Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes visits Capitol Hill after Trump clemencyVideo
WASHINGTON — Stewart Rhodes, the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group founder convicted of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack visited Capitol Hill on Wednesday after he was released from prison as part of the President Donald Trump’s sweeping clemency order for the more than 1,500 people charged in...
Over 50,000 under evacuation orders or warnings as wildfire imperils homes north of Los AngelesVideo
LOS ANGELES — More than 50,000 people were under evacuation orders or warnings Wednesday as a huge and fast-moving wildfire swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles, as parched Southern California endured another round of dangerous wind and two major previous blazes continued to smolder. The Hughes Fire broke...
Pentagon sending 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Wednesday it has begun deploying 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border, putting in motion plans President Donald Trump laid out in executive orders shortly after he took office to crack down on immigration. Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said the troops...
Trump administration freezes many health agency reports and online posts
The Trump administration has put a freeze on many federal health agency communications with the public through at least the end of the month. In a memo obtained by The Associated Press, acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Dorothy Fink told agency staff leaders Tuesday...
Afghans who fled Taliban rule urge Trump to lift refugee program suspensionVideo
ISLAMABAD — Afghans who fled after the Taliban seized power appealed Wednesday to U.S. President Donald Trump to exempt them from an order suspending the relocation of refugees to the United States, some saying they risked their lives to support U.S. troops. An estimated 15,000 Afghans are waiting in Pakistan...
Westmoreland offers special education certificate program aimed at bolstering teacher workforce
Schools in Westmoreland County are struggling to fill special education teaching positions. They’re not alone. More than 2,000 teaching positions were vacant in Pennsylvania as of October, according to data released by the state. Though schools in and around Philadelphia bear the brunt of the shortages, Westmoreland County needs 30...
Teen fatally shoots female student and himself at high school in Nashville, police sayVideo
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A female student was killed and another student was wounded Wednesday in shooting in a Nashville high school cafeteria, police said. The 17-year-old shooter, who was also a student at Antioch High School, later shot and killed himself with a handgun, Metro Nashville Police spokesperson Don Aaron...
White House sidelines staffers detailed to National Security Council, aligning team to Trump agenda
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser has sidelined about 160 National Security Council staffers, telling them to work from home while the administration reviews staffing and tries to align it with Trump’s agenda, Trump administration officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The career government employees, commonly referred...
Sunfish that got sick after aquarium closed has recovered — thanks to human cutouts
TOKYO — A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in southwestern Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fish tank and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations. As a last-ditch measure to save the popular fish, its keepers hung their uniforms and...
EU needs to end its military dependency on the U.S. and arm itself ‘to survive,’ says Polish PM
BRUSSELS — The European Union cannot rely on the United States to defend it and must increase military spending and security preparedness to help Ukraine and deter Russia from targeting any more of its neighbors, top EU officials warned on Wednesday. “Ask not of America what it can do for...
Gallery: Photos from Jan. 22, 2025
Embark on a visual journey around the Western Pennsylvania region with TribLive’s latest collection of captivating images for Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. From the rustic landscapes of Western Pa. to diverse corners of the globe, experience the shared moments of humanity....
Trump demands an apology from bishop who asked him to ‘have mercy’ on LGBTQ+ people and migrantsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded an apology from the Episcopal bishop of Washington after she made a direct appeal to him during a prayer service marking his inauguration to have mercy on the LGBTQ+ community and migrant workers who are in the United States illegally. Referencing Trump’s...
A 2,000-year-old statue is found abandoned in a garbage bag in Greece
THESSALONIKI, Greece — A marble statue of a woman believed to be more than 2,000 years old was found abandoned in a garbage bag near the Greek city of Thessaloniki, police said Wednesday. A resident discovered the 31-inch headless statue beside a trash bin in Neoi Epivates, outside Greece’s second-largest...
Why is Israel launching a crackdown in the West Bank after the Gaza ceasefire?
In the days since a fragile ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip, Israel has launched a major military operation in the occupied West Bank and suspected Jewish settlers have rampaged through two Palestinian towns. The violence comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces domestic pressure from his far-right...
Justice Department orders prosecutors to probe local efforts to obstruct immigration enforcement
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has ordered federal prosecutors to investigate state or local officials who they believe are interfering with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, saying they could face criminal charges, in an apparent warning to the dozens of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions across America. The memo, from acting...
2 people killed in knife attack in Germany; suspect detained, police say
BERLIN — Two people, including a child, were killed and two others were severely injured in a stabbing attack in Bavaria on Wednesday, German police said. Police said a suspect was detained in the knife attack, which occurred in a park in the southern German town of Aschaffenburg. Police said...
Former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes who lived in exile in Nicaragua dies at 65
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes, who spent the final years of his life in Nicaragua to avoid various criminal sentences, died late Tuesday. He was 65. Nicaragua’s Health Ministry said in a statement that Funes had died of a serious chronic illness. Funes governed...
U.S. adults want border security action but mostly oppose arrests in schools, churches, poll shows
WASHINGTON — Many U.S. adults are on board with the idea of beefing up security at the southern border and undertaking some targeted deportations, according to a poll. But as President Donald Trump begins his second term with a series of sweeping executive orders on immigration, the findings suggest his...
Witnesses at a Turkish ski resort stood helpless as people leaped out of a burning hotel
KARTALKAYA, Turkey — As flames tore through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey, friends Esra Karakisa and Halime Cetin stood helpless, paralyzed by the horror unfolding before them: people leaning out of smoke-filled rooms pleading for help and others making the harrowing decision to leap...
Murdoch’s U.K. tabloids apologize to Prince Harry, admit intruding on the late Princess Diana
LONDON — Prince Harry claimed a “monumental” victory Wednesday as Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. tabloids made an unprecedented apology for intruding in his life for years, and agreed to pay substantial damages to settle his privacy invasion lawsuit. News Group Newspapers acknowledged its private investigators and journalists targeted Harry with phone...
Trump administration shuts down White House Spanish-language page and social media
Within hours of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the new administration took down the Spanish-language version of the official White House website. The website now gives users an “Error 404” message. It also included a “Go Home” button that directed viewers to a page featuring a video montage of Trump in...
Estimated 24.6 million TV viewers watched inauguration coverage, fewest since 2013
NEW YORK — An estimated 24.6 million television viewers watched President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the smallest audience for the quadrennial ceremony since Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013. The Nielsen Company said Tuesday that viewership was down from Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration, which reached 33.8 million, and Trump’s first...
Trump administration directs all federal DEI staff be put on paid leave
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ‘s administration is directing that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on paid leave, and that agencies develop plans to lay them off, according to a memo Tuesday from the Office of Personnel Management. The memo follows an executive order Trump signed...
Warnings for dangerous wind extended in Southern California as new wildfires break outVideo
LOS ANGELES — Forecasters warned that dangerous winds will buffet Southern California for at least two more days as new wildfires broke out on Tuesday, a pair of major Los Angeles-area blazes burned for a third week, and officials made preparations to protect scorched neighborhoods from toxic ash runoff ahead...
U.S. border patrol agent fatally shot in Vermont near Canada
Authorities on Tuesday were investigating a fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent that also left a suspect dead and another injured on a Vermont highway near Canada, authorities said. Agent David Maland was killed Monday afternoon after a traffic stop, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said...
