TribLive stories, Page 61
White House issues new rule restricting access for journalists
A new White House rule issued Friday restricts the ability of credentialed journalists to freely access the offices of press secretary Karoline Leavitt and other top communications officials in the West Wing, near the Oval Office. The new memorandum from the National Security Council bans journalists from accessing Room 140,...
Consequences mount as federal government shutdown, state budget impasse drag on
As the federal government shutdown moves into its second month and the state budget impasse drags into its fifth, the consequences of political inaction are mounting. Affordable Care Act premiums are poised to skyrocket, energy assistance is stalled, and a federal judge Friday ordered the Trump administration to keep SNAP...
Duffer brothers tease big and emotional ‘Stranger Things’ final season
Fans can expect more action and plenty of emotion in the highly anticipated fifth and final season of “Stranger Things,” which will wrap up the Netflix phenomenon after nine years, its creators said Friday. Speaking at the first global promotional event for season five in the Italian city of Lucca,...
Trump administration announces $100 million in funding to upgrade coal plants
The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday announced it will make $100 million available to refurbish and modernize existing coal-fired power plants. The move is part of the Trump administration’s effort to reverse the decline of coal use in the United States. The Energy Department said last month it would...
U.S. judge permanently blocks Trump order requiring voters to prove citizenship
A federal judge Friday permanently blocked part of an executive order from President Donald Trump, ruling the president cannot require voters to show passports or similar documents as proof of citizenship before voting. Several lawsuits have challenged the president’s March 25 executive order, a sweeping order aimed at overhauling federal...
NASA administrator calls out Kim Kardashian for promoting moon landing conspiracy
The head of NASA has called out Kim Kardashian after the famous mogul and reality television star claimed that the iconic 1969 moon landing was faked. In the most recent episode of “The Kardashians,” a clip shows Kardashian, 45, telling actress Sarah Paulson that she believed the Apollo 11 lunar...
Agile and vicious Nanotyrannus was not just a teenage T. rex
WASHINGTON — At the twilight of the age of dinosaurs, an agile and vicious predator named Nanotyrannus prowled western North America, resembling a smaller version of Tyrannosaurus - about a tenth the body mass - but with several key anatomical differences. That is the finding of new research concluding that...
19 states are ready to ban the time change. Here’s what would need to happen first.
Clocks are set to “fall back” this weekend across the United States as daylight saving time is coming to an end. Daylight saving time always begins on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November. In 2025, that means it started on March 9 and...
Kenneth Zagacki and Richard Cherwitz: The challenges of presidential Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speeches
Having brokered what appears to be a groundbreaking ceasefire leading to a longer-term Middle East peace settlement, supporters of President Donald Trump, and the president himself, are lobbying the Nobel committee to bestow a 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Trump. Whether next year’s committee honors him may depend less on...
Men shot by the hundreds, disappeared after Sudanese city falls to paramilitaries, witnesses say
Fighters riding camels rounded up a couple of hundred men near the Sudanese city of al-Fashir at the weekend and brought them to a reservoir, shouting racial slurs before starting to shoot, according to a man who said he was among them. One of the captors recognized him from his...
Ukraine hands over suspected Russian war criminal to Lithuania
KYIV/VILNIUS — Ukraine has handed over a captured Russian soldier accused of torture and illegal detention to Lithuania for trial, in what Kyiv said was the first case of its kind involving the justice system of a third country during Russia’s nearly four-year-old war. The soldier, described by Lithuania as...
U.S. expects more flight disruptions as government shutdown enters Day 31
WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday delayed flights at airports in Austin, Newark and Nashville as air traffic control staffing problems continue to snarl flights and a government shutdown hits its 31st day. At least nine FAA facilities were facing staffing issues on Friday and the agency said...
Meredith Sumpter: Election reform turns down the temperature of our politics
Politics isn’t working for most Americans. Our government can’t keep the lights on. The cost of living continues to rise. Our nation is reeling from recent acts of political violence. Seventy percent of voters say the U.S. is in a political crisis, and 64% say our political system is too...
Pittsburgh in running to host 2031 Men’s Rugby World Cup
As Pittsburgh prepares to host one of the biggest events in the city’s history in April, it has been included among 27 U.S. cities as a possible host for the 2031 Men’s Rugby World Cup. City officials are hard at work getting the city read for the 2026 NFL Draft,...
How a ‘betfluencer’ from Washington, Pa., wound up at the center of an NBA gambling scandal
PHILADELPHIA — On the green felt of a Bellagio baccarat table, Shane “Sugar” Hennen flaunted $3,125 in winnings from a Pittsburgh Pirates game in June 2014. It was a drop in the bucket for Las Vegas moneylines. But on Instagram, Hennen called it “#2dayswork.” He was burnishing his brand as...
The great AI buildout shows no sign of slowing
A momentous week in the technology sector made it clear there is no sign the boom in building artificial intelligence infrastructure is slowing — despite the bubble talk. Nvidia, whose processors are the AI revolution’s backbone, became the first company to surpass $5 trillion in market value. Microsoft and OpenAI...
Analysis: Trump’s big nuclear reactor push raises safety concerns
A huge nuclear deal announced by the Trump administration earlier this week provides a multi-billion-dollar incentive for the U.S. government to issue permits and approvals for new Westinghouse reactors - an unprecedented structure that critics say poses environmental and safety risks. Under the agreement with Westinghouse Electric’s owners, Canada-based Cameco...
Analysis: Nuclear curveball: Trump’s testing plan raises fears, confusion in Washington
WASHINGTON - If U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Richard Correll thought he was going to have an easy confirmation hearing on Thursday to become the commander of America’s nuclear forces, those hopes surely vanished at 9:04 p.m. the night before he was to testify. That was when President Donald Trump shocked...
Pennsylvania criminal case highlights problems with 3rd-party voter registration drives
This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access. In the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, workers with an Arizona-based consulting firm conducting a voter registration drive tried to submit fake registrations in Pennsylvania in an effort to earn more...
Letter to the editor: Steps to take against Trump
For those of you who are dismayed by the direction of our government, here are some steps to take as recommended by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich: • Attend peaceful rallies and demonstrations. • Call, email or write to your elected government officials daily and let them know where...
What the latest Fed rate cut means for your money — even if the next one is not certain
NEW YORK - The U.S. Federal Reserve cut its key interest-rate target by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell cautioned that another move in 2025 is not guaranteed. “A further reduction in the policy rate at the December meeting is not a foregone...
U.S. pediatrician group recommends against routine use of drug for autism
CHICAGO — The American Academy of Pediatrics on Friday said it does not recommend the routine use of leucovorin — a form of vitamin B9 — in children with autism, citing a lack of evidence on the treatment’s benefits and risks to support widespread use in this population. The announcement...
Andrew’s banishment from royal life welcomed by press and politicians in Britain
LONDON — British politicians, papers and the public welcomed King Charles’ banishment of Andrew from public life on Friday, after the monarch moved to protect the institution from his younger brother’s ties to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Charles stripped Andrew of his title of prince and evicted him from...
Israeli attacks kill 3 Palestinians in Gaza, testing fragile truce
CAIRO — The Israeli military attacked the Gaza Strip for a fourth day on Friday, killing three people, Palestinian health authorities said, in another test of a fragile ceasefire agreement. Residents reported Israeli shelling and gunfire in northern Gaza on Friday, as Israel continued to bombard areas of the enclave...
Letter to the editor: Reelect dedicated board members in Plum
As vice president of the Plum School Board, I am proud to share several accomplishments that reflect our ongoing commitment to educational excellence, fiscal responsibility and student safety. We continue to enhance our educational programs, with a current focus on strengthening the math curriculum. We’ve hired several key personnel, including...
