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 Prichard 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.