U.S. life expectancy hit an all-time high in 2024, CDC says
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. life expectancy rose to 79 years in 2024 — the highest mark in American history. It’s the result of not only the dissipation of the covid-19 pandemic, but also waning death rates from all the nation’s top killers, including heart disease, cancer and drug overdoses....
New videos show Alex Pretti scuffle with federal officers in Minneapolis 11 days before his death
WASHINGTON — Alex Pretti was forcefully taken to the ground by federal immigration agents after kicking out the tail light of their vehicle during a Minneapolis protest 11 days before he was shot and killed by Border Patrol officers, videos that emerged Wednesday show. The Jan. 13 scuffle was captured...
Worries deepen in U.S. South after days of grappling with snow, ice and widespread outages
JACKSON, Miss. — Conditions were growing more dire in parts of the South still reeling from subfreezing temperatures and widespread power outages as vehicles got stranded for hours on major highways and officials warned Wednesday that people stuck at home were running out of food, medicine and other essentials. Mississippi...
FBI raid in Georgia highlights Trump’s 2020 election obsession and hints at possible future actions
DENVER — Donald Trump lost his bid for reelection in 2020. But for more than five years, he’s been trying to convince Americans the opposite is true by falsely saying the election was marred by widespread fraud. Now that he’s president again, Trump is pushing the federal government to back...
Democratic Sen. Klobuchar says she’s running for Minnesota governor after Gov. Walz dropped out
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday she is running for governor of Minnesota, promising to take on President Donald Trump while unifying a state that has endured a series of challenges even before the federal government’s immigration crackdown. Klobuchar’s decision gives Democrats a high-profile candidate and proven...
Trump signals interest in easing tensions, but Minneapolis sees little change on the streetsVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — President Donald Trump seemed to signal a willingness to ease tensions in Minneapolis after a second deadly shooting by federal immigration agents, but there was little evidence Wednesday of any significant changes following weeks of harsh rhetoric and clashes with protesters. The strain was evident when Trump made...
Trump nominates U.S. prosecutor as top national fraud investigator
President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced the nomination of a veteran federal prosecutor to lead a new Justice Department unit focused on fraud, as the administration looks to refocus attention on the justification for its immigration crackdown in Minnesota that has grown increasingly unpopular. Trump, in a post on his...
Republicans fear their midterm chances slipping away over immigration chaos
WASHINGTON — Republicans are increasingly concerned that immigration enforcement is becoming a political liability in the upcoming midterm elections after two people were killed by federal agents during President Donald Trump’s crackdown in Minneapolis. Although few are willing to publicly break with the president, there has been a crescendo of...
Gas smell at nursing home was reported hours before deadly explosion, report says
HARRISBURG — Hours before a deadly explosion ripped through a Pennsylvania nursing home last month, staff grew concerned about the smell of natural gas on several floors and brought in workers from the local utility company to check it out, federal regulators said Wednesday. The preliminary report by the National...
Democrats poised to trigger government shutdown if White House won’t meet demands for ICE reform
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are threatening to block legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies Thursday, potentially bringing the government a step closer to a partial shutdown if Republicans and the White House do not agree to new restrictions on President Donald Trump’s surge...
West Virginia librarian arrested for alleged Trump assassination plot
A West Virginia librarian was arrested for allegedly using social media to recruit someone to assassinate President Donald Trump. Ripley resident Morgan Leigh Morrow, 39, was taken into custody after she engaged in the “social media recruitment of individuals to pursue and assassinate President Trump,” the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department...
Federal unions ask court to halt FEMA position cuts
WASHINGTON — Federal worker unions have asked a judge to halt Trump administration actions that they say includes plans to cut 10,000 positions from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The new allegations, filed Tuesday, add onto an ongoing lawsuit filed by unions last April, which sought to undo widespread government...
Federal troop deployments to U.S. cities cost taxpayers $496M and counting
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s high-profile deployment of federal troops to six U.S. cities has cost taxpayers roughly $496 million through the end of December, and continued deployment could cost over $1 billion for the rest of the year, according to new data from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. President...
Omar criticizes Trump’s ‘hateful rhetoric’ after attack; suspect had made pro-Trump posts onlineVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar blamed President Donald Trump for threats to her safety on Wednesday, one day after she was accosted and squirted with liquid at an event in Minneapolis. The man arrested for Tuesday’s attack has posted online in support of the Republican president. “Every time...
Search warrant FBI served at elections office near Atlanta seeks records tied to the 2020 elections
ATLANTA — The search warrant FBI served at Fulton County elections office near Atlanta on Wednesday seeks records tied to the 2020 election, a county spokesperson said. Fulton spokeswoman Jessica Corbitt-Dominguez declined to comment further, saying the search was still underway. An FBI spokesperson confirmed the search but also declined...
Rubio tells senators there’s ‘good and decent progress’ in Venezuela since U.S. ousted MaduroVideo
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio has begun his much-anticipated congressional testimony about Venezuela, defending the Trump administration’s military operation to oust and arrest then-President Nicolas Maduro as Republican and Democratic lawmakers offered starkly different readings of the current situation. Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday...
It’s one storm after another for much of the U.S., but the next one’s path is uncertain
HOUSTON — Winter’s brutal grip on the U.S. East is not letting up, with coming days bringing subfreezing temperatures that will plunge deep into what had been a toasty Florida peninsula and a powerful blizzard forecast that may strike the Atlantic coast. Deep cold is forecast to stick around at...
Sly Dunbar, legendary reggae drummer who anchored tracks from Bob Marley to Bob Dylan, dies as 73
Two-time Grammy Award-winning reggae drummer Sly Dunbar, who fueled countless tracks from Bob Marley to Bob Dylan and was one-half of the influential reggae rhythm section Sly & Robbie, has died. He was 73. Dunbar’s wife, Thelma, announced the death to the Jamaica Gleaner. Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare —...
Sarah Mullally confirmed as archbishop of Canterbury, 1st woman to lead the Church of England
LONDON — Sarah Mullally walked into St. Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday morning as the bishop of London. When she walked out in the afternoon as bells rang out, she was the spiritual leader of millions of Anglicans around the world. Mullally, 63, became the archbishop of Canterbury, making her the...
3 months after rapidly scheduled arguments, the Supreme Court has yet to decide on Trump’s tariffs
WASHINGTON — When the Supreme Court granted an unusually quick hearing over President Donald Trump’s tariffs, a similarly rapid resolution seemed possible. After all, Trump’s lawyers told the court that speed was of the essence on an issue central to the Republican president’s economic agenda. They pointed to a statement...
Federal Reserve keeps interest rates unchanged even as Trump continues to insist they be lowered
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve pushed the pause button on its interest rate cuts Wednesday, leaving its key rate unchanged at about 3.6% after lowering it three times last year. Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference that the economy’s outlook “has clearly improved since the last meeting” in...
Huge landslide cleaves off the edge of a town in Sicily and forces the evacuation of 1,500 people
ROME — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday toured a southern town in Sicily where days of heavy rains from a cyclone triggered a massive landslide that cleaved off the town’s edge, collapsing houses and forcing the evacuation of over 1,500 people. The area of the landslide spanned 2.5 miles...
Photo gallery: Snow cleanup continues into Day 3 around the region
Residents and city crews worked to remove snow from sidewalks and roadways as cleanup efforts continued across Pittsburgh and the region after this weekend’s winter storm....
Judge rules Massachusetts offshore wind project halted by Trump administration can continue
BOSTON — A federal judge said Tuesday that a nearly completed Massachusetts offshore wind project can continue, as the industry successfully challenges the Trump administration in court. At U.S. District Court in Boston, Judge Brian Murphy halted the administration’s stop work order for Vineyard Wind, citing the potential economic losses...
Judge finds Virginia Democrats’ redistricting resolution illegal; new Maryland map advances
RICHMOND, Va. — Democrats ran into a setback on Tuesday in Virginia to fight back against President Donald Trump’s congressional redistricting efforts, but they took a step forward in Maryland, though obstacles remain for enacting a new congressional map there. A Virginia judge ruled that a proposed constitutional amendment letting...
