News - Friday, November 28, 2025

On Nov. 21, the second division courtroom in which Judge Tom Greenholtz once pronounced his rulings felt more like a gathering of old colleagues than a place of criminal proceedings as attorneys, judges and friends filled the benches to witness the unveiling of Greenholtz’s portrait.

The first thing visitors might notice inside Black Cat Spa and Lounge is the scent. It drifts through the air – earthy, citrusy or warmly spiced, depending on which custom candle is glowing – and signals that the world outside has been dialed down a few degrees.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has released its first conceptual renderings for the long-anticipated redevelopment of historic Engel Stadium, offering the public an early look at plans to transform the former baseball venue into a new home for UTC women’s athletics and the Hamilton County Health Department.

On a warm autumn afternoon, with school groups milling nearby and civic leaders gathered under the shadow of the Tennessee Aquarium’s familiar peaked roofs, a significant shift unfolded on the Aquarium Plaza. After more than three decades of delivering educational programming from scattered corners of its campus, the Tennessee Aquarium opened the STREAM Learning Center – a centralized home for the hands-on learning that has touched students and educators since the Aquarium’s debut in 1992.

Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers is continuing its march across Tennessee, opening its newest Chattanooga-area restaurant last week at 1833 Gunbarrel Road.

The fast-growing chain, known nationally for its minimalist menu and cult-favorite Cane’s Sauce, is the company’s second Chattanooga-area location following a Hixson opening in January that Doug Haley, area leader of restaurants for Raising Cane’s, says has performed well.

For most people, a home is more than just four walls and a roof. It’s a place filled with memories and has significant meaning to you and your loved ones. That’s why it’s beneficial to start thinking now about how this major financial investment property should be handled if you’re unable to manage it or after you’re gone.

Cempa Community Care’s director of clinic services, Amy Eldridge, has been appointed to the Regional Health Council following a unanimous vote by the Hamilton County Commission. The appointment came on the recommendation of District 8 Commissioner Mike Chauncey.

Hamilton County aSchools has approved Centerstone to continue providing school-based mental health services following its recent request for proposal process, extending a partnership that has supported students and families for more than a decade.

Giving to charity feels good, but understanding the tax benefits can benefit both the charity and you. Whether you donate regularly or are planning your first gift, knowing how charitable tax deductions work can help you make informed decisions while supporting causes you care about. Here are things to consider:

You must’ve spent that five bucks that was tucked in your wallet’s secret compartment.

Where and when is a good question. A cold drink, a hot one, a snack, who knows? You’ll just tuck another Lincoln away and there you go - covered, until the next time you need a fiver and it’s not there. 

The University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt University have played 118 football games in a rivalry dating back to 1892. They have witnessed just about everything possible on the field over the 133-year span. This season, however, will provide a consequential milestone.

The end of the year is approaching, and there will be some compelling options available if you’re shopping for an inexpensive SUV. One of the newest is the Chevrolet Trax. The Trax is Chevy’s smallest crossover SUV, yet it’s practical for its size and comes well equipped with the latest technology features.

ATLANTA (AP) — A judge on Wednesday dismissed the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and others after the prosecutor who took over the case said he would not pursue the charges, ending the last effort to punish the president in the courts for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee death row inmate Harold Wayne Nichols on Monday declined to choose between the electric chair and lethal injection for his Dec. 11 execution, meaning the state will default to lethal injection.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won't immediately allow the Trump administration to fire the director of the U.S. Copyright Office, instead delaying a decision until after they rule in two other high-profile firing cases.

The justices' Wednesday order leaves in effect for now lower court rulings that held that the official, Shira Perlmutter, could not be unilaterally fired.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A Massachusetts woman who was once engaged to the brother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt remains in ICE custody two weeks after being arrested on her way to pick up the son she shares with her former fiancé.

Bruna Ferreira, 33, was driving to her son's school in New Hampshire on Nov. 12 when she was pulled over in Revere, Massachusetts, her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, said Wednesday.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vanderbilt has given coach Clark Lea a contract extension after he led the Commodores to their best regular season since 1915 and put the program that began in 1890 within one victory of its first 10-win season.

Athletic director Candice Storey Lee announced the extension Friday for Lea, the 2024 Southeastern Conference coach of the year. The private university did not announce the length or money involved, but the extension reportedly is for six years.

NASHVILLE (AP) — The Jacksonville Jaguars are showing how quickly a franchise can turn around in a coach's first season.

Trevor Lawrence threw for 229 yards and two touchdowns and the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans 25-3 Sunday for their third straight victory.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Titans running back Julius Chestnut said Jacksonville Jaguars punter Logan Cooke said he was going to kill him during Sunday's game.

Chestnut blocked Cooke as the punter got a leg up to trip Titans returner Chimere Dike at the end of a 47-yard return with 14:06 left. Cooke was hurt and evaluated for a concussion before returning to punt at the end of the Jaguars' next series.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Less than a month after Democrats scored a string of victories over Republicans in the Nov. 4 general election, the next test at the ballot box for both parties heading into the 2026 midterm season will be Tuesday in a Tennessee special congressional election on usually reliable GOP turf.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Alina Habba is disqualified from serving as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor despite his administration's maneuvers to keep her in the role, an appeals court said Monday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For many children, the experience of getting their first pair of glasses is an inevitable milestone, the first in a lifetime of visits to the eye doctor.

But what if those lenses could actually help preserve the child's vision and reduce the chances for more serious eye problems in adulthood?

NEW YORK (AP) — Chain stores have Black Friday. Online marketplaces have Cyber Monday. For local businesses, it's Small Business Saturday.

In the last 20 years, more segments of the retail industry have vied for their own piece of the holiday shopping season. The travel trade has firmly joined the trend with another post-Thanksgiving sales push: Travel Tuesday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Cat Murphy, a college student, has wanted to be a journalist since she was 11. Many of her friends don't understand why.

When they engage with the news — if they do — they hear a cacophony of voices. They don't know who to believe. Reporters are biased. They make mistakes. Besides, why would you hitch your future to a dying industry?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The holiday season is a time for giving thanks, giving gifts — and for many, a time for giving back.

Food banks, services that deliver meals to seniors and other U.S. charities typically see a surge in volunteering between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. But there are good reasons to volunteer at any time of the year.

NEW YORK (AP) — Major retail chains and tech companies are offering new or updated artificial intelligence tools in time for the holiday shopping season, hoping to give consumers an easier gift-buying experience and themselves an augmented share of online spending.

NEW YORK (AP) — Deals promoted as some of the best of the holiday season are expected to keep people across the United States glued to their computers and smartphones as the post-Thanksgiving shopping marathon wraps up on Cyber Monday.

It's no secret that buying things online is now a staple of many people's everyday routines. And year after year, those purchases mount during the gift-giving holiday rush. Experts expect consumers to drive record Cyber Monday spending this year, even amid wider economic uncertainty.

WASHINGTON (AP) — From corporate executives to Wall Street analysts to Federal Reserve officials, references to the "K-shaped economy" are rapidly proliferating.

So what does it mean? Simply put, the upper part of the K refers to higher-income Americans seeing their incomes and wealth rise while the bottom part points to lower-income households struggling with weaker income gains and steep prices.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday defended his Treasury chief against opposition claims that she misled the public and the markets about the state of the public finances before last week's budget.

Starmer said "there was no misleading" in the run-up to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves' tax-hiking budget, which the government hopes will raise money to reduce government borrowing, invest in infrastructure and public services, ease the cost of living and spur elusive economic growth.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of former investment manager David Gentile, who was convicted of defrauding investors — the latest in a series of clemency actions Trump has taken in white-collar criminal cases.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he'll release the results of his MRI test that he received in October.

"If you want to have it released, I'll release it," the Republican president said Sunday during an exchange with reporters as he traveled back to Washington from Florida.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers from both parties said Sunday they support congressional reviews of U.S. military strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, citing a published report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order for all crew members to be killed as part of a Sept. 2 attack.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon's investigation of Sen. Mark Kelly over a video that urges American troops to defy "illegal orders" has raised a slew of questions, and some criticism, from legal experts.

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia is The Associated Press college football national player of the week for the second time in four weeks.

He threw for 268 yards and a touchdown and ran for a career-high 165 yards and a score in the Commodores' 45-24 win over in-state rival Tennessee. It was his second game with 200-plus yards passing and more than 100 yards rushing.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s controversial vaccine advisory committee will be meeting later this week under a new chairperson, federal officials announced Monday.

Martin Kulldorff is leaving the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to take a leadership role within the Department of Health and Human Services, officials said.

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. has secured a 0% tariff rate for all U.K. medicines exported to the U.S. for at least three years, officials said Monday, in return for the U.K. spending more on new medicines.

Under the deal, the U.S. agreed to exempt U.K.-origin pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical ingredients, and medical technology from import taxes.

NEW YORK (AP) — Starbucks will pay about $35 million to more than 15,000 New York City workers to settle claims it denied them stable schedules and arbitrarily cut their hours, city officials announced Monday.

The company will also pay $3.4 million in civil penalties under the agreement with the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. It also agrees to comply with the city's Fair Workweek law going forward.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Monday that a Navy admiral ordered a second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea and insists that a September attack that has come under bipartisan scrutiny was lawful.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered a justification for the Sept. 2 strike after lawmakers from both parties on Sunday announced support for congressional reviews of U.S. military strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, citing a published report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order for a second strike that killed survivors on the boat in that incident.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Leveling a second strike on the survivors of an initial attack on an alleged drug boat would have been a crime, legal experts say.

It doesn't matter whether the U.S. is in "armed conflict" with drug cartels as the Trump administration asserts. Such a fatal attack would have violated peacetime laws and those governing armed conflict, the experts say.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that three of his New York offices were targeted with emailed bomb threats from an email address alleging the "2020 election was rigged."

Schumer said in a statement that local law enforcement received bomb threats referencing his offices in Rochester, Binghamton and Long Island with the email subject line "MAGA."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump' s doctor says the president had MRI imaging on his heart and abdomen in October as part of a preventative screening for men his age, according to a memo from the physician released by the White House on Monday.

NASHVILLE (AP) — President Donald Trump and Republicans will try to bounce back from recent losses around the country when Tennessee voters choose the next representative for the reliably conservative 7th U.S. House Congressional District on Tuesday.

FRANKLIN (AP) — A Tennessee congressional seat that President Donald Trump and Republicans have previously won with ease became the unlikely epicenter of the fight for Congress on Monday, as House Speaker Mike Johnson headlined rallies and former Vice President Al Gore and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Democrats they could be on the verge of a monumental upset.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A faith-based pregnancy center will come before the Supreme Court on Tuesday to challenge an investigation into whether it misled people to discourage abortions.

The facilities often known as "crisis pregnancy centers" have been on the rise in the U.S., especially since the Supreme Court's conservative majority overturned abortion as a nationwide right in 2022. Most Republican-controlled states have since started enforcing bans or restrictions on abortion, and some have steered tax dollars to the centers. They generally provide prenatal care and encourage women to carry pregnancies to term.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Four Republican-led states agreed to settle lawsuits against the federal government over access to voters' citizenship data, ending a dispute that began with the Biden administration in advance of the 2024 presidential election.

Students applying to college know they can't — or at least shouldn't — use AI chatbots to write their essays and personal statements. So it might come as a surprise that some schools are now using artificial intelligence to read them.

AI tools are now being incorporated into how student applications are screened and analyzed, admissions directors say. It can be a delicate topic, and not all colleges are eager to talk about it, but higher education is among the many industries where artificial intelligence is rapidly taking on tasks once reserved for humans.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has set off a "code red" alert to employees to improve its flagship product, ChatGPT, and delay other product developments, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper reported that Altman sent an internal memo to staff Monday saying more work was needed to enhance the artificial intelligence chatbot's speed, reliability and personalization features.

BANGKOK (AP) — Behind the hoopla over the promise of artificial intelligence lay difficult realities, including how such technology might affect people already disadvantaged in a data-driven world.

A new report by the United Nations Development Program notes most of the gains from AI are likely to be reaped by wealthy nations unless steps are taken to use its power to help close gaps in access to basic needs, as well as such advanced know-how.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India's telecoms ministry has directed smartphone manufacturers to pre-install a government-run cybersecurity app on all new devices, according to a government order, raising concerns of data privacy and user consent in one of the largest handset markets in the world.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Since last week's shooting of two National Guard members in the nation's capital by a suspect who is an Afghan national, the Trump administration announced a flurry of policies aimed at making it harder for some foreigners to enter or stay in the country.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The world economy has proven surprisingly durable in the face of President Donald Trump's trade wars, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday, upgrading its outlook for global and U.S. economic growth this year.

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. has secured a 0% tariff rate for all U.K. medicines exported to the U.S. for at least three years, officials said Monday, in return for the U.K. spending more on new medicines.

Under the deal, the U.S. agreed to exempt U.K.-origin pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical ingredients, and medical technology from import taxes.

Instead of hiring a florist for her October wedding, Emily Day decided to grow her own flowers in her front yard in Calgary, Canada — a creative challenge that turned into a lesson on the hidden climate costs of the global flower industry. She said her homegrown arrangements were just as beautiful as store-bought ones and cost a fraction of the price.

NEW YORK (AP) — Billionaires Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25 billion Tuesday to provide 25 million American children under 10 an incentive to claim the new investment accounts for children created as part of President Donald Trump's tax and spending legislation.

MILAN (AP) — The Prada Group closed the purchase of Milan fashion rival Versace in a $1.375 billion cash deal that puts the fashion house known for its sexy silhouettes under the same roof as Prada's "ugly chic" aesthetic and Miu Miu's youth-driven appeal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine's European allies Tuesday of sabotaging U.S.-led efforts to end the war that have gained momentum in recent weeks.

"They don't have a peace agenda, they're on the side of the war," Putin said after speaking to an investment forum and before he held talks the talks with a U.S. delegation led by envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner at the Kremlin.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, taking to the Kremlin an embryonic peace plan that Washington hopes can bring about an end to the nearly four-year war in Ukraine.

Coinciding with Witkoff's trip, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to Ireland, continuing his visits to European countries that have helped sustain his country's fight against Russia's invasion.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is seeking dismissal of a lawsuit that fired former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey brought against it, saying she didn't properly follow administrative complaint procedures before suing.

The argument was in court papers filed Monday prior to a Thursday hearing in Manhattan federal court.

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's shoppers may feel gloomy about the economy, but they certainly were in the mood to shop over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend that wrapped up on Cyber Monday.

As Wall Street analysts and retailers sift through the data from the weekend — the unofficial start to the season and a good barometer of shoppers' financial health and the strength of the economy — the figures show that shoppers went online and in stores to scour for deals on everything from TVs to clothing. But all that economic uncertainty did affect spending. Shoppers were very focused and selective, some malls reported.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Costco is joining other companies that aren't waiting to see whether the Supreme Court strikes down President Donald Trump's most sweeping import taxes. They're going to court to demand refunds on the tariffs they've paid.

The U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington ruled earlier this year that Trump's biggest and boldest import taxes are illegal. The case is now before the Supreme Court. In a Nov. 5 hearing, several of the high court's justices expressed doubts that the president had sweeping power to declare national emergencies to impose tariffs on goods from almost every country on earth.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday cited the "fog of war" in defending a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea in early September.

During a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Hegseth said he did not see any survivors in the water, saying the vessel "exploded in fire, smoke, you can't see anything. ... This is called the fog of war."

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump during a lengthy Cabinet meeting on Tuesday said he did not want Somali immigrants in the U.S., saying residents of the war-ravaged eastern African country are too reliant on U.S. social safety net and add little to the United States.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration said Tuesday that it will move to withhold SNAP food aid from recipients in most Democratic-controlled states starting next week unless they provide information about those receiving the assistance.