November 13, 2025 1:30 am
The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia has printed its last penny, marking a significant step in the 1-cent coin’s demise. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump ordered the penny’s cancellation because the production costs exceed its value. The order comes more than 230 years after the first pennies were pressed in Philadelphia. The Treasury Department has estimated it will save $56 million per year on materials by ceasing to make the coin. Defenders of the penny say the cost is a bargain compared to the nickel, which costs almost 14 cents to mint.
November 12, 2025 5:52 pm
CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge has signaled that hundreds of people arrested and detained in the Chicago area immigration crackdown could soon be released on bond while they await immigration hearings. During a hearing Wednesday in Chicago, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings said he would order the full release of 13 detained individuals based on a 2022 consent decree outlining how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can make so-called warrantless arrests. He also gave government attorneys a Friday deadline to comb through a list of 615 people detained at jails and federal facilities nationwide to see if they qualify for alternatives to detention under the decree, such as using an ankle monitor, while their immigration cases proceed.
November 12, 2025 4:56 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — After weeks of delay, Democrat Adelita Grijalva of Arizona is a member of the U.S. House. Grijalva was sworn into office Wednesday, more than seven weeks after she won a special election in Arizona to fill the House seat last held by her late father. It was one of Speaker Mike Johnson first actions before the House began consideration of legislation to end the government shutdown. After delivering a floor speech, Grijalva signed a discharge petition to eventually trigger a vote to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein, giving it the needed 218 signatures. Grijalva’s seating brings the partisan margin in the House to a narrow 220-214 Republican majority.
November 12, 2025 2:10 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Governor Josh Shapiro has signed Pennsylvania’s state budget. That ends the longest state budget impasse in recent history. On Wednesday, after multiple sessions and discussions, the state Senate voted 41-9 to pass the state budget bill. The budget is a $50.09 billion spending plan. Both parties spent much of Tuesday evening caucusing, trying to iron out an agreement. Much of the progress in moving the budget forward can be credited to removing Pennsylvania from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The initiative is essentially a co-op among a number of states attempting to lower carbon emissions, which Republicans referred to as an unfair carbon tax that stifled job growth.
November 12, 2025 1:38 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new AP-NORC poll finds U.S. adults’ opinions of how President Donald Trump is managing the federal government have dropped sharply since early in his second term, highlighting the risks posed by the government shutdown and his efforts to reshape the federal workforce. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll was conducted after Democrats notched sweeping victories in this month’s off-year elections but before Congress took major steps to try to end the longest shutdown in U.S. history. The poll finds Americans, particularly Republicans, are less likely to approve of the Republican president’s management of the government than they were in March. Trump’s overall approval remained steady since October.
November 12, 2025 1:21 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is accusing Democrats of selectively leaking emails from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to “create a fake narrative” to smear President Donald Trump. Epstein wrote in a 2011 email Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with a victim of sex trafficking and said in a separate message years later Trump “knew about the girls.” The emails made public by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday add to the questions about Trump’s friendship with Epstein and about any knowledge he may have had in what prosecutors call a yearslong effort by Epstein to exploit underage girls. The Republican president denies any knowledge of Epstein’s alleged crimes.
November 12, 2025 5:09 am
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro has ordered security forces to stop sharing intelligence with the United States until it stops striking suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean. It wasn’t immediately clear what kind of information Colombia will stop sharing with the United States after Petro acted Tuesday. At least 75 people have been killed by the U.S. military in strikes in international waters since August. The strikes began in the southern Caribbean but have shifted recently to the eastern Pacific. In October, the Trump administration placed financial sanctions on Petro over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade.
November 12, 2025 5:06 am
The Supreme Court has extended an order blocking full SNAP payments. The high court’s decision Tuesday came amid signals that the government shutdown could soon end and food aid payments resume — though exactly when is unknown. The order keeps in place at least for a few more days a chaotic situation. People who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to feed their families in some states have received their full monthly allocations, while others have received nothing. SNAP helps 42 million Americans buy groceries. The order will expire just before midnight Thursday.
November 12, 2025 5:04 am
The southeastern U.S. has plunged into record-low temperatures, affecting 18 million people under a freeze warning across Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. The cold spell moved from the Northern Plains and brought an abrupt transition to wintry temperatures. Some daily records were shattered, including a low of 28 degrees in Jacksonville, Florida. In Florida, temperatures led to a “falling iguana advisory” as iguanas froze into survival mode and fell from trees. Meanwhile, parts of the Great Lakes and Northeast experienced significant snowfall, causing hazardous driving conditions. Forecasters expect temperatures to rise by the end of the week.
November 12, 2025 5:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history appears to be nearing an end, but not without leaving a mark on an already-struggling economy. About 1.25 million federal workers missed at least one or two paychecks. Thousands of flights have been canceled. Government contract awards have slowed and some food aid recipients have seen their benefits interrupted. Most of the lost economic activity will be recovered when the government reopens, as federal workers receive back pay. But some canceled flights won’t be retaken, missed restaurant meals won’t be made up, and some postponed purchases by workers will not happen at all.
