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...
Gallery: Photos from March 5, 2025
Embark on a visual journey around the Western Pennsylvania region with TribLive’s latest collection of captivating images for Wednesday, March 5, 2025. From the rustic landscapes of Western Pa. to diverse corners of the globe, experience the shared moments of humanity....
Divided Supreme Court rejects Trump administration’s push to rebuke judge over foreign aid freeze
WASHINGTON — A sharply divided Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a Trump administration push to rebuke a federal judge who imposed a quick deadline to release billions of dollars in foreign aid. By a 5-4 vote, the court told U.S. District Judge Amir Ali to clarify his earlier order that...
Pakistanis mourn 18 people, including 5 soldiers, killed in a twin suicide bombing at an army base
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A city in northwestern Pakistan held funeral prayers and observed a day of mourning on Wednesday, after a twin suicide bombing targeted a military base there the evening before and killed 18 people, including five soldiers. A militant group linked with the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for...
Mayors from Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York will testify before Congress on ‘sanctuary cities’
Mayors from four major cities are set to testify Wednesday in Congress as Republicans take aim at “sanctuary cities,” arguing that they impede the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda and protect people who are in the United States illegally. Mayors Michelle Wu of Boston, Brandon Johnson of Chicago, Mike Johnston...
Piglets left to starve as part of a controversial art exhibit in Denmark have been stolen
Three piglets which were being allowed to starve as part of a controversial art exhibition in Denmark that had drawn international attention have been stolen, the artist said on Wednesday. Chilean-born Marco Evaristti said he had been aiming to raise awareness of the suffering caused by mass meat production with...
Businesses scramble to contain fallout from Trump’s tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico
A Minnesota farmer worries about the price of fertilizer. A San Diego entrepreneur deals with an unexpected cost increase of remodeling a restaurant. A Midwestern sheet metal fabricator bemoans the prospect of higher aluminum prices. Businesses knew that Trump’s import taxes — tariffs — on America’s biggest trading partners were...
