January 9, 2021 5:33 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Twitter account realDonaldTrump, which grew from the random musings of a reality TV star into the cudgel of a president, died Friday. It was not quite 12 years old. The provocative handle was given birth by a New York real estate tycoon who later became the 45th U.S. president. It started on May 4, 2009, with a tweet promoting Donald Trump’s upcoming appearance on David Letterman’s show. It departed more than 57,000 tweets later, with Trump using some of his final postings to commiserate with a pro-Trump mob that besieged the halls of Congress as lawmakers were set to certify his election defeat.
January 9, 2021 5:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says he won’t attend President-elect Joe Biden’s Inauguration on Jan. 20. He will be the first incumbent president since Andrew Johnson to skip his successors inauguration. In a Friday tweet Trump said, “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.” Trump offered no clues for how he would spent his final hours in office. Biden will become president at noon regardless of Trump’s plans. Vice President Mike Pence is expected to attend the inauguration, although a spokesman said no decision had been made.
January 9, 2021 5:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. employers shed jobs last month for the first time since April, cutting 140,000 positions, clear evidence that the economy is faltering as the viral pandemic tightens its grip on consumers and businesses. The unemployment rate stayed at 6.7%, the first time it hasn’t fallen since April. Friday’s figures from the Labor Department suggest that employers have rehired roughly all the workers they can afford to after having laid off more than 22 million in the spring – the worst such loss on record. The economy still has 9.9 million fewer jobs than it did before the pandemic sent it sinking into a deep recession nearly a year ago.
January 9, 2021 5:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she has spoken to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about preventing President Donald Trump from ordering a nuclear strike in his final days in office. She said she spoke to the top general about “precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.” Democrats are discussing whether to act quickly to impeach Trump as soon as next week. This comes after Trump encouraged loyalists who ransacked the Capitol in a siege that has left five people dead.
January 9, 2021 5:14 am
WASHINGTON — (WPXI) – Washington D.C. police have released the names of those arrested during Wednesday’s shocking siege of the U.S. Capitol. Thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol following a rally. Heavily-armed officers brought in as reinforcements started using tear gas in a coordinated effort to get people moving toward the door, then combed the halls for stragglers, pushing the mob farther out onto the plaza and lawn in clouds of tear gas, flash-bangs and percussion grenades. Here are the Pennsylvanians arrested that we’ve received so far:
Anthony Tammaro, 60, for curfew violation, unlawful entry
Tara Coleman, 40, curfew violation, unlawful entry
James Sinclair, 38, for curfew violation, poss prohibited weapon
Sean Bare, 21, curfew violation
David Booth, 47, curfew violation
Philip Mulhollen, 39, curfew violation
Dakoda Westfall, 23, curfew violation
Matthew Bair, 30, curfew violation
Douglas Black, 37, curfew violation
Eric Black, 36, curfew violation
Thomas Haines, 33, curfew violation
Jonathan McKinley, 40, curfew violation
January 8, 2021 12:29 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Tommy Lasorda, the fiery Hall of Fame manager who guided the Los Angeles Dodgers to two World Series titles and later became an ambassador for the sport he loved during his 71 years with the franchise, has died. He was 93. The Dodgers said Friday that he had a heart attack at his home in Fullerton. Resuscitation attempts were made en route to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday. Lasorda had a history of heart problems, including a heart attack in 1996 that ended his managerial career.
January 8, 2021 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia says “all options are on the table” for charging members of the violent pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol – including sedition charges. Michael Sherwin, acting U.S. attorney for D.C., says prosecutors plan to file 15 federal cases on Thursday for crimes including unauthorized access and theft of property, and investigators are combing through reams of evidence to bring additional charges. More than 90 people have been arrested by police in Washington and more arrests are likely.
January 8, 2021 4:22 am
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration and the state’s hospital association are at odds over how best to create space for critically ill coronavirus patients. The disagreement comes as health officials warn that already strained medical facilities will soon be overwhelmed by a new surge from the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. California health authorities reported Thursday a record two-day total of 1,042 virus deaths, with many people infected during the surge after Halloween and Thanksgiving. The California Hospital Association says the state is moving too slowly to find ways to handle so many cases. State officials counter that moves made this week to limit nonessential surgeries and transfer patients to hospitals with more available beds will save lives.
January 8, 2021 4:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has become the second Cabinet secretary to resign a day after a pro-Trump insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In a resignation letter Thursday, DeVos blamed President Donald Trump for inflaming tensions in the violent assault on the seat of the nation’s democracy. She says, “There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me.” Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao tendered her resignation earlier Thursday. News of DeVos’ resignation was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
January 8, 2021 4:18 am
Boeing will pay $2.5 billion to settle a criminal charge related to its troubled 737 Max jetliner. The Justice Department announced the settlement Thursday, nearly two years after the second of two crashes that killed 346 people in all. Boeing is agreeing to pay money for crash victims’ families, airline customers and airlines, as well as a fine. The 737 Max entered service in 2017. The first crash occurred in October 2018 in Indonesia, and a second occurred five months later in Ethiopia. In both cases, an automated system pushed the noses of the planes down, and pilots were unable to regain control.
