December 14, 2019 7:20 am
LONDON (AP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is heading to northern England to meet newly elected Conservative lawmakers. Johnson is going to the country’s working class heartland that turned its back on the opposition Labour Party in Thursday’s elections and helped give him an 80-seat majority. Following that sweeping victory, Johnson is calling for an end to the acrimony that has festered throughout the country since the divisive 2016 Brexit referendum and is urging the country to “let the healing begin.” There is little sign of healing in the defeated Labour Party, though. Ousted lawmakers are laying the blame squarely at the feet of leader Jeremy Corbyn.
December 14, 2019 7:15 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – In Iowa, where nearly 17,000 residents work in the health insurance industry, candidates are facing questions about how their health care plans could affect jobs in the state. Des Moines is home to Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield’s health insurance headquarters. Some candidates have already faced questions about the issue on the campaign trail. This week, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg went on the offensive. Referencing Sen. Bernie Sanders’ and Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s “Medicare for All” plans, he argued that some candidates’ health care plans would “eliminate the job of every single American working at every single insurance company in the country.”
December 14, 2019 4:29 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – U.S. Steel Corp. is agreeing to pay $8.5 million to settle a 2017 class-action lawsuit that accused the steelmaker of negligence in allowing air pollution emissions from its Clairton Coke Works. The proposed agreement was filed in Allegheny County Court and a hearing on it is scheduled for Feb. 24. Under the settlement agreement, U.S. Steel must spend at least $6.5 million to reduce soot emissions and noxious odors from the the Clairton coke-making facility. The remaining $2 million would go to area residents and their lawyers. The company is facing other lawsuits over pollution from the Clairton facility.
December 13, 2019 3:34 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump reacted quickly after the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against him. Using the words he’s embraced nearly every day for weeks, he called the proceedings “a witch hunt, a scam, a hoax.” The charges approved Friday now go to the full House for an expected vote next week. They were approved strictly along party lines, 23 Democrats to 17 Republicans. Trump is accused of abuse of power, a charge stemming from his July phone call pressuring the Ukrainian president to announce an investigation of Democrats as Trump was withholding US aid. He’s also accused of obstructing Congress’ investigation.
December 13, 2019 3:29 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has released a plan to eliminate all coal power plants and slow the expansion of the natural gas sector. It’s part of a sweeping policy to fight climate change that he says would cut carbon emissions across the U.S. economy by 50% over the first 10 years. The New York billionaire on Friday said his new plan is the first of several that would ultimately move the nation toward phasing out fossil fuels completely “as soon as humanly possible” – ideally before 2050. The plan is a sharp shift away from President Donald Trump’s moves to weaken environmental safeguards. But Bloomberg’s plan is not likely to win over his party’s loudest environmental activists. It stops well short of the goals of the so-called “Green New Deal.”
December 13, 2019 2:45 pm
PITTSBURGH (AP) – At least eight Democratic presidential candidates plan to participate in a forum Saturday in Pittsburgh to answer questions about their plans for public schools. Organizers of the Public Education Forum 2020 say the committed candidates are Michael Bennet, Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer and Elizabeth Warren. Organizers include labor unions and the NAACP. They say topics will include school investment, student services, special education, student debt, teaching conditions, and education equity and justice issues. The event is at the city’s convention center but isn’t open to the public.
December 13, 2019 7:21 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Elizabeth Warren’s campaign is moving to become the first in the Democratic presidential primary to hire field staff and open field offices in Pennsylvania. It’s a late primary state that could become an important prize. Warren’s campaign said it has hired a Pennsylvania campaign strategist and will bring on staff and open a field office in Philadelphia in the coming weeks. Pennsylvania’s primary is April 28. It has the fifth-most Democratic primary delegates. Warren may have ground to make up in Pennsylvania. Former Vice President Joe Biden has his campaign headquarters in Philadelphia and deep political inroads in the state.
December 13, 2019 7:17 am
(AP) With Christmas less than two weeks away, finding the perfect tree might take some searching. The availability of real Christmas trees is tight across the United States, especially for procrastinators looking for a certain type of tree. But industry officials say everyone who wants a tree should be able to find one, they just might have to pay a little more. Merchant Sandy Parsons of Charleston, West Virginia, says she never got her order for 350 trees from a North Carolina farm, citing short supply. But local seller Robert Cole, whose business supplies its own trees, has never been busier.
December 13, 2019 4:23 am
(AP) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the largest Conservative majority since the 1980s shows that getting Brexit done has now proved to be the will of the British people. In a jubilant speech to party supporters early Friday, Johnson has stressed that Britain will leave the European Union by Jan. 31. Johnson’s Conservative Party secured a majority by winning more than 326 seats out of 650 in the House of Commons. The victory makes Johnson the most electorally successful Conservative leader since Margaret Thatcher.
December 13, 2019 4:23 am
(AP) The House Judiciary Committee has approved two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. The charges now go to the full House for an expected vote next week. The abuse of power charge stems from Trump’s July phone call with the Ukraine president pressuring him to announce an investigation of Democrats as he was withholding US aid. The obstruction charge involves Trump’s blocking of House efforts to investigate his actions. Trump has denied wrongdoing.
