Pentagon chief: U.S. faces pivotal years in countering China
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — The U.S. is at a pivotal point with China and will need military strength to ensure that American values, not Beijing’s, set global norms in the 21st century, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday. Austin’s speech at the
Reagan National Defense
Forum capped a week in...
Iowa caucuses, built on myth, lose place at head of the line
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Hy-Vee Hall ballroom in Des Moines erupted in cheers in 2008 when the youthful Illinois senator hinted at the improbable possibility of the feat ahead: “Our time for change has come!” That Iowa, an overwhelmingly white state, would propel Barack Obama’s rise to become America’s...
Both sides see high stakes in gay rights Supreme Court case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is being warned about the potentially dire consequences of a case next week involving a Christian graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for same-sex couples. Rule for the designer and the justices will expose not only same-sex couples but also Black people, immigrants,...
FDA change ushers in cheaper, easier-to-get hearing aids
It’s now a lot easier — and cheaper — for many hard-of-hearing Americans to get help. Hearing aids can now be sold without a prescription from a specialist. Over-the-counter, or OTC, hearing aids started hitting the market in October at prices that can be thousands of dollars lower than prescription...
Non-religious voters wield clout, tilt heavily Democratic
When members of the small Pennsylvania chapter of Secular Democrats of America log on for their monthly meetings, they’re not there for a virtual happy hour. “We don’t sit around at our meetings patting ourselves on the back for not believing in God together,” said David Brown, a founder from...
Jury begins deliberations in Harvey Weinstein rape trial
LOS ANGELES — Jurors began deliberating Friday in the Los Angeles rape and sexual assault trial of Harvey Weinstein, after a final push from the prosecution. “You have irrefutable, overwhelming evidence of the nature of this man, and what he did to these women,” Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson told...
Flu season worsens as 44 states report high activity
NEW YORK — The U.S. flu season keeps getting worse. Health officials said Friday that 7.5% of outpatient medical visits last week were due to flu-like illnesses. That’s as high as the peak of the 2017-18 flu season and higher than any season since. The annual winter flu season usually...
Rail strike averted: Biden signs bill enforcing agreement
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed a bill Friday to avert a freight rail strike that he said could have plunged the U.S. into a catastrophic recession. At the White House, Biden signed a measure passed Thursday by the Senate and Wednesday by the House. It binds rail companies and...
Democrats move to make South Carolina, not Iowa, 1st voting state
WASHINGTON — Democrats voted Friday to remove Iowa as the leadoff state on the presidential nominating calendar and replace it with South Carolina starting in 2024, a dramatic shakeup championed by President Joe Biden to better reflect the party’s deeply diverse electorate. The Democratic National Committee’s rule-making arm made the...
FBI director raises national security concerns about TikTok
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Chris Wray is raising national security concerns about TikTok, warning Friday that control of the popular video sharing app is in the hands of a Chinese government “that doesn’t share our values.” Wray said the FBI was concerned that the Chinese had the ability to control...
Explainer: Deaths of 4 Idaho students fuel online sleuths
BOISE, Idaho — The deaths of four University of Idaho students nearly three weeks ago has riled up thousands of would-be armchair sleuths, many of whom are posting speculation and unfounded rumors about the fatal stabbings online. Relatively few details have been released in the horrific case that has left...
Negotiations begin for a global treaty on plastic pollution
On Friday afternoon more than 2,000 experts will wrap up a week of negotiations on plastic pollution at one of the largest global gatherings ever to address what even industry leaders in plastics say is a crisis. It was the first meeting of a United Nations committee set up to...
Russia rejects pullout from Ukraine as condition for talks
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia said Friday that Western demands it should pull out completely from Ukraine as part of any future talks to end the war effectively rule out any such negotiations, as Russian strikes continued and a Ukrainian official set his country’s battle losses at up to 13,000 troops....
Prosecution resumes closing argument at Trump Org. trial
NEW YORK — Prosecutors resumed their closing argument Friday in the Trump Organization’s criminal tax fraud trial, promising to share previously unrevealed details about Donald Trump’s knowledge of a tax dodge scheme hatched by one of his top executives. “Donald Trump knew exactly what was going on with his top...
Infowars host Alex Jones files for personal bankruptcy
Infowars host Alex Jones filed for personal bankruptcy protection in Texas on Friday as he faces nearly $1.5 billion in court judgments over conspiracy theories he spread about the Sandy Hook school massacre. Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in bankruptcy court in Houston. His filing lists $1 billion...
Pentagon debuts its new stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider
WASHINGTON — America’s newest nuclear stealth bomber is making its public debut after years of secret development and as part of the Pentagon’s answer to rising concerns over a future conflict with China. The B-21 Raider is the first new American bomber aircraft in more than 30 years. Almost every...
China fines former NBA star Lin over quarantine comments
BEIJING — Former NBA star Jeremy Lin, who plays for a Chinese team, was fined 10,000 yuan ($1,400) for criticizing quarantine facilities, China’s professional league and a news report said Friday, as the government tries to stop protests against anti-virus controls that are among the world’s most stringent. Also Friday,...
Elon Musk suspends Kanye West’s Twitter account
Early Friday, Kanye West’s Twitter account was suspended after the rapper posted a picture of a swastika merged with the Star of David. New Twitter CEO Elon Musk confirmed the suspension in a tweet replying to West’s post of an unflattering photo of the billionaire, which West called his “final...
Bidens entertain more than 330 guests at 1st state dinnerVideo
WASHINGTON — The first White House state dinner of President Joe Biden’s administration drew big names Thursday from fashion, entertainment, politics and business who turned out to help celebrate French President Emmanuel Macron and the return of large social events after the pandemic. There were kisses all around as the...
82-year-old woman arrested for not paying $77 trash bill
VALLEY, Ala. — An 82-year-old Alabama woman was arrested for not paying a $77.80 trash bill. Court records show the Valley woman was arrested Sunday for not paying the garbage service bill that covered the months of June, July and August. She was charged with a misdemeanor offense of “failure...
Pa. lawmakers’ pay increase kicks in; 2 elected to higher office without ‘double dipping’
Salaries for Pennsylvania lawmakers jumped Thursday when an automatic 7.8% pay increase took effect, the largest in over a quarter century. Two sitting lawmakers, who ran in simultaneously for other offices, will be getting the legislative pay raise, albeit briefly, before taking more lucrative elected posts next month. Allegheny County...
Matt Gaetz friend gets 11 years for sex crime, other countsVideo
ORLANDO — A former Florida tax collector whose arrest led to a federal probe into U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for sex trafficking of a minor and other offenses. Joel Greenberg, former tax collector for Seminole County, was accused of stalking a political...
Trump probe: Court halts Mar-a-Lago special master review
WASHINGTON — A unanimous federal appeals court on Thursday ended an independent review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, removing a hurdle the Justice Department said had delayed its criminal investigation into the retention of top-secret government information. The decision by the three-judge panel represents a...
Pandemic stress prematurely aged teens’ brains, Stanford study finds
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A Stanford University study published Thursday found that stress from the covid-19 pandemic prematurely aged adolescents’ brains, making them more like those of peers about three years older. By comparing MRI scans from children taken before the pandemic with scans from other kids taken during the...
Senate moves to avert rail strike amid dire warnings
WASHINGTON — The Senate moved quickly Thursday to avert a rail strike that the Biden administration and business leaders warned would have had devastating consequences for the nation’s economy. The Senate passed a bill to bind rail companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached between the rail...
