all of their remaining time and resources to just seven states. They will spend hundreds of millions of dollars targeting voters who, in many cases, have just begun to pay attention to the election. And their campaigns will try to focus their messages on three familiar issues — the economy, immigration and abortion — even in the midst of heated debates over character, culture and democracy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When he first emerged on social media, the user known as Harlan claimed to be a New Yorker and an Army veteran who supported Donald Trump for president. Harlan said he was 29, and his profile picture showed a smiling, handsome young man.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris used a joint campaign appearance with President Joe Biden in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania on Monday to say that U.S. Steel should remain domestically owned — concurring with the White House's monthslong opposition to the company's planned sale to Japan's Nippon Steel.

DETROIT (AP) — Another death has been linked to dangerous Takata air bag inflators by U.S. regulators, the 28th in the United States.

The driver was killed in 2018 in Alabama in a Honda vehicle, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said, but gave no further details. It says the death underscores the need for people to replace recalled air bag inflators.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany's Volkswagen says auto industry headwinds mean it can't rule out plant closings in its home country - and must drop a longstanding job protection pledge in force since 1994 that would have barred layoffs through 2029.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Former Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn went on trial Tuesday on charges of fraud and market manipulation in connection with the corporate scandal over Volkswagen's use of rigged software that let millions of cars cheat on emissions tests and emit high levels of harmful pollutants.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch data protection watchdog on Tuesday issued facial recognition startup Clearview AI with a fine of 30.5 million euros ($33.7 million) over its creation of what the agency called an "illegal database" of billion of photos of faces.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Imagine a customer-service center that speaks your language, no matter what it is.

Alorica, a company in Irvine, California, that runs customer-service centers around the world, has introduced an artificial intelligence translation tool that lets its representatives talk with customers who speak 200 different languages and 75 dialects.

NEW YORK (AP) — Parisa Imanirad, a scientist and cancer researcher from San Francisco, is married and has a wide circle of friends. But once or twice a week, she goes to a restaurant by herself.

Imanirad said dining alone gives her time to think or read. She tries not to touch her phone and relishes the silence. "It's like a spa, but a different type," Imanirad said during a recent solo lunch at Spruce, an upscale restaurant in San Francisco.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Jerome Powell delivered a high-profile speech last month, the Federal Reserve chair came the closest he ever had to declaring that the inflation surge that gripped the nation for three painful years was now essentially defeated.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government said Monday that it's suspending exports of some weapons to Israel because they could be used to break international law — a move with limited military impact intended to increase pressure by Israel's frustrated allies for an end to the war in Gaza.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government has seized a luxury jet used by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that officials say was illegally purchased through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States in violation of sanctions and export control laws.

NEW YORK (AP) — In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans were a lifeline for small businesses.

But now some small businesses are having trouble paying them off. And a Small Business Credit Survey report from the 12 Federal Reserve banks shows that small businesses that haven't paid off COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans are in worse shape than other small businesses.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three gun shops that sold nearly three dozen firearms to a man who trafficked the weapons in and around Washington, D.C., are facing a new lawsuit jointly filed Tuesday by attorneys general for Maryland and the nation's capital.

At least nine of those guns have now been found at crime scene and or with people wanted on warrants for violent offenses, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said. Many of the others are still unaccounted for.

DETROIT (AP) — U.S auto safety regulators have closed a five-year investigation into seat belt failures in some General Motors SUVs after the company issued extended warranty coverage.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in documents posted on its website Tuesday that warranty coverage issued in June of 2019 addressed the problem that caused the recall.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Despite slowing U.S. electric vehicle sales, Hyundai on Tuesday rolled out the 2025 versions of its Ioniq 5 electric SUV with improved battery range and charging aimed at broadening the appeal of vehicles to be built at a massive new Georgia factory.

DETROIT (AP) — Another death has been linked to dangerous Takata air bag inflators by U.S. regulators, the 28th in the United States.

The driver was killed in 2018 in Alabama in a Honda vehicle, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said, but gave no further details. It says the death underscores the need for people to replace recalled air bag inflators.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks tumbled to their worst day since an early August sell-off after another report raised worries about the economy's health.

The S&P 500 slumped 2.1% Tuesday after a report showed U.S. manufacturing shrank again in August, weighed down by high interest rates.

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday swiftly rejected Donald Trump's request to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, spurning the former president's attempt at an end-run around the state court where he was convicted and is set to be sentenced in two weeks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Oklahoma's emergency appeal seeking to restore a $4.5 million grant for family planning services in an ongoing dispute over the state's refusal to refer pregnant women to a nationwide hotline that provides information about abortion and other options.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is using a New Hampshire campaign stop on Wednesday to propose an expansion of tax incentives for small businesses, a pro-entrepreneur plan that may soften her previous calls for wealthy Americans and large corporations to pay higher taxes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris plans to propose on Wednesday a tenfold increase in federal tax incentives for small business startup expenses, from $5,000 to $50,000, hoping to help spur a record 25 million new small business applications over her four-year term should she win the presidency in November.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump is betting that Americans crave trillions of dollars in tax cuts — and that growth will be so fantastic that it's not worth worrying about budget deficits.

In short, he's hoping that most economic analyses of his ideas are dead wrong.

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge in Atlanta ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump and his campaign must stop using the song "Hold On, I'm Coming" while the family of one of the song's co-writers pursues a lawsuit against the former president over its use.

NEW YORK (AP) — "Very demure, very mindful" has become the latest vocabulary defining the internet's summer. And TikTok creator Jools Lebron is now working to trademark uses of her now-viral words.

Lebron filed to trademark "very demure very mindful" for various entertainment and advertising services, including the promotion of beauty products, last week with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Two filings dated Thursday are under her legal name, a representative for Lebron confirmed to The Associated Press.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Elon Musk's satellite-based internet service provider Starlink backtracked Tuesday and said it will comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court justice's order to block the billionaire's social media platform, X.

Starlink said in a statement posted on X that it will heed Justice Alexandre de Moraes' order despite him having frozen the company's assets. Previously, it informally told the telecommunications regulator that it would not comply until de Moraes reversed course.

WASHINGTON (AP) — America's employers posted fewer job openings in July than they had the previous month, a sign that hiring could cool in the coming months.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that there were 7.7 million open jobs in July, down from 7.9 million in June and the fewest since January 2021. Openings have fallen steadily this year, from nearly 8.8 million in January.

NEW YORK (AP) — Members of the Nordstrom family with the help of a Mexican retail group are offering to take the century-old department store private for $3.76 billion per share cash, months after first expressing interest in a buyout.

In a letter to the board of directors dated Tuesday, Erik Nordstrom said the Nordstrom family members own about 33.4% of the company's outstanding common stock and is willing to pay investors $23 for each share they own.

DALLAS (AP) — Elliott Investment Management, a hedge fund urging Southwest Airlines to dump its CEO and chairman, said Tuesday it has acquired enough of the company's stock to call a special meeting of shareholders.

The move gives Elliott, the Paul Singer-led investment fund, more leverage in its proxy fight heading into a meeting with Southwest officials next Monday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris used a New Hampshire campaign stop on Wednesday to propose an expansion of tax incentives for small businesses, a pro-entrepreneur plan that may soften her previous calls for wealthy Americans and large corporations to pay higher taxes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced wide-ranging actions Wednesday meant to call out Russian influence in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, unsealing criminal charges against two employees of a Russian state-run media company and seizing internet domains used by the Kremlin to spread disinformation.

DETROIT (AP) — About 1,000 workers at a General Motors joint venture electric vehicle battery plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, will get big pay raises now that they have joined the United Auto Workers union.

GM and LG Energy Solution of Korea, which jointly run the plant, agreed to recognize the union after a majority of workers signed cards saying they wanted to join, the UAW said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is signaling an openness to blocking the acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel, as a government review of the proposed takeover by the Japanese company is on the cusp of ending.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that President Joe Biden plans to stop the deal from going forward. A White House official, insisting on anonymity to discuss the matter, did not deny the report and said Biden still needs to receive the official recommendation from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. That review could end as soon as this month.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The chief executive officer of Kroger insisted Wednesday that merging with rival Albertsons would allow the two supermarket companies to lower prices and more effectively compete with retail giants like Walmart and Amazon.

Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen argued in favor of what would be the largest grocery chain merger in U.S. history while testifying during a federal court hearing in Oregon on the U.S. government's request for a preliminary injunction that would block the $24.6 billion deal.

NASHVILLE (AP) — The NFL knows how to create storylines when scheduling, especially for season openers.

Brian Callahan debuts as the Tennessee Titans new head coach Sunday on the road against the Bears — a team he grew up cheering for along with most of Chicago's other pro teams.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Quarterback Nico Iamaleava's impressive debut in Tennessee's season opener has the 14th-ranked Volunteers riding high entering a big matchup with No. 24 North Carolina State on Saturday night.

That has coach Josh Heupel cautioning against his team getting overconfident ahead of the Duke's Mayo Classic in Charlotte.

Longtime celebrity watchers may not have been shocked when Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce from Ben Affleck, but what was surprising was that Lopez’s divorce petition did not include any mention of a prenuptial agreement.

A prenup is a legal document for soon-to-be-married couples that lays out how they will divide their assets during their marriage and if they divorce. They’re common for celebrities and very wealthy couples, but divorce law attorney Raiford Dalton Palmer says you should consider one even if you don’t have a lot of money.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the first court hearing in nearly a year, a lawyer for Donald Trump clashed on Thursday with the judge in the federal election interference prosecution of the former president after suggesting the government was rushing forward with an "illegitimate" indictment at the height of the White House campaign.

LONDON (AP) — Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein won't face charges of indecent assault in Britain, prosecutors announced on Thursday.

The Crown Prosecution Service, which in 2022 authorized two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein, said it decided to discontinue proceedings because there was "no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.''

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump will go before a group of economists Thursday to make his case that he can bring down prices for Americans by lifting regulations and boosting production of fossil fuels in a potential second term.

The GOP presidential nominee is speaking to the Economic Club of New York a day after appearing in a town hall on Fox News, where he argued that his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, would drive large companies away from the U.S. if she wins the election.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will debate for the first — and perhaps, last — time on Tuesday night as the presidential candidates fight to sway voters on the biggest stage in U.S. politics.

The meeting comes just 75 days after President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance triggered a political earthquake that ultimately forced him from the race. Few expect such a transformative result this time, but Trump is on a mission to end Harris' "honeymoon."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump is promising to make America the "crypto capital of the planet" if he returns to the White House. Fulfilling that promise would likely pay off for him personally.

Amidst his run for president, Trump has launched a new venture to trade cryptocurrencies that he's promoting on the same social media accounts he uses for his campaign. His two eldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, are also posting about their new platform, called World Liberty Financial, as is his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who is married to Eric and also serves as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.

NEW YORK (AP) — They have millions of followers online. They have been major players in right-wing political discourse since Donald Trump was president. And they worked unknowingly for a company that was a front for a Russian influence operation, U.S. prosecutors say.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration seized Kremlin-run websites and charged two Russian state media employees in its most sweeping effort yet to push back against what it says are Russian attempts to spread disinformation ahead of the November presidential election.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has accepted the rules set forth for next week's debate with former President Donald Trump, although the Democratic nominee says the decision not to keep both candidates' microphones live throughout the matchup will be to her disadvantage.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on Wednesday said she would support Kamala Harris for president, ending weeks of speculation about how fully the member of a GOP dynasty-turned-Trump critic would embrace the Democratic ticket.

Cheney, who co-chaired the House investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, became a fierce Trump critic and was ousted in her 2022 Republican primary in Wyoming as a result, made her announcement at an event at Duke University. In a video posted on the social media network X, she finished by talking about the "danger" she believed Trump still poses to the country.

PHOENIX (AP) — Jimmy McCain, a son of former Arizona senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, said this week he has registered as a Democrat and will vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, a valuable nod of support for the Democratic nominee in a battleground state.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators responsible for the safety of the U.S. drug supply are still struggling to get back to where they were in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic upended factory inspections in the U.S. and across the world, The Associated Press has found.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Laid off by the music streaming service Spotify last year, Joovay Arias figured he'd land another job as a software engineer fairly soon. His previous job search, in 2019, had been a breeze.

"Back then," he said, "I had tons of recruiters reaching out to me — to the point where I had to turn them down."

NEW YORK (AP) — Death and taxes, the saying goes, are the only certainties in life. If so, funeral companies like Houston's Service Corporation International might look like a sure bet to investors.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned voters in the battleground state of North Carolina that they could lose jobs if Republicans weaken a signature Biden administration law that encourages investments in manufacturing and clean energy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is returning to southwest Wisconsin to make good on his promise to provide new investments in rural electrification and other infrastructure improvements.

Biden will be in Westby on Thursday to announce $7.3 billion in investments for 16 cooperatives that will provide electricity for rural areas across 23 states. The intent is to bring down the cost of badly needed electricity connections in hard-to-reach areas.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top U.S. military leaders will be in Germany to discuss Ukraine's wartime needs as Russia has conducted one of its deadliest airstrikes in the conflict and Ukraine presses its offensive in Russia's Kursk region.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will host a meeting Friday at Ramstein Air Force Base of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, made up of military leaders from more than 50 nations that have regularly provided funds and weapon systems to bolster Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.