U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., provided an update to reporters Thursday morning from Capitol Hill, remaining optimistic that her Senate colleagues can make quick work of their agenda items.

“While it looks like it’s too much and some of (the bills) may fall off, I think the core ones will get done or we’re going to stay here until we get them done,” Capito said.

Capito said the priorities for the Senate Republican majority include passing a continuing resolution, the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nomination of Todd Blanche as attorney general and a separate nominations package.

The latest continuing resolution would fund the federal government through Dec. 11, avoiding another government shutdown in October, one month prior to the November mid-term general election.

“The deadline for funding is Sept. 30, but we want to take the possibility of a shutdown off the table,” Capito said. “It looks like we’ll be able to pass that through before we leave, and we must pass that through before we leave.”

The Senate was set to vote on a package of nominations made by Trump for various federal positions, including judges, ambassadors, cabinet undersecretaries and deputy secretaries, and other federal officials. By Thursday evening, the Senate will have confirmed more than 590 civilian nominees, more than the number confirmed at this point during Trump’s first term for office.

“We are also passing this evening a large nominations package of over 75 nominations which will put us further ahead than we’ve been … in the history of the country on presidential nominations,” Capito said.

The big nomination fight will be for acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche to serve as the official attorney general. The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Blanche’s nomination in a 12-10 vote Tuesday, but it was unclear Thursday morning whether Blanche had enough support among Senate Republicans to clear a 51-majority vote.

Other votes that could happen before the end of the week include passing a third budget reconciliation package, which includes funding for farm aid, rearmaments to deplete stocks dwindling from the Iran war and elements of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE America Act, election reform package.

A standalone SAVE America Act has failed three times in the Senate, not getting to the 60 votes needed for full consideration and not having the full support of the Republican caucus. Trump has demanded the Senate cancel its recess to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to show proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, in order to register to vote and put in place a national requirement for voters to show photo IDs in order to vote.

Also, the Senate Democratic minority has communicated to Republican leadership they would be willing to quickly pass the continuing resolution and Blanche nomination if votes on reconciliation and the SAVE America Act can be delayed until after recess.

“We’ll look at reconciliation and the SAVE Act, the parts of the SAVE Act that’s important to a lot of people, particularly the president,” Capito said. “I’m very much in support of it. That one is going to be a steeper hill to climb, so I’m not sure we’re going to be able to get to that.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.

Speaking Thursday morning during a briefing with West Virginia reporters from Capitol Hill, Capito said elements of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act could get the 50 votes needed to pass the latest federal budget reconciliation package. But the White House, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives need to work together.

“I don’t want to see us shooting at one another, and that’s been a little bit of what’s been going on here,” said Capito, R-W.Va. “I think the best way for us to move forward is as a united front, and that’s what you’re going to see here in the next several days. Now, whether the effort will be successful or not still remains to be seen, but I definitely see glimmers of optimism.”

Among other things, the SAVE America Act would require voters to show proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, in order to register to vote. Those wishing to register would need to bring their documents in person to a county clerk’s office instead of registering through the mail or online. The bill would also put in place a national requirement for voters to show photo IDs in order to vote.

The U.S. House of Representatives included the SAVE America Act in the latest budget reconciliation package, a $95 billion bill that would provide needed Pentagon funding as the war with Iran rages on, and agriculture dollars. Reconciliation allows the Senate to pass funding bills by a simple 51-vote majority, avoiding the usual 60 votes needed to end debate to pass bills.

It remains to be seen how much of the SAVE America Act will survive review by the Senate parliamentarian, who could decide parts of it have no fiscal effect and should be removed — a process called the Byrd Rule named for the late West Virginia Sen. Robert C. Byrd. Also, Senate GOP leadership has whipped votes for a standalone SAVE America Act and does not have 50 votes within the caucus. But Capito said certain parts could get to 50 votes.

“The important thing here to note is we do have 50 votes for the two major elements for the SAVE America Act. That’s voter ID and that’s proof of citizenship,” Capito said. “Now, I’m in favor of the entire bill, but those two elements have 50 votes … and it should have more because I would think a lot of Democrat states require voter ID as we do in West Virginia.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has come under criticism by Trump and House Republican leadership for not whipping votes within the Senate Republican caucus for the SAVE America Act and the reconciliation package. In social media posts, Trump has called on Thune to end the upcoming recess scheduled for a week from Friday to pass the reconciliation bill or even end the 60-vote cloture rule and throw out the Senate’s filibuster tradition. Capito said Thune is trying to meet Trump halfway.

“What we are trying to put together now with Leader Thune and the president and others is a way to put as much of that bill as we possibly can into a reconciliation bill that would only require 50 votes,” Capito said. “We are in the process of doing that. I think we’ve seen some very positive movement. Leader Thune has said he’ll put it on the floor when we get the 50 votes. I think we can achieve that. I won’t say it will be easy.”

His office did not provide did not provide any additional details about the South Carolina Republican and said his family “appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”

“Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead!” Trump posted on social media early Sunday morning. “He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!! DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW. So sad!”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said “my heart is heavy this morning to learn the passing of my friend and colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham.”

“Lindsey’s long and dedicated service in the Air Force and in Congress carried him to far-flung regions of the world,” Thune said. “He was a strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe. He believed in the might of America to achieve good in the world and dedicated his life to advancing that cause.”

First elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002 after serving in the House, the former Air Force lawyer long promoted a policy of robust U.S. military interventionism and strong national defense that in later years, would put him at odds with the growing isolationist wing of the Republican Party.

But in recent years, Graham also became well known for his close ties with Trump, whom he briefly ran against for the party’s presidential nomination in 2016.

Graham and Trump’s relationship would begin on a rough note, with the senator calling the then-businessman “unfit for office.” Graham also used a profanity to describe Trump after he made disparaging comments about former Sen. John McCain, Graham’s best friend in the Senate and a Vietnam War veteran. McCain and Graham, along with former Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., were known as the “Three Amigos” and frequently traveled to push their hawkish foreign policy views around the globe.

Not long after, Trump read out Graham’s personal cellphone number during a campaign rally in South Carolina and continued to belittle him throughout 2016 as Graham made it clear he would not support Trump, even though he was the party’s presidential nominee.

But Graham shifted significantly once Trump won the White House, emerging as one of Trump’s top allies — speaking with him frequently and becoming a regular presence on the golf course alongside the president — even as McCain remained a critic.

In a 2018 interview with The Associated Press, Graham explained his pivot by saying McCain taught him that the country must move forward after elections and that meant “you have an obligation” to help the president. McCain ran twice for the White House.

“And I’ve tried to be helpful where I could because I think he needs all the help he can get,” Graham said of Trump. “You can be a better critic when people understand that you’re trying to help them be successful.”

Graham appeared to break with Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying, “Count me out. Enough is enough.” But the senator returned to the fold and remained close with the president during his second term.

Graham especially advised Trump on foreign policy matters such as Iran and Russia, and had just announced an agreement on Friday with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of Russia sanctions. The senator had been in Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said that the senator visited his country 10 times during the years of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer,” Zelenskyy said.

His travels made him a familiar face to dozens of world leaders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday mourned Graham’s death, calling him “a great friend of Israel” and “a cherished friend of mine.”

Netanyahu said Graham understood that the security of Israel and the United States is inseparable and devoted his life to defending America, strengthening the U.S.-Israel alliance and standing up for the free world.

“Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend,” Netanyahu said, extending condolences to Graham’s family and the American people.

Graham had been serving as the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, giving him a central role during Trump’s second term as Republicans pushed major legislation on party-line votes with a slim majority in the chamber.

His committee oversaw a process called reconciliation, a Senate procedure that allowed Republicans to pass significant policies such as last year’s tax law without the threat of a Democratic filibuster.

He had previously led the Senate Judiciary Committee when Republicans confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in 2020, and was in line to regain that gavel if the party kept control of the Senate after this year’s midterms.

Graham was a key player in the Senate’s efforts to craft a massive immigration overhaul in 2013 as a member of the so-called Gang of Eight, a bipartisan group that wrote a sweeping measure that would have altered virtually every part of U.S. immigration law. It passed the Senate with 68 votes but was never taken up by the House, so it did not become law.

But Graham’s views on immigration, particularly an endorsement of a pathway to citizenship for people in the U.S. without legal status, put him at odds with some Republican factions.

He sometimes faced primary challenges in his home state of South Carolina, but he won the nomination outright in June while running for a fifth term. Graham was slated to face Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician from Charleston, in November’s general election.

The senator addressed the president in his victory speech last month, saying, “I’m going to help you change this world and change this country.”

The sparse statement by Graham’s office, which did not explain his death, comes during a stretch of concern about a lack of transparency about lawmakers’ health.

Rep. Tom Kean Jr., a New Jersey Republican, was absent without explanation for months before returning to Congress and disclosing that he had been diagnosed with depression.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, was hospitalized weeks ago for undisclosed health reasons.

Republicans hold a narrow 53-47 majority in the Senate. Under South Carolina law, Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, will appoint a temporary replacement for Graham, and that person will serve until January.

McMaster said in a statement that Graham was “irreplaceable.”

“The fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America — and a loyal and steadfast friend,” McMaster said. As he offered condolences to his family, he added: “We shall not see his likes again.”

Graham was not married and did not have children. His closest living relative is sister Darline Graham Nordone, whom he helped raise after both their parents died.

In a 6-3 decision Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of West Virginia and Idaho, which passed similar laws described as being aimed at protecting biological girls and women from being forced to compete against biological boys and men who became transgender girls and women.

“Separate sports teams for biological males and biological females are reasonable: Given the inherent physical differences between the sexes, allowing only biological females to play on women’s and girls’ teams can reduce the risk of physical injury and ensure fair competition,” wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh, penning the opinion on behalf of Chief Justice John Roberts and the four other conservative members of the court.

“Our role is not to judge the wisdom, fairness, or logic of the law before us, but only to ensure that it does not violate the equal protection guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Kavanaugh continued.

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House Bill 3293, passed by the West Virginia Legislature in 2021, requires student-athletes in middle school, high school and college to participate in sports that match the student’s sex assigned at the time of their birth. The law applies to sports regulated by the NCAA and other college interscholastic organizations. The law is now called the Save Women’s Sports Act.

Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 16-year-old Harrison County high school cross country and track athlete who has identified as a girl since third grade and takes puberty-blocking medication, filed a lawsuit against HB 3293 in May 2021 when she was 11, shortly after the law went into effect. She placed first in shot-put in the state girls high school track and field championship in May.

Attorneys for Pepper-Jackson — which include the ACLU-WV, Lambda Legal, and Cooley LLP — alleged that HB 3293 violated her federal Title IX rights, prohibiting the exclusion of students from education programs on the basis of sex, as well as her rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But Kavanaugh wrote that neither West Virginia’s nor Idaho’s laws conflict with Title IX or the 14th Amendment.

“Consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, we hold that the States may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females,” Kavanaugh wrote. “They may determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex. The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of women’s and girls’ sports throughout America.”

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued the majority misapplied the legal standards for sex-based classifications and ignored crucial factual distinctions regarding transgender athletes who have not undergone male puberty.

“This litigation implicates deeply sensitive, contentious, and evolving issues,” Sotomayor wrote. “These circumstances demand exercising judicial restraint, not rushing to answer conclusively difficult questions without sufficient evidentiary development.Ěý

“In opting otherwise, the majority extends great sympathy to those it favors: the young cisgender girls and women who play sports,” Sotomayor continued.” I share that sympathy. Playing sports can lead to benefits that are immeasurable, and many are understandably invested in ensuring that competition stays fair and safe. Because the majority, however, inflicts a hardship on those it disfavors without giving them the fair and full opportunity the Constitution requires to litigate their contentions, I respectfully dissent.”

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia allowed the law to be enforced, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals overruled that decision, preventing the law from being enforced while the case was pending. The Supreme Court rejected an effort by then-Attorney General Patrick Morrisey to appeal that ruling barring enforcement of the law while the case was pending.Ěý

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up the state’s appeal last year, with oral arguments taking place in January. W.Va. Attorney General J.B. McCuskey praised the decision.

“This is a monumental victory for every female athlete who has ever competed, or dreamed of competing, on a fair and safe playing field,” McCuskey said. Today’s Supreme Court decision affirms what common sense and the law have long made clear: States have the right to designate sports teams based on biological sex, not gender identity. Without that delineation, Title IX is turned on its head and decades of hard-fought progress to advance female athletes is erased.”

State, national and international athletics regulators have begun changing their rules under pressure. President Donald Trump signed an executive order early in 2025 barring transgender girls and women who were born as males from participating in sports with biological females.Ěý

The NCAA in early 2025 updated its policies to abide by Trump’s executive order, limiting competition in women’s sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth only. The International Olympic Commission also set a 2026 target to update its policies, which could limit participating of transgender athletes in future Olympic competitions.

Last year, the West Virginia Legislature passed Senate Bill 299, modifying state regulations on pubertal modulation, hormonal therapy, and gender reassignment. SB 299 eliminates narrow exceptions for the use of medication gender-affirming care for minors.Ěý

Morrisey also signed Senate Bill 456 last year – the Riley Gaines Act – which defines “male” and “female” in state code and protects single-sex spaces. The bill is named for Riley Gaines, who first made headlines in 2022 after competing against Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who was on the University of Pennsylvania’s swim team. Morrisey appealed the lower court ruling in 2024 as attorney general.

“Today’s decision will be remembered as one of the most important victories for women’s athletics since the enactment of Title IX itself,” Morrisey said in a statement Tuesday.Ěý

“For far too long, Americans watched as this debate unfolded and wondered whether the promise made to generations of women and girls would endure,” Morrisey continued. “Today, the Supreme Court answered that question. The protections established under Title IX remain meaningful, the integrity of women’s sports remains worth preserving, and states retain the authority to defend fair competition.”

McCuskey inherited the case in 2025 when he first took office succeeding Morrisey as attorney general. The case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court last summer by state Solicitor General Michael Williams.

“I am immensely proud of my team for not only getting this issue before the Court but for delivering sound and successful arguments,” McCuskey said. “This landmark victory will give all states, not just West Virginia, the clarity and confidence to ensure fairness and safety for female athletes today and for generations to come.”

Attorneys opposing the West Virginia and Idaho bans on transgender student-athletes said in a statement Tuesday they were disappointed in the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“This is a heartbreaking ruling for our clients and transgender girls like them who’ve asked for nothing more than the same opportunities afforded to their peers.” saidĚýJoshua Block, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “The reality is that the equality of transgender women and girls takes nothing away from, and in fact promotes, the equality of all women and girls. We will continue to advance the fundamental principle that all young people deserve equal opportunity to thrive and succeed.”

“This ruling is deeply harmful for transgender women and girls who only asked for the ability to participate in sports with their peers,” said Sasha Buchert, senior attorney and director of the Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project at Lambda Legal. “Countless studies have demonstrated the myriad benefits that come with participation in team sports. Now, one population, transgender youth and collegians, are targeted for specific and baseless discrimination. We will not be deterred and will continue to fight back to secure the equal participation that all youth, including transgender youth, deserve.”

Under the agreement, filed in federal court in West Virginia, Chemours will pay a civil penalty of $22.5 million for alleged violations and spend $90 million over 15 years to mitigate PFAS discharges in three states: West Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey.

Chemours, a spin-off of chemical maker DuPont, also agreed to install PFAS pollution controls for and surface water discharges and air emissions at a West Virginia facility at an estimated cost of $60 million, supply clean drinking water to communities near its West Virginia and New Jersey sites at an estimated cost of $280 million; and implement controls to reduce releases of PFAS and other toxic chemicals from its facility in North Carolina, based on a pending independent assessment.

Combined, the penalties and relief programs are estimated to cost at least $450 million, the Justice Department said.

The settlement allows Chemours to continue manufacturing PFAS for commercial and military applications while preventing future contamination and protecting communities from existing pollution, said Adam Gustafson, principal deputy assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Justice Department says settlement protects public health

“The Trump administration recognizes the important role of Chemours for it commercial and military obligations,” Gustafson said in an interview. “The settlement protects public health while preserving that important balance.”

The settlement against a major PFAS manufacturer “delivers on the Trump administration’s promise to make polluters pay and stop PFAS contamination at the source,” said Jeffrey Hall, assistant EPA administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance.

The agreement will greatly reduce PFAS contamination of water, land and air and even begin to mitigate past harm, Hall said. “This settlement brings Chemours into compliance with the law and holds it fully accountable,” he said.

In a statement Wednesday, Chemours said it has already begun planning and implementing operational improvements at its facilities and will take steps to mitigate future emissions and enhance existing programs.

“This settlement provides Chemours with greater clarity on future compliance requirements and actions to support long-term responsible manufacturing,” spokeswoman Jess Loizeaux said.

The settlement comes as the Trump administration is expected to propose softening Biden-era limits on “forever chemicals” in drinking water, while delaying but keeping tough standards for two common types of the substance.

The proposal will start the formal process of rolling back parts of the first-ever limits on PFAS in drinking water finalized during former President Joe Biden’s administration. Officials at the time found they increased the risk of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and babies being born with low birth weight.

The agency is committed to addressing Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water while following the law and ensuring that regulatory compliance is achievable for drinking water systems, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said.

Chemours discharged PFAS into rivers in three states

The settlement determined that facilities Chemours operates in the three states have discharged PFAS into the Ohio River, Cape Fear River and Delaware River, respectively, in violation of permits required by the Clean Water Act and state laws. Chemours also violated legal requirements under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act at all three facilities.

As a result of the alleged violations, people living near the facilities were exposed to illegal PFAS, officials said. PFAS are widely used and found around the world, with scientific studies showing that exposure to some PFAS in the environment may be linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals.

The violations continued for over a decade, the Justice Department said. The facilities were previously owned for many decades by DuPont. The settlement announced Wednesday does not resolve DuPont’s liability for past PFAS violations, officials said.

A federal judge last year ordered Chemours to stop discharging unlawful levels of cancer-causing chemicals into the Ohio River from the company’s Washington Works plant in West Virginia. The pollutants endanger the environment, aquatic life and human health, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin wrote in the August 2025 order.

The West Virginia Rivers Coalition had asked Goodwin to require the company to immediately comply with its permit limits after violating them for more than five years.

DuPont, Chemours and another company, Corteva, agreed to pay New Jersey up to $2 billion last year to settle environmental claims stemming from PFAS. The federal settlement does not affect the state case.

North Carolina AG blasts settlement

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson called the settlement “an insult to the people of eastern North Carolina.”

His state is “ground zero for GenX contamination, but this deal does practically nothing to clean up our water,” said Jackson, a Democrat. GenX is a trade name for a synthetic chemical developed by Chemours as an alternative to PFAS but which has raised significant health and environmental concerns in its own right.

“Chemours made this mess, and Chemours should clean it up,” Jackson said in a statement.

The federal consent decree calls for 14 specific treatment systems to reduce PFAS in wastewater, stormwater and groundwater from the West Virginia plant. Chemours will test drinking water near the West Virginia and New Jersey sites and provide treated or alternative clean water.

Greenspan died from complications of Parkinson’s disease, said his wife of 29 years, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell.

“To me he was my husband, who shaped my life from our very first date in 1984,” Mitchell wrote. “He had ‘irrational exuberance’ for baseball, the Washington Commanders, tennis, golf, and music, especially jazz. He will be remembered for his brilliance and his kindness. Being his life partner was the joy of my life.”

The Fed said Greenspan helped to cement trust in the Fed during a time of economic uncertainty.

“Under his leadership, the Federal Reserve achieved a sustained era of price stability that supported economic growth and helped anchor the public’s confidence in the institution,” the central bank said in a statement Monday.

Greenspan was hailed as “Maestro” — before crisis hit

In 18 1/2 years at the Fed, Greenspan presided over a breathtaking surge in stock prices and a 10-year economic boom that started in March 1991. He was celebrated as “Maestro” and “Oracle” — an economic virtuoso whose every utterance was dissected for clues on where interest rates and the economy were headed.

The intense scrutiny of Greenspan’s intentions gave birth to new Fed folklore: the “Briefcase Indicator.” A stuffed briefcase carried into Fed meetings implied changes might be afoot because Greenspan carried with him charts and research to make his point.

But his reputation began to suffer almost as soon as he left the Fed in 2006. American housing prices tumbled rapidly, causing huge losses for banks that had repackaged mortgage loans into a dizzying array of complex securities. The growing financial crisis pushed the U.S. economy into the Great Recession of 2007-2009 — the deepest downturn since the 1930s.

Critics blamed the devastation on Greenspan’s easy money policies and his support for deregulated financial markets. Greenspan himself later acknowledged “I made a mistake” in assuming that banks could essentially regulate themselves.

Greenspan became the authoritative voice on the US economy

For almost two decades, it seemed that Greenspan could do no wrong. Not only in the United States but across the world, he was regarded with a mixture of reverence and awe. Many openly dreaded the day when he would leave the Fed.

Investors hung on his sometimes inscrutable observations. In the most well-known such remark, Greenspan sent financial markets reeling on Dec. 5, 1996, when he suggested with just two words — “irrational exuberance” — that stock prices were too high.

Mindful of his power to move markets, Greenspan typically resorted to obfuscation. At times, he even joked about his habit of doing so. “I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant,” Greenspan once told a befuddled congressional committee.

Greenspan was one of the few Fed chairs that Kevin Warsh, chosen by Trump to lead the Fed, praised at his swearing-in last month. Warsh has said one of his goals is to dial back the Fed’s communications, particularly the guidance it gives financial markets, an approach closer to Greenspan’s than to Warsh’s immediate predecessors as chair.

Yet for all his circumspect comments, Greenspan did make the Fed more transparent. He was the first chair to issue a statement explaining the Fed’s interest-rate decisions. Before Greenspan, investors had to divine the Fed’s intentions from market changes. Greenspan also began to release minutes and even full transcripts of meetings, though those changes were in response to pressure from Congress.

A protégé is born

Born in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, the young Greenspan was a math whiz who was trotted out by his mother to show off for visitors.

“I was a prop at parties,” he said in a 2007 interview with PBS NewsHour. A Julliard School dropout, he worked as a professional musician in his teens, playing clarinet and saxophone alongside the future jazz great Stan Getz. It was a humbling experience that persuaded the young Greenspan to seek another line of work.

He pursued undergraduate and graduate study in economics at New York University, eventually earning a doctorate there. For most of three decades, he ran an economic consulting firm. During the 1950s, he became a disciple of the libertarian philosopher Ayn Rand, who stuck him with the nickname the “Undertaker” for his dark clothes and quiet bearing. When Greenspan was sworn in as President Gerald Ford’s chief economic adviser in 1974, Rand stood beside him.

An early trial for a new Fed chair

President Ronald Reagan tapped Greenspan to run the Fed in 1987. He was tested almost immediately. On Oct. 19, 1987, which came to be known as “Black Monday,” the stock market suffered the worst one-day percentage loss in American history just two months into his term. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 22.6% for reasons that remain opaque to this day.

Greenspan was credited for helping restore stability. He assured Wall Street that the Fed would supply as much money to the financial system as was needed to restore calm. Stocks recovered, and the American economy emerged unscathed by the market crash.

During his tenure at the Fed, Greenspan drew praise for presiding over what was at the time the longest economic expansion in American history. (It was later surpassed by a 128-month expansion that ran from June 2009 through February 2020.) During Greenspan’s tenure at the Fed, the nation’s unemployment rate briefly dropped below 4% for the first time since 1970.

And inflation, which had bedeviled the United States and much of the global economy during the 1970s, was remarkably dormant during Greenspan’s chairmanship, something many economists thought impossible for so long a period.

During the long boom, Greenspan argued that improvements in technology had made the economy so efficient that it could run faster and at lower rates of unemployment, without unleashing inflation. As a consequence, the theory went, the Fed could keep interest rates low even when the economy was roaring.

The economy soared in the late 1990s, expanding by 4% or more for four straight years, and Greenspan was credited with holding off on rate hikes and allowing the boom to run.

Warsh has said that AI could reproduce the 1990s experience of high growth with low inflation, though economists are skeptical it will play out the same way.

A passion for numbers and life

As Fed chair, Greenspan relished poring over obscure economic data, from monthly boxcar loadings to steel production, all in a bid to assess where the economy was going. He would often phone economists at other government agencies to discuss details. He would rise early each morning for a two-hour soak in his bathtub, time that he used to review statistics and Fed staff memos.

Improbably, Greenspan also made the gossip pages as an unlikely ladies’ man. He dated the television journalist Barbara Walters and later married Mitchell after a 12-year courtship. They had no children.

Greenspan dated Walters while working as an adviser to President Gerald Ford. According to a biography of Greenspan, “The Man Who Knew” by Sebastian Mallaby, when Ford read a newspaper item about the pair, he cut it out and sent it to his chief of staff, Dick Cheney, with a note that said, “I don’t believe it.”

A strong faith in self-regulating markets is challenged

All along, Greenspan held fast to the belief that financial markets could largely regulate themselves. With officials from President Bill Clinton’s White House, he helped block efforts by Brooksley Born, the nation’s top commodities regulator, to bring federal oversight in the late 1990s to the shadowy market in over-the-counter derivatives. The derivatives allowed speculators to make bets on everything from the price of oil to high-risk mortgages.

Eventually, history would vindicate Born, not the Maestro.

The low interest rates Greenspan had engineered helped swell housing prices into a dangerous bubble. And the financial deregulation he supported allowed banks and other financial firms to pile up huge risks, often hidden from government supervision. Bad derivatives bets helped sink insurance giant American International Group, which required a $180 billion taxpayer bailout. Vaunted investment firms Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers failed and U.S. financial markets nearly collapsed.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which was assigned to investigate the debacle by Congress, concluded:

“More than 30 years of deregulation and reliance on self-regulation by financial institutions, championed by former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and others … had stripped away key safeguards, which could have helped avoid catastrophe.”

Life after the Fed

In the years after stepping down as Fed chairman in 2006 just shy of his 80th birthday, Greenspan kept busy doing what he loved to do most — following the economic data. He ran his own consulting firm, Greenspan Associates, through which he dispensed advice to Wall Street clients and collected handsome speaking fees.

He kept up a busy schedule well into his 90s, writing his memoir and two other books on the economy, as well as opining on the latest economic developments on television news shows.

He also signed onto opinion articles and statements defending the Federal Reserve’s political independence from President Donald Trump’s ongoing attacks. In January 2026 he signed a statement criticizing the Trump administration’s investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The statement, which was also signed by two other former Fed chairs and five former Treasury secretaries, called the investigation “an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine” the Fed’s independence and warned it would have “highly negative consequences for inflation.”

In his 2013 book “The Map and the Territory,” Greenspan defended himself against critics who assigned him significant blame for the 2008 financial meltdown. He argued that traditional economic forecasting was no match for the irrational risk-taking that can feed catastrophic price bubbles.

“Bubbles go up very slowly as euphoria builds,” Greenspan said in a 2013 interview with The Associated Press. “Then fear hits, and it comes down very sharply. When I started to look at that, I was sort of intellectually shocked.”

Speaking to West Virginia reporters Thursday morning from Capitol Hill prior to floor votes, Capito said the Iran MOU should lessen the need for full-scale war and slowly begin to ease the strain at the gas pump. But a final agreement to end the war with Iran should be reviewed and approved by the Senate.

“I think it’s good news in that it’s a peaceful solution. It brings an end to the conflict,” said Capito, R-W.Va. “We haven’t been able to trust the Iranians to negotiate fully in truth, and I think I still have great skepticism as to whether, even with this memorandum of understanding, we can move forward. So, we’re going to have to have good oversight and good enforcement mechanisms. I think the president is obviously well aware of that and has talked about that.”

The official text of the 14-point MOU was released Thursday. The agreement establishes an immediate ceasefire and outlines a 60-day timeline to negotiate a permanent peace treaty.

Key provisions include the removal of naval blockades, the restoration of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and the termination of economic sanctions against Iran. In exchange, Iran commits to halting nuclear weapon development and allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency to oversee the down-blending of enriched materials.

“What I do know is that the ability for Iran to launch missiles and manufacture missiles used in their terrorist attacks has been severely diminished along with their navy,” Capito said. “I understand that this memorandum of understanding will open up the Strait of Hormuz. This should ease the gasoline issue of prices that we’ve seen, though they never come down as quick as they go up. I also think that it’s to be determined how effective this is going to be in terms of fully denuclearizing the Iranian republic, and those negotiations will continue.”

Additionally, the plan proposes a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran and the release of frozen assets to ensure regional stability.

“My understanding is that these are frozen assets that are actually Iranian assets, that would then be unlocked if they stick to the agreement,” Capito said. “I still think this is a big sticking point.”

Other senators have expressed varying levels of concerns in other media outlets based on the released MOU text. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., compared the MOU to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated with Iran by former President Barack Obama in 2015 in which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief and assets being unfrozen.

“Specifically, the $300 billion fund for the reconstruction and economic development of Iran – though not funded by taxpayers – would make Iran’s payoff under President Obama’s 2015 deal look like a pittance by comparison,” Wicker said. “President Trump has pursued peace through strength. I hope the intermediaries working on this deal are not undermining that objective.”

The final settlement will be solidified through a binding United Nations Security Council resolution. But Capito said any final deal between the White House and Iran should be voted on by the Senate.

“I think we need more details,” Capito said. “They may be still negotiating part of these, but we need to be a part of that. We’ve been left in the dark really this week, giving (Trump) some leeway to finish this up. But now that this has been signed, we need to have those details.

“If, in fact, the president does sign a full agreement with the Iranians, I believe it needs to come before the Senate for us to debate and for us to weigh in on,” she continued. “I demanded that when President Obama did the JCPOA in 2015. I think that President Trump should probably go in that direction so that he can have the advice and consent of the Senate.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that charges were filed against five individuals accused of plotting to attack the UFC event on the front lawn of the White House.

Charges were filed Monday against Tycen C. Proper, 19, of Danville, Ohio; Bryan Omar Roa, 24, of Calimesa, Calif.; Michael Alan Thomas, 32, of Pinon Hills, Calif.; Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, of Kidder, Mo.; and Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, 31, of Omaha, Neb. The FBI made arrests over the weekend.

The five individuals are charged with conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit violence on White House grounds. If convicted, the first charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine, while the second charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

According to the DOJ, the individuals are accused of a plot to kill government officials who attended the highly publicized event at the White House, with plans to deploy drones with explosives over the UFC event to create panic and using snipers to murder “high value” targets, such as cabinet officials, members of Congress, and wealthy attendees. Plotting by these individuals began in March, using TikTok and encrypted social media apps to communicate and coordinate.

Much of the details of the case are in an unsealed complaint filed by the DOJ in several jurisdictions, including the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, against Proper, who was interviewed by the FBI at an unnamed medical facility on June 11. In that complaint, Proper told investigators some of his targets for attack included U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va.; 1st District Congresswoman Carol Miller, R-W.Va.; and 2nd District Congressman Riley Moore, R-W.Va.

The names of West Virginia’s congressional delegation, along with U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., were shared by Proper with his co-conspirators in a May 13 group chat.

“These are the people we’re going to focus on,” Proper texted, followed by images of Capito, Justice, Miller and Moore. According to the complaint, the images sent by Proper were taken from TrackAIPAC.com, a website that tracks campaign contributions to lawmakers by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an organization that supports strong relations between the U.S. and Israel.

Capito, Justice, and Moore were not in attendance at Sunday’s UFC event according to their offices. Miller’s office provided a statement but did not say whether Miller was in attendance.

“These are scary times, and that’s troubling.” Capito said in a statement Tuesday night. “I am grateful to the FBI and our law enforcement partners for their professionalism, commitment, and diligence to prevent any attacks on elected officials or events.”

“First and foremost, I want to thank Director Patel, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and all the agencies that immediately jumped into action to eliminate the threat of a terrorist attack at the UFC America 250 event,” Justice said. “Learning that members of Congress, including myself, have been among those targeted in this plot should not be tolerated. But what I do know is that I am incredibly grateful for the brave folks working hard behind the scenes.”

“I am deeply grateful to the FBI, Capitol Police, and our local law enforcement officers who acted swiftly to disrupt the planned attack targeting me and other lawmakers at the Freedom250 event last weekend,” Miller said. “Their precision and vigilance prevented what could have been a horrific tragedy and undoubtedly saved many lives.”

“I want to personally thank (FBI Director Kash, the FBI, the Justice Department, Capitol Police) and every law enforcement agency involved in uncovering and stopping this heinous plot that specifically targeted myself, the West Virginia delegation, and our colleagues at the Freedom 250 UFC event over the weekend,” Moore said on social media Tuesday. “The FBI and Capitol Police’s swift actions kept us safe from this direct threat against our lives, and I am forever grateful to these brave men and women.”

In a separate complaint filed against Alvarez in U.S. District Court in Nebraska, Proper also named other targets, including U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Del. Tristan Leavitt, R-Kanawha.

“Today I was made aware that my name appeared as a target of a domestic terror plot disrupted by the FBI several days ago,” Leavitt said Tuesday in a statement. “Let me be clear: I am not intimidated, and I will not be silenced in standing up for the people of West Virginia or our allies, including Israel … Violence against the democratic process is unacceptable.”

According to the criminal complaint against Proper, law enforcement intervened after the suspect’s family reported hisĚýtactical preparationsĚýand massive collection ofĚýfirearms and ammunition. Evidence recovered from encrypted messaging apps confirmed detailedĚýtactical mappingĚýand coordination for the assault.Ěý

The group cited government corruption, the handling of the “Epstein files,” and the impact of data centers on community water supplies as justifications for their actions. Family members reported that Proper had become closed off and made sympathetic comments about Adolf Hitler. Investigators identified anti-Semitic posts made by Proper on Facebook. Law enforcement confiscated weapons, ammo and tactical gear from Proper’s home.

Unless the Kennedy Center decides to appeal the decision from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, Trump’s name could be removed from the building within hours. Workers were seen building scaffolding around a section of the building that includes Trump’s name and about a dozen people watched nearby, chanting “take it down.”

A Kennedy Center spokesperson didn’t immediately comment on the ruling.

Last month, Cooper ruled Trump’s name was illegally added to the iconic Washington performing arts facility. Late Thursday, Trump’s handpicked board at the center mounted a last-minute effort to keep his name on the facade of the iconic performing arts facility but Cooper refused to stay his order.

A June 4 memo to staff from the Kennedy Center’s Office of General Counsel said email signatures, letterhead and other documents must reflect the name as “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” or “Kennedy Center.”

The Kennedy Center’s website has dropped Trump’s name. And an earlier email sent to members offering ticket packages for the June 28 Mark Twain Award for American Humor ceremony came from the Kennedy Center without including Trump’s name.

After ignoring the Kennedy Center for much of his first term, Trump has wielded tremendous influence over the venue during his return to office. Just a month into his second term, he ousted the center’s previous leadership and replaced it with a board of trustees that named him chairman.

In his earlier ruling, Cooper also blocked the administration from closing the cultural and arts venue for major renovations that had been planned to start in July and last for two years.

Shares in SpaceX jumped 24% after opening for trading at noon Friday, a sign that investors are looking past the billions the company is losing and instead betting that its massive investments in satellites, orbital data centers and artificial intelligence will pay off in the future.

SpaceX opened at $150 a share, then jumped to around $168 around 2:.20 p.m. ET. That price gave the company a market value of $2.2 trillion. Musk, who also is a major shareholder and the CEO of Tesla, is now worth an estimated $1.2 trillion, according to Forbes.

Why SpaceX is going public now

Musk says SpaceX, founded in 2002, is going public now because it needs money to fund its ambitions of putting satellites and data centers in space and eventually establishing a colony of people on Mars.

He marked the opening of trading on Nasdaq by joining a ceremonial bell ringing from Starbase, the South Texas home of SpaceX.

He reiterated his lofty goals “to make life multiplanetary.”

“Not just a few astronauts, I mean literally you,” Musk said. “Whoever you are watching this, SpaceX wants to be able to take you to the moon, take you to Mars and ultimately beyond.”

Known for his technological breakthroughs, as well as wild claims and missed deadlines, Musk was able to whip up enthusiasm for the IPO despite SpaceX losing billions of dollars a year.

Institutional and retail investors alike jumped at the opportunity to buy a piece of the company at $135 per share before trading began. The $75 billion in proceeds SpaceX raised easily topped the previous record IPO from oil giant Saudi Aramco in 2019.

The company trades under the symbol “SPCX.”

In addition to establishing a one-million person Martian colony, the company has promised to save humanity by establishing other outposts in space, launch data centers the size of football fields into orbit and outdo rivals Anthropic and OpenAI in the race to make money from artificial intelligence.

To reach its goals, SpaceX needs billions more than it currently takes in from its rocket and satellite business. Between the start of 2025 and March 31, 2026, the company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., lost $8.7 billion.

Pros and cons for investors

Wall Street bankers that helped take SpaceX public are enthusiastic about the company — and the big fees they will earn — but not everyone thinks the stock price is justified.

Analysts at research firm Morningstar, which doesn’t earn any investment banking fees, wrote that the IPO is “significantly overvalued” because of SpaceX’s unproven technology and massive capital needs.

They estimate the company is only worth $780 billion — less than half its IPO value.

SpaceX itself has hinted at the challenges, conceding in regulatory documents that some of its business plans rest on “unproven technologies.” It also indicated that another part of the company, its artificial intelligence business called xAI, has no clear path to profitability and is burning cash to catch up with rivals.

On a livestreamed conference Thursday with the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, one of the investment banks making big money off the IPO, Musk offered few details.

He entertained the crowd with talk of “moon hotels,” a future Martian colony and a network of Earth-orbiting data centers powered by the sun. But when asked about plans for his flagship chatbot offering Grok, he pivoted to talking about his satellites.

How Elon made his fortune

Still, Musk has pulled off the seemingly impossible before.

The now-trillionaire — on paper at least — made his initial fortune by creating two companies, Zip2 and PayPal, that netted him about $200 million at sale. He used that money to start SpaceX and invest in Tesla, and defied the odds by creating a space company that figured out how to reuse rockets and a car company that made electric vehicles cool.

Musk has realized vast sums of wealth for himself, much of it in stock he has yet to cash in or grants for shares he’ll only receive if Tesla or SpaceX hit ambitious performance targets.

His recent pay package from Tesla was so large it even drew criticism from the Vatican. At Tesla, he’s worried shareholders by fighting with regulators or dividing his attention between multiple companies and last year by taking a role in the Trump administration.

But a rising stock price has cured all ills: Since it went public in 2010, Tesla has returned 20,000% for shareholders, or more than $1.2 trillion in investor wealth.

SpaceX is the first of three “megacap” companies expected to go public this year, with Anthropic and OpenAI to follow. Nasdaq even revised its rules to allow SpaceX to gain entry into funds tied to its indexes in 15 days, which means investors will end up buying the rocket maker’s shares much earlier.

Not all investors are thrilled about SpaceX potentially showing up in their holdings of index funds.

Officials from pension funds for firefighters, teachers and other workers in California and New York sent a letter to SpaceX last month decrying some of the provisions in its IPO, including mandatory arbitration of shareholder claims and how much power Musk will hold over the company.

AP reporters Stan Choe and Wyatte Grantham-Philips contributed from New York and reporter Matt O’Brien contributed from Providence.