Trump administration says it will pay immigrants in the U.S. illegally $1,000 to leave the country
WASHINGTON — Pushing forward with its mass deportation agenda, President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday that it would pay $1,000 to immigrants who are in the United States illegally and return to their home country voluntarily. The Department of Homeland Security said in a news release that it would also...
20 attorneys general ask federal judge to reverse deep cuts to Health and Human Services
Attorneys general in 19 states and Washington, D.C., are challenging cuts to the U.S. Health and Human Services agency, saying the Trump administration’s massive restructuring has destroyed life-saving programs and left states to pick up the bill for mounting health crises. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Rhode...
Trump’s meme coin business racks up fees as buyers jump at the chance for access to the president
In the crypto world, meme coins are mostly just jokes with no intrinsic value. But the Trump family is parlaying the president’s meme coin into two valuable commodities: serious cash and access to the president. Since the coin was launched earlier this year, it has generated more than $320 million...
Newark airport radar loss left controllers blind for 90 secondsVideo
WASHINGTON — Air traffic controllers guiding planes bound for Newark Liberty International Airport lost radar and radio communication for more than a minute early last week before flights at the key hub were snarled for days, according to people familiar with the matter. The outage of those key systems occurred...
America’s long history of ‘checks and balances’ is being tested by Trump like rarely before
ATLANTA — It’s what one historian calls an “elaborate, clunky machine,” one that’s been fundamental to American democracy for more than two centuries. The principle of “checks and balances” is rooted in the Constitution’s design of a national government with three distinct, coequal branches. President Donald Trump in his first...
Derry native donates to IUP’s proposed osteopathic medicine college
A Derry native and veteran has made a $50,000 donation to the proposed osteopathic medicine college at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Lt. Col. Barry Gasdek, a 1964 IUP graduate, offered the donation, which is part of $32 million the university has collected in private and government funding to develop the...
If Harvard loses its tax-exempt status, Western Pa. universities, nonprofits could be in trouble
Harvard University could lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually if the federal government is able to revoke its tax-exempt status. But University of Pittsburgh law professor Philip Hackney suspects the move, vocalized by President Donald Trump for a second time Friday, could mean big trouble for higher education institutions...
At Mass in housing projects and tourist hotspots, Romans pray next pope focuses on poverty and peace
ROME — At Masses in Rome’s housing projects and in the heart of its tourist district, the faithful prayed Sunday for the upcoming conclave that will elect Pope Francis ’ successor. Whether in the squat 1980s concrete church of San Paolo della Croce, next to a notorious public housing project,...
Anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany sues after spy agency labels it an extremist party
BERLIN — The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party on Monday sued the domestic intelligence service for classifying it as a right-wing extremist organization, a decision that subjects it to greater surveillance from authorities. The party known as AfD, which placed second in national elections in February, took action at an...
Israel plans to capture all of Gaza under new plan, officials say
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel approved plans Monday to seize the Gaza Strip and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time, two Israeli officials said, a move that, if implemented, would vastly expand Israel’s operations there and likely draw fierce international opposition. The new plan,...
Japan’s retired former emperor is to be hospitalized for heart tests, Japanese media say
TOKYO — Japan’s Emperor Emeritus Akihito will undergo heart tests at a hospital after an unspecified problem was detected during a routine checkup, Japanese media reports said Monday. The Imperial Household Agency did not answer calls to its office on Monday, a national holiday, to confirm reports by the Kyodo...
Trump threatens a 100% tariff on foreign-made films, saying the movie industry in the U.S. is dying
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the U.S. In a post Sunday night on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to slap...
Trump blasts Mexico’s Sheinbaum for rejecting offer to send U.S. troops into Mexico to fight cartels
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump on Sunday said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected his proposal to send U.S. troops to Mexico to help thwart the illegal drug trade because she is fearful of the country’s powerful cartels. The comments by Trump came a day after Sheinbaum confirmed...
Experts start complex recovery of a superyacht that sank off Sicily, killing 7
ROME — Marine salvage experts on Sunday began operations to recover from the seabed off Italy’s Sicilian coast the British-flagged superyacht “Bayesian,” which sank last summer, killing U.K. tech magnate Mike Lynch, his daughter and five others. Operations will be conducted by two floating cranes: “Hebo Lift 2,” which has...
Trump says he will reopen Alcatraz prison
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump says he is directing his government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on a hard-to-reach California island that has been closed for more than 60 years. In a post on his Truth Social site Sunday evening, Trump wrote that, “For too...
Former Vice President Pence defends Constitution after getting Profile in Courage Award
BOSTON — Former Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday repeatedly invoked the Constitution and said it is what “binds us all together” after receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. Pence received the award for his refusal to go along with President Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in...
Missile from Yemen halts flights in Israel hours before vote on intensifying Gaza warVideo
BEN-GURION INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Israel — A missile launched by Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at Israel’s main international airport on Sunday after its impact near an access road caused panic among passengers. The attack on Ben-Gurion International Airport came hours before Israeli Cabinet ministers were...
Brazilian police arrest 2 people over alleged plot targeting Lady Gaga concert in RioVideo
RIO DE JANEIRO — Police in Brazil said on Sunday that two people have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to detonate explosives at a free Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro. The Rio event on Saturday was the biggest show of the pop star’s career that...
A community rallied to share flu shot experiences. Then the government stopped the study
WASHINGTON — Some Denver parents got texts during this winter’s brutal flu season with videos sharing why people in their neighborhoods chose flu shots for their kids, an unusual study about trust and vaccines in a historically Black community. But no one will know how it worked out: The Trump...
‘Thunderbolts’ kicks off the summer movie season with $76 million at the box office
NEW YORK — Marvel Studios’ “Thunderbolts” opened with $76 million in domestic ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday, kicking off the summer box office with a solid No. 1 debut that fell shy of Marvel’s more spectacular launches. All eyes had been on whether “Thunderbolts” — a team-up of...
Trump, in a new interview, says he doesn’t know if he backs due process rights
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump is circumspect about his duties to uphold due process rights laid out in the Constitution, saying in a new interview that he does not know whether U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike deserve that guarantee. He also said he does not think military...
Where did all the Democrats go? In suburban Pittsburgh counties, they’re harder to find in elected office
Democrats are disappearing from elected office in the six counties surrounding Allegheny County. Just 13 Democrats combined serve as county commissioners or row officers in Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties, compared to 57 Republicans. Only about a decade ago, nearly three times as many Democrats — 38...
Warren Buffett shocks shareholders by announcing plan to retire at end of year
OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett shocked an arena full of shareholders Saturday by announcing that he will retire at the end of the year, bringing the curtain down on a six-decade run leading Berkshire Hathaway that made him the most influential investor in the world. Buffett said he will...
Vatican workers install Sistine Chapel stove where conclave ballots will be burned
VATICAN CITY — Vatican workers installed the simple stove in the Sistine Chapel where ballots will be burned during the conclave to elect a new pope and began taking measures to block any electronic interference with their deliberations, as jockeying continued Saturday outside over who among the cardinals is in...
May the 4th is celebrated as Star Wars Day across the galaxy
It didn’t begin a long time ago or in a galaxy far far away, but every May 4 it feels like images, memes and promotional deals involving “Star Wars” have an inescapable gravity. May 4 — or May the 4th, as fans say — has evolved over the years into...
