Army of lobbyists helped water down banking regulations
WASHINGTON — It seemed like a good idea at the time: Red-state Democrats facing grim reelection prospects would join forces with Republicans to slash bank regulations — demonstrating a willingness to work with President Donald Trump while bucking many in their party. That unlikely coalition voted in 2018 to roll...
Yellen says bank situation ‘stabilizing,’ system is ‘sound’
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is trying project calm after regional bank failures, saying the U.S. banking system is “sound” but additional rescue arrangements “could be warranted” if any new failures at smaller institutions pose a risk to financial stability. Yellen, in an excerpt of remarks prepared for delivery...
Trump waits out grand jury as New York braces for protests
NEW YORK — Facing the possibility of criminal charges, Donald Trump waited it out in Florida on Tuesday as New York braced for disruptions that could follow an indictment. Republican contenders in the 2024 race sized up the impact a prosecution could have on a campaign in which the former...
Biden to designate national monuments in Nevada, Texas
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is establishing national monuments in Nevada and Texas and creating a marine sanctuary in U.S. waters near the Pacific Remote Islands southwest of Hawaii. The Democratic president is set to announce the measures Tuesday at a White House summit on conservation action at the Interior...
Police: Colorado dentist killed wife by lacing shakes with poison
DENVER — Police believe a Colorado dentist laced his wife’s pre-workout protein shakes with arsenic and cyanide, eventually killing his spouse so he could be with a woman he was having an affair with, according to court documents. James Craig, 45, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder Sunday, shortly...
Suspended Somerset County DA being held in Cambria Prison until sentencing
EBENSBURG — Suspended Somerset County District Attorney Jeffrey Thomas will await sentencing under “protective custody” inside Cambria County Prison for his assault conviction, the prison’s warden said. In doing so, he’ll spend the next two months in a private cell. However, the fact he’ll be segregated from the rest of...
In Trump probe, grand jury hears from potential last witnessVideo
NEW YORK — A grand jury heard from a potential final witness Monday in the investigation into Donald Trump as law enforcement officials accelerated security preparations in advance of a possible indictment and as fellow Republicans staked out positions in a criminal probe expected to shake up the 2024 presidential...
Trump’s lawyers move to quash Georgia special grand jury report
ATLANTA — Lawyers for Donald Trump launched a broad attack on a Fulton County criminal probe into election interference in Georgia, arguing in a court filing Monday that the conduct of the prosecutor, the judge and a special purpose grand jury tainted the investigation. The former president’s legal team asked...
Teen driver in New York crash that killed 5 children had no licenseVideo
A 16-year-old driver killed in a one-vehicle crash that also took the lives of four young relatives did not have a driver’s license or permit and may have fallen asleep or become distracted before the SUV veered off a New York parkway, officials said Monday. The car continued straight at...
Pa. legislators frustrated with Norfolk Southern CEO’s appearance before Senate committee
Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw’s appearance before a state Senate committee on Monday focused heavily on the decision to purposely burn the leaking chemicals, which sent a plume of ash and smoke into Pennsylvania. Shaw’s repeated insistence that a “unified command” group of government and agency officials, led...
Idaho poised to allow firing-squad executions in some cases
BOISE — Idaho is poised to allow firing squads to execute condemned inmates when the state can’t get lethal-injection drugs, under a bill the Legislature passed Monday with a veto-proof majority. Firing squads will be used only if the state cannot obtain the drugs needed for lethal injections — and...
1 dead, 1 hurt in Texas school shooting; suspect arrested
ARLINGTON, Texas — One student was fatally shot and another injured when a third student opened fire Monday morning outside a Dallas-area high school before being arrested, police said. The shooting began on a high school campus in the suburb of Arlington around 6:55 a.m., before many students arrived for...
West Virginia state police superintendent resigns amid probe
CHARLESTON — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Monday ordered a thorough investigation of the State Police after he accepted the resignation of the agency’s superintendent and revealed allegations of wrongdoing, including that a video camera was placed inside a women’s locker room. Justice said he has appointed Jack Chambers,...
4 guilty of conspiracy in latest Oath Keepers Jan. 6 trial
WASHINGTON — Four people associated with the Oath Keepers were convicted on Monday of conspiracy and obstruction charges stemming from the attack on the U.S. Capitol in the latest trial involving members of the far-right antigovernment extremist group. A Washington D.C. jury found Sandra Parker, of Morrow, Ohio; Laura Steele,...
$9.25 million settlement announced in 2020 protest lawsuits
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia officials announced a $9.25 million settlement Monday with hundreds of people over several lawsuits challenging the police response to the protests and civil disorder in 2020 after George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. Officials said the money will be distributed among 343 plaintiffs in...
2 students hurt in Texas school shooting, suspect arrested
ARLINGTON, Texas — Two students were injured in a shooting outside a Dallas-area high school on Monday morning and police arrested the person suspected of opening fire, officials said. The shooting began on a high school campus in the suburb of Arlington around 6:55 a.m., before many students arrived for...
French government survives no-confidence votes over pensions
PARIS — The French government has survived two no-confidence votes in the lower chamber of parliament, proposed by lawmakers who objected to its push to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. National Assembly lawmakers rejected both motions Monday — one from the far-right National Rally and the other,...
Trump lawyers attack Georgia grand jury and prosecutor
ATLANTA — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are attacking a special grand jury and prosecutors who investigated him in Georgia, asking a state court to throw out its report and all testimony from the inquiry and bar Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from continuing to investigate or prosecute...
Researchers say inbreeding a big problem for endangered orcas
SEATTLE — People have taken many steps in recent decades to help the Pacific Northwest’s endangered killer whales, which have long suffered from starvation, pollution and the legacy of having many of their number captured for display in marine parks. They’ve breached dikes and removed dams to create wetland habitat...
Trump calls for protests, but even supporters dismiss idea
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters, with even some of his most ardent loyalists dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap. The ambivalence raises questions about...
Biden issues first veto, taking on new Republican House
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden issued the first veto of his presidency Monday in an early sign of shifting White House relations with the new Congress since Republicans took control of the House in January — a move that serves as a prelude to bigger battles with GOP lawmakers on...
World on ‘thin ice’ as U.N. climate report gives stark warningVideo
BERLIN — Humanity still has a chance, close to the last, to prevent the worst of climate change’s future harms, a top United Nations panel of scientists said Monday. But doing so requires quickly slashing nearly two-thirds of carbon pollution by 2035, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said. The...
School library book bans are seen as targeting LGBTQ content
DES MOINES, Iowa — Teri Patrick bristles at the idea she wants to ban books about LGBTQ issues in Iowa schools, arguing her only goal is ridding schools of sexually explicit material. Sara Hayden Parris says that whatever you want to call it, it’s wrong for some parents to think...
‘Ted Lasso’ visits White House, promotes mental health careVideo
WASHINGTON — Fictional soccer coach Ted Lasso used a White House visit Monday to encourage people, even in politically divided Washington, to make it a point to check in often with friends, family and co-workers to “ask how they’re doing, and listen, sincerely,” Comedian Jason Sudeikis, who plays the title...
Digital literacy: Can the republic ‘survive an algorithm’?
SEATTLE — Shawn Lee, a high school social studies teacher in Seattle, wants to see lessons on the internet akin to a kind of 21st century driver’s education, an essential for modern life. Lee has tried to bring that kind of education into his classroom, with lessons about the need...
