Attempted homicide suspect back in custody after accidental release from Washington County Jail
An attempted homicide suspect is back in custody after being mistakenly released from the Washington County Jail. Samuel Valle, 20, of Monessen, missed a court appearance last week, alerting the district attorney’s office he was no longer behind bars, TribLive news partner WTAE reported. District Attorney Jason Walsh told WTAE...
Trump’s address to Congress draws 36.6 million viewers, down from 1st term
President Donald Trump delivered the longest-ever presidential address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, but the TV ratings fell short of his previous outings. The speech averaged 36.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen data, an increase of nearly 14% from former President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the...
Appeals court allows removal of watchdog agency head as legal battle rages over Trump firing
WASHINGTON — An appeals court in Washington removed the head of a federal watchdog agency on Wednesday in the latest twist in a legal fight over Republican President Donald Trump’s authority to fire the special counsel. A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit sided...
House Speaker Johnson’s top aide is arrested on charge of driving under the influence, police say
WASHINGTON — The chief of staff to House Speaker Mike Johnson was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of driving under the influence after crashing into a police vehicle following President Donald Trump’s address to Congress. Hayden Haynes was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence and later released....
Fetterman calls out Democrats for ‘unhinged petulance’ during Trump address
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, called out members of his own party for their protests during President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday night. “A sad cavalcade of self-owns and unhinged petulance. It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained,” Fetterman wrote Wednesday afternoon on the social media...
Trump issues ‘last warning’ to Hamas to release all remaining hostages held in Gaza
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued what he called a “last warning” to Hamas to release all remaining hostages held in Gaza, directing a sharply worded message after the White House confirmed that he had recently dispatched an envoy for unprecedented direct talks with the militant group. Trump,...
Pennsylvania to spend $10 million on new voter registration system
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is spending more than $10 million to replace its electronic voter registration database with an election management system that will also provide election night results and handle campaign finance filings and lobbyist registration. Secretary of State Al Schmidt announced Wednesday the Civix system should be fully in...
‘Read this e-mail immediately’: CDC tells about 180 fired employees to come back to work
NEW YORK — The nation’s top public health agency says about 180 employees who were laid off two weeks ago can come back to work. Emails went out Tuesday to some Centers for Disease Control and Prevention probationary employees who got termination notices last month, according to current and former...
Firing squad could become Idaho’s main execution method under a bill awaiting governor’s approval
BOISE — Death by firing squad could become Idaho’s primary method of execution under a bill headed to the governor’s desk this week. The Idaho Senate passed the bill on Wednesday, and it will take effect next year if it is signed by Gov. Brad Little. Firing-squad executions have been...
Police: Pa. man charged after mistaking hunter for turkey, shooting him in the face
A Huntingdon County man is facing charges after police said he mistook another hunter for a turkey and shot him in the face and head. Scott Huber, 51, is charged with reckless endangerment and violations of Pennsylvania’s hunting laws, according to WTAJ. The incident occurred on Nov. 9 in Barree...
Federal judge blocks NIH funding cuts to medical research, including at CMU
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from drastically cutting medical research funding that many scientists say will endanger patients and cost jobs. The new National Institutes of Health policy would strip research groups of hundreds of millions of dollars to cover so-called indirect expenses of studying Alzheimer’s,...
Can recent breakthroughs improve life with sickle cell disease?
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 1 out of every 365 Black people has sickle cell disease and the sickle cell trait affects 10% of Black people, compared to .3% of white people. Although the disease disproportionately affects Black people, it also has been seen in...
Divided Supreme Court reinstates order requiring Trump administration to release frozen foreign aid
WASHINGTON — A sharply divided Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated a lower-court order for the Trump administration to release frozen foreign aid, but it was not clear how quickly money would start flowing. By a 5-4 vote, the court rejected an emergency appeal from the Republican administration, while also telling...
Panama president calls Trump’s talk of ‘reclaiming’ the Panama Canal a lie
PANAMA CITY — Panama President José Raúl Mulino on Wednesday accused U.S. President Donald Trump of lying when he said in his address to Congress that his administration was “reclaiming” the Panama Canal. Trump was referencing a deal announced Tuesday for a consortium led by the U.S. investment management company...
Shapiro says he wants to recruit laid-off federal workers to fill Pa. job openings
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Wednesday that he wants his administration to try to fill openings in the state’s workforce by recruiting federal workers who might be losing or leaving their jobs as part of President Donald Trump’s administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce....
Trump administration plans to cut 80,000 employees from Veterans Affairs, according to internal memoVideo
WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning a reorganization that includes cutting over 80,000 jobs from the sprawling agency that provides health care for many former service members, according to an internal memo obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told top-level...
Trump grants 1 month exemption for US automakers from new tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is granting a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers, amid fears that the trade war could harm U.S. manufacturers. The announcement comes after Trump spoke with leaders of the “big 3” automakers, Ford, General Motors,...
Veterans are speaking out on the Trump administration’s plans to cut the VA’s budget
NORFOLK, Va. — Stephen Watson served in the Marines for 22 years and receives care through the Department of Veterans Affairs for a traumatic brain injury. He supports President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk’s cost-cutting program — even if it affects the VA. “We’re no better because we’re veterans,”...
‘Bear with me,’ Trump says as both farmers and consumers brace for tariff effects
OMAHA, Neb. — Farmers and meat producers across the U.S. can expect the new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China and the retaliatory action from those countries to hurt their bottom lines by billions of dollars if they stay in place a while, and consumers could quickly see higher prices...
Trump administration moves to drop Idaho emergency abortion case with national implications
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Wednesday moved to drop an emergency abortion case in Idaho in one of its first moves on the issue since President Donald Trump began his second term. The Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which was originally filed by the Biden...
U.S. Rep. and former Houston mayor Sylvester Turner dies at 70Video
WASHINGTON — Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner of Texas has died two months after taking office and hours after attending President Donald Trump’s address before Congress in Washington, D.C., officials and his family said on Wednesday. He was 70. While attending Trump’s speech to Congress, Turner was taken to a...
Real ID deadline is approaching
The deadline is quickly approaching to acquire a Real ID to fly domestically. Starting on May 7, anyone 18 years of age or older will need a Real ID or another acceptable form of identification to fly domestically or visit certain Federal and military facilities, as well as enter nuclear...
Trudeau not willing to lift Canada’s retaliatory tariffs if Trump leaves some tariffs on Canada
TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is unwilling to lift Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on the United States if President Donald Trump leaves any U.S. tariffs on Canada, a senior government official told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The official confirmed Trudeau’s stance on the condition of anonymity because they...
No limits on Sunday hunting proposed for Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania lawmakers are taking another look at making hunting a seven-day-a-week activity, when in season. State Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, this week introduced Senate Bill 67 to fully repeal Pennsylvania’s prohibition on Sunday hunting. It builds on Act 107 of 2019 that permitted hunting on three Sundays. A similar bill...
Israel’s cutoff of supplies to Gaza sends prices soaring as aid stockpiles dwindle
JERUSALEM — Israel’s cutoff of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza’s 2 million people has sent prices soaring and humanitarian groups into overdrive trying to distribute dwindling stocks to the most vulnerable. The aid freeze has imperiled the progress aid workers say they have made to stave off...
