News - Friday, September 20, 2024

“Are we there yet?” We’ve almost reached that time of year when the age-old question issued from countless back seats can be answered in the affirmative, at least as it relates to the arrival of the fall season.

Then again, it’s Tennessee. Nothing is certain, especially when it comes to anything meteorological.

Personal injury lawyer Zach Pritchard discovered he had a head for the law in a Cartersville, Georgia, high school classroom, as well as the office of the local real estate attorney where he interned.

“He was nice to people, his clients were always happy to see him and he dressed and spoke well,” Pritchard, a 13-year veteran of the law, says of Jeff Watkins, now a Georgia Court of Appeals judge. “I thought, ‘This guy is cool; I might like to do this.’”

Tuesday, Sept. 17, marked the 237th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is the world’s longest surviving written charter of government. It’s served our nation and its people well over the past two centuries – including through a long and terrible Civil War.

Pet Rocks. Lava lamps. Bell-bottom pants.

For all of its economic and political unrest, the 1970s managed to produce a cascade of kitschy trends that have aged as gracefully as cheap wine. From Mood Rings (totally worked!) to sideburns (really?) to blacklight posters (OK, these were cool), no small number of tacky fads were long ago buried in the mothballs of history.

U.S. existing home sales increased for the first time in five months as lower mortgage rates and rising supply helped boost market activity.

Sales of previously owned homes rose 1.3% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.95 million units, the National Association of Realtors reports, exceeding economists’ expectations and ending the downward trend of recent months.

If you’re looking for a reason to laugh, Chattanooga’s yearly Lookout Comedy Festival features 30-plus comedians from across the U.S. (and locally) Oct. 16-19.

With notable performers from all over the country like headliners Laura Peek, AJ Wilkerson, Drew Morgan and LeClerc Andre, this year’s four-day festival is proof that Chattanooga’s comedy scene is a special place for comics and audiences alike.

Late last year, the city of Memphis wrote a $7,419.68 check to reimburse the attorney fees of journalist Marc Perrusquia rather than risk losing a public records lawsuit.

The city folded before the case got before a judge. What was the issue?

Investing involves risk. So does not investing. You should know how both these types of risk can affect your ability to reach your financial goals.

Let’s start with the risks associated with investing. There’s not a single investment risk because different types of investments carry different types of risk. Here’s a look at three investment categories and some of the risks connected with them:

Jarrail Jackson wasn’t expecting visitors when he heard a knock at the door a few months before the 1999 college football season began. Josh Heupel had just transferred to the University of Oklahoma from Snow College in Utah and wanted Jackson to run routes.

Dear Will Levis, You told everyone that it wouldn’t happen again. Couldn’t happen again.

Yet here we are wondering why it happened again. Being too reckless and rattled with the football is no way to go through life as an NFL quarterback. The league is littered with physically talented guys like Carson Wentz, Zach Wilson and Trey Lance who simply didn’t cut it because of costly mistakes.

If you’re thinking about buying a new car but don’t need one right away, now is a great time to show a little patience. Generally, waiting until winter can create an opportunity to purchase an all-new or significantly updated vehicle.

The 2025 model year is packed with big updates for some of the most popular vehicles. To give you an inside scoop on what’s coming down the pike in the next few months, the automotive experts at Edmunds have picked five vehicles that promise to be well worth the wait.

ATLANTA (AP) — Four years ago, Georgia was at the center of former President Donald Trump 's attempts to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Democrats worry that Trump is at it again, even before the first votes have been cast.

Many Democrats in the crucial swing state believe Trump-aligned Republicans are laying the groundwork for another attempt to undermine the vote should the GOP nominee narrowly lose in November, this time by manipulating election rules.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Both major presidential candidates are making appearances Thursday meant to fire up their core supporters, with Vice President Kamala Harris participating in a livestream with Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump attending an event with prominent Jewish donors before addressing a gathering of the Israeli-American Council.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Thursday the Federal Reserve's decision to lower interest rates was "an important signal" that inflation has eased as he poked at Donald Trump's economic policies as a failure in the past and sure to "fail again" if revived.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street romped to records Thursday as a delayed jubilation swept markets worldwide following the Federal Reserve's big cut to interest rates.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.7% for one of its best days of the year and topped its last all-time high set in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped 522 points, or 1.3%, to beat its own record set on Monday, and the Nasdaq composite led the market with a 2.5% spurt.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Brian Callahan has seen winless starts finish with winning records in the NFL, so the first-year Tennessee coach has reminded his Titans that the season is long enough to rewarded those who fix mistakes quickly.

Trent Dilfer was hardly surprised when his old quarterback, Hank Brown, made a mostly pristine starting debut for Auburn, avoiding blunders even during stretches where heavy rain was falling.

The former NFL quarterback feels it's one of Brown's greatest assets: The poise to weigh risk versus reward and avoid costly mistakes. Dilfer uses a golf analogy to explain Brown's on-field makeup.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson will not speak or appear at former President Donald Trump 's rally on Saturday in the eastern part of his state following a CNN report about his alleged posts on a pornography website's message board, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In-person voting for this year's presidential election began Friday, a milestone that kicked off a six-week sprint to Election Day after a summer of political turmoil.

Voters lined up to cast their ballots in Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia, the states with the first early in-person voting opportunities. About a dozen more states will follow by mid-October.

WASHINGTON (AP) — JD Vance not long ago described conspiracy theories as the feverish imaginings produced by "fringe lunatics writing about all manner of idiocy."

That was before he became a rising star in Republican politics.

The Ohio senator and GOP's vice presidential nominee has in recent years declared that the federal government deliberately allowed fentanyl into the United States to kill conservative and rural voters. He has praised Alex Jones, a well-known conspiracy theorist who claimed the deaths of 20 young children in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Thursday decried antisemitism hours after an explosive CNN report detailed how one of his allies running for North Carolina governor made a series of racial and sexual comments on a website where he also referred to himself as a "black NAZI."

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson vowed on Thursday to remain in the race despite a CNN report that he posted strongly worded racial and sexual comments on an online message board, saying he won't be forced out by "salacious tabloid lies."

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time since she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris is set to give a speech focused squarely on abortion rights and she'll do so in Georgia, where news reports have documented women's deaths in the face of the state's six-week ban.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Going into November's election, neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump has a decisive edge with the public on the economy, turning an issue that was once a clear strength for Trump into the equivalent of a political jump ball.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are scrambling to ensure that the U.S. Secret Service has enough money and resources to keep the nation's presidential candidates safe amid repeated threats of violence. It's unclear, though, how much they can do with only weeks before the election, or if additional dollars would make an immediate difference.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant said Friday that it plans to restart the reactor under a 20-year agreement that calls for tech giant Microsoft to buy the power to supply its data centers with carbon-free energy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is awarding over $3 billion to U.S. companies to boost domestic production of advanced batteries and other materials used for electric vehicles, part of a continuing push to reduce China's global dominance in battery production for EVs and other electronics.

NEW YORK (AP) — A broad group of civil rights organizations called on the CEOs and board members of major companies Thursday to maintain their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have come under attack online and in lawsuits.

CACONDE, Brazil (AP) — Silvio Almeida's coffee plantation sits at an ideal altitude on a Brazilian hillside, whose clay-rich soil does well at retaining moisture from rainfall and a nearby reservoir.

Lately, though, water is scarce on Almeida's modest farm in Caconde, a town in one of Sao Paulo state's key growing regions. He can't get his coffee to grow the way it should.

BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) — Nike Inc. said Thursday it has named Elliott Hill as its president and CEO, replacing John Donahoe, who will retire next month.

Hill is returning to the company from which retired in 2020. He previously held leadership positions at the sportswear giant across Europe and North America. Before his retirement, he served as the president of consumer and marketplace operations for Nike and the Jordan brand.

NEW YORK (AP) — All of 23andMe's independent directors resigned from its board this week, a rare move that marks the latest challenge for the genetic-testing company.

The resignations follow drawn-out negotiations with 23andMe CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki, who wants to take the company private. In a Tuesday letter addressed to Wojcicki, the seven directors said they had yet to receive a "a fully financed, fully diligenced, actionable proposal that is in the best interests of the non-affiliated shareholders" from the chief executive after months of efforts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel warned U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a call Tuesday that a military operation was going to take place in Lebanon but gave no details, U.S. officials said Thursday. The same day of the call, in an attack widely blamed on Israel, thousands of pagers belonging to Hezbollah militants exploded.

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — A pair of five-star quarterbacks from the 2023 class will face off when Tennessee's Nico Iamaleava and Oklahoma's Jackson Arnold lead their teams on Saturday night.

Iamaleava was ranked No. 1 in the On3 quarterback rankings and No. 2 in the 247Sports quarterback rankings. Arnold was the 2022-23 Gatorade National Player of the Year. He was the Elite 11 MVP, and ESPN ranked him the No. 1 quarterback in his class.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Facebook 's parent company Meta on Friday lost its appeal in a Kenyan labor court that ruled the company could be sued in Kenya over the mass sacking of content moderators.

The court had earlier ruled that Kenyan courts had jurisdiction over the matter, but Meta challenged the ruling on appeal.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A civil trial in Texas over a so-called "Trump Train" that surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus days before the 2020 election reached closing arguments Friday before a federal jury decides whether the rolling highway encounter amounted to political intimidation.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's State Election Board on Friday voted to approve a new rule that requires poll workers to count the number of paper ballots by hand.

The board voted 3-2 to approve the rule, going against the advice of the state attorney general's office, the secretary of state's office and an association of county election officials. Three board members who were praised by former President Donald Trump during a rally last month in Atlanta voted to approve the measure.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Communication breakdowns with local law enforcement hampered the Secret Service's performance ahead of a July assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, according to a new report that lays out a litany of missed opportunities to stop a gunman who opened fire from an unsecured roof.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson will not speak or appear at former President Donald Trump 's rally on Saturday in the eastern part of his state following a CNN report about his alleged posts on a pornography website's message board, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are scrambling to ensure that the U.S. Secret Service has enough money and resources to keep the nation's presidential candidates safe amid repeated threats of violence. It's unclear, though, how much they can do with only weeks before the election, or if additional dollars would make an immediate difference.

The federal government is suing some big pharmacy benefit managers over a system of drug rebates that regulators say has made the price of insulin soar for diabetic patients.

Three companies that process about 80% of prescriptions in the United States — Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx — have engaged in anticompetitive practices that spur price increases, the Federal Trade Commission alleged in a lawsuit filed Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The GOP-controlled House approved a resolution Friday that would overturn a new Biden administration rule on automobile emissions that Republicans say would force Americans to buy unaffordable electric vehicles they don't want.

The rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in March would impose the most ambitious standards ever in the United States to cut planet-warming emissions from passenger vehicles.

NEW YORK (AP) — A record-setting week for Wall Street closed on a quieter note.

U.S. stocks mostly pulled back from their highs hit during a worldwide rally the day before, even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up to another record.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is opening a busy stretch Friday tending to international allies anxious about where U.S. foreign policy is headed when he leaves office in four months, most likely leaving behind a difficult set of crises for former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris to contend with.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When the Rev. Lee Scott publicly endorsed Kamala Harris for president during the Evangelicals for Harris Zoom call on Aug. 14, the Presbyterian pastor and farmer said he was taking a risk.

"The easy thing for us to do this year would be to keep our heads down, go to the ballot box, keep our vote secret and go about our business," Scott told the group, which garnered roughly 3,200 viewers according to organizers. "But at this time, I just can't do that."

NASHVILLE (AP) — First-year Titans coach Brian Callahan is sticking with young quarterback Will Levis despite all the turnovers through three losses to start the season.

NASHVILLE (AP) — A change of scenery and an injury gave Malik Willis a huge opportunity to show what he can do in the NFL.

Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur said people truly can't fathom what the third-year quarterback has done in less than a month with the Packers.

Tennessee moved up to No. 5 in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday as the Volunteers continued to surge up the rankings, and No. 25 Boise State returned to the AP Top 25 for the first time in four years.

Texas was No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving 44 of 62 first-place votes as the top four teams remained the same. The Longhorns won a game as the top-ranked team in the country for the first time since 2008, cruising past Louisiana-Monroe in quarterback Arch Manning's first career start.

NEW YORK (AP) — One presidential candidate is talking up gun ownership and promising tough border security measures. The other vows to cap credit card interest rates and force insurance companies to cover in vitro fertilization.

Which one is the Democrat and the Republican?

NEW YORK (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris raised $27 million at a packed New York City fundraiser on Sunday, her largest fundraising haul since she took over at the top of the ticket from President Joe Biden, according to a Harris campaign aide.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Donald Trump has long pledged to deport millions of people, but he's bringing more specifics to his current bid for the White House: invoking wartime powers, relying on like-minded governors and using the military.

Trump's record as president shows a vast gulf between his ambitions and the legal, fiscal and political realities of mass deportations of people in the United States illegally — 11 million in January 2022, by the Homeland Security Department's latest estimate. Former President Barack Obama carried out 432,000 deportations in 2013, the highest annual total since records were kept.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man accused in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump at a golf course in Florida left behind a note saying that he intended to kill the former president and kept in his car a handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump was to appear, the Justice Department said Monday.

The more Chelsea Walsh talked to the eccentric fellow American who seemed to pop up in every square and cobblestone street of Ukraine's capital, the more she got creeped out.

Walsh was in Kyiv as a nurse and aid worker in the early days of the war in Ukraine. Ryan Routh says he was there recruiting foreign soldiers to fight the Russians. But Walsh never saw him make much progress and instead watched him grow increasingly angry and unhinged, kicking a panhandler, threatening to burn down a music studio that slighted him and speaking of his own children with seething hatred.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Several top staffers in North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's campaign for governor have quit their posts, marking more fallout from a CNN report outlining evidence that he made disturbing posts on a pornography website's message board more than a decade ago.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Violent crime in the U.S. dropped in 2023, according to FBI statistics that show a continued trend downward after a coronavirus pandemic-era crime spike.

Overall violent crime declined an estimated 3% in 2023 from the year before, according to the FBI report Monday. Murders and non-negligent manslaughter dropped nearly 12%.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Commerce Department said Monday it's seeking a ban on the sale of connected and autonomous vehicles in the U.S. that are equipped with Chinese and Russian software and hardware with the stated goal of protecting national security and U.S. drivers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Starting this month, Americans will be able to order free COVID-19 test kits that will be mailed to their homes.

U.S. households will be able to order as many as four nasal swab tests at COVIDTests.gov when the federal program reopens. The U.S. Health and Human Services agency overseeing the program has not yet given an exact date when ordering can begin.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With its larger-than-usual half-point cut to its key interest rate last week, the Federal Reserve underscored its belief that it's all but conquered inflation after three long years.

The public at large? Not so much.

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — British Treasury chief Rachel Reeves promised on Monday not to return to an era of public spending cuts despite the dire state of the U.K.'s national finances, as she tried to inject a dose of optimism after weeks of negative headlines for the country's new Labour Party government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders announced an agreement Sunday on a short-term spending bill that will fund federal agencies for about three months, averting a possible partial government shutdown when the new budget year begins Oct. 1 and pushing final decisions until after the November election.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — At only 6 years old, Esai Reed has endured three emergency evacuations from orphanages across Haiti as gangs pillage and plunder their way through once peaceful communities.

He is now in northern Haiti under the care of a U.S. organization after the director of Esai's last orphanage fled the troubled Caribbean country where gangs control 80% of the capital.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California sued ExxonMobil Monday, alleging it deceived the public for half a century by promising that recycling would address the global plastic pollutions crisis.

Attorney General Rob Bonta's office said that even with recycling programs, less than 5% of plastic is recycled into another plastic product in the U.S. even though the items are labeled as "recyclable." As a result, landfills and oceans are filled with plastic waste.

WILKESBORO, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson vowed Monday to rebuild his campaign staff after several top aides quit and a key Republican group backed away from his race following a CNN report alleging he made explicit racial and sexual posts years ago on a pornography website's message board.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Commerce Department said Monday it's seeking a ban on the sale of connected and autonomous vehicles in the U.S. that are equipped with Chinese and Russian software and hardware with the stated goal of protecting national security and U.S. drivers.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes added slightly to their record highs in relatively subdued trading on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% Monday, beating the all-time high it set on Thursday. The benchmark index is coming off its fifth winning week in the last six.

NASHVILLE (AP) — The winless Tennessee Titans remain confident they have a team capable of winning the Super Bowl.

On paper.

The Titans are 0-3 in a league where only six teams since 1979 have made the playoffs after starting 0-3 and only one since 2000. None won a Super Bowl.

MEMPHIS (AP) — A Memphis man testified on Monday that he and a second person shot and killed rapper Young Dolph after Big Jook, the brother of rapper Yo Gotti, put a hit on him.

Cornelius Smith identified himself and Justin Johnson as the two people seen on a Nov. 17, 2021, surveillance video exiting a white Mercedes outside a Memphis cookie store about 30 seconds after Young Dolph entered the store and then opening fire in broad daylight.

An influential group of law enforcement leaders is pushing police departments across the U.S. to change how officers use force when they subdue people and to improve training so they avoid "consistent blind spots" that have contributed to civilian deaths.

WASHINGTON (AP) — American drivers might universally wince or brace themselves at the sight and sound of flashing red and blue lights and blaring sirens, but all drivers have constitutional rights when pulled over on the road.

The question of one's responsibility to comply with all instructions given by a law enforcement officer recently came up following a pregame traffic stop this month involving Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Johnny Cash will soon be seen in the unlikeliest of venues: the U.S. Capitol.

Congressional leaders, Arkansas lawmakers and members of the Cash family will be on hand Tuesday for the unveiling of a bronze statue depicting the "Man in Black."

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal jury in Texas on Monday rejected voter intimidation allegations against all but one of a group of former President Donald Trump supporters who surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus on an interstate days before the 2020 election.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Donald Trump is expected on Tuesday to pledge not only to stop U.S. businesses from offshoring jobs, but also to take other countries' jobs and factories.

Among the ideas he is planning to pitch is luring foreign companies to the U.S. by offering them access to federal land. He teased the plan earlier this month when he proposed a cut to the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, but only for companies that produce in the U.S. His opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, wants to raise it to 28%. The corporate rate had been 35% when he became president in 2017, and he later signed a bill lowering it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is viewed more favorably by Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander registered voters than former President Donald Trump, according to a new poll. AAPI voters are also more likely to believe that she is the candidate who better represents their background and policy views.

SMITHTON, Pa. (AP) — Donald Trump sat in a large barn in rural Pennsylvania on Monday, asking questions of farmers and offering jokes but, in a rarity for his campaign events, mostly listening.

The bombastic former president was unusually restrained at an event about China's influence on the U.S. economy, a roundtable during which farmers and manufacturers expressed concerns about losing their way of life. Behind Trump were large green tractors and a sign declaring "Protect our food from China."

NEW YORK (AP) — As the use of artificial intelligence is expands, more small firms say they're harnessing AI to help their businesses.

In a survey by The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Teneo, nearly every small business — 98% — said they are utilizing a tool that is enabled by AI. Forty percent said they're using generative AI tools like chatbots and image creation, nearly double from last year's survey.

NEW YORK (AP) — First lady Jill Biden on Monday unveiled a new set of actions to address health inequities faced by women in the United States, plans that include spending at least $500 million annually on women's health research.

Jill Biden made the announcement at this year's Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York, moments before the organization honored President Joe Biden with the 2024 Clinton Global Citizen Award.

DETROIT (AP) — Struggling Jeep and Ram maker Stellantis is looking for a CEO to succeed Carlos Tavares, but the company says it's just part of a normal leadership succession plan.

Tavares has been under fire from U.S. dealers and the United Auto Workers union after a dismal first-half financial performance when the company was caught off guard with too much high-priced inventory on dealer lots.

WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers are feeling less confident this month as concerns about jobs rose significantly.

The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 98.7 in September, from 105.6 in August. It was the biggest month-to-month decline since August of 2021.

NEW YORK (AP) — Attention, Kmart shoppers, the end is near!

The erstwhile retail giant renowned for its Blue Light Specials — featuring a flashing blue orb affixed to a pole enticing shoppers to a flash sale — is shuttering its last full-scale store in mainland United States.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to deliver his final address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday as Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon are edging toward all-out war and Israel's bloody operation against Hamas in Gaza nears the one-year mark.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Partnerships between the U.S. and China at universities over the past decade have allowed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to aid Beijing in developing critical technology that could be used for military purposes, congressional Republicans asserted in a new report.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Barry Trotz won a Stanley Cup as a coach and is showing no patience for a rebuild toward some kind of fuzzy, optimistic future.

Winning now isn't easy. The man who coached the Washington Capitals to the Cup in 2018 spent his second offseason as Nashville's general manager making the NHL's biggest free agency splash to position the Predators as contenders once again. As the third-winningest coach in NHL history and the only active GM of a team he once coached, Trotz knows only too well the challenges of making the playoffs first.

MEMPHIS (AP) — A former Memphis police officer who has pleaded guilty to violating Tyre Nichols' civil rights testified in tears Tuesday, saying he left Nichols' young son fatherless, that he was sorry and that he wishes he had stopped the punches.

NEW YORK (AP) — Caroline Ellison, a former top executive in Sam Bankman-Fried 's fallen FTX cryptocurrency empire, was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday after she apologized repeatedly to everyone hurt by a fraud that stole billions of dollars from investors and customers of what once seemed like a groundbreaking company in an emerging financial industry.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The son of the man suspected in the assassination attempt in Florida against former President Donald Trump has been arrested on federal charges of possessing child sexual abuse images.

Oran Alexander Routh was arrested this week after authorities searched his Greensboro, North Carolina, home "in connection with an investigation unrelated to child exploitation," and found hundreds of files depicting child sexual abuse, an FBI agent said in court papers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump flubbed the name of Charlottesville, Virginia, while going off script during a speech on Tuesday otherwise focused on economic policy, slamming Vice President Kamala Harris for lying about "Charlottestown."

The former president was talking about imposing tariffs and other steps he'd take to bolster U.S. manufacturing in Savannah, Georgia, when he veered off topic. He began arguing that he won the recent debate with Harris, despite GOP claims the moderators were against him.

NEW YORK (AP) — Prince Harry said today's youth is in the midst of an "epidemic" of anxiety, depression and social isolation due to negative experiences online, as he brought his campaign to help children and their parents navigate cyberspace to this week's Clinton Global Initiative.

GENEVA (AP) — Soccer fans arriving in North America for the 2026 World Cup have been promised help with their cell phone coverage from Verizon as part of a sponsor deal with FIFA announced on Tuesday.

The New York-based technology provider said FIFA expected three million international visitors to the United States, Canada and Mexico for the 48-team tournament from June 11-July 19, 2026.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, he told a congressional committee Tuesday.

Favre made the disclosure as part of his testimony about a welfare misspending scandal in Mississippi. Favre, who does not face criminal charges, has repaid just over $1 million in speaking fees funded by a welfare program in the state and was also an investor in a biotech company with ties to the case. The biotech firm has said it was developing concussion treatments.

ROME (AP) — Workers in Italy's automotive sector will go on strike on Oct. 18, the main metalworkers unions said Tuesday, in protest of declining output from Stellantis, the biggest carmaker in the country.

The unions also called for a national demonstration in Rome on the same day.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks drifted to more records Tuesday after Chinese stocks soared following a slew of moves by the Chinese central bank to prop up the world's second-largest economy.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to set an all-time high for the 41st time this year. The movements were tentative, though, and the index wavered up and down following a surprisingly weak report released in the morning on confidence among U.S. consumers.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa, alleging that the financial services behemoth uses its size and dominance to stifle competition in the debit card market, costing consumers and businesses billions of dollars.

WASHINGTON (AP) — One year since Kevin McCarthy was booted from the House speaker's office after Congress voted in a bipartisan way to fund the government and prevent a federal shutdown, the new House Speaker Mike Johnson finds himself courting, but so far avoiding, a similar political fate.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee are moving Tuesday to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress after a contentious back-and-forth with the Cabinet secretary over an appearance to testify on the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Joe Biden declared in his final address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday that the U.S. must not retreat from the world, as Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon edged toward all-out war and Israel's bloody operation against Hamas in Gaza neared the one-year mark.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The quiet part about the evolving landscape of name, image and likeness compensation in college athletics was bound to be said out loud, and it wasn't that shocking when Tennessee's athletic department stepped forward, cleared its collective throat and stated the obvious.

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court is set to hear arguments in Donald Trump's fight to overturn a civil fraud judgment that could disrupt his real estate empire and cost him close to a half-billion dollars.

The former president and current Republican nominee is asking the state's intermediate appellate court to nullify a judge's findings that he deceived banks, insurers and others for years by lying about his wealth on paperwork used to make deals and secure loans. His lawyers contend that Judge Arthur Engoron's verdict was "egregious" and should be reversed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who authorities say staked out Donald Trump for 12 hours on his golf course in Florida and wrote of his desire to kill him was indicted Tuesday on an attempted assassination charge.

Ryan Wesley Routh had been initially charged with two federal firearms offenses. The upgraded charges contained in a five-count indictment reflect the Justice Department's assessment that he methodically plotted to kill the Republican nominee, aiming a rifle through the shrubbery surrounding Trump's West Palm Beach golf course on an afternoon Trump was playing on it. Routh left behind a note in which he described his intention, prosecutors said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Derided by Donald Trump as a "communist," Kamala Harris is playing up her street cred as a capitalist.

Attacked by Harris as a rich kid who got $400 million from his father on a "silver platter," Trump is leaning into his raw populism.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Donald Trump on Tuesday praised Russia's military record in historical conflicts and derided U.S. aid to Ukraine as he again insisted he would quickly end the war launched by Moscow's invasion if elected president.

Speaking in Savannah, Georgia, Trump mocked President Joe Biden's frequent refrain that the U.S. would back the Ukrainian armed forces until Kyiv wins the war. He raised two long ago conflicts to suggest Moscow would not lose — the former Soviet Union's role in defeating Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in World War II in the 1940s, and French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte's failed invasion of Russia more than a century earlier.

INDIANA, Pa. (AP) — From former President Donald Trump to Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, male Republican candidates are struggling to speak to female voters, using language criticized as tone-deaf and patronizing as they try to win support from women and speak to issues important to them.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, is less popular among voters than his Democratic rival, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Donald Trump on Tuesday pledged to stop U.S. businesses from shipping jobs overseas and to take other countries' jobs and factories by relying heavily on sweeping tariffs to boost auto manufacturing — despite warnings that domestic consumers would pay more and a lack of specifics about how his plans would work.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fall means it's time for just about everybody to get up to date on their flu and COVID-19 vaccines – and a lot of older adults also need protection against another risky winter virus, RSV.

Yes, you can get your flu and COVID-19 shots at the same time. Don't call them boosters — they're not just another dose of last year's protection. The coronavirus and influenza are escape artists that constantly mutate to evade your body's immune defenses, so both vaccines are reformulated annually to target newer strains.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "League of Legends" is caught in the middle of a dispute between Hollywood's actors union and an audio company that provides voiceover services for the blockbuster online multiplayer game.

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists called a strike against "League of Legends" on Tuesday, arguing that Formosa Interactive attempted to get around the ongoing video game strike by hiring non-union actors to work on an unrelated title.

HONG KONG (AP) — Writing to the Hong Kong court that convicted him of sedition, former Stand News editor Patrick Lam said he regretted missing a chance to tell a police officer about independent journalism.

Lam and his ex-colleague Chung Pui-kuen, both former top editors of the now-shuttered Stand News, will learn their sentences Thursday after being found guilty last month in a landmark case widely seen as a barometer of media freedom in Hong Kong.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An executive at cybersecurity company CrowdStrike apologized in testimony to Congress for sparking a global technology outage over the summer.

"We let our customers down," said Adam Meyers, who leads CrowdStrike's threat intelligence division, in a hearing before a U.S. House cybersecurity subcommittee Tuesday.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — An American quarry company said Tuesday the Mexican government carried out a de facto expropriation of its properties on Mexico's Caribbean coast.

Mexico's Interior Department issued a decree late Monday declaring the firm's seaport and quarries to be a natural protected area, in effect prohibiting the company's activities on its own land.

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing is giving the union representing striking factory workers more time to consider a revised contract offer with bigger pay increases and more bonus money, but it was unclear Tuesday whether the union would schedule a ratification vote on the proposal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hospitals are facing questions about why they denied care to pregnant patients and whether state abortion bans have influenced how they treat those patients.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, sent inquiries to nine hospitals ahead of a hearing Tuesday looking at whether abortion bans have prevented or delayed pregnant women from getting help during their miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies or other medical emergencies.

NEW YORK (AP) — With the backdrop of elections worldwide that highlight strains on democracy, former President Bill Clinton urged attendees of his foundation's annual meeting to meet their communities' needs through collective action.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Multiple Secret Service failures ahead of the July rally for former President Donald Trump where a gunman opened fire were "foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to the events resulting in the assassination attempt that day," according to a bipartisan Senate investigation released Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The acting director of the Secret Service was incensed at what had happened that July evening. "What I saw made me ashamed," Ronald Rowe Jr. said. "I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured."

The unguarded roof, easily within shooting distance of the rally stage, is just one of the myriad questions behind the worst Secret Service security failure in decades. The more that investigators unpack from that day, the more missed opportunities that could have prevented the attack are revealed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is expected Wednesday to give swift approval to a temporary spending bill that would keep federal agencies funded when the new fiscal year begins next Tuesday, avoiding a potential shutdown showdown just weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Georgia, Alabama and LSU have combined to win every Southeastern Conference championship game for the past decade.

The trio's reign of dominance is far from a sure thing this season.

With the SEC increasing to 16 teams after adding Texas and Oklahoma, even reaching the title game will be difficult. And though Georgia has won two of the past three national titles and played in six of the last seven conference championship games, the Bulldogs looked vulnerable when they barely escaped with a 13-12 win at Kentucky on Sept. 14. That close call that cost them the No. 1 ranking.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville's district attorney secretly recorded defense attorneys, colleagues and other visitors without their knowledge, according to an investigation's findings released Wednesday.

In a scathing report, the Tennessee comptroller's office found that District Attorney Glenn Funk installed an extensive surveillance system for audio and video recordings nearly four years ago. While investigators say numerous signs were posted that visitors were being filmed, there was only one small warning in an "obscure" place that audio surveillance was also happening.

MEMPHIS (AP) — A former Memphis police officer testified under a plea deal Wednesday that he helped cover up the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols because he wanted to protect his job, and was hoping Nichols would survive and the scrutiny of the officers would simply "blow over."

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court is set to hear arguments in Donald Trump's fight to overturn a civil fraud judgment that could disrupt his real estate empire and cost him close to a half-billion dollars.

The former president and current Republican nominee has given no indication he plans to attend Thursday's hearing in Manhattan. Trump's lawyers are asking the state's intermediate appellate court to nullify a judge's findings that he deceived banks, insurers and others for years by lying about his wealth on paperwork used to make deals and secure loans. They contend that Judge Arthur Engoron's verdict was "egregious" and should be reversed.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A U.S. Secret Service agent has been accused of groping and sexually harassing a member of Vice President Kamala Harris' official staff during a trip last week, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The Secret Service office of professional responsibility is investigating a misconduct allegation involving an employee, according to the law enforcement agency that is tasked with protecting the president, vice president, candidates and some members of Congress. "The Secret Service holds its personnel to the highest standards," according to the statement released Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump, who has made anti-immigration rhetoric a key part of his reelection campaign, warned Wednesday that he would kick out hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have entered the country under two key Biden administration programs if he's reelected.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials said Wednesday that they briefed Donald Trump's campaign on Iranian threats against the Republican presidential nominee, though they declined to say if there is evidence of a new plot targeting Trump, or whether the briefing focused instead on previously reported threats.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona on Friday as her campaign increasingly tries to make the issue of immigration more of a strength, countering a line of political attack from former President Donald Trump.

MENLO PARK, California (AP) — Meta unveiled updates to the company's virtual reality headset and Ray Ban smart glasses on Wednesday along with AI advances as it tries demonstrate its artificial intelligence prowess and the next generation of computing platforms beyond smartphones and computers.

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines plans to eliminate about one-third of its flights to Atlanta next year to save money as it comes under pressure from a hedge fund to increase profits and boost the airline's stock price.

The retreat in Atlanta, where Southwest is far smaller than Delta Air Lines, will eliminate more than 300 jobs for pilots and flight attendants, although they will have a chance to relocate, according to the company.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Social media platform X on Wednesday published its first transparency report since the company was purchased by Elon Musk. The report, which details content moderation practices, shows the company has removed millions of posts and accounts from the site in the first half of the year.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks edged back from their records Wednesday as financial markets around the world took a pause following big recent moves.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% a day after setting an all-time high for the 41st time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 293 points, or 0.7%, after likewise setting a record the day before, while the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1%.

NEW YORK (AP) — The rush for gold just keeps coming.

Gold hit another all time high this week. Recent gains for the precious metal are largely credited to ongoing economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and strong demand from central banks around the world.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed a new commander of U.S. Army forces in the Pacific after Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville dropped his objections and allowed a quick vote on the nomination.

Tuberville had blocked Lt. Gen. Ronald Clark's nomination for months over concerns that the top military aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, along with other staff, did not immediately notify President Joe Biden when Austin was hospitalized with complications from cancer treatment earlier this year.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that fighting between Israel and Hezbollah threatens to become an "all-out war" as his top diplomat and other advisers worked behind the scenes pressing for a temporary cease-fire to calm the escalating conflict that has killed more than 600 people in Lebanon in recent days.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is expected Wednesday to give swift approval to a temporary spending bill that would keep federal agencies funded when the new fiscal year begins next Tuesday, avoiding a potential shutdown showdown just weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Left guard Peter Skoronski summed up the Tennessee Titans ' biggest motivation to protect quarterback Will Levis better quickly.

"No one's coming to save us," the second-year left guard said Wednesday. "I mean, it's going to be us and what we do and we've got to get better. And that's the only way to fix it is by working hard and getting better. I think everyone's had a great attitude this week in terms of guys are just really, really hungry for a win and are going to do what it takes to get that."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was disbarred in Washington on Thursday, months after he lost his law license in New York for pursuing false claims that then-President Donald Trump made about his 2020 presidential election loss.

NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump hits the homestretch of his White House run, the former president's lawyers are heading to a New York appeals court in a bid to overturn a civil fraud judgment that could cost him nearly $500 million.

The Republican presidential nominee has given no indication that he plans to attend Thursday's arguments before a five-judge panel in the state's mid-level appellate court in Manhattan. The hearing is scheduled to start at noon and is expected to be streamed online.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Launchpad Strategies was incorporated less than a year ago and has since received $15 million from Donald Trump's election fundraising machine.

For what is mostly a mystery. Campaign finance records indicate the limited liability company was hired to provide online advertising, digital consulting and fundraising. On its website, the firm boasts it is a "full-service Republican digital agency run by expert strategists."

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — There's an unlikely star in Kamala Harris ' push to win North Carolina: Mark Robinson.

The state's embattled Republican candidate for governor, Robinson is featured in conversations this week with Harris volunteers and voters on the phone and at their doorways. Democrats wave signs warning of Trump-Robinson extremism at their press conferences. Billboard trucks circulate in key cities warning that Robinson, also the state's lieutenant governor, is "unhinged." And Harris is running a new television advertising campaign highlighting Donald Trump's history of lavishing Robinson with flowery praise.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are more likely to believe that being a woman will hurt Kamala Harris ' chances in the November election, compared with eight years ago when Hillary Clinton was running. And they are more likely to believe that Donald Trump 's gender will help him.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans can once again order COVID-19 tests, without being charged, sent straight to their homes.

The U.S. government reopened the program on Thursday, allowing any household to order up to four at-home COVID nasal swab kits through the website, covidtests.gov. The tests will begin shipping, via the United States Postal Service, as soon as next week.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — For decades, Jeff Card's family company was known for manufacturing the once ubiquitous tin boxes where people could buy newspapers on the street.

Today, reach into one of his containers and you may find something entirely different and free of charge: Naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The American economy expanded at a healthy 3% annual pace from April through June, boosted by strong consumer spending and business investment, the government said Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged.

The Commerce Department reported that the nation's gross domestic product — the nation's total output of goods and services — picked up sharply in the second quarter from the tepid 1.6% annual rate in the first three months of the year.

NEW YORK (AP) — Eating in is in and eating out is out.

That's the message that inflation-squeezed consumer s have been sending to fast-food companies and other restaurants. Meanwhile food producers are benefitting from more palatable prices in grocery store aisles.

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines said Thursday that it plans to end the open-boarding system it has used for more than 50 years and start flights with passengers sitting in assigned seats during the first half of 2026 as the company tries to remodel the airline to change with consumer tastes and improve profits.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with U.S. leaders on Thursday to shore up American support for his country's fight against Russia as the war faces a partisan reckoning in this year's presidential election.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, has pledged to continue sending military assistance to Ukraine if she's elected. She'll have her own meeting with Zelenskyy after the Ukrainian leader sits down with President Joe Biden, who announced billions of dollars more in missiles, drones, ammunition and other supplies. The weapons include an additional Patriot missile defense battery and a new shipment of glide bombs that can be deployed from Western fighter jets, increasing their strike range.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of a bipartisan House panel investigating the Trump assassination attempts suggested during their first hearing Thursday that the failures that led to a gunman being able to open fire on former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania were with the U.S. Secret Service, not local police.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday that aims to help schools create active shooter drills that are less traumatic for students yet still effective. The order also seeks to restrict new technologies that make guns easier to fire and obtain.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Waves of sanctions imposed by the Biden administration after Russia's invasion of Ukraine haven't inflicted the devastating blow to Moscow's economy that some had expected. In a new report, two researchers are offering reasons why.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats attempted Wednesday to quickly censure a Republican congressman who slandered Haitian immigrants in a post he made on social media, but GOP leadership stamped out the effort.

Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana described Haitians in racist terms Wednesday afternoon, calling them "wild. Eating pets, vudu, nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters" in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Higgins, a far-right lawmaker who has voiced conspiracy theories, deleted the post after Democrats confronted him on the House floor.