Gallery: Photos from March 13, 2025
Embark on a visual journey around the Western Pennsylvania region with TribLive’s latest collection of captivating images for Thursday, March 13, 2025. From the rustic landscapes of Western Pa. to diverse corners of the globe, experience the shared moments of humanity....
Trump administration yanks CDC director nomination just before Senate hearing
WASHINGTON — The White House withdrew the nomination of former Florida congressman Dr. David Weldon to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because he wasn’t assured of getting enough Republican support to be confirmed. The Republican-controlled Senate health committee announced Thursday morning that it was canceling a planned...
Trump threatens retaliatory 200% tariff on European wine after EU proposes American whiskey tax
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened a 200% tariff on European wine, Champagne and spirits if the European Union goes forward with a planned tariff on American whiskey. The European import tax, which was unveiled in response to steel and aluminum tariffs by the U.S. administration, is expected...
Federal student loan site experiences outage, a day after layoffs gutted Education Department
WASHINGTON — An hours-long outage Wednesday on StudentAid.gov, the federal website for student loans and financial aid, underscored the risks in rapidly gutting the Department of Education, as President Donald Trump aims to dismantle the agency. Hundreds of users reported FAFSA outages to Downdetector starting midday Wednesday, saying they were...
A government program made tax filing free and more efficient. Musk and DOGE may get rid of it anyway
WASHINGTON — Mia Francis, a 22-year-old barista from Boston, filed her taxes on her own this year for the first time, using a free government tax filing program that made it easy because it did most of the work for her. Francis said it took 45 minutes to finish her...
Trump campaigned as a protector of free speech. Critics say his actions as president threaten it
DENVER — When President Donald Trump gave his joint address to Congress last week, he boasted that in his first few weeks back in the White House he had “brought free speech back to America.” But First Amendment advocates say they’ve never seen freedom of speech under attack the way...
Vaccinating poultry could help cut soaring egg prices but U.S. remains hesitant
OMAHA, Neb. — Vaccines could be a key means of suppressing bird flu and avoiding the slaughter of millions of chickens, which is blamed for egg prices averaging nearly $6 a dozen. But the move has been delayed in part because of concerns it could jeopardize chicken exports worth billions...
Greenland’s election winners push back against Trump’s wish to take control of the island
NUUK, Greenland — Greenland’s likely new prime minister on Wednesday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to take control of the island, saying Greenlanders must be allowed to decide their own future as it moves toward independence from Denmark. Jens-Frederik Nielsen’s Demokraatit, a pro-business party that favors a slow path...
Ukraine loses ceasefire bargaining chip as its troops cede ground in Russia
As momentum builds for a ceasefire with Russia, Ukraine has all but lost a valuable bargaining chip. The Ukrainian army stunned Russia in August by attacking across the border and taking control of an estimated 500 square miles of land. It was a much-needed morale boost for Ukraine — but...
A volcano near Alaska’s largest city could erupt in the coming weeks or months, scientists say
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A volcano near Alaska’s largest city is showing new signs of unrest, with experts saying the likelihood of an eruption at Mount Spurr in the next few weeks or months has increased. The Alaska Volcano Observatory said Wednesday that it had measured during recent overflights “significantly elevated...
Maintenance hole explosion at Texas Tech University causes fires, outages and cancels classes
LUBBOCK, Texas — An explosion inside a maintenance hole on the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock set off fires and power outages, leading school officials to issue evacuation orders for several buildings and cancel classes for the rest of the week, university police said. The explosion happened Wednesday evening...
Former Texas megachurch pastor indicted in Oklahoma on child sexual abuse charges
DALLAS — A former pastor of a Texas megachurch who resigned after a woman accused him of sexually abusing her in the 1980s has been indicted in Oklahoma on child sexual abuse charges, that state’s attorney general’s office said Wednesday. Robert Preston Morris, 63, has been charged with five counts...
Trump administration resumes detention of immigrant families after Biden-era pause
McALLEN, Texas — The Trump administration resumed family detention of immigrants last week in a South Texas facility after a Biden-era pause, a legal nonprofit group providing services to migrant families said Wednesday. Fourteen immigrant families with children as young as one year old were in the detention facility in...
7 people, including 3 teens, arrested for brawl at Meadville-Uniontown high school basketball game
Seven people have been arrested after a fight broke out in the stands of a basketball game between Meadville and Uniontown high schools on March 7, according to Meadville City Police. The game, held in Meadville, was halted with 3 minutes, 12 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter when a...
SpaceX delays flight to replace NASA’s stuck astronauts after launch pad problem
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A launch pad problem prompted SpaceX to delay a flight to the International Space Station on Wednesday to replace NASA’s two stuck astronauts. The new crew needs to get to the International Space Station before Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams can head home after nine months...
Western Pa. school leaders uncertain how Education Department cuts will affect them
Leaders of Western Pennsylvania school districts reacted Wednesday to the sweeping job cuts announced at the U.S. Department of Education with uncertainty, saying they did not yet know how the cuts might affect their programs or budgets. While Trump administration officials have said the latest job cuts won’t affect federal...
Fetterman says he’ll back a GOP spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. Will other Democrats follow?
WASHINGTON — The heat is on for Senate Democrats this week as they weigh whether to support a GOP-led government spending bill that they oppose or risk being blamed for shutting down the federal government. And front and center is Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who has vowed to support the...
Republicans in Florida’s Capitol restart push to lower the gun-buying age to 18
TALLAHASSEE — Gun rights advocates have fought to overturn a Florida law banning gun purchases by people under 21 ever since the day the measure was signed in 2018 as a result of the Parkland school shooting, one of the deadliest mass killings in the U.S. With new leadership in...
USDA ends program that helped schools serve food from local farmers
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Agriculture Department is ending two pandemic-era programs that provided more than $1 billion for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farmers and producers. About $660 million of that went to schools and childcare centers to buy food for meals through the Local Foods...
Archaeologists uncover the oldest known partial face fossil of a human ancestor in western Europe
WASHINGTON — A fossil of a partial face from a human ancestor is the oldest in western Europe, archaeologists reported Wednesday. The incomplete skull — a section of the left cheek bone and upper jaw — was found in northern Spain in 2022. The fossil is between 1.1 million and...
Trump administration weighs barring Cubans, Haitians from U.S. as part of new travel ban
The Trump administration is weighing including Cuba and Haiti on a list of countries whose nationals will face restrictions to enter the country, sources with knowledge of the ongoing discussions told the Miami Herald. Cuba, which is on a State Department list of countries that sponsor terrorism, might end up...
Podcast: Delays become customary for Springdale plant demolition
Since the Springdale smokestacks fell in the summer of 2023, the Cheswick Generating Plant’s boiler structure has stared down its final days. For almost two years, lawsuits, weather conditions and delays have hindered the final deconstruction efforts. That changed on March 8 when the remaining portion of the structure was...
Explainer: What’s a recession and why is rising anxiety about it roiling markets?
WASHINGTON — Stock markets are plunging, consumers and businesses have started to sour on the economy, and economists are marking down their estimates for growth this year, with some even seeing rising odds of a recession. The tech-heavy Nasdaq stock index slipped into a correction last week, defined as a...
EPA head says he’ll roll back dozens of environmental regulations, including rules on climate change
WASHINGTON — In what he called the “most consequential day of deregulation in American history,” the head of the Environmental Protection Agency announced a series of actions Wednesday to roll back landmark environmental regulations, including rules on pollution from coal-fired power plants, climate change and electric vehicles. “We are driving...
Trump administration drops lawsuit against company over alleged abuse at its child migrant shelters
McALLEN, Texas — The Trump administration is dropping a civil lawsuit against the largest provider of housing for unaccompanied migrant children over allegations of repeated sexual abuse and harassment of minors in its facilities. The dismissal was filed on Wednesday after the federal government announced they would no longer use...
