September 16, 2024 5:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers and home buyers, business people and political leaders have been waiting for months for what the Federal Reserve is poised to announce this week: That it’s cutting its key interest rate from a two-decade peak. It’s likely to be just the first in a series of rate cuts that should make borrowing more affordable now that the Fed has deemed high inflation to be all but defeated. At the same time, plenty of uncertainty still surrounds this week’s Fed meeting. How much will the policymakers reduce their benchmark rate? By a traditional quarter-point or by an unusually large half-point? Will they keep cutting when they meet later this year and into 2025?
September 16, 2024 5:03 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Before he ran for the Senate in Pennsylvania, David McCormick was a big name on Wall Street as CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund. But McCormick’s Wall Street days have provided grist for attacks by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. Casey is pressing the case that the hedge fund invested in Chinese companies that are considered part of Beijing’s military and surveillance industrial complex. But McCormick’s fund was hardly alone. American investment in Chinese companies surged while McCormick was CEO. Now, each candidate is trying to show he’s the tougher one on China.
September 16, 2024 5:16 am
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Texas hospitals who are enrolled in state health plans, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program will start asking patients’ immigration status in November. Florida has had a similar law since 2023. Neither state will report immigration status answers to law enforcement. Doctors and advocate groups in Florida say people were scared to get treatment at hospitals and clinics but that the fear is subsiding thanks to education campaigns telling people they don’t have to provide their status. A Florida state report shows between 7-8% of people declined to give their status and fewer than 1% said they were in the U.S. without legal permission.
September 16, 2024 5:09 am
Tito Jackson, one of the brothers who made up the beloved pop group the Jackson 5, has died at age 70. Tito was the third of nine Jackson children, which include global superstars Michael and sister Janet, part of a music-making family whose songs are still beloved today. His sons TJ, Taj and Taryll announced their father’s death late Sunday in a post on Instagram. The Jackson 5 included brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael. The family group, which was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, produced several No. 1 hits in the 1970s including “ABC,” “I Want You Back” and “I’ll Be There.”
September 15, 2024 6:07 am
A child was hit by a vehicle in Washington County. Washington County dispatchers say emergency crews were called to the intersection of 12th Avenue and Lincoln Avenue in Charleroi at around 2:20 p.m. on Saturday. Officials confirmed a child was hit by a vehicle in that area and was flown to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. Charleroi Fire Cheif Bobby Whiten confirmed to WJPA News that the victim was a female of toddler age. (PHOTO: Charleroi Fire Department Facebook)
September 15, 2024 6:21 am
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A billionaire spacewalker is back on Earth. SpaceX’s capsule carrying tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman and his crew splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida’s Dry Tortugas early Sunday. Their predawn return ended a five-day spaceflight that lifted them higher than anyone has traveled since NASA’s spacewalkers. They pulled off the first private spacewalk on Thursday, testing brand new spacesuits. Isaacman shared the cost with SpaceX. He was joined on the mission by two SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot.
September 15, 2024 6:16 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — A missile fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed rebels has landed in an open area in central Israel. The early morning attack on Sunday triggered air raid sirens, including at Israel’s international airport, but there were no reports of casualties or major damage. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward Israel since the start of the war in Gaza but nearly all of them have been intercepted over the Red Sea. In July, an Iranian-made drone launched by the Houthis struck Tel Aviv, killing one person and wounding 10 others. Israel responded with a wave of airstrikes on Houthi-held areas of Yemen.
September 15, 2024 6:13 am
DILI, East Timor (AP) — Pope Francis’ longest and farthest trip has proven that despite his age, ailments and eight hours of jet lag, Pope Francis can still pull off an ambitious trip to Asia. That’s especially true when he’s in his element: in the peripheries of the world, among people forgotten by the big powers, where he can go off-script to respond to the spirit of the moment. It was a trip that he had originally wanted to make in 2020 but COVID-19 intervened. Four years and a handful of hospitalizations later, Francis finally pulled it off.
September 14, 2024 4:44 am
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has refused to condemn recent racist and conspiratorial comments from right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer, who traveled with him earlier this week to the debate and several 9/11 memorial events. “Laura’s been a supporter of mine,” Trump told reporters at a press conference near Los Angeles, where he was pressed on concerns from Republican allies about his ongoing association with her. Trump acknowledged that Loomer has “strong opinions.” He later said in a social media post that he disagreed with her statements, but he defended her as a supporter. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, meanwhile, was emphasizing her economic proposals as she campaigned in Pennsylvania.
September 14, 2024 4:41 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris says one difference between her and President Joe Biden is that she offers a “new generation of leadership.” Harris commented in an interview with a Philadelphia TV station on Friday as she campaigned in Pennsylvania, a state that both she and Republican Donald Trump are campaigning hard to win in November’s election. It was her first solo television interview since she became the Democratic presidential nominee. Harris also said she thinks people are “exhausted” by the “hate and division” that she said characterizes Trump’s leadership style. Trump’s campaign offered no immediate comment.
