News - Friday, June 20, 2025

In 2016, Sei-Ondra Williams threw a party to celebrate a decade as a Realtor. Dozens of guests gathered at a North Shore event space ahead of her arrival, enjoying refreshments and live music as they waited. Once the room had filled with people – and anticipation – the doors opened and she stepped in.

Tucked beneath Chattanooga’s iconic Walnut Street Bridge, Pedestrian Wine and Cheese has turned a busy corner of Frazier Avenue into an inviting destination for wine lovers, cheese enthusiasts and curious passersby.

The business, which held its grand opening and ribbon-cutting with the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce this month, offers more than bottles and bites – it’s also a celebration of art and community.

The latest seismic wave in the ever-changing landscape of college athletics will keep administrators and outside forces checking their balance – and balance sheets – when it emerges July 1.

Less than two weeks remain before the recently approved House settlement – a landmark $2.8 billion antitrust case against the NCAA – goes into effect, and everyone involved is scrambling to find the best way to implement the far-reaching agreement that will forever change the business of college athletics.

By Herald staff

Beverly Edge, chief operating officer, general counsel and partner at HHM CPAs, has been named one of Chattanooga’s 2025 Women of Distinction. The honor recognizes her professional achievements and dedication to civic and philanthropic causes throughout the region.

City and county officials, development leaders and community partners gathered Monday morning at the corner of 26th and Cowart streets to break ground on Broadview, a $22 million luxury condominium development in the heart of Chattanooga’s Foundries District.

The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera has announced its 2025-26 season. Titled “Reflection,” it will mark the beginning of a three-year initiative titled “Unspoken – Our Stories Through Sound.”

Framed as a musical exploration of the past, present and future, the new season will invite audiences to “reflect on history through a tapestry of orchestral storytelling,” writes CSO Music Director Ilya Ram in a message to patrons.

Perhaps you’ve heard the expression: “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” It’s certainly true about an unexpected job loss. And it may cause stress over your financial situation. Here are a handful of steps you can take shortly after the loss of employment to help put yourself in the best financial position. Some of these are time-sensitive, so the sooner you act, the better.

Chattanooga Tourism Co. is kicking off the next phase of a strategic effort to strengthen Hamilton County’s role as a destination for sports tourism with a series of site visits in June. These visits are part of a sports tourism facilities assessment that aims to evaluate the county’s tournament-ready venues and identify opportunities for future development.

There are some new cars that many shoppers tend to overlook even though they have a lot to offer. These hidden gems boast a special combination of attractive qualities and can potentially make excellent choices for savvy folks who want their ride to stand out from the sea of mainstream vehicles. 

Active Older Adults events. The city of Red Bank’s Active Older Adult program continues to feature free classes and special events aimed at residents 55 and older. All activities will take place at the Red Bank Community Center, located at 3653 Tom Weathers Drive. This month’s highlights include a return visit from local author and historian Lawrence Miller, who will present historic photos and stories about Red Bank Monday, June 9. On Thursday, June 26, Red Bank Police Sergeant Steve Hope will lead a discussion on fraud prevention and theft awareness. In addition to these events, the AOA program continues to offer chair yoga, qi gong, guided exercise, music jam, bingo and art sessions presented by The Chattery and supported by a grant from Tennessee Arts Build. Information: www.redbanktn.gov/316/Red-Bank-Active-Older-Adults and @redbanktn on Facebook.

God bless Southern Baptists. They may mystify, they may disappoint, but seldom do they surprise.

Take the recent annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas. Delegates, known as “messengers,” voted “overwhelmingly” that the 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage should be overturned.

HARTFORD, Tenn. (AP) — Heavy rain, flooding and a rock slide have again closed a section of the major cross country highway Interstate 40 along its narrow corridor through the Great Smoky Mountains with engineers expecting the road closed for at least two weeks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Farmers, cattle ranchers and hotel and restaurant managers breathed a sigh of relief last week when President Donald Trump ordered a pause to immigration raids that were disrupting those industries and scaring foreign-born workers off the job.

LONDON (AP) — Music streaming service Deezer said Friday that it will start flagging albums with AI-generated songs, part of its fight against streaming fraudsters.

Deezer, based in Paris, is grappling with a surge in music on its platform created using artificial intelligence tools it says are being wielded to earn royalties fraudulently.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is in the homestretch of a term that has lately been dominated by the Trump administration's emergency appeals of lower court orders seeking to slow President Donald Trump's efforts to remake the federal government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday revived long-running lawsuits against Palestinian authorities from Americans who were killed or wounded in terrorism attacks in the Middle East.

The justices upheld a 2019 law enacted by Congress specifically to allow the victims' lawsuits to go forward against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An appeals court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump to keep control of National Guard troops he deployed to Los Angeles following protests over immigration raids.

The decision halts a ruling from a lower court judge who found Trump acted illegally when he activated the soldiers over opposition from California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. lawmakers on Friday approved a bill to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their lives, taking it one step nearer to becoming law.

The vote backing what is generally termed " assisted dying " — sometimes referred to as "assisted suicide" — is potentially the biggest change to social policy in the U.K. since abortion was partially legalized in 1967.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump honored Juneteenth in each of his first four years as president, even before it became a federal holiday. He even claimed once to have made it "very famous."

But on this year's Juneteenth holiday on Thursday, the usually talkative president kept silent about a day important to Black Americans for marking the end of slavery in the country he leads again.

KAKUMA, Kenya (AP) — Martin Komol sighs as he inspects his cracked, mud-walled house that is one rain away from fully collapsing. Nothing seems to last for him and 300,000 other refugees in this remote Kakuma camp in Kenya — now, not even food rations.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel and Iran exchanged strikes a week into their war Friday as President Donald Trump weighed U.S. military involvement and new diplomatic efforts got underway.

Trump has been weighing whether to attack Iran by striking its well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which is buried under a mountain and widely considered to be out of reach of all but America's "bunker-buster" bombs. He said he'll decide within two weeks whether the U.S. military will get directly involved in the war given the "substantial chance" for renewed negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As the war between Israel and Iran hits the one-week mark, Iranians have spent nearly half of the conflict in a near-communication blackout, unable to connect not only with the outside world but also with their neighbors and loved ones across the country.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Former state Sen. Frank Niceley, a farmer and longtime conservative lawmaker known for his colorful comments on Tennessee's Capitol Hill, died Thursday. He was 78.

Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Coffey confirmed that Niceley was found on a tractor on his family farm in Strawberry Plains on Thursday and later died at the hospital. Coffey said the cause of death is a suspected heart attack.

MEMPHIS (AP) — A man has been charged with an attempted kidnapping of the mayor of Memphis after he went to the mayor's house in a gated community and was later arrested with a Taser, gloves, rope and duct tape in his vehicle, according to police.

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. government to free former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from the immigration detention center where he has been held since early March while the Trump administration sought to deport him over his role in pro-Palestinian protests.

A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration's efforts to keep Harvard University from hosting international students, delivering the Ivy League school another victory as it challenges multiple government sanctions amid a battle with the White House.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a push from an Illinois toy company asking for a quick decision on the legality of President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Learning Resources Inc. wanted the justices to take up the case soon, rather than let it continue to play out in lower courts. The company argues the tariffs and uncertainty are having a "massive impact" on businesses around the country and the issue needs swift attention from the nation's highest court.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sided with e-cigarette companies on Friday in a ruling making it easier to sue over Food and Drug Administration decisions blocking their products from the multibillion-dollar vaping market.

The 7-2 opinion comes as companies push back against a yearslong federal regulatory crackdown on electronic cigarettes. It's expected to give the companies more control over which judges hear lawsuits filed against the agency.

NEW YORK (AP) — A group of Democratic lawmakers in Texas is asking Elon Musk to delay the planned rollout of driverless 'robotaxis' in the state this weekend to assure that the vehicles are safe.

In a letter, seven state legislators asked Tesla to wait until September when a new law takes effect that will require several checks before autonomous vehicles can be deployed without a human in the driver's seat. Tesla is slated to begin testing a dozen of what it calls robotaxis for paying customers on Sunday in a limited area of Austin, Texas.

NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers at cybersecurity outlet Cybernews say that billions of login credentials have been leaked and compiled into datasets online, giving criminals "unprecedented access" to accounts consumers use each day.

According to a report published this week, Cybernews researchers have recently discovered 30 exposed datasets that each contain a vast amount of login information — amounting to a total of 16 billion compromised credentials. That includes user passwords for a range of popular platforms including Google, Facebook and Apple.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans have suffered a sizable setback on one key aspect of President Donald Trump's big bill after their plans to gut the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and other provisions from the Senate Banking Committee ran into procedural violations with the Senate parliamentarian.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden, repeating his baseless claim that the contest was marred by widespread fraud.

"Biden was grossly incompetent, and the 2020 election was a total FRAUD!" Trump said in a social media post in which he also sought to favorably contrast his immigration enforcement approach with that of the former president. "The evidence is MASSIVE and OVERWHELMING. A Special Prosecutor must be appointed. This cannot be allowed to happen again in the United States of America! Let the work begin!"

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear the appeal of a former Louisiana prison inmate whose dreadlocks were cut off by prison guards in violation of his religious beliefs.

The justices will review an appellate ruling that held that the former inmate, Damon Landor, could not sue prison officials for money damages under a federal law aimed at protecting prisoners' religious rights.

NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judge in Tennessee plans to order the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes edged higher in May, as stubbornly high mortgage rates and rising prices made homebuying less affordable even as the inventory of properties on the market continued to increase.

Existing home sales rose 0.8% last month from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.03 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Still, the sales pace was the slowest for the month of May going back to 2009, when the market was still reeling from a housing crash. April and March's sales pace were also the slowest for those months going back to 2009.

The nation's major health insurers are promising to scale back and improve a widely despised practice that leads to care delays and complications.

UnitedHealthcare, CVS Health's Aetna and dozens of other insurers say they plan to reduce the scope of health care claims subject to prior authorization, standardize parts of the process and expand responses done in real time.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's media company plans to buy back up to $400 million of its stock, which have lost 46% of their value this year.

Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates the Truth Social media platform, said Monday that the acquisition will improve its financial flexibility. It will retire the shares after they are purchased, meaning these particular shares can't be reissued.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday called for the U.S. and other oil-producing economies to pump more oil as crude prices remain volatile following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Trump urged stepped-up production as the White House sharpened its warnings to Iran against closing the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil and gas shipping lane, in retaliation for the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear program.

Americans' support for green energy tax credits and renewable energies like wind and solar power has decreased in recent years, according to a new poll, driven by a softening in support from Democrats and independents.

The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that U.S. adults' support for tax credits for electric vehicles and solar panels has weakened, as well as their enthusiasm for offshore wind farm expansion. While Democrats remain the strongest supporters of these initiatives, the poll reveals signs of growing cynicism within their ranks.

NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk promised in 2019 that driverless Tesla "robotaxis" would be on the road "next year," but it didn't happen. A year later, he promised to deliver them the next year, but that didn't happen either.

Despite the empty pledges the promises kept coming. Last year in January, Musk said, "Next year for sure, we'll have over a million robotaxis."

MADRID (AP) — Suitcases rattle against cobblestones. Selfie-snappers jostle for the same shot. Ice cream shops are everywhere. Europe has been called the world's museum, but its record numbers of visitors have also made it ground zero for concerns about overtourism.

MEMPHIS (AP) — Fred Smith, the FedEx Corp. founder who revolutionized the express delivery industry, has died, the company said. He was 80.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's decision to launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites without fully consulting the U.S. Congress layered a partisan approach onto a risky action, particularly because the White House briefed top Republican leaders beforehand while leaving Democrats with little information.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The massive tax and spending cuts package that President Donald Trump wants on his desk by July 4 would loosen regulations on gun silencers and certain types of rifles and shotguns, advancing a longtime priority of the gun industry as Republican leaders in the House and Senate try to win enough votes to pass the bill.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday called into question the future of Iran's ruling theocracy after a surprise attack on three of the country's nuclear sites, seemingly contradicting his administration's earlier calls to resume negotiations and avoid an escalation in fighting.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The world grappled Sunday with the United States inserting itself into Israel's war by attacking Iranian nuclear sites, an operation that raised urgent questions about what remained of Tehran's nuclear program and how its weakened military might respond.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has doubled the number of emergency evacuation flights it is providing for American citizens wishing to leave Israel, ordered the departure of nonessential staff from the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon and is stepping up travel warnings around the Middle East because of concerns Iran will retaliate against U.S. interests in the region for the weekend strikes on its nuclear facilities.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to restart swift removals of migrants to countries other than their homelands, lifting for now a court order requiring they get a chance to challenge the deportations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal jury on Monday awarded $500,000 to the widow and estate of a police officer who killed himself nine days after he helped defend the U.S. Capitol from a mob of rioters, including a man who scuffled with the officer during the attack.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge who blocked the Trump administration from dismantling Voice of America is seeking more information from the government about whether it is complying with his order preserving the 83-year-old international news service.

LONDON (AP) — There is a history-rich part of London that few people have seen, where the city braced for the Blitz, James Bond's creator got inspiration and secret Cold War messages passed between Washington and Moscow.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman on Monday said the central bank should consider cutting its key interest rate as soon as its next meeting in July, underscoring deep divisions among Fed officials as they endure sharp criticism from the White House.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A Republican-sponsored proposal before Congress to mandate the sale of federal public lands received a mixed reception Monday from the governors of Western states.

A budget proposal from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee would mandate the sale of more than 2 million acres of federal lands to state or other entities. It was included recently in a draft provision of the GOP's sweeping tax cut package.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran launched missile attacks Monday on a U.S. military bases in Qatar and Iraq, retaliating for the American bombing of its nuclear sites and escalating tensions in the volatile region.

People in Doha, Qatar's capital, stopped and looked up as missiles flew and interceptors fired and struck at least one missile in the night sky.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Justice Department official suggested the Trump administration might have to ignore court orders as it prepared to deport Venezuelan migrants it accused of being gang members, a fired department lawyer alleged in a whistleblower complaint made public Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday blocked another effort by the Trump administration to keep international students from attending Harvard University, saying officials' "misplaced efforts to control a reputable academic institution" threatened freedom of speech.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans have hit a roadblock in an effort that could deter nonprofits, individuals and other potential litigants from filing lawsuits to block President Donald Trump over his executive actions.

As Trump faces lawsuits nationwide, GOP lawmakers had sought to bar federal courts from issuing temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions against the federal government unless the plaintiffs post what in many cases would be a massive financial bond at the beginning of the case.

CLAYMONT, Del. (AP) — Lawmakers in Texas, Oklahoma and Nevada have recently approved changes aimed at helping their states dip into the lucrative side of corporate litigation that Delaware, with a specialized court and business-friendly laws, has dominated as the world's incorporation capital.

NEW YORK (AP) — Six months ago, Jennifer Rubin had no idea whether she'd make it in a new media world. She just knew it was time to leave The Washington Post, where she'd been a political columnist for 15 years.

LONDON (AP) — Google could be forced to let British users choose whether to use rival search services, the country's antitrust watchdog said Tuesday as it proposed using new digital regulations to boost competition.

The Competition and Markets Authority said its "priority measures" include requiring Google to present users with "choice screens" when they use key products like the Chrome browser and Android mobile operating system.

TWINSBURG, Ohio (AP) — When Judy Sautner recently walked into Power Appliance, a store in a southeastern suburb of Cleveland, she had one goal in mind: replace her daughter's broken dryer with something that worked and didn't break the bank.

"I wasn't really worried about all the bells and whistles," said Sautner.

LINDEN, New Jersey (AP) — At a trucking school in New Jersey, students are maneuvering 18-wheelers around traffic cones. Other future drivers look under hoods to perform safety checks, narrating as they examine steering hoses for cracks and leaks.

A laser navigating tool doomed a Japanese company's lunar lander earlier this month, causing it to crash into the moon.

Officials for ispace announced the news from Tokyo on Tuesday. The crash landing was the second for ispace in two years.

This time, the company's lander named Resilience was aiming for the moon's far north in Mare Frigoris, or Sea of Cold. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter relayed pictures of the crash site last week where Resilience and its mini rover ended up as wreckage.

Charities received $592.5 billion in donations in 2024, a 3.3% increase over 2023, after adjusting for inflation, according to the most recent " Giving USA " report, which takes a comprehensive look at U.S. philanthropy. Only one major cause — religion — saw an inflation-adjusted decline in giving.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' view of the U.S. economy worsened in June, resuming a downward slide that had dragged consumer confidence to its lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index slid to 93 in June, down 5.4 points from 98.4 last month, which represented a brief uptick.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve will continue to wait and see how the economy evolves before deciding whether to reduce its key interest rate, Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday, a stance directly at odds with President Donald Trump's calls for immediate cuts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump took office in January pledging to "make America the crypto capital of the world." He has since harnessed wide swaths of the federal government to bolster the industry — all while raking in huge sums of money for his family's business.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump isn't the first president to order military strikes without congressional approval. But his decision to bomb Iran comes at a uniquely volatile moment — both at home and abroad.

Overseas, the U.S. risks deeper entanglement in the Middle East if fighting erupts again between Israel and Iran. At home, Trump continues to sidestep oversight, showing little regard for checks and balances.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — NATO leaders were gathering in the Netherlands on Tuesday for the start of a historic two-day summit that could unite the world's biggest security organization around a new defense spending pledge or widen divisions among the 32 allies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday injected some uncertainty over whether the U.S. would abide by the mutual defense guarantees outlined in the NATO treaty as he headed to its summit — comments that could revive longstanding concern from European allies about his commitment to the military alliance.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of Congress will hear directly from President Donald Trump's intelligence leaders Tuesday, receiving classified briefings just three days after Trump directed strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and a day after Iran struck a U.S. base in Qatar.

BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was in effect Tuesday after the deal initially faltered and the American leader expressed deep frustration with both sides.

Israel had earlier accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace after the truce was supposed to take effect and the Israeli finance minister vowed "Tehran will tremble."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security is warning of a "heightened threat environment" following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and the deputy FBI director says the bureau's "assets are fully engaged" to prevent retaliatory violence, while local law enforcement agencies in major cities like New York say they're on high alert.

NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators filled out their coaching staff by hiring former Chicago Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson as an assistant on Tuesday.

Richardson joins Derek MacKenzie, Darby Hendrickson and goaltending coach Ben Vanderklok on coach Andrew Brunette's staff. General manager Barry Trotz said Richardson brings a wealth of NHL experience as both player and coach.

Turning a racetrack into a baseball field worthy of hosting Major League Baseball takes time and a plan.

Demolition started in early June with heavy construction now in high gear to transform Bristol Motor Speedway into a ballpark — if only for the Aug. 2 Speedway Classic between the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds in the first MLB game in the state of Tennessee.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to clear the way for the deportation of several immigrants to South Sudan, a war-ravaged country where they have no ties.

The motion comes a day after the justices allowed immigration officials to restart quick deportations to third countries, halting a lower-court order that had allowed migrants to challenge removals to countries where they could be in danger.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks climbed near their all-time high after oil prices eased further on hopes that Israel's war with Iran will not damage the global flow of crude. The S&P 500 rallied 1.1% Tuesday and got back within 0.8% of its record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2%, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.4%. Oil prices fell roughly 6% and are below where they were before the Israel-Iran conflict began. That could give the Federal Reserve leeway to cut interest rates to help the economy, and its chair said it's waiting for the right time to do so.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Robert Garcia was elected the top Democrat on the powerful House Oversight Committee on Tuesday, charting a new direction for the party's opposition to congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump's administration.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A plan to sell more than 2 million acres of federal lands has been ruled out of Republicans' big tax and spending cut bill after the Senate parliamentarian determined the proposal by Senate Energy Chairman Mike Lee would violate the chamber's rules.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Tuesday postponed classified briefings for Senate and House members as lawmakers look for more answers about President Donald Trump's directed strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend and his announcement on Monday that the two countries had reached a ceasefire agreement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump wanted the brief and explosive American intervention in the Middle East to end with the satisfying tidiness of a prime-time season finale.

After days of stoking suspense over whether he would help Israel's attacks on Iran, followed by a spectacular bombing mission against nuclear facilities, he announced a surprise ceasefire deal to bring the war to a close.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Christian Moore made it to the big leagues less than 11 months after the Los Angeles Angels drafted him.

A mere 10 days after he got that call, Moore felt he truly arrived Tuesday night when he hit two clutch homers to beat the Red Sox.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Christian Gray scored Auckland City's first goal of the Club World Cup early in the second half before a 50-minute suspension caused by lightning in the area, and the amateur team gained a 1-1 draw against Boca Juniors on Tuesday as the Argentine club was eliminated.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia is expected to be released from jail in Tennessee on Wednesday, only to be taken into immigration custody.

The Salvadoran national whose mistaken deportation became a flashpoint in the fight over President Donald Trump's immigration policies has been in jail since he was returned to the U.S. on June 7, facing two counts of human smuggling.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana filed several lawsuits accusing pharmaceutical giant CVS of abusing customer information and using its dominant market position to drive up drug costs and unfairly undermine independent pharmacies, the state's attorney general said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Justice Department official under scrutiny over a whistleblower's claims that he suggested ignoring court orders will face questions on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as he seeks to be confirmed as a federal appeals court judge.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to release billions of dollars in funding for the build out of electric vehicle chargers in more than a dozen states.

U.S. District Judge Tana Lin in Washington state partially granted a preliminary injunction that sought to free up the money approved under then-President Joe Biden that the Trump administration withheld earlier this year. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia sued over the move, arguing that the administration did not have the authority to block the congressionally approved funds. The program was set to allocate $5 billion over five years to various states, of which an estimated $3.3 billion had already been made available.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, it looked as though the United States was steadily climbing toward a consensus on same-sex marriage. But 10 years after the Supreme Court ruled that there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, the split between Republicans and Democrats on the issue is wider than it's been in decades.

SANDHURST, England (AP) — Hunched over laptops, the team of four raced to solve a challenge: how to get a set of drones to fly themselves from one place to another when GPS and other signals are jammed by an enemy.

Elsewhere around the hall, groups of people — engineering students, tech workers and hobbyists — gathered around long tables to brainstorm, write computer code or tinker with more drones and other hardware.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has found that the California Department of Education and the state's high school sports federation violated civil rights law by allowing transgender girls to compete on girls sports teams.

The federal Education Department announced the finding Wednesday and proposed a resolution that would require California to bar transgender women from women's sports and strip transgender athletes of records, titles and awards. It's the latest escalation in the Republican administration's effort to bar transgender athletes from women's sports teams nationwide.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The budget bill championed by President Donald Trump could complicate next year's tax filing season after the IRS lost one-quarter of its employees through staffing cuts, an independent watchdog reported Wednesday.

The IRS workforce has fallen from 102,113 workers to 75,702 over the past year, according to the latest National Taxpayer Advocate report to Congress. The report Wednesday offered the first official numbers on the IRS job losses associated with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — NATO leaders agreed on Wednesday on a massive hike in defense spending after pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, and expressed their "ironclad commitment" to come to each other's aid if attacked.

The 32 leaders endorsed a final summit statement saying: "Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defense requirements as well as defense- and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations."

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump huddled on Wednesday with members of a NATO alliance that he has worked to bend to his will over the years and affirmed his commitment to their pledge to defend each other after previously casting doubt.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says "NO ONE GOES ON VACATION" until the big, beautiful bill is on his desk by the Fourth of July deadline. And Republicans in Congress are staying put to get it done.

The Senate is gearing up for weekend work, while House Speaker Mike Johnson told lawmakers Tuesday to keep their schedules "flexible" as they prepare for more votes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to set aside an effort to impeach President Donald Trump on a sole charge of abuse of power after he launched military strikes on Iran without first seeking authorization from Congress

The sudden action forced by a lone Democrat, Rep. Al Green of Texas, brought little debate and split his party. Most Democrats joined the Republican majority to table the measure, for now. But dozens of Democrats backed Green's effort. The tally was 344-79.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that U.S. strikes delivered a crushing blow to Iran's nuclear program despite a preliminary American intelligence assessment suggesting that the assault inflicted only a marginal setback.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. intelligence report suggests that Iran's nuclear program has been set back only a few months after U.S. strikes and was not "completely and fully obliterated" as President Donald Trump has said, according to two people familiar with the early assessment.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding on Wednesday after a rocky start, giving rise to cautious hope that it could lead to a long-term peace agreement even as Tehran insists it will not give up its nuclear program.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a 48-hour whirlwind, President Donald Trump veered from elated to indignant to triumphant as his fragile Israel-Iran ceasefire agreement came together, teetered toward collapse and ultimately coalesced.

Trump, as he worked to seal the deal, publicly harangued the Israelis and Iranians with a level of pique that's notable even for a commander in chief who isn't shy about letting the world know what he thinks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hackers backing Tehran have targeted U.S. banks, defense contractors and oil industry companies following American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities — but so far have not caused widespread disruptions to critical infrastructure or the economy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Justice Department official nominated to become a federal appeals court judge said Wednesday that he never told department attorneys to ignore court orders, denying the account of a whistleblower who detailed a campaign to defy judges to carry out President Donald Trump's deportation plans.

ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new vaccine advisers alarmed pediatricians Wednesday by announcing inquiries into some long-settled questions about children's shots.

Opening the first meeting of Kennedy's handpicked seven-member panel, committee chairman Martin Kulldorff said he was appointing a work group to evaluate the "cumulative effect" of the children's vaccine schedule — the list of immunizations given at different times throughout childhood.

NEW YORK (AP) — Europeans still aren't buying Teslas with figures out Wednesday showing sales plunged for a fifth month in a row in May, a blow to investors who had hoped anger toward Elon Musk would have faded by now.

Tesla sales fell 28% last month in 30 European countries even as the overall market for electric vehicles expanded sharply, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association. The poor showing comes after Tesla's billionaire CEO had promised a "major rebound" was coming last month, adding to a recent buying frenzy among investors.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation introduced Wednesday in Congress would block Chinese artificial intelligence systems from federal agencies as a bipartisan group of lawmakers pledged to ensure that the United States would prevail against China in the global competition over AI.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Iran launched missiles at a U.S. military base in Qatar on Monday, threatening to stoke a wider conflict in the Middle East, a region that supplies the world with about a third of the oil used globally every year. That same day, benchmark U.S. crude tumbled more than 7%, one of the biggest single day sell-offs this year. The following day, the same thing happened, driving crude prices down by double digits this week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs will likely push up inflation in the coming months, even as some Republican senators suggested the chair was biased against the duties.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Online dating platform Bumble plans to lay off about 240 employees, or roughly 30% of its global workforce.

In a securities filing, Bumble disclosed that its board approved the cuts this week as it "realigns its operating structure to optimize execution on its strategic priorities." The Austin, Texas-based company expects to see $40 million in annual cost savings spanning from the workforce reductions, much of which it says it will invest in product and technology development.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — President Donald Trump will control the so-called "golden share" that's part of the national security agreement under which he allowed Japan-based Nippon Steel to buy out iconic American steelmaker U.S. Steel, according to disclosures with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.