News - Friday, April 18, 2025

The sounds of base ball resonate across McDonald Farm in Sale Creek as the Lightfoot Club takes on the Mountain City Club under a cloudless sky.

There’s the crack of a bat slapping a ball over the left fielder’s head. The approving cheers of the crowd. The “YOWCH!” as the third baseman stops a line drive with his bare hands.

It’s not fair to ask a geologist their favorite thing. The world is vast and wonderful and interesting, and so many amazing features exist at a variety of scales that tell us the history of our home. However, if I were forced to pick my favorite geologic feature in Chattanooga, which I have been asked to do, it would be the Cumberland Plateau.

Five founders from across the U.S. and around the world have arrived in Chattanooga to participate in the latest cohort of the Sustainable Mobility Accelerator, a 12-week program organized by The Company Lab (CO.LAB) in collaboration with national startup accelerator gener8tor.

By Herald staff

The J.A. Henry Community YMCA is opening its doors – and its ovens – to the community through a brand-new Teaching Kitchen and a fresh series of cooking classes designed to educate and inspire.

Beginning Tuesday, May 6, the YMCA will kick off a lineup of hands-on cooking sessions aimed at teaching participants how to cook nutritious, affordable meals at home – no prior experience required.

By Herald staff

The Chattanooga Chapter of the American Inns of Court raised $23,851.50 in December to support the Children’s Advocacy Center, continuing an annual tradition of giving back to vulnerable children and families in the region.

The Salvation Army of Greater Chattanooga will host the annual service at Chattanooga National Cemetery beginning at 7 a.m. Sunday. Major Douglas McClure, Chattanooga area commander, will lead the ceremony. The event is open to the public.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23

Holocaust commemoration

Chattanooga’s Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) commemoration will begin at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Cultural Center at 5461 North Terrace Road. The event is free and open to everyone in the community. The ceremony will consist of candle lighting and prayers to honor those lost to violence. Alison Vick will speak on the use of AI technology in Holocaust history and the Jewish Federation of Chattanooga will premiere a short movie musical titled “Malka.”

After more than a decade of leadership, Sarah Morgan is stepping down as president of the Benwood Foundation, capping a career that has helped shape Chattanooga’s civic, cultural and educational landscape.

Morgan’s retirement marks the end of a 13-year tenure.

Throughout my Realtor career, I’ve had the privilege of helping people from all walks of life achieve their dream of homeownership. But that dream must be equally accessible to everyone – and that’s where fair housing comes in. During Fair Housing Month, we take time to reflect on the importance of equity in housing and our responsibility to ensure that no one is left out of the process.

 Going through a divorce is emotionally painful and can disrupt one’s life in many ways. But does it also have to be financially devastating?

Not necessarily. You can help yourself greatly by making a series of moves. Here are some to consider:

Orangefoot Pimpleback. Monkeyface. Fuzzy Pigtoe.

No, these aren’t insults hurled by kindergarteners on the playground; they’re freshwater mussel species. Despite their playful monikers, these rock-like animals play a serious role in improving water quality in rivers and streams.

We were getting ready to hear Roberto Clemente talk about his Hall of Fame baseball career when Kayne casually said, “Derek Jeter is behind you.”

Neither of those statements is, strictly speaking, true. The Derek Jeter behind me – crouching at bat in his Yankees pinstripes – was a Madame Tussaud-style likeness. And the Roberto Clemente was Brian West, a real, live human being portraying a formerly alive Pittsburgh Pirate great.

Nico Iamaleava’s University of Tennessee football career began with him making national headlines for name, image and likeness (NIL) money. It’s ending that way, as well.

In a surprising turn of events, Iamaleava has decided to transfer from UT after the Vols failed to meet the quarterback’s demands for an increase in NIL money. Iamaleava, who was reportedly making $2.4 million from his NIL deal, was seeking to be paid $4 million this season.

In case you haven’t heard, the Tennessee Titans are getting ready to try again to draft and develop a franchise quarterback.

It’s something the franchise has tried to do on a semi-regular basis ever since Steve McNair was dealt to Baltimore in 2006. It comes around every few years here like a Rolling Stones tour or a cicada invasion.

Plug-in hybrid vehicles are perfect for people curious about going electric but who aren’t ready to give up the convenience of gasoline.

A plug-in hybrid is a hybrid with a larger battery that you can charge at home. It allows you to drive short distances on electricity, which can significantly reduce gasoline use. For longer trips, a plug-in hybrid runs on gasoline like a regular hybrid. That means you can drive one across the country without plugging it in. Just add gas.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's claim that it can't do anything to free Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison and return him to the U.S. "should be shocking," a federal appeals court said Thursday in a scathing order.

A three-judge panel from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously refused to suspend a judge's decision to order sworn testimony by Trump administration officials to determine if they complied with her instruction to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday kept on hold President Donald Trump's restrictions on birthright citizenship but agreed to hear arguments on the issue in May.

Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship for the children of people who are in the U.S. illegally has been halted nationwide by three district courts around the country. Appeals courts have declined to disturb those rulings.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google has been branded an abusive monopolist by a federal judge for the second time in less than a year, this time for illegally exploiting some of its online marketing technology to boost the profits fueling an internet empire currently worth $1.8 trillion.

For more than a century, the majority of colleges and universities have not paid most taxes. The Revenue Act of 1909 excused nonprofits operating "exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes" in order to continue acting in the public interest.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration has escalated its ongoing battle with Harvard, threatening to revoke the university's ability to host international students as the president called for withdrawing Harvard's tax-exempt status.

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 1,000 international students have had their visas or legal status revoked in recent weeks, and several have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, arguing the government denied them due process when it suddenly took away their permission to be in the U.S.

NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks rose, but the worst drop for UnitedHealth Group in a quarter of a century kept Wall Street in check.

The S&P 500 edged up 0.1% Thursday even as three-quarters of the stocks within the index climbed.

Surging U.S. tariffs will weaken the global economy and push up inflation this year, according to projections to be released next week by the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF's Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, said Thursday that the Trump administration's sharp increases in duties have caused global uncertainty to spike. The import taxes will slow global growth, but not cause a worldwide recession, she added. The details of the IMF's outlook will be issued Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump attacked Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday for not cutting interest rates and said he could fire him if he wanted to, renewing a threat from his first term that could cause a major legal showdown over the issue of the central bank's long-standing political independence.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced sweeping job cuts at his department last month, he said that safety inspectors who oversee U.S. foods and drugs wouldn't be impacted.

Those employees remain at the Food and Drug Administration, but dozens of others who supported their work are gone. The departed staffers include people who booked complex international trips to remote Indian pharmaceutical plants, lab scientists who tested food samples for contamination, and communication specialists who alerted the public to urgent safety recalls.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is drastically shrinking the workforce and mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, eviscerating an agency created after the Great Recession with the goal of protecting Americans from fraud, abuse and deceptive practices.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will withdraw about 600 troops from Syria, leaving fewer than 1,000 to work with Kurdish allies to counter the Islamic State group, a U.S. official said Thursday.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet announced publicly.

NEW YORK (AP) — Among the threats tariffs pose to the U.S. economy, none may be as strange as the sell-off in the dollar.

Currencies rise and fall all the time because of inflation fears, central bank moves and other factors. But economists worry that the recent drop in the dollar is so dramatic that it reflects something more ominous as President Donald Trump tries to reshape global trade: a loss of confidence in the U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has stepped up his attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the same time that the Supreme Court is considering a case that could make it easier for the president to fire him.

TOKYO (AP) — The new U.S. ambassador to Japan arrived in Tokyo on Friday and said he is optimistic that his country and its key Asian ally will reach a deal in their ongoing tariff negotiations.

George Glass, a prominent businessperson known for his background in finance, investment banking and technology, arrives as Washington and Tokyo are negotiating President Donald Trump's tariff measures, which have triggered worldwide concern about their impact on the economy and global trade.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — America's only rare earths mine heard from anxious companies soon after China responded to President Donald Trump's tariffs this month by limiting exports of those minerals used for military applications and in many high-tech devices.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Approximately 10,000 pages of records related to the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy were released Friday, continuing the disclosure of national secrets ordered by President Donald Trump.

Kennedy was fatally shot on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after giving his victory speech for winning California's Democratic presidential primary. His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life in prison.

WASHINGTON (AP) — First the nation's top law firms. Then its premier universities. Now, President Donald Trump is leaning on the advocacy groups that underpin U.S. civil society.

Trump said Thursday that the administration is looking at the tax-exempt status not just of Harvard, but environmental groups and specifically the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW. It could be a devastating financial blow to the nonprofit organizations — and his perceived political foes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new U.S. intelligence assessment found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government, contradicting statements that Trump administration officials have made to justify their invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan migrants, according to U.S. officials.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. airstrikes targeting an oil port held by Yemen's Houthi rebels killed 74 people and wounded 171 others, the group said Friday, marking the single-deadliest known attack under President Donald Trump's new campaign targeting the rebels.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For Democrats, the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case is about fundamental American ideals — due process, following court orders, preventing government overreach. For the Trump administration and Republicans, it's about foreigners and gang threats and danger in American towns and cities.

PARIS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the U.S. may "move on" from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.

JENA, La. (AP) — Amid rural Louisiana's crawfish farms, towering pine trees and cafes serving po'boys, nearly 7,000 people are waiting at immigration detention centers to learn whether they will be expelled from the United States.

If President Donald Trump's administration has its way, the capacity to hold tens of thousands more migrants will soon be added around the country as the U.S. seeks an explosive expansion of what is already the world's largest immigration detention system.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to stop blocking The Associated Press' from presidential events refused Friday to take immediate steps to get White House officials to comply — an incremental development in a two-month dispute between the global news agency and administration officials over access.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judiciary is warning that Congress is not providing enough money for judges' security, at a time of escalating threats and chilling efforts at intimidation.

More than five dozen judges handling lawsuits against the Trump administration are receiving "enhanced online security screening" that typically includes scrubbing their personal information from the internet, two federal judges appointed by Republican presidents wrote on behalf of the judiciary in a letter to congressional appropriators.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge who blocked President Donald Trump's administration from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ruled Friday that the bureau can't go forward immediately with plans to mass fire hundreds of employees.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — President Donald Trump's executive order to boost the U.S. commercial fishing industry drew praise from commercial fishing groups and condemnation from environmental organizations who said they fear cutting regulations will harm fish populations that have already dwindled in some areas of the oceans.

NEW YORK (AP) — The pending merger between Capital One and Discover Financial services received approval from several regulators Friday, bringing the $35 billion tie-up closer to completion.

The Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency signed off on the deal, which was first announced in February 2024.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just days after being promoted to acting IRS commissioner, the whistleblower who testified publicly about investigations into Hunter Biden's taxes is out again, according to three people familiar with the decision.

Gary Shapley, who previously testified to Congress as Republicans reviewed the business dealings of Joe Biden's son, will be replaced by Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender, according to the three people, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the move and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A U.S. airstrike on an important oil port held by Yemen's Houthi rebels killed more than 70 people and wounded many others, marking a major escalation in the military campaign President Donald Trump launched last month against the Iranian-backed group.

PARIS (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday said negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are "coming to a head" and insisted that neither side is "playing" him in his push to end the grinding war.

Trump spoke after Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned earlier in the day that the U.S. may "move on" from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.