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Trump lashes out at Goodyear

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged people to boycott tires from Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., tweeting that the Ohio-based company had “announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS.” But the company didn’t announce such a specific ban, only that it asks employees to refrain from workplace expressions involving political campaigns and “forms of advocacy that fall outside the scope of racial justice and equity issues.” “Make America Great Again,” or “MAGA,” is a Trump campaign slogan. Trump’s tweet immediately sent the company’s stock downward. The stock trimmed its losses in the afternoon before closing down about 2.4% for the day. “Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!),” Trump tweeted. Trump’s tweet followed a report from WIBW television station in Topeka, Kansas, based on an anonymous Goodyear employee’s screenshot that listed Black Lives Matter and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride messages as acceptable while politically affiliated slogans and material, including “MAGA Attire” and “Blue Lives Matter,” in support of police, were listed as unacceptable. The screenshot was described in the report as part of the company’s diversity training. Goodyear responded to Trump with a tweet of its own, saying that the company was the focus of a conversation that “created some misconceptions about our policies and our company. Goodyear has always wholeheartedly supported both equality and law enforcement and will continue to do so.” The company said the screenshot was not created or distributed by the company’s corporate offices or part of a diversity training class. It also stressed that it does ask its workers to “refrain from workplace expressions in support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party, as well as similar forms of advocacy that fall outside the scope of racial justice and equity issues.”

Apple at $2 trillion market value

BERKELEY, Calif. — Apple has become the first U.S. company to boast a market value of $2 trillion as technology continues to reshape a world where smartphones are like appendages and digital services are like instruments orchestrating people’s lives. The iPhone maker reached the $2 trillion milestone in Wednesday’s early stock market trading when its shares surpassed $467.77. The stock later backtracked to close at $462.83, but it didn’t diminish a remarkable achievement that came just two years after Apple became the first U.S. company with a $1 trillion market value. It comes amid a devastating pandemic that has shoved the economy into a deep recession and caused unemployment rates to soar to the worst levels since the Great Depression nearly a century ago. But Apple and other well-established tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Netflix have thrived during the upheaval as the pandemic has forced millions of people to work, attend classes, shop and entertain themselves at home. That, in turn, has made technology even more crucial, a factor that has caused investors to snap up the stocks of the industry’s biggest players, as well as relative newcomers, such as video conferencing service Zoom, which has seen its shares quadruple so far this year. Apple’s stock has climbed nearly 58% this year. In recent weeks, the rally has been bolstered by excitement over a four-for-one stock split that Apple announced late last month in an effort to make its shares more affordable to a wider swath of investors.

‘Sweetie Pie’ son charged

ST. LOUIS — The son of the owner of a St. Louis-area soul food restaurant that was the setting for the reality show “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” has been charged in a murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the death of his nephew four years ago. James Timothy Norman, of Jackson, Mississippi, was arrested Tuesday in the March 14, 2016, fatal shooting of his nephew Andre Montgomery, who was gunned down near a park in St. Louis. Norman, the 41-year-old son of Sweetie Pie’s owner Robbie Montgomery, faces a federal charge in St. Louis of conspiring to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire, resulting in death. The U.S. Attorney’s office in St. Louis said in a news release that Norman conspired with a woman, Terica Ellis, of Memphis, Tennessee, in Montgomery’s killing. In 2014, when Montgomery was 18, prosecutors say Norman obtained a $450,000 life insurance policy on his nephew that listed Norman as the sole beneficiary. On the day of the killing, Ellis used a temporary phone to determine Montgomery’s location, then she called Norman. Ellis’ phone location placed her near Montgomery at the time of his death, according to the complaint. Immediately following the shooting, Ellis placed another call and then began traveling back to Memphis. Prosecutors say Ellis, who faces the same charge as Norman, later deposited more than $9,000 in cash in various bank accounts. A week after the killing, Norman contacted the life insurance company in an attempt to collect on his nephew’s policy.

Hundreds of wildfires in Calif.

VACAVILLE, Calif. — Crews were battling wildfires in the San Francisco Bay Area and thousands of people were under orders to evacuate Wednesday as hundreds of wildfires blazed across the state amid a blistering heat wave now in its second week. Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed “this extraordinary weather we’re experiencing and all of these lightning strikes” for 367 known fires, including 23 major fires or groups of fires. He said the state has recorded nearly 11,000 lightning strikes in 72 hours. Police and firefighters went door-to-door before dawn Wednesday in a frantic scramble to warn residents to evacuate as fire encroached on Vacaville, a city of about 100,000 between San Francisco and Sacramento. At least 50 structures were destroyed, including some homes, and 50 damaged. Ash and smoke filled the air in San Francisco, which is surrounded by wildfires burning in multiple counties to the north, east and south. The LNU Lightning fire is made up of several fires burning in five counties north of San Francisco, including in Vacaville, and had consumed 72 square miles as of Wednesday morning.

Jet makes emergency landing

LOS ANGELES — A FedEx cargo jet made an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport before dawn Wednesday with sparks flying as the engine under its left wing appeared to drag along the runway. One of the two crew members aboard was taken to a hospital for treatment of a non-life-threatening leg injury reportedly sustained while exiting the aircraft. The crew of FedEx Flight 1026, a Boeing 767, could not extend the left main landing gear before touching down around 4:50 a.m. after a flight from Newark.

Global leaders condemn coup

BAMAKO, Mali — African and Western leaders condemned on Wednesday the junta that forced Mali’s president from power, warning the coup was a deep setback for the West African nation that could threaten the battle against Islamic extremism. Soldiers calling themselves the National Committee for the Salvation of the People promised that they would ultimately hand power to a transitional civilian government but gave no timeline. Junta members urged Malians to return to business as usual. A day earlier, armed soldiers fired into the air outside President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s home and took him into their custody. A distressed Keita announced his resignation on television. The African Union suspended Mali from the bloc, and the West African bloc ECOWAS said it would stop all economic, trade and financial flows and transactions between member-states and Mali. The U.N. is spending $1.2 billion a year on a more than 15,000-strong peacekeeping mission in the country, and the body’s peacekeeping chief Jean Pierre Lacroix told a closed Security Council meeting Wednesday that the force “remains committed to playing its mandated role … but the country must swiftly regain a measure of institutional stability and Constitutional order.”

Large blaze at Dallas-area factory

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas — A large fire believed to be ignited by a falling power line burned Wednesday at a Dallas-area factory that makes trash bags and other plastics, authorities said. There were no reports of injuries from the massive blaze at the Poly-America complex in Grand Prairie, authorities said. No evacuations were ordered, but people with underlying health conditions were asked to avoid the area. Firefighters believe the blaze started when a power line fell near an area where plastic rolls were being stored, causing them to catch fire.

Doc amputated toe on porch

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A western Missouri doctor has lost his state medical license after amputating a patient’s gangrenous toe on the porch of his rural office that doubled as a machine shed. The Missouri State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts revoked John Ure’s physician and surgeon license in June, the Springfield News-Leader reported. Ure had been practicing in Deepwater, located about halfway between Springfield and Kansas City. Documents filed by the board said Ure performed the amputation in May 2016 on the porch of his office, which doubled as a machine shed and lacked running water and restrooms. The board also described instances where Ure improperly prescribed painkillers to two different patients. Reached Wednesday, the 73-year-old Ure called the board’s action “a travesty of justice,” and said state officials seemed intent of stripping him of his medical practice. He explained that the amputation he performed was done to help a friend who was fearful of hospitals and had refused to go to one to have the gangrenous toe treated, putting his life in danger. “This toe amputation … everything was absolutely perfectly sterile, out in the bright sunshine and fresh air,” he said.

Haslam family makes $40M gift

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and his family have made a gift of $40 million to the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee. The gift announced Tuesday was made by Bill Haslam and his wife, Crissy; Cleveland Browns owners and Pilot Flying J CEO Jimmy Haslam and Dee Haslam; and Natalie and James A. Haslam. The school said the gift is to be used to improve the business school’s national reputation and mission of developing future leaders, including faculty and graduate student fellowships. “We believe in the power of education to change the course of individual lives and the future of our communities through innovation, business endeavors and job creation, and most importantly, leadership development,” the Haslam family said in a statement.

Drive-thru haunted house opens

TOKYO — It’s a living nightmare — but a socially distanced one. “Zombies” attack vehicles, smearing them with artificial blood. But the customers inside the cars are safely separated from their stalkers by the windows. Production company Kowagarasetai, roughly translated as Scare Squad, has launched a drive-through haunted house in Tokyo in response to the coronavirus pandemic. “We have started this drive-in because we cannot get close to customers” at a traditional haunted house because of the virus, explains Daichi Ono, a cast member. “But the distance (between customers and cast) has actually gotten shorter since there is only a window between them,” he said. Unlike a traditional haunted house, where guests can flee if frightened, customers are confined to their cars and cannot escape the horrors during the 13-minute performance. Once the horror is over, instead of eating brains, these helpful zombies actually clean the blood off the cars they attacked just minutes earlier.

Dubai loosens alcohol rules again

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai again has loosened laws governing alcohol sales and possession of liquor as the sheikhdom tries to claw its way out of an economic depression worsened by the coronavirus pandemic. The outbreak of the virus exacerbated the already-gathering economic storm engulfing the emirate, which has seen mass layoffs thin the ranks of its foreign workforce and empty homes even amid slight signs of recovery. Even now, experts warn the sheikhdom’s crucial real-estate market is on track to hit record lows seen in the 2009 Great Recession. “It’s been a challenging year and there’s no hiding from that for any business — particularly those in the hospitality industry,” Mike Glen, managing director for the United Arab Emirates and Oman for alcohol distributor Maritime and Mercantile International, said. Alcohol sales have long served as a major barometer of the economy of Dubai, a top travel destination in the UAE, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates. Ice-cold bottles of beer tempt tourists on hotel beaches, while decadent Champagne-soaked brunches draw well-to-do crowds of expatriate residents. The sales also serve as a major tax revenue source for Dubai’s Al Maktoum ruling family.

Admits to false statement

WASHINGTON — A former FBI lawyer pleaded guilty Wednesday to altering a document related to the secret surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser during the Russia investigation. Kevin Clinesmith is the first current or former official to be charged in a special Justice Department review of the investigation into ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Attorney General William Barr appointed John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, to scrutinize decisions made by officials during that probe. Clinesmith pleaded guilty to a single false statement charge, admitting that he doctored an email that the FBI relied on as it sought court approval to eavesdrop on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page in 2017. The sentencing guidelines call for zero to six months in prison, but the punishment is ultimately up to U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who accepted Clinesmith’s plea. Sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 10. Clinesmith resigned from the FBI before an internal disciplinary process was completed. The case highlights broader problems with the FBI’s surveillance applications on Page, an issue that has long animated critics of the Russia investigation.

Tough sledding for Iowa schools

IOWA CITY, Iowa — An aggressive push by Iowa’s pro-Trump governor to reopen schools amid a worsening coronavirus outbreak has descended into chaos, with some districts and teachers rebelling and experts calling the scientific benchmarks used by the state arbitrary and unsafe. The clash in the Midwest has illustrated in condensed form the tension between science and politics — and between economic concerns and health fears — that has characterized the nation’s response to the outbreak from the White House on down. The virus has devastated the U.S. economy and killed over 170,000 Americans. At issue is Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ mandate in July that districts offer at least 50% classroom instruction. The conflict intensified Wednesday when the statewide teachers union announced a lawsuit challenging the governor’s ability to make such decisions for local districts. The Iowa City school board, which like many others had planned to start the year fully online, voted to join the lawsuit. In her order, the governor said districts where 15% or more of coronavirus tests were positive over the prior 14 days can request permission to move to online instruction for two weeks at a time. Health experts say Reynolds’ 15% threshold is not based on science and is three times higher than what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests is safe. The surgeon general has recommended a 10% limit.

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