FINANCIAL MARKETS

Despite a mixed finish, S&P 500 and Nasdaq notch records

Stocks wound up a mixed bag on Wall Street Thursday, but big gains in several technology giants helped push the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes to more record highs. The S&P 500 added 0.4% and the Nasdaq rose 0.8%, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%. More stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Qualcomm soared 12.7% after the chipmaker reported record profits and said supply constraints would continue to ease. Moderna sank 17.9% after cutting its forecast for vaccine deliveries. The yield on the 10-year Tresaury note fell to 1.52%.

AP-EU-CLIMATE-COP26-THE-LATEST

The Latest: U.S. climate envoy Kerry lauds Biden project

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry says a new project trumpeted by U.S. President Joe Biden, in which companies underpin development of low-carbon technologies through their buying power, amounts to a “big transformation.” The “First Movers Coalition,” spearheaded by the U.S. government and the World Economic Forum, aims to help meet an increasingly difficult target laid out in the 2015 Paris climate accord to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. So far, almost three dozen global companies in many sectors have committed to changing their purchasing practices to favor development of zero-emission technologies by 2030. “It’s a big deal,” Kerry told many corporate leaders behind the project in Glasgow on Thursday.

TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE

Analyst who aided Trump-Russia dossier charged with lying

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Russian analyst who provided information for a dossier of research used during the Trump-Russia investigation has been charged with lying to the FBI when questioned about his work. A grand jury indictment issued in federal court in Virginia charges Igor Danchenko with five counts of false statements. The case was brought as part of special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the FBI’s probe into ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Danchenko functioned as a source for Christopher Steele, a former British spy who was paid by Democrats to examine ties between Russia and Trump during the campaign.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWSUIT-NRA

Lawsuit: NRA illegally funded Trump, other GOP candidates

O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A federal lawsuit accuses the National Rifle Association of violating campaign finance laws by using shell companies to illegally funnel up to $35 million to Republican candidates, including former President Donald Trump, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and others. The Campaign Legal Center filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of a gun control nonprofit founded by former Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords. It accuses the NRA of using shell corporations to “illegally but surreptitiously coordinate advertising with at least seven candidates for federal office.” The NRA says in a statement it “has full confidence in its political activities and remains eager to set the record straight.”

CAPITOL BREACH-TRUMP

Judge questions Trump lawyers trying to shield Jan. 6 papers

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge is questioning Donald Trump’s efforts to withhold documents from Congress related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Judge Tanya Chutkan expressed skepticism Thursday when attorneys for the former president asked her to block the handover of documents to a House committee. Chutkan said some of the committee’s requests dating back to April 2020 “are alarmingly broad.” But she disagreed with claims by Trump’s lawyers that Congress does not have a purpose for seeking Trump’s call logs, talking points, and other notes from Jan. 6. The judge said she will rule soon on the lawsuit.

CAPITOL BREACH-REAL ESTATE AGENT

Rioter who bragged she wouldn’t go to jail gets prison term

A Texas real estate agent who bragged she wasn’t going to jail for storming the U.S. Capitol because she is white, has blond hair and good job has been sentenced to two months behind bars. The judge who sentenced Jennifer Leigh Ryan on Thursday questioned whether she is remorseful. While some rioters sentenced for the same misdemeanor conviction have received only probation or home confinement, prosecutors sought incarceration for Ryan. They said the Frisco, Texas, resident has shown a lack of candor and remorse for her actions. Ryan said she was sorry. She is the 10th person charged in the riot to get a jail or prison sentence.

AP-US-KENOSHA-PROTEST-SHOOTINGS

Witness: Shooting victim lunged toward Rittenhouse’s rifle

Eds: Corrects first name of witness to Richie.

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — A witness at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial says the first man shot on the streets of Kenosha seemed to “lunge” toward Rittenhouse’s gun in an attempt to take it away just before Rittenhouse fired. Richie McGinniss is a video director for the conservative website The Daily Caller, who followed as protester Joseph Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse. He said Rosenbaum was lunging toward Rittenhouse and his momentum was moving forward when he was shot. The lead prosecutor kept pressing McGinniss about whether Rosenbaum was actually falling when he was shot, as McGinniss said in a media interview days after the shooting.

AHMAUD ARBERY-GEORGIA TRIAL

Mostly white jury puts race out front in Arbery death trial

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — The trial hasn’t even started and yet issues of race are at the forefront of the case in which three white men are charged with murder for chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery. The family of the slain 25-year-old Black man was rattled Wednesday when the jury selected for the case included only one Black juror. Ben Crump is an attorney for Arbery’s father. He called it “outrageous” that other potential Black jurors were excluded to create what he called an “imbalanced jury.” Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan are charged with murder and other crimes in Arbery’s February 2020 death. Many view the case as a reckoning on whether the justice system treats Black victims fairly. Judge Timothy Walmsley plans to start the trial Friday.

APARTMENT-FIRE-CHILDREN KILLED

Illinois woman charged in August fire deaths of her 5 kids

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — A woman has been charged with child endangerment in the August fire deaths of her five young children, who she allegedly left in a southwest Illinois apartment without adult supervision. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 34-year-old Sabrina Dunigan of East St. Louis is charged in St. Clair County with five felony counts of endangering the life/health of a child. Dunigan had not surrendered to police or been served with an arrest warrant as of Thursday afternoon. The Belleville News-Democrat reports that charging documents say Dunigan’s five children had been left without adult supervision, which was a proximate cause of their Aug. 6 fire deaths.

DONATED BODY-PUBLIC DISSECTION

Body donated for science dissected at ‘Oddities’ expo

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — News agencies report that the body of a Louisiana man who wanted it donated for science was dissected before paying viewers at an event marketed as an “Oddities and Curiosities Expo” in Oregon. His wife is aghast. Elsie Saunders of Baker calls it horrible and unethical. She says the papers she signed say Donald Saunders’ body would be used for science. Saunders says she learned what had happened Tuesday from Seattle station KING-TV. The station had sent a reporter to a dissection in Portland, Oregon, and the reporter spotted a bracelet with the name Donald Saunders on one wrist.

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