News - Friday, December 5, 2025

Autumn Witt Boyd still remembers the soft crackle of the speakers in Judge Curtis Collier’s chambers – the way they let his clerks follow everything happening in the courtroom down the hall. When the proceedings wrapped and the sounds from the bench faded, she and the other clerks would gather in the library, knowing he was on his way back.

Carrie Stefaniak keeps a scrap of paper taped to the side of her printer, where her eyes land when she looks up from a brief. It holds a line she wrote down during one of the first sentencings she watched after leaving private practice to become U.S. District Judge Curtis Collier’s career law clerk.

When Notre Dame High School senior McKinna Wiles first stepped into the federal courthouse in Chattanooga, she expected to spend her internship doing what she’d seen interns do in movies – fetching coffee, shuffling papers and observing the real work from a distance.

Federal judges are drawn from the ranks of experienced lawyers with diverse personal and professional backgrounds. They bring to the bench their professional training and experience, personal history and lived experiences.

As a result of these experiences, they form certain beliefs and sympathies and develop certain preferences and biases. But, as judges, they must put aside these beliefs, sympathies, preferences and biases if they conflict with their obligation to apply the law fairly and impartially.

For many, this time of year is already packed with travel, school events and holiday prep. But if life has you listing your home this winter, whether for a job move, a growing household or a fresh start, there are smart ways to make the season work in your favor.

Thanks to market swings, evolving tax laws and new technology, it might be a good year to consider tax-loss harvesting – a strategy that can help reduce taxes and improve long-term returns.

What is tax-loss harvesting?

When you sell an investment for less than you paid, you might be able to use that loss to offset gains from other investments, potentially reducing your overall tax bill.

Ole Miss and Tennessee football programs now have one more thing in common, in addition to best-ever quarterbacks with the last name Manning: They’ve both been jilted by Lane Kiffin.

I will argue that Ole Miss is the more seriously aggrieved.

Getting run out of their own stadium by their in-state rival on Senior Day isn’t the way the Tennessee Volunteers wanted to end the regular season.

An inconsistent stretch of SEC play ended with a thud as Tennessee suffered a 45-24 loss to Vanderbilt at Neyland Stadium. Vanderbilt outscored Tennessee 24-3 in the second half to secure the first 10-win season in program history and beat the Vols for the first time since 2018.

If you build it, will they stay home?

It’s a possibility, especially if the product continues to be as bad and boring as it was Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Nissan Stadium was half empty Sunday, as a good number of holders of the 54,000 tickets distributed decided they had better things to do than sit through a blustery, 40-degree day and watch the Titans lose for their 11th consecutive time at home. 

Turnovers plagued the 2024 Tennessee Titans. Will Levis’ struggle with interceptions (12 in 12 games) is well-documented, and backup Mason Rudolph’s efforts (9 in 8 games) were no better as the Titans struggled to find three wins a year ago.

There are many luxury electric SUVs to choose from, but they are often out of reach financially for most buyers. This is especially true now that the $7,500 federal tax credit has been eliminated. 

But there are some options if you’re working with a modest luxury budget. Two of the most compelling are the Audi Q4 E-tron and Cadillac Optiq.

So much has been given to you. You have a place to sleep, food to eat and clean water to drink. You have friends and family, people who look out for you and folks who know your face. 

You have received much in life, and as you’ll see in the new book, “A Talent for Giving” by John Studzinski, you have much to give.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected the Trump administration's bid to halt an order requiring it to release millions of dollars in grants meant to address the shortage of mental health workers in schools.

The mental health program, which was funded by Congress after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, included grants meant to help schools hire more counselors, psychologists and social workers, with a focus on rural and underserved areas of the country. But President Donald Trump's administration opposed aspects of the grant programs that touched on race, saying they were harmful to students and told recipients they wouldn't receive funding past December 2025.

MADRID (AP) — Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare on Friday said it had restored services following an outage that took place in the morning and brought down several global websites including LinkedIn, Zoom and others, the second such crash to affect the company in less than three weeks.

NEW YORK (AP) — Netflix struck a deal Friday to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the Hollywood giant behind "Harry Potter" and "Friends," in a $72 billion deal that would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.

LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators on Friday fined X, Elon Musk's social media platform, 120 million euros ($140 million) for breaches of the bloc's digital regulations, in a move that risks rekindling tensions with Washington over free speech.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's White House is taking on the role of media critic and asking for help from "everyday Americans."

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, the White House launched a web portal it says will spotlight bias on the part of news outlets, targeting the Boston Globe, CBS News and The Independent as its inaugural "media offender of the week."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man accused of planting a pair of pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack confessed to the act in interviews with investigators, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation changed little in September, likely easing the way to a widely expected interest rate cut by the central bank next week.

Prices rose 0.3% in September from August, the Commerce Department said Friday in a report that was delayed five weeks by the government shutdown. It was the same increase as the previous month. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 0.2% in September from August, the same as the previous month and a pace that if it continued for a year would bring inflation closer to the Fed's 2% target.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers' mood improved slightly this month, with worries about inflation easing a bit, but remains gloomy.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index, released Friday in a preliminary version, rose to 53.3 early this month from a final reading of 51 in November. The index beat the 52 mark that economists had forecast but is down considerably from 71.7 in January.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — U.S. Steel said it will resume making steel slabs at its Granite City Works plant in Illinois as demand rebounds.

The company shut down the last blast furnace there in 2023, and it even moved to wind down its steel processing mill there in September.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will be expanding its ban on travel for citizens of certain countries to more than 30, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, in the latest restriction to come since a man from Afghanistan was accused of shooting two National Guard members.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration has set forth a new national security strategy that paints European allies as weak and aims to reassert America's dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

The document released Friday by the White House is sure to roil long-standing U.S. allies in Europe for its scathing critiques of their migration and free speech policies, suggesting they face the "prospect of civilizational erasure" and raising doubts about their long-term reliability as American partners.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cedric Gray isn't concerned about Tennessee Titans fans wanting the first overall NFL draft pick for the second straight year.

The second-year linebacker and everyone else in the Titans locker room were focused on getting their second win of the season.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea lobbied all week and offered to add a 13th game to the schedule, "in the parking lot" if they had to, for one more shot at impressing the College Football Playoff selection committee.

He said Sunday the idea was no joke. His school's chancellor and athletic director already were working behind the scenes trying to schedule a last-ditch effort for Vanderbilt's most successful football team in school history.

NEW YORK (AP) — Much has been made about the global touring economy in the last few years. Take, for example, that tours grossing over a billion dollars is a new phenomenon in the 2020s — a benchmark first crossed by Taylor Swift in 2023 with her landmark Eras Tour and an accomplishment recently reached by The Weeknd. But who are the most popular touring artists of the last two decades based on ticket sales? The results may surprise you.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's push to expand control over independent federal agencies comes before a sympathetic Supreme Court that could overturn a 90-year-old decision limiting when presidents can fire board members.

Lawyers for the administration are defending President Donald Trump's decision to fire Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter without cause and calling on the court to jettison the unanimous 1935 decision in Humphrey's Executor.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has dealt a setback to Justice Department efforts to seek a new indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, temporarily barring prosecutors from using evidence they had relied on when they initially secured criminal charges.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress could be called to the witness stand as early as Monday in the federal antitrust suit lodged against the top motorsports series in the United States. Childress' testimony should shed more light on the animosity between teams and series executives during the contentious two-plus years of negotiations on a new revenue sharing agreement.

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts' highest court heard oral arguments Friday in the state's lawsuit arguing that Meta designed features on Facebook and Instagram to make them addictive to young users.

The lawsuit, filed in 2024 by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, alleges that Meta did this to make a profit and that its actions affected hundreds of thousands of teenagers in Massachusetts who use the social media platforms.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Republicans in key battleground U.S. House districts are working to contain the political fallout that may come when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Changes that Disney made to a popular program that lets qualifying disabled people skip long lines at its California and Florida theme parks are too restrictive, disabled fans contend in a federal lawsuit and shareholder proposal that seek to expand eligibility.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is planning a $12 billion farm aid package, according to a White House official — a boost to farmers who have struggled to sell their crops while getting hit by rising costs after the president raised tariffs on China as part of a broader trade war.

HONG KONG (AP) — China's exports rebounded in November after an unexpected contraction the previous month, pushing its trade surplus past $1 trillion for the first time, according to data released Monday.

Exports climbed 5.9% from a year earlier in November while imports rose just under 2%.

NEW YORK (AP) — Paramount has gone hostile in its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, challenging Netflix which reached a $72 billion takeover deal with the company just days ago.

Paramount said Monday that it is going straight to Warner Bros. shareholders with a bid worth about $74.4 billion, or $30 per share in cash. Paramount, unlike Netflix, is also offering to buy the cable assets of Warner Bros., and asking shareholders of the company to reject the Netflix bid.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that a deal struck by Netflix to buy Warner Bros. Discovery "could be a problem" because of the size of the combined market share.

"There's no question about it," Trump said, answering questions about the deal and various other topics as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors.

BRUSSELS (AP) — A top European Union official on Monday warned the United States against interfering in Europe's affairs and said only European citizens can decide which parties should govern them.

European Council President António Costa's remarks came in reaction to the Trump administration's new national security strategy, which was published on Friday and paints European allies as weak, while offering tacit support to far-right political parties.

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Greenland is hosting meetings with American officials at the end of a year in which U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up talk of a U.S. takeover of the mineral-rich island, which is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.

The meetings Monday and Tuesday include those of a "joint committee" between Greenland and American officials, and a "permanent committee" that involves the Danish government, Greenland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Science said. Similar meetings were held last year in the United States.

Michael R. Bloomberg has believed mayors have plenty to teach each other since he was mayor of New York City and supported the effort to share good municipal ideas through his nonprofit Bloomberg Philanthropies since he left office in 2013.

However, as more nations get bogged down in what the media entrepreneur and philanthropist calls "ideological battles and finger-pointing," Bloomberg says mayors can do even more. He is expanding his support for them internationally, with the Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative, a collaboration with the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Hertie School in Berlin. And other philanthropists are investing in building stronger municipal governments to strengthen urban communities.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday seemed likely to expand presidential control over independent federal agencies, signaling support for President Donald Trump's firing of board members.

The court's conservative majority suggested it would overturn a unanimous 90-year-old decision that has limited when presidents can fire agencies' board members, or leave it with only its shell intact.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Twelve former FBI agents fired after kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest in Washington sued Monday to get their jobs back, saying their action had been intended to de-escalate a volatile situation and was not meant as a political gesture.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A Brazilian woman with family ties to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will be released from ICE custody while she fights potential deportation, an immigration judge ruled Monday.

Bruna Ferreira, 33, a longtime Massachusetts resident, was previously engaged to Leavitt's brother, Michael. She was driving to pick up their 11-year-old son in New Hampshire when she was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Revere, Massachusetts, on Nov. 12.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has proclaimed solidarity with U.S. farmers in recent months as they grappled with the loss of a major soybean buyer due to President Donald Trump's trade war with China.

But now, Bessent says he's divested his holdings in North Dakota soybean farmland. "I actually just divested it this week as part of my ethics agreement, so I'm out of that business," Bessent said on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Sunday.

NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans came to work Monday with a different feel.

"The vibes are good all around in the building and in the locker room for sure," rookie cornerback Marcus Harris said.

Kevin Stefanski has seen enough of Shedeur Sanders to make the fifth-round rookie the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback over the final month of another lost season.

The question is whether Sanders will be under center for the biggest moments down the stretch?

NEW YORK (AP) — Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin are the finalists for the Heisman Trophy given to the top player in college football.

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee coach Josh Heupel fired defensive coordinator Tim Banks on Monday, a year after the assistant was a finalist for the Broyles Award.

"These are tough decisions but one I ultimately felt was necessary for the future of our program," Heupel said in a statement. "We are fully committed to identifying our next defensive coordinator who will uphold the standard that Tennessee has historically been known for."

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee junior forward Cade Phillips will miss the rest of this season and have surgery to repair his left shoulder.

Coach Rick Barnes said Monday that the Volunteers will miss Phillips on the court and the forward is disappointed not to play. But Barnes said it's essential that Phillips get healthy. The shoulder issue has been a recurring problem, and Tennessee will be applying for a medical redshirt for Phillips.

NEW YORK (AP) — Raul Malo, the soulful tenor and frontman of the genre-defying, Grammy-winning band The Mavericks, has died. He was 60.

Malo died Monday night, his wife, Betty Malo, posted on his Facebook page. He had been battling cancer. The frontman of The Mavericks had documented his health journey on social media since he disclosed in June 2024 that he was receiving treatment for colon cancer.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is considering a Republican-led drive, backed by President Donald Trump's administration, to overturn a quarter-century-old decision and erase limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — An economist testified in Michael Jordan's federal antitrust trial against NASCAR that the racing series owes a combined $364.7 million in damages to the two teams suing it over a revenue-sharing dispute.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday struck down President Donald Trump's executive order blocking wind energy projects, saying the effort to halt virtually all leasing of wind farms on federal lands and waters was "arbitrary and capricious" and violates U.S. law.

LONDON (AP) — Google faces fresh antitrust scrutiny from European Union regulators, who opened an investigation Tuesday into the company's use of online content for its artificial intelligence models and services.

The latest regulatory flexing by Brussels risks antagonizing President Donald Trump's administration, though EU officials denied they were singling out American Big Tech companies.

NEW YORK (AP) — In her early 20s, Kaci LaFon lived in Branson, Missouri, a tourist town known for its older population. She wanted to date but found it a challenge, so — like many her age — she headed to the apps.

Over five years, she'd get a date here and there, but they always petered out. "I tried and I failed," she said. "There wasn't really much I could do about it."

NEW DELHI (AP) — Microsoft on Tuesday announced its biggest-ever Asia investment, amounting to $17.5 billion, in India over the next four years to advance the country's cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

CEO Satya Nadella revealed this in an X post after meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that he would allow Nvidia to sell an advanced type of computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to "approved customers" in China.

There have been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips to be sold to China as it could help the country better compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities, but there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.

The most comprehensive global environment assessment ever undertaken calls for a new approach to jointly tackle the most pressing environmental issues including climate change and biodiversity loss that threaten over 1 million plant and animal species with extinction.

We're in the thick of the holiday shopping season, and U.S. residents are expected to shatter the spending record again this year. The National Retail Federation forecasts that 2025 will be the first time we collectively spend more than $1 trillion on year-end gifts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. job openings barely budged in October, coming in at 7.7 million with ongoing uncertainty over the direction of the American economy.

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that employers posted 7.67 million vacancies in October, close to September's 7.66 million.

NEW YORK (AP) — More and more people are turning to GoFundMe for help covering the cost of housing, food and other basic needs.

The for-profit crowdfunding platform's annual "Year in Help" report, released Tuesday, underscored ongoing concerns around affordability. The number of fundraisers started to help cover essential expenses such as rent, utilities and groceries jumped 20%, according to the company's 2025 review, after already quadrupling last year. "Monthly bills" were the second fastest-growing category behind individual support for nonprofits.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will road-test his claims that he's tackling Americans' affordability woes at a Tuesday rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania — shifting an argument made in Oval Office appearances and social media posts to a campaign-style event.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve faces an unusually contentious meeting this week that will test Chair Jerome Powell's ability to corral the necessary support from fellow policymakers for a third straight interest rate cut.

The Fed's 19-member rate-setting committee is sharply divided over whether to lower borrowing costs again. The divisions have been exacerbated by the convoluted nature of the economy: Inflation remains elevated, which would typically lead the Fed to keep its key rate unchanged, while hiring is weak and the unemployment rate has risen, which often leads to rate cuts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced a $12 billion farm aid package Monday — a boost to farmers who have struggled to sell their crops while getting hit by rising costs after the president raised tariffs on China as part of a broader trade war.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday approved the release of $1.2 billion to Pakistan, giving the cash-strapped country a fresh boost as it works to recover from one of its worst economic crises in years.

The IMF in a statement said its executive board completed two reviews of Pakistan's economic programs, clearing about $1 billion under its main loan facility and another $200 million from a separate climate-focused program.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Incoming Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel is assembling his team to help him lead the conglomerate Warren Buffett built starting in January after a couple of key departures.

PRAGUE (AP) — Populist billionaire Andrej Babiš was sworn in Tuesday as the Czech Republic's new prime minister, following October's parliamentary election, as the next government is expected to steer the country away from supporting Ukraine and reject European Union policies on issues like the environment.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday justified the U.S. military's decision to fire a second missile in a heavily scrutinized attack on a boat in the Caribbean Sea by claiming that two suspected drug smugglers were trying to right the vessel after it had capsized in the initial strike.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Clark Lea can tick off all the statistics Diego Pavia piled up leading the Vanderbilt Commodores to their best season ever as the quarterback put himself all over the program's record books.

Defining what Pavia means to the Commodores is much simpler.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared to back a Republican-led drive that would erase limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president and overturn a quarter-century-old decision.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The commissioner of NASCAR testified Tuesday in Michael Jordan's federal antitrust trial against the racing series to the frustrating two-plus years of negotiations on a new revenue sharing model with teams, noting that Jordan's financial advisor would not compromise on key issues.

NEW YORK (AP) — The author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott revealed $7.1 billion in donations to nonprofits in 2025 Tuesday, marking a significant increase in her annual giving from recent years.

Writing in an essay on her website, Scott said, "This dollar total will likely be reported in the news, but any dollar amount is a vanishingly tiny fraction of the personal expressions of care being shared into communities this year."

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — OpenAI said Tuesday it has picked Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue, a message to wary investors that the ChatGPT maker is serious about making a profit from its artificial intelligence technology.

OpenAI said Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and "will help more businesses put AI to work in their day-to-day operations."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Navy admiral who is retiring early from command of the campaign to destroy vessels allegedly carrying drugs near Venezuela spoke to key lawmakers Tuesday as Congress seeks more answers on President Donald Trump's mission, which, in one instance, killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage of an initial strike.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Immigrants living in Illinois, among the states hit hardest by the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, are now shielded from federal enforcement near courthouses, hospitals, university campuses and day cares under a law Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker signed Tuesday.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A day after Gov. Ron DeSantis designated a leading Muslim civil rights organization as a "foreign terrorist organization," leaders of the group's Florida chapter on Tuesday promised a lawsuit and said the state had no legal basis for such a declaration.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is expected to vote this week on a bill authorizing $900 billion for military programs, including boosting pay for service members, cutting Pentagon diversity efforts and requiring footage to be released of forces blowing up alleged drug boats.