House passes bill backed by Paris Hilton to reform youth treatment facilities
WASHINGTON — The House passed legislation Wednesday requiring more oversight of youth residential treatment facilities, a feat for hotel heiress Paris Hilton who has spent years lobbying lawmakers to regulate an industry marred by child abuse allegations. The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act gained overwhelming bipartisan support in the House...
Gov. Gavin Newsom declares emergency in California after CDC confirms severe case of bird flu in Louisiana
LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency as the H5N1 bird flu virus moves from the Central valley to Southern California herds and federal officials confirmed flu in a Louisiana patient hospitalized with severe illness. This is the first case of severe illness caused by bird...
Government funding plan collapses as Trump makes new demands days before shutdownVideo
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan Wednesday to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown, instead telling House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans to essentially renegotiate — days before a deadline when federal funding runs out. Trump’s sudden entrance into the debate and new demands sent Congress spiraling...
New York man finds mastodon jaw while gardening in his backyard
SCOTCHTOWN, N.Y. — Scholars are hailing the discovery of a fossilized mastodon jaw discovered by a man who spotted two giant teeth while gardening at his upstate New York home this year. The mastodon jaw and some other bone fragments were found in late September in a backyard near Scotchtown,...
Florida pursues charge against suspect in Trump assassination attempt for a crash after his arrest
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida authorities announced Wednesday that they’re pursuing a criminal case against a man accused of trying to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump for a car crash that occurred after law enforcement stopped traffic to catch him. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said she obtained an arrest warrant for...
Pa. Electoral College meets, casts votes for Trump
HARRISBURG — The 2024 presidential election formally closed Tuesday in Pennsylvania with the Republican Party’s 19 certified electors casting their respective ballots in the Electoral College for President-elect Donald J. Trump. The official action, mirrored in statehouses across the U.S., precedes the scheduled joint session of Congress on Jan. 6...
Senate passes defense bill that will raise troop pay and aims to counter China’s power
WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a defense bill Wednesday that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China’s growing power and boosts overall military spending to $895 billion while also stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children of military members. The annual defense authorization...
Endangered whales found entangled in rope off Massachusetts, and 1 is likely to die
Two endangered whales have been spotted entangled in fishing gear off Massachusetts, and one is likely to die from its injuries, the federal government said. They are North Atlantic right whales, which number less than 400 and face existential threats from entanglement in gear and collisions with ships. An aerial...
House Ethics Committee secretly voted to release Matt Gaetz ethics report, source says
WASHINGTON — The House Ethics Committee voted in secret to release the long-awaited ethics report into ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz, raising the possibility that the allegations against the Florida Republican who was President-elect Donald Trump’s first choice for attorney general could be made public in the coming days. The decision by...
Supreme Court to hear arguments over law that could ban TikTok in the U.S. if it’s not sold
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hear arguments next month over the constitutionality of the federal law that could ban TikTok in the United States if its Chinese parent company doesn’t sell it. The justices will hear arguments Jan. 10 about whether the law impermissibly restricts...
Gallery: Photos from Dec. 18, 2024
Embark on a visual journey around the Western Pennsylvania region with TribLive’s latest collection of captivating images for Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. From the rustic landscapes of Western Pa. to diverse corners of the globe, experience the shared moments of humanity....
1 dead, 9 injured in Baltimore County shooting and fiery car crash
TOWSON, Md. — A shooting and related fiery car crash Tuesday night in a suburban area north of Baltimore killed one person and injured nine, police said. Gunshots were reported throughout a neighborhood near where the car ultimately crashed outside a funeral home that appeared to be closed at the...
What Americans think of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his health stances
WASHINGTON — The kids seen by Dolores Mejia around suburban Phoenix have been growing heavier in recent years. Their parents too, she says. Mejia, a 75-year-old retiree, says she’s also had her own weight struggles on the scale. That’s why Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pledge to “Make America Healthy Again”...
Trump chooses Herschel Walker as U.S. ambassador to Bahamas
WASHINGTON — Herschel Walker, the football legend who unsuccessfully ran for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia, has been chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to be ambassador to the Bahamas. Trump made the announcement Tuesday in a post on Truth Social, his social media website. He described Walker as “a...
AP photographers capture stunning scenes of nature and wildlife in 2024
An insect hovers near flowers decorating the area around the holy remains of the patron saint of the Romanian capital Bucharest. A municipal worker in Montenegro holds owlets rescued from a fallen tree after a powerful storm in Podgorica. A herd of deer cross a road in a bucolic scene...
Shooting in Madison is the latest carnage at a U.S. school or college over the past 25 years
Hundreds of people in the U.S. have died in shootings over the past 25 years in places like offices, stores and theaters, but the carnage perhaps hits hardest when it happens in schools and colleges. In those cases, the victims are children who still have some of their baby teeth,...
Police chief says motive for Wisconsin school shooting was a ‘combination of factors’
MADISON, Wis. — The motive for a shooting that killed a teacher and a student and wounded others at a Wisconsin school appears to be a “combination of factors,” a police chief said Tuesday as he appealed to the public to share what they might know about the 15-year-old girl...
Congress unveils funding deal with more than $100 billion in disaster aid
WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders have unveiled a stopgap spending bill that will keep the federal government funded through March 14 and provide more than $100 billion in emergency aid to help states and local communities recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton and other natural disasters. The measure would prevent a...
Emotional reunion awaits anti-whaling activist Paul Watson after his sudden release in GreenlandVideo
LONDON — Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson was freed from prison in Greenland on Tuesday after five months in custody, and will not be extradited to Japan where he is wanted on charges of obstructing a whaling ship. Watson is planning to return home to be reunited with his family during...
Suspect in Gilgo Beach serial killings charged in the death of 7th womanVideo
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — The New York architect facing murder charges in a string of deaths known as the Gilgo Beach killings was charged on Tuesday in the death of a seventh woman. Rex Heuermann pleaded not guilty to killing Valerie Mack, whose remains were first found on Long Island in...
After investigating Jan. 6, House GOP sides with Trump and goes after Liz Cheney
WASHINGTON — Wrapping up their investigation on the Jan. 6 2021 Capitol attack, House Republicans have concluded it’s former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney who should be prosecuted for probing what happened when then-President Donald Trump sent his mob of supporters as Congress was certifying the 2020 election. The findings issued...
Damaged Russian ships spilled an estimated 3,700 tons of oil in Kerch Strait, state media saysVideo
MOSCOW — An estimated 3,700 tons of low-grade fuel oil had spilled into the Kerch Strait after two Russian ships were seriously damaged by stormy weather, Russian state media reported. The two ships, the Volgoneft 239 and the Volgoneft 212, were transporting roughly 9,200 tons of mazut, a heavy, low-quality...
Rep. Victoria Spartz won’t caucus with GOP, narrowing Republican margin in House
A maverick Republican congresswoman says she won’t caucus with the party, narrowing the already slim GOP margin in the House of Representatives to as little as just one vote and potentially making it more difficult to enact President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda. Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Indiana, tweeted that she will focus...
Trump sues Des Moines Register, pollster for ‘election interference’ after inaccurate poll
President-elect Donald Trump sued the Des Moines Register and its pollster for “brazen election interference” in publishing a survey the weekend before the election that showed Democrat Kamala Harris with a surprising lead of three percentage points in the state. The Register’s parent Gannett Co. on Tuesday dismissed the lawsuit...
Digital authorization required for Americans to travel to U.K. in 2025
Planning a trip to the United Kingdom in 2025? If so, you’ll need more than just a passport. Starting Jan. 8, American citizens will need to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorization in order to enter the U.K., Time Magazine reported. “U.S. citizens transiting through or traveling to the United...
