News - Friday, May 22, 2026

On a stretch of icy road in 2000, Nick Barboza learned a lesson that would impact the rest of his life behind the wheel.

The trailer began to slide first, then the tractor followed. In an instant, the truck jackknifed – steel folding against itself, momentum overtaking control. Ice, Barboza would come to understand, demands respect.

Before Nick Barboza ever trained another driver, he had to learn how to speak for himself – in a language that wasn’t his own.

When Barboza arrived in the United States from Mexico, he spoke little English. That made his path to becoming a commercial truck driver more complicated, but not impossible.

For years, the homeless people standing along Chattanooga’s roadsides barely registered in Wyndi White’s mind.

She says she noticed them briefly, peripherally, as part of the landscape around traffic lights and intersections – a man holding cardboard near Brainerd Road, someone pushing a shopping cart along South Terrace Avenue, figures gathered near interstate ramps.

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett is encouraging eligible residents to serve as poll workers ahead of the Aug. 6 State and Federal Primary and County General Elections and the Nov. 3 State and Federal General Election.

Poll workers assist with a range of duties during early voting and on Election Day, including greeting voters, checking voter registration information, answering questions, explaining voting procedures, assisting voters when needed and helping process ballots after polls close. Workers are compensated and receive training before Election Day.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball program has promoted Sydney Johnson from graduate assistant to full-time assistant coach.

Johnson joined the staff last summer and helped the Mocs post a 20-11 record and capture the Southern Conference regular-season championship during the 2025-26 season.

The Chattanooga Bar Association recognized community leader Bill Norton with its 2026 Liberty Bell Award during the organization’s annual Law Day Celebration on Wednesday at St. John’s Restaurant.

This year’s Law Day theme was “The Rule of Law and the American Dream.”

The Chattanooga Police Department reported sharp declines in violent crime, property crime and overdoses in 2025, while department leaders credited a combination of proactive policing, technology investments and community partnerships for the improvements.

Let’s say you dream of spending your retirement mornings on a warm beach, coffee in hand, waves rolling in. To get there, you had a simple plan: save $1 million and buy the beach house you always wanted.

But when retirement arrives, reality hits. After accounting for keeping your current home, everyday expenses and health care, $1 million doesn’t stretch as far as you thought, and the beach house remains a dream. The problem wasn’t your discipline – it was that your number was never really your number. It was arbitrary, not anchored to what your ideal retirement would actually cost.

Markets can feel confusing when national headlines point one way and your local experience feels another. That is why this monthly snapshot matters.

It highlights what’s changing in the Chattanooga region, including how much is coming to market, how quickly buyers are moving and how pricing is holding up.

I don’t think of myself as a rebel, college alma mater (Hotty toddy!) notwithstanding. But I staged a mini-protest the other night at a Sounds game, by refusing to stand and take off my hat as requested.

No, not for the national anthem. I always rise and de-hat for that at games, sometimes even singing along and hitting the occasional right note. But I remained defiantly seated and head-covered for “God Bless America.” I’ll tell you why in a bit.

It’s common to see the University of Tennessee rowing team conducting early-morning workouts on the Tennessee River. The Lady Vols have built their confidence through every stroke and they are reaping the rewards.

After capturing their first SEC championship, the Lady Vols are ranked No. 1 in the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association rankings for the first time in program history. Rowing is the 14th program at UT to hold a No. 1 ranking, and the fourth in the 2025-26 athletic year, joining softball, soccer, and men’s indoor track and field.

On what would you spend your last dollar?

That may be a trick question; you can’t get much with a dollar anymore. Half a candy bar? A sniff of gasoline? Even a box of tenpenny nails will set you back more than ten pennies. So what will you do with your last dollar? Because, as you’ll see in “The Almighty Dollar” by Brendan Greeley, there’s more where that single buck came from.

ARDMORE, Pa. (AP) – For high school senior Aliyah Pack, getting distracted during school is the norm. Kids in her Pennsylvania school district use iPads starting in kindergarten, switch to Chromebooks in second grade and get their own MacBooks in eighth grade.

MODESTO, Calif. (AP) – Before every important test, teacher Nancy Barajas dims the lights, turns on a disco ball and blasts music from her playlist. Her sixth graders dance together as a “pre-celebration” to boost their confidence before taking their exam.

Does the high price of gas have you considering a hybrid for your next vehicle? We don’t blame you, especially if you drive a lot. Fortunately, there are lots of hybrids to choose from, and many don’t cost much more than their non-hybrid counterparts.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hour-to-hour swings for oil prices keep jerking financial markets around, and U.S. stocks wavered Thursday following the latest reversal.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% and inched closer to its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 276 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.1%.

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion who won more races than anyone across NASCAR's three national series, has died. He was 41.

The Busch Family, Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR issued a joint statement Thursday saying Busch died after being hospitalized. No cause of death was given.

NEW YORK (AP) — The split between Wall Street and most U.S. households grew wider Friday, as U.S. stocks rose toward the finish of an eighth straight winning week, their best such streak since 2023. That's even though a survey showed U.S. consumers are feeling even worse about the economy.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee officials on Thursday called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, after his executioners tried and failed for over an hour to establish an intravenous line. Gov. Bill Lee announced soon afterward that the state would not try again for at least a year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed off on a nearly $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate President Donald Trump's allies for alleged political prosecution, he may have pleased his boss.

But the eyebrow-raising move — the latest in his push to prove his loyalty to Trump — has agitated the same Republican lawmakers he would need to secure the permanent job.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior officials in the Food and Drug Administration's tobacco center were blindsided by a recent decision that opens the door to allowing more unauthorized electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches onto the U.S. market, The Associated Press has learned.

NEW YORK (AP) — The split between Wall Street and most U.S. households grew wider Friday as U.S. stocks rose to the finish of their eighth straight winning week, the best such streak since 2023. That's even though a survey showed U.S. consumers are feeling even worse about the economy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday oversaw the White House swearing-in of the new Federal Reserve chair and said he would like Kevin Warsh's help in stimulating the economy even as he tried to emphasize that the nation's central bank would remain independent.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — European Union officials said Friday that Europeans can expect oil and gas prices to remain above what they were before the Iran war for at least until the end of 2027, with prices of other goods also following an upward trajectory.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of senators is pushing back on delays by the Department of Defense in sending $600 million in security aid to Ukraine and other allies in eastern Europe, dispatching a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday that calls for the funding to be disbursed.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday dismissed a human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, finding that the Justice Department's pursuit of criminal charges was designed to punish him for challenging his mistaken deportation to El Salvador last year.

McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — Blades Brown earned unlimited sponsor exemptions for the rest of the PGA Tour season when the 19-year-old tied for 14th at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Sunday.

Brown needed a finish at least as high as alone in 21st place to qualify for what's called special temporary membership. He shot 4-under 67 in the final round at TPC Craig Ranch and finished at 18 under.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Maxwell Woledzi scored his first MLS goal, Jeisson Palacios added his first goal this season, and MLS-leading Nashville SC beat New York City FC 2-1 on Saturday night to extend its unbeaten streak to eight games.

Nashville (10-1-3) has won three in a row and has 33 points, one more than Western Conference-leading San Jose.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV called Monday for robust regulation of artificial intelligence and for its developers to work for the common good rather than profit, issuing a sweeping manifesto on safeguarding humankind as the technology impacts everything from work to war.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV made a historic apology on Monday for the role the Holy See played in legitimizing slavery and for having failed to condemn it for centuries, calling the Vatican's record a "wound in Christian memory."

Past popes have apologized for Christians' involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. But no pope had ever publicly acknowledged, much less apologized for, the role that past popes played in giving European sovereigns explicit authority to subjugate and enslave "infidels."

CAIRO (AP) — The United States and Iran appear to be closing in on a deal to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that negotiations are "proceeding nicely," while reiterating his warning that fighting would resume if no deal is reached.

TOKYO (AP) — Toshifumi Suzuki, the Japanese businessman credited with creating the 7-Eleven convenience-chain global retail empire, has died. He was 93.

Suzuki, an honorary adviser at Seven & i Holdings, died on May 18 of heart failure at his Tokyo home, the company said Monday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that any agreement with Iran should include a requirement for several additional countries, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, to join the Abraham Accords, the U.S.-brokered agreements aimed at normalizing relations with Israel that were forged during Trump's first term.

DALLAS (AP) — After three terms in the U.S. House and two unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. Senate, Colin Allred said he's heard plenty about voters' suspicions that politicians are just trying to make a buck in Washington.

"'What about the stock trading in Congress? What about people getting rich in Congress?'" Allred said they ask him regularly. "And I have to say to them, you're absolutely right about that, too. We need to be better."

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's emerging deal to end the Iran war is drawing heavy criticism from some fellow Republicans who favor a harder line against the government in Tehran and fear a lost opportunity to finally rein in a longtime Mideast nemesis.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to intervene in a discrimination lawsuit led by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores against the NFL, allowing the case to proceed toward trial.

The justices rebuffed an appeal from the league, which wanted the case handled through its arbitration process rather than open court in New York. Justice Brett Kavanaugh dissented from the decision not to hear the case.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Florida's long shot attempt to sue California and Washington state over the issuance of commercial driver licenses to truckers who don't speak English and are not authorized to be in the United States.

Just a few years ago, America's public schools were rushing to get every child a laptop. Los Angeles middle school teacher Anna Soffer remembers it well: "The idea was that technology is the future, so we need to put tech in every child's hands."

Now, the conversation has flipped. After pouring billions of dollars into laptops, tablets and learning apps, many schools are facing a digital reckoning. Classrooms have become saturated with screens, and a growing number of parents, teachers and school districts are saying it is time to scale back.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Anna Gomez wakes up every morning and checks her phone to see if President Donald Trump has fired her yet.

For now, she remains the sole Democrat on the Federal Communications Commission, where she's on an increasingly urgent mission to press media companies to more forcefully combat an administration she says is cracking down on free speech.

LONDON (AP) — Temperature records have toppled as a spring heatwave continued to scorch parts of Western Europe on Tuesday, triggering government warnings about risks to life. Several drownings were reported in Britain and France as people tried to cool down.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Monday that it carried out "self-defense" strikes in southern Iran, including on missile launch sites and boats placing mines, even as President Donald Trump said on social media that negotiations with Tehran were "proceeding nicely."

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence declined slightly this month as gas prices stayed high and inflation remained elevated, a sharp contrast to soaring stock prices hover near record levels.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index slipped 0.7 points to 93.1 in May, the first decline after three months of gains. The measure hasn't fallen as much this year as other gauges of consumer attitudes, but it has been stuck at a low level since the pandemic. Before COVID-19, it regularly reached 130.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence declined slightly this month as gas prices stayed high and inflation remained elevated, a sharp contrast to soaring stock prices that have neared record levels.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index slipped 0.7 points to 93.1 in May, the first decline after three months of gains.

NEW YORK (AP) — PayPal helped invent online checkout. Nearly three decades later, it's struggling to defend its turf.

The iconic online payments company is facing its biggest challenge in nearly three decades of existence. Its core business of customers using the app to check out when shopping online is barely growing and new management has bluntly warned investors that "significant changes" will be needed to fix the company's problems.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean retail tycoon Chung Yong-jin on Tuesday issued his second apology in two weeks as Starbucks' local operation faces a backlash over a recent marketing campaign that was widely perceived as mocking victims of a bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1980.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is getting a medical exam on Tuesday, putting his health under renewed public scrutiny after he has worked to dismiss concerns over his age and stamina.

The 79-year-old president traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for what the White House described as annual preventive medical and dental checkups. It will be Trump's fourth publicly disclosed medical exam since he returned to office for a second term, and it comes as he tries to project strength ahead of midterm elections that will test his sway with voters.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Congressional Black Caucus on Tuesday called on major corporations across the U.S., including those that previously expressed support for voting rights and racial justice, to oppose redistricting efforts by Republican-led states that seek to eliminate majority-Black U.S. House districts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a push to avoid a lawsuit alleging that Facebook and Instagram harmed young users, a decision that comes as social media companies increasingly face legal scrutiny.

Parent company Meta Platforms Inc. appealed after Vermont's highest court allowed a suit filed by its attorney general in 2023 to move forward. The company is facing similar lawsuits from states across the country, accusing it of knowingly designing addictive features.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with President Donald Trump's administration in a lawsuit over speech restrictions for immigration judges that touched on the rights of federal workers.

The justices overturned a lower-court ruling that had allowed the case to proceed and raised questions about whether a complaint system for federal employees is still working as intended after the Republican president fired some of its top officials.

BOSTON (AP) — Drivers for ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft in Massachusetts became the first in the nation Tuesday to certify a union, marking a milestone in the growing effort to organize gig-economy workers amid ongoing concerns over pay, expenses and working conditions.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump's push to reshape congressional districts ahead of the November elections suffered a double setback Tuesday, as South Carolina senators declined to do so and a federal court blocked a Republican-backed map in Alabama.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration wants all current and future federal employees to sign non-disclosure agreements, part of a continuing crackdown on leaks to the media.

The notice in the Federal Register from the Office of Personnel Management posted Tuesday asked for comment on a draft NDA to be used by federal agencies for "both new and existing employees."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will admit an additional 10,000 white South Africans into the U.S. as refugees this year, increasing its historically low annual cap but still blocking people from other countries from entering through the program.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump had another medical exam on Tuesday, putting his health under renewed public scrutiny as he has worked to dismiss concerns over his age and stamina.

The 79-year-old president spent more than three hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for what the White House described as preventive medical and dental checkups. It was Trump's fourth publicly disclosed medical exam since he returned to office for a second term, and it comes as he tries to project strength ahead of midterm elections that will test his sway with voters.