Some House Republicans threaten Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ budget and tax cut bill ahead of floor vote
WASHINGTON — Despite a shove from President Donald Trump, House Republicans abruptly postponed a vote late Wednesday on their budget framework, unable to convince conservative GOP holdouts who had raised grave misgivings over allowing trillions of dollars in tax breaks without deeper spending cuts. Speaker Mike Johnson almost dared the...
Appeals court clears the way for Trump administration to fire thousands of probationary workers
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court cleared the way Wednesday for President Donald Trump’s administration to fire thousands of probationary workers, halting a judge’s order requiring them to be reinstated in a legal win for Trump’s effort to downsize the federal workforce. The decision comes a day after the Supreme...
Kash Patel replaced by Army Secretary Driscoll as acting head of the ATF
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel has been removed as the acting chief of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and has been replaced with the Army secretary, three people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. It was not immediately clear why Patel was replaced by Army Secretary...
Pennsylvania judge convicted of shooting, wounding ex-boyfriend as he slept
HARRISBURG — A magistrate judge in Pennsylvania accused of shooting and wounding her ex-boyfriend in the head as he slept was convicted Wednesday of attempted homicide and aggravated assault charges. Sonya McKnight was taken away in handcuffs after the trial judge rejected a defense request that she be released. She...
Judges to bar U.S. from using Alien Enemies Act to deport some Venezuelans held in Texas, New York
McALLEN, Texas — Judges in Texas and New York on Wednesday said they would temporarily bar the U.S. government from deporting Venezuelans jailed in parts of those two states while their lawyers challenge the Trump administration’s use of a rarely-invoked law letting presidents imprison and deport noncitizens in times of...
Trump administration appeals court decision ordering AP journalists back into White House events
The Trump administration said Wednesday it would appeal a federal court decision that ordered it to re-admit Associated Press journalists to White House events on First Amendment grounds. The government filed a notice of appeal early Wednesday afternoon on behalf of the three officials sued by the AP — White...
Trump limits tariffs on most nations for 90 days, raises taxes on Chinese imports
WASHINGTON — Facing a global market meltdown, President Donald Trump on Wednesday abruptly backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days even as he further jacked up the tax rate on Chinese imports to 125%. It was seemingly an attempt to narrow what had been an unprecedented trade...
New Pittsburgh Airport terminal cost now pegged at $1.7B as project nears completion
The $1.7 billion Pittsburgh International Airport modernization project is hundreds of millions more than initially planned. Inflation isn’t solely to blame for the rising cost of the project, Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis said in a statement. Instead, the authority is performing other maintenance and improvement work at...
Michigan Democratic Gov. Whitmer strays from her party in moving closer to Trump
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivered a speech emphasizing points of agreement with President Donald Trump on economic policy, just hours before their scheduled meeting — a reflection of the high-profile Democrat’s more diplomatic approach toward the president as her party ramps up its attacks on him. Framed...
Hegseth says China’s military presence in western hemisphere is ‘too large’
PANAMA CITY — U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday focused again on China’s presence in the western hemisphere, one day after calling the world power a threat to the Panama Canal. Speaking at a regional security conference, Hegseth said that China-based companies were controlling land and critical infrastructure...
Gallery: Photos from April 9, 2025
Embark on a visual journey around the Western Pennsylvania region with TribLive’s latest collection of captivating images for Wednesday, April 9, 2025. From the rustic landscapes of Western Pa. to diverse corners of the globe, experience the shared moments of humanity....
Fetterman writes column on importance of weight loss drugs
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman says there is a drug on the market that has changed his life: Mounjaro. The drug, generally prescribed for Type 2 diabetes and weight loss, has also been touted for its heart health benefits. Fetterman suffered a stroke in May 2022. In a New York Times...
U.S. restores urgent food aid but not in Afghanistan and Yemen, where millions need it
CAIRO — The Trump administration has reversed sweeping cuts in emergency food aid to several nations while maintaining them in Afghanistan and Yemen, two of the world’s poorest and most war-ravaged countries, officials said Wednesday. The United States had initially cut funding for projects in more than a dozen countries,...
Pakistan says U.S. companies seek to invest in the country’s untapped minerals sector
ISLAMABAD — U.S. companies are seeking to invest in Pakistan’s largely untapped minerals sector that boasts one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits, the Pakistani government said Wednesday. Eric Meyer, Senior Bureau Official for the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, conveyed that interest directly...
Trump administration halts $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell, $790 million for Northwestern
WASHINGTON — More than $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University and around $790 million for Northwestern University has been frozen while the government investigates alleged civil rights violations at the schools, the White House said. It’s part of a broader push to use government funding to get major...
Outrage builds as video shows Idaho police shooting a knife-wielding autistic teenager
Idaho police officers opened fire from behind a chain-link fence just seconds after exiting their patrol cars and critically wounded a teenage boy — described by his family as nonverbal, autistic and intellectually disabled — as he stepped toward them with a knife, video from a witness shows. Seventeen-year-old Victor...
Officials scramble to identify victims of Dominican club roof collapse that killed at least 184
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic —Dozens of people lingered outside the Dominican Republic’s forensic institute late Wednesday for news of their loved ones still missing more than a day after a roof collapsed at an iconic nightclub, killing at least 184 people. A growing number of them donned face masks and...
Trump disrupts global economic order even though U.S. is dominant
WASHINGTON — By declaring a trade war on the rest of the world, President Donald Trump has panicked global financial markets, raised the risk of a recession and broken the political and economic alliances that made much of the world stable for business after World War II. Trump’s latest round...
Republicans are going public with their growing worries about Trump’s tariffs
WASHINGTON — Manufacturers struggling to make long-term plans. Farmers facing retaliation from Chinese buyers. U.S. households burdened with higher prices. Republican senators are confronting the Trump administration with those worries and many more as they fret about the economic impact of the president’s sweeping tariff strategy that went into effect...
Israeli strike on Gaza apartment building kills at least 23, officials say
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli aircraft struck a residential block in war-ravaged northern Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 23 people, health officials said, as the renewed fighting in the devastated Palestinian enclave showed no signs of letting up. The Al-Ahly hospital said at least 23 people were killed...
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino could have unprecedented security detail
FBI Deputy Director and former Fox News host Dan Bongino could soon be getting a 20-person team of bodyguards for a job that doesn’t typically come with a security detail. The FBI is reportedly seeking agents to temporarily leave their jobs to serve as muscle for the brash ex-pundit, according...
3 dead, 3 wounded in mass shooting at townhouse complex in Virginia
SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. — All suspects were in custody early Wednesday after a shooting that killed three people and wounded three others in Virginia, authorities said. The Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office announced in a social media post only that all suspects were in custody and there was no threat to public...
IRS acting commissioner resigning after deal to share immigrants’ tax information with ICE
WASHINGTON — The acting comissioner of the Internal Revenue Service is resigning over a deal to share immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the U.S., according to two people familiar with the decision. Melanie Krause, who had served...
AP wins reinstatement to White House events after judge rules government can’t restrict its journalists
A federal judge ordered the White House on Tuesday to restore The Associated Press’ full access to cover presidential events, ruling on a case that touched at the heart of the First Amendment and affirming that the government cannot punish the news organization for the content of its speech. U.S.....
Democrats already planning for 2026 and think they can flip these 4 Pa. congressional seats
House Democrats have their eyes on four Pennsylvania congressional districts in 2026 — two they hope to regain and two they’ve been trying to win for years. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee told The Inquirer it is focusing its midterm attention on longtime U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Bucks County...
