WASHINGTON (AP) — Mortgage rates continued their upward climb this week, with rates on 30-year mortgages rising to their highest point since the middle of April. In its weekly survey, mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to a nationwide average of 5.82 percent, up from 5.77 percent last…

NEW YORK (AP) — July was a quiet and disappointing month for many of the nation’s retailers, who were left with only modest sales gains after selling most of their summer merchandise during June. Consumers were more interested in spending at auto dealers than malls last month, and hot weather wilted sales of some early…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Caremark Rx Inc. said Thursday second-quarter profit rose 53 percent on strong growth in mail-pharmacy revenue and raised its full-year earnings forecast. After the news, Caremark’s shares rose $2.30, or 5.2 percent, to close at $46.96 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. Caremark, which provides drug-benefit services to health-plan sponsors and…

MARBLE, N.C. (AP) — On a hillside at the remote western tip of North Carolina, real estate agent Joey Reid is showing off the next big thing in this area’s booming market for vacation and retirement homes. With 10-foot ceilings, stone fireplaces and screened decks with a mountain view, homes at Black Rock Falls are…

Beersheba Springs resident Euphemia L. Barks, 71, died Aug. 3.The daughter of the late Frank and Elizabeth Bess King, she was also preceded in death by sister Juanita King.She is survived by her husband of 50 years James Edd Barks, daughters Michelle Turner and Carolyn Kulback, sons and daughters-in-law Melvin and Ruth Barks, Darrell and…

Warren County resident and Manchester native Edwin Dwight Fletcher, 58, died Aug. 2 at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville after a lingering illness.A Baptist minister for 35 years, he was a member of First Baptist Church and was the son of McMinnville residents Edwin and Margaret Fletcher.He is also survived by wife Barbara Fletcher, son…

McMinnville resident and DeKalb County native Carl Dwight Humphrey, 62, died Aug. 1 at Erin Care and Rehabilitation Center in Erin, Tenn., following an extended illness.He was preceded in death by his father, W.A. Humphrey, mother Nancy Cantrell Humphrey, daughter Regina Diane Humphrey, and brothers William Carrol and Johnny Keith Humphrey.Survivors include sister Barbara Joyce…

MIAMI (AP) — Days before schools open, federal agents Thursday arrested 29 people, including school bus drivers, bus attendants and other school employees, on charges of operating a distribution ring for the powerful painkiller OxyContin. Although no teachers were involved and no evidence has surfaced of drug sales to children, U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta…

SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) — Discovery’s astronauts were packing up Friday as they prepared to undock from the international space station now that NASA has cleared the shuttle to return to Earth next week. The astronauts gathered batteries, laptops and the tethers that secured them during spacewalks. But the biggest task before leaving the station…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Last year’s Hurricane Ivan generated an ocean wave that towered higher than 90 feet at one point, says a study that also suggests such giants may be more common than once thought. Research indicates these are not “rogue waves but actually fairly common during hurricanes,” said David Wang of the Naval Research…