What to know about Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to serve as defense secretary
In picking Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense, President-elect Donald Trump has selected a military veteran and popular conservative media personality with a large following of his own. Hegseth, 44, has developed a close rapport with Trump, who also reportedly considered him for a...
Can DeSantis appoint himself to U.S. Senate if Rubio joins the Trump administration?
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has an opportunity. With president-elect Donald Trump expected to name Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, DeSantis will soon have the power to temporarily appoint someone to fill Rubio’s seat in the U.S. Senate. That’s because Florida is one of 34 states in the country...
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio seen as Trump’s pick for secretary of State
WASHINGTON — Marco Rubio, the combative and hawkish Republican senator from Florida, is expected to be President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of State, multiple media outlets reported Tuesday. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, was once a challenger to and critic of Trump, but has become a staunch defender...
Human relations commission seeks additional feedback on harassment, bullying guidelines
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is seeking feedback as it develops guidelines to address bullying and harassment in schools. The commission released an initial draft of proposed guidelines on Aug. 8. “In August we received more than 70 public comments on our harassment in education guidance,” said commission Executive Director...
Speaker Johnson begins fight for the House gavel, winning nod from Trump
WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson is beginning the hard fight for his gavel, a weeks-long campaign that starts Wednesday during internal House Republican leadership elections and will establish the new power centers in Congress for a Washington dominated by President-elect Donald Trump. While Johnson has no serious challenger, he faces...
Rostraver Airport will have Dunkin’ Donuts, barbecue and catering business
The Rostraver Airport will add a Dunkin’ just two months after leasing its former on-site restaurant to a barbecue and catering business. The coffee and doughnut chain expressed interest in acquiring a piece of the airport’s 197-acre property this summer. The Westmoreland County Airport Authority, which operates the airport, rejected...
What happens to Donald Trump’s criminal conviction? Here are a few ways it could go
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s election victory created a conundrum for the judge overseeing his criminal case in New York. Can he go ahead and sentence the president-elect, or would doing so potentially get in the way of Trump’s constitutional responsibility to lead the nation? Court documents made public Tuesday...
Trump makes a victor’s return to Washington and pledges a smooth transition of powerVideo
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump made a victor’s return to Washington on Wednesday, visiting the White House for a nearly two-hour meeting with President Joe Biden and committing to a straightforward transition of power as the president-elect moves quickly to build out his new administration. Sitting in front of a crackling...
Silence descends around China’s deadliest mass killing in years as flowers cleared away
ZHUHAI, China — Online discussion about China’s deadliest mass killing in years was being censored Wednesday as authorities in a southern city cleared candles and flowers from the memorial to the 35 people dead. Police have offered little information about the 62-year-old driver who rammed his vehicle into a sports...
U.S. inflation rose slightly last month after 2 years of steady cooling but remained low
WASHINGTON — Inflation in the United States ticked up in October, driven by costlier rents, used cars and air fares, a sign that price increases might be leveling off after having slowed in September to their lowest pace since 2021. Consumer prices rose 2.6% from a year earlier, the Labor...
What makes walking so great for your health and what else you need to do
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Janet Rapp strode briskly down a paved path through the city zoo, waving at friends and stopping briefly to greet emus she knows by name. The 71-year-old retiree starts each morning this way with a walking club. “I’m obsessed,” she said. Not only does it ease her...
Gallery: Photos from Nov. 13, 2024
Embark on a visual journey around the Western Pennsylvania region — and the world — with TribLive’s latest collection of captivating images for Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. From the rustic landscapes of Western Pa. to diverse corners of the globe, experience the shared moments of humanity....
Norway’s Kon-Tiki Museum returns artifacts to Chile’s remote Easter Island
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Artifacts and human remains taken by a Norwegian explorer and anthropologist in the late 1940s are being returned by a museum in Oslo to Chile’s remote territory of Easter Island in the mid-Pacific, the Kon-Tiki Museum said Wednesday. In 1947, explorer Thor Heyerdahl sailed on a log...
Trump’s economic agenda for his 2nd term is clouding the outlook for mortgage rates
LOS ANGELES — Donald Trump’s election win is clouding the outlook for mortgage rates even before he gets back to the White House. The president-elect campaigned on a promise to make homeownership more affordable by lowering mortgage rates through policies aimed at knocking out inflation. But his proposed economic agenda...
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he’ll ask for a vote of confidence in December
BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced that he will ask for a vote of confidence on Dec. 16, paving the way forward for an early parliamentary election in February. Scholz declared his plans for a vote of confidence during a speech in parliament on Wednesday, one week after...
Trump’s defense choice stuns the Pentagon and raises questions about the Fox News host’s experience
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary, tapping someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to take over the world’s largest and most powerful military. The news was met...
Trump says Musk, Ramaswamy will form outside group to advise White House on government efficiency
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” — which is not, despite the name, a government agency. The acronym “DOGE” is a nod to Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency, dogecoin. Trump said in a...
Investigators believe Wisconsin kayaker faked his own death before fleeing to eastern Europe
MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin man apparently faked his own drowning this summer so he could abandon his family and flee to eastern Europe, investigators say. Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said in a news release Friday that the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office informed his agency on Aug. 12...
Trump builds out national security team with picks of Pete Hegseth for Pentagon, Kristi Noem for DHS
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump moved to build out his national security team Tuesday, announcing he is nominating Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. In...
GOP asks Pa. Supreme Court to reject mail-in ballots with handwritten date errors
The Republican Party is calling on the state Supreme Court to discount mail-in ballots that arrive on time but lack written dates. On Tuesday, the Republican National Committee and Republican Party of Pennsylvania filed a petition asking the court to reverse a decision last month by the state’s Commonwealth Court....
Explosion at Kentucky business injures 11 workers, shatters windows in surrounding neighborhoodVideo
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — At least 11 employees were taken to hospitals after an explosion on Tuesday at a Louisville, Kentucky, business that produces natural color for foods and drinks. The explosion, which happened at Givaudan Sense Colour, knocked out windows and blew in doors in nearby homes and businesses. News...
Pennsylvania lawmaker among those being considered for Trump Cabinet post
A Pennsylvania member of Congress may be in line for a Cabinet post in the new Trump administration. House Agriculture Chair Glenn Thompson is among the candidates under consideration as Trump’s agriculture secretary, according to a report in E&E News/Politico. Thompson has served in the House since 2009, most recently...
Pentagon secrets leaker Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years in prison by a federal judge
BOSTON — A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Massachusetts Air National Guard member to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine. Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of willful retention and transmission of...
FAA prohibits U.S. airlines from flying to Haiti and U.N. suspends flights after plane was shot by gangsVideo
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The Federal Aviation Administration announced Tuesday that it will prohibit U.S. airlines from flying to Haiti for 30 days after gangs shot a Spirit Airlines flight and the United Nations said it will suspend flights, “obviously limiting the flow of humanitarian aid and humanitarian personnel into the...
Supreme Court rejects push to move Georgia case against ex-Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused Tuesday to let former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows move the election interference case against him in Georgia to federal court, where he would have argued he was immune from prosecution. The justices did not detail their reasoning in a brief...
