January 12, 2026 4:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google’s AI engine inside the Pentagon network. Hegseth made the announcement Monday at Musk’s SpaceX company in South Texas as part of a push to integrate as much military data as possible into the developing technology. It follows global criticism of Grok for generating sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Hegseth says he would “make all appropriate data” from the military’s IT systems available for “AI exploitation.” He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems.
January 13, 2026 4:54 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation likely remained elevated last month as the cost of electricity, groceries, and clothing may have jumped and continued to pressure consumers’ wallets. The Labor Department is expected to report that consumer prices rose 2.6% in December compared with a year earlier, according to economists’ estimates compiled by data provider FactSet. The figures are harder to predict this month, however, because the six-week government shutdown last fall suspended the collection of price data used to compile the inflation rate. Some economists expect the December figures will show a bigger jump in inflation as the data collection process gets back to normal.
January 12, 2026 5:37 pm
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The state of Minnesota and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are suing the federal government to stop an enforcement surge by Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE officer. The state and cities filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday, along with a request for a temporary restraining order to halt the enforcement action or limit the operation. The Department of Homeland Security says it’s surging more than 2,000 immigration officers into Minnesota, and that it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the city since the push began last month.
January 12, 2026 5:38 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly has sued the Pentagon over attempts to punish him for his warnings about illegal orders. He’s claiming the Trump administration trampled on his constitutional rights to free speech. Kelly, a former Navy pilot who represents Arizona, is seeking to block his censure from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week. Hegseth said he censured Kelly over his participation in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders.
January 12, 2026 2:06 am
A large crowd gathered at noon on Sunday in front of the Washington County Courthouse to protest the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE officer last week in Minneapolis. Washington’s protest was one of hundreds held across the county over the weekend following the shooting of Good by federal officers. Speaking to the Associated Press, Good’s former husband, who declined to be identified for the safety of their children, said his former wife was not an activist and had never, to his knowledge, even attended a protest. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara says a protest Friday night turned violent when people threw ice, snow and rocks at officers. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey faults “agitators who are trying to rile up large crowds.” The demonstrations come as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security pushes forward in the Twin Cities with what it calls its biggest-ever immigration enforcement operation.
January 11, 2026 4:58 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents are carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman. Agents on Sunday rammed the door of one home and flooded inside before leading a man away in handcuffs. In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents arrested the man minutes after pepper spraying a handful of protesters who confronted the agents. A Homeland Security spokesperson says more than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the beginning of December. The Twin Cities remains on edge after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer Wednesday.
January 12, 2026 4:56 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Sunday the Department of Justice has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations. The move represents an unprecedented escalation in President Donald Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he has repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans. The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s renovation of two office buildings.
January 12, 2026 4:53 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump says Iran wants to negotiate with the U.S. after his threat to strike the country over its crackdown on protesters. Activists said Monday the death toll in the demonstrations has risen to at least 544. Iran has not yet responded to Trump’s comments. The foreign minister of Oman traveled to Iran this weekend, possibly to mediate. Trump and his team are considering responses, including cyberattacks and direct strikes. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in fiery remarks that blamed Israel and the U.S. for the violence, without offering evidence.
January 11, 2026 1:54 am
Washington County Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman took to social media to provide an update on progress of the Courthouse Square Building demolition. In a post to Facebook on Friday, Sherman said that currently contractors are conducting a wall shoring project that is stabilizing a wall between the Washington County Courthouse and the new Public Safety Building. Sherman says that once that project is complete, the timeline will be demolition in late March, site preparation in April and the construction on the new Public Safety Building will begin in May. The Public Safety Building will hold the new 9-1-1 operations center that will employ the new emergency radio system, offices for the Sheriff, and a booking center. The cost of the project is estimated to be between $30 and 35 million.
January 12, 2026 4:47 am
The Donora Fire Company now says a report of a ‘person in distress’ turned out to be unfounded over the weekend. First responders were on the Monongahela River on Saturday. In a social media post, the Rostraver Township Fire Department said it was assisting the Donora Fire Company with a search on the river. Rostraver reportedly provided water rescue resources to search the area and used a thermal imaging drone. Officials say they were “unable to locate a person in distress.”
