February 6, 2025 4:07 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal employees by offering them financial incentives. The decision Thursday comes hours before the midnight deadline for workers to apply for the program. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston sided with several labor unions that had requested a temporary restraining order against the plan orchestrated by Trump adviser Elon Musk. The Republican president is trying to downsize and reshape the federal workforce. The judge didn’t express an opinion on the legality of the program. He scheduled a hearing for Monday and directed administration officials to extend the deadline to apply for the program until after the hearing.
February 6, 2025 9:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says his relationship with religion “changed” after a pair of failed assassination attempts last year as he advocated at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol for Americans to “bring God back” into their lives. Trump on Thursday joined a more than 70-year-old Washington tradition that brings together a bipartisan group of lawmakers for fellowship. The nondenominational Christian also will speak at a separate prayer breakfast sponsored by a private group. Trump made waves at the final prayer breakfast during his first term. That year the gathering came the day after the Senate acquitted Trump in his first impeachment trial. The Republican president in his remarks then threw not-so-subtle barbs at some members of Congress.
February 6, 2025 5:55 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal employees by offering them financial incentives. The decision Thursday comes hours before the midnight deadline for workers to apply for the program. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston sided with several labor unions that had requested a temporary restraining order against the plan orchestrated by Trump adviser Elon Musk. The Republican president is trying to downsize and reshape the federal workforce. The judge didn’t express an opinion on the legality of the program. He scheduled a hearing for Monday and directed administration officials to extend the deadline to apply for the program until after the hearing.
February 6, 2025 4:56 am
President Donald Trump is ready to take his fight against transgender athletes to the International Olympic Committee. Trump wants the IOC to “change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject” ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Trump made the remarks while signing an executive order designed to keep men out of women’s sports. The order empowers both the office of the Secretary of State and the Department of Homeland Security to take steps to attempt to prevent international transgender female athletes from competing in the United States.
February 6, 2025 4:55 am
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Stunned Palestinians rejected President Donald Trump’s proposal to expel them from the Gaza Strip so that the U.S. could take over the territory and rebuild it for others. Many saw the comments as an effort to erase them from their homeland, a continuation of the expulsion and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from what is now Israel during the 1948 war. Palestinians displaced during the Israel-Hamas war have shown a powerful determination to return to their homes, with hundreds of thousands during the current ceasefire flooding back to neighborhoods devastated by Israeli bombardment and offensives. Trump’s top diplomat on Wednesday walked back the president’s proposal, saying he only wants to temporarily relocate Palestinians from Gaza.
February 6, 2025 4:54 am
Dairy cattle in Nevada have been infected with a new type of bird flu that’s different from the version that has spread in herds since last year. U.S. Agriculture Department officials announced the finding Wednesday. It indicates that distinct strains of the H5N1 bird fluvirus have spilled over from wild birds into cattle at least twice. Experts said it raises news questions about wider spread and the difficulty of controlling infections in animals and the people who work closely with them. The new virus version found in cattle has been linked to severe infections in the U.S. and Canada.
February 6, 2025 4:53 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal government payments for subscriptions to media outlets have become the latest target of President Donald Trump’s spending hawks. A day after his press secretary cited some $8 million in spending for Politico subscriptions, Trump dubbed it a “scandal” and online sleuths started looking for evidence of payments to other organizations like the New York Times and Associated Press. Said one Trump aide online: “The U.S. government must stop paying for media subscriptions.” But it’s actually a long-running tradition, depended upon by governments around the world to help them keep up with what is going on. And, the AP noted, has been a staple of Democratic and Republican administrations.
February 6, 2025 4:50 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are working overtime to meet President Donald Trump’s demand for a big budget package. Speaker Mike Johnson had GOP lawmakers working into the night ahead of a self-imposed Friday deadline to finish up the details. They’re eyeing some $3 trillion in tax breaks, massive government program cuts and a possible extension of the nation’s debt limit. This all comes after a lengthy White House meeting Thursday where Trump’s message was simple: Get it done. The House has blown past its earlier deadline and is now racing Senate Republicans, who are preparing their own package. Senate Republicans are heading late Friday to meet with Trump at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
February 6, 2025 4:45 am
ANTRIM TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — The heist of 100,000 eggs from the back of a trailer in Pennsylvania has become a whodunit that police have yet to crack. A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Police said Wednesday that four days after the theft no leads have come in. Law enforcement officials say the crime could be tied to the sky-high cost of eggs. The officials are following up with any possible witnesses and looking into surveillance footage that could help them identify the perpetrator The eggs are worth about $40,000. Police say the eggs were snatched from the back of a Pete & Gerry’s Organics’ distribution trailer Saturday night in Antrim Township, Pennsylvania.
February 6, 2025 2:51 am
The Mayor of Washington and the city’s Police Chief held a meeting on Wednesday with the owner of a business in the city that has been in the hub of recent criminal activity. Authorities arrested 62-year-old Lawrence Martin of East Washington Borough in connection with a stabbing at the Exxon on Ridge Avenue Thursday night. The male victim walked into UPMC Washington Hospital, claiming to have been stabbed. The victim, whose name has not been released, was transferred to a Pittsburgh hospital for treatment of his injuries. Martin is now facing multiple charges. Mayor JoJo Burgess tells WJPA that the meeting was with the owner of the Exxon. Burgess says the owner was very agreeable to add some safety measures and Burgess says the city will closely monitor that location in the future and continue to work with the owner to ensure residents and customers are safe.
