Trump fills his government with billionaires after running on a working-class message
ATLANTA — President Donald Trump’s brash populism has always involved incongruence: the billionaire businessman-politician stirring the passions of millions who, regardless of the U.S. economy’s trajectory, could never afford to live in his Manhattan skyscraper or visit his club in south Florida. His second White House is looking a lot...
Norfolk Southern and East Palestine announce $22 million settlement after 2023 derailment
East Palestine and Norfolk Southern have announced a $22 million settlement resolving all of the village’s claims arising from the disastrous 2023 train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border that prompted a national reckoning on railroad safety. The settlement is to be used for priorities the village identifies in connection with...
Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration freeze on federal grants, loansVideo
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a push from President Donald Trump to pause federal funding while his administration conducts an across-the-board ideological review to uproot progressive initiatives. The Trump administration plan plunged the U.S. government into panic and confusion and set the stage for a constitutional...
Trump signs order that likely sets in motion a future ban on transgender troops
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to revise the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops, likely setting in motion a future ban on their military service. He also ordered troops to be reinstated who had left voluntarily or been booted for refusing...
Trump’s tariff threat worked on Colombia, but his plans for Canada and Mexico carry higher stakes
WASHINGTON — Having already forced Colombia to accept deportees by threatening a 25% tariff, President Donald Trump is readying the same move against Canada and Mexico as soon as Saturday. But this time, the stakes are higher and many economists surveying the possible damage doubt Trump would be comfortable with...
U.S. places dozens of senior aid officials on leave, citing possible resistance to Trump orders
WASHINGTON — At least 56 senior officials in the top U.S. aid and development agency were placed on leave Monday amid an investigation into an alleged effort to thwart President Donald Trump’s orders. A current official and a former official at the U.S. Agency for International Development confirmed the reason...
Allentown police get search warrant for DNA in City Hall noose investigation
ALLENTOWN — A Lehigh County district judge approved a search warrant for the DNA of an Allentown employee who allegedly was the victim of a hate crime. The warrant application said the employee was not willing to provide a sample for the investigation. According to an affidavit by Allentown Police...
Spectator killed by a stray hammer thrown at a Colorado youth track and field meet
An errant weight thrown by a competitor in a hammer throw event struck and killed a spectator at a youth track and field meet in Colorado, according to officials at the university where the competition was held. The weight cleared certified barriers before striking the man Sunday morning at the...
Pa.’s 1st avian flu case reported at Lehigh County farm, agriculture department says
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture on Monday announced this year’s first positive case in the state of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in domestic poultry. The positive samples were detected in a 50,000-bird layer chicken flock on a commercial poultry farm in Lehigh County, the department said. The farm and commercial...
Prosecutors say woman charged in killing of Border Patrol agent was in contact with homicide suspect
A Washington state woman charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a U.S. border patrol agent in Vermont had been in frequent contact with someone whom authorities have linked to homicides in Pennsylvania and California, a federal prosecutor said in court documents Monday. Teresa Youngblut, 21, faces two weapons...
John Fetterman nearly doubles his approval rating among Republicans, according to a recent analysis
Sen. John Fetterman, D.-Pa., has nearly doubled his approval rating among Republicans while continuing to bolster his job performance rating among all Pennsylvania voters, according to an analysis from Morning Consult published recently. The analysis points to how the Democratic senator’s frequent outreach to the GOP — enough to help...
Scott Bessent easily confirmed as Trump’s Treasury secretary
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Scott Bessent, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury secretary, despite criticism levied by Democrats for his handling of self-employment taxes tied to ownership of his hedge fund Key Square Group. Bessent is poised to be a key player as Congress faces down more than $4...
Hundreds of U.S. visa appointments canceled in Colombia after spat with Trump over deportationsVideo
BOGOTA, Colombia — Visa appointments at the U.S. Embassy in Colombia were canceled Monday following a dispute between President Donald Trump and his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro over deportation flights from the U.S. that nearly turned into a costly trade war between the two countries. Dozens of Colombians arrived at...
Trump Justice Department says it has fired employees involved in prosecutions of the president
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said that it had fired more than a dozen employees who worked on criminal prosecutions of President Donald Trump, moving rapidly to pursue retribution against lawyers involved in the investigations and signaling an early willingness to take action favorable to the president’s personal interests. The...
California utility reports fault on power line miles away from origin of deadly Eaton fire
GLENDALE, Calif. — Southern California Edison on Monday reported a fault on a power line connected miles away from ones located near the origin of the Eaton Fire, the deadly blaze that ignited outside of Los Angeles on Jan. 7 and killed at least 17 people. Edison says that there...
Indiana man pardoned by Trump fatally shot during traffic stopVideo
RENSSELAER, Ind. — An Indiana man was fatally shot by a deputy during a traffic stop just days after he was pardoned by President Donald Trump for a misdemeanor related to the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot. Matthew Huttle, 42, of Hobart was killed Sunday by a Jasper County sheriff’s deputy,...
CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately, upending expectations of an extended withdrawal
NEW YORK — U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official, John Nkengasong, sent a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that all agency staff who...
Community fears fox chased by snowmobiles was killed; 2 witnesses say it was exhausted but aliveVideo
SCHAEFFERSTOWN — Residents in this rural stretch of Lebanon County feared the worst after seeing appalling video of two snowmobile riders relentlessly chasing a fox, appearing to run it down several times. But two witnesses interviewed Monday by PennLive — including a person who shot video that was provided to...
3 injured by car driven into a crowd in Philadelphia after Eagles playoff game
PHILADELPHIA — A car hit and injured three pedestrians in a crowd of people celebrating the Philadelphia Eagles playoff game victory, police said. A driver was in custody and the Sunday night collision did not immediately appear to be intentional, the Philadelphia Police Department said in a social media post....
Study projects millions of European heat deaths as world warms
Extreme temperatures — mostly heat — are projected to kill as many as 2.3 million people in Europe by the end of the century unless countries get better at reducing carbon pollution and adapting to hotter conditions, a new study says. Currently, cold temperatures kill more people in Europe than...
Dr. Phil joins ICE deportation raid in Chicago
During a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation on Sunday in Chicago, TV host Dr. Phil embedded with the officers — supporting President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts. Phil McGraw, known as Dr. Phil on his TV show focused on mental health, followed ICE officers and other federal agents during the...
Donora, Murrysville, Greensburg dive teams help pull Fayette County crash victim, vehicle from West Virginia lake
With an 8-inch sheet of ice atop the frigid water beneath their feet, dive teams from Murrysville Medic One and the Donora and Greensburg volunteer fire departments helped pull a vehicle and remains of a Fayette County resident from West Virginia’s Cheat Lake Sunday. Kevin Laitalle, 59, of Smithfield, and...
A trial is underway on North Dakota’s ban on gender-affirming care for kids
BISMARCK, N.D. — A trial in a lawsuit seeking to strike down North Dakota’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors began Monday, more than a year after families of transgender children and a doctor filed the suit that argued the law violates the state’s constitution. North Dakota is one...
Earthquake rattles houses in Maine and is felt hundreds of miles away
SCARBOROUGH, Maine — A 3.8-magnitude earthquake centered near the Maine coast rattled houses in northern New England on Monday and was felt by surprised residents of states hundreds of miles away. The earthquake took place at about 10:22 a.m. on Monday and was centered about six miles southeast of York...
LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman sees bright AI future and hopes his tech peers are right about Trump
LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman has been immersed in Silicon Valley since his August 1967 birth in Palo Alto, California, in the shadow of Stanford University, where he and fellow technology luminary Peter Thiel became friends as college students during the 1980s. They went on to start PayPal during the late...
