SNL Celebrates 50th Anniversary – On Sunday

February 11, 2025 5:36 pm

NEW YORK (AP) — The 50th anniversary celebration of “Saturday Night Live” is so big, it’s not even on Saturday. Airing Sunday and spanning three hours, the live “SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration” will assemble a dream team of stars who have helped the show become an enduring pop culture force. That includes alumni like Tina Fey and Eddie Murphy, notable hosts like Dave Chappelle and Steve Martin and at least four of the surviving original cast members. Musical guests are a whole different who’s who, with Paul McCartney, Bad Bunny, Miley Cyrus and Sabrina Carpenter among those set to appear. “SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration” airs live Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern on NBC.  (Photo:  AP)

Stores Limiting Amount Of Eggs Shoppers Can Buy

February 11, 2025 5:22 pm

(AP) – Not only are eggs expensive because of the ongoing bird flu outbreak. Now they are sometimes hard to find. And even when stores do have eggs, consumers might face limits on how many they can buy. Eggs have become such a hot commodity that there have even been a couple of heists where thieves seem to be treating the yolks as if they were made out of gold. The problem isn’t going away because the virus continues to infect more birds. The shortages do tend to be isolated. But there’s no way to predict when a massive farm with millions of birds might get hit, and just one of those cases can cause supply problems.  (Photo:  AP)

Fed Says Your Bank Accounts Are Safe

February 11, 2025 5:18 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says Americans’ bank accounts are safe despite the Trump administration’s shutdown of a consumer financial regulatory agency. Powell, testifying before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, said “bank accounts overall across the economy are safe” and backed by government deposit insurance. Sen. Elizabeth Warren who initially conceived of the CFPB in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and recession, said she would have concerns about doing business with a giant bank “when there’s no cop on the beat.”

Jordan’s King Opposes Displacing Palestinians In Gaza

February 11, 2025 4:59 am

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has hosted Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House and has renewed his insistence that Gaza could somehow be emptied of all residents, controlled by the U.S. and redeveloped as a tourist area. It’s an audacious, but highly unlikely, scheme to dramatically remake the Middle East and would require Jordan and other Arab nations to accept more refugees from Gaza — something Abdullah reiterated that he opposes. The president also suggested he wouldn’t withhold U.S. aid to Jordan or Egypt if they don’t agree to dramatically increase the number of people from Gaza they take in. That contradicts previous suggestions from Trump that aid from Washington could be held back.

Musk’s Crusade Could Benefit Tesla

February 11, 2025 4:57 am

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk has long railed against the U.S. government, saying numerous investigations and safety programs have stymied Tesla, his electric car company, and its efforts to create fleets of robotaxis and other self-driving automobiles. Now, Musk’s close relationship with President Donald Trump means many of those headaches could vanish. On the potential chopping block: crash investigations into Tesla’s partially automated vehicles; a Justice Department criminal probe examining whether Musk and Tesla overstated their cars’ self-driving capabilities; and a government mandate to report crash data on vehicles using technology like Tesla’s Autopilot. The consequences of such actions could prove dire, say safety advocates who credit the investigations and recalls with saving lives.

Appeals Court Rejects Push To Reinstate Spending Freezes

February 11, 2025 4:56 am

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a Trump administration push to reinstate a sweeping pause on federal funding, a decision that comes after a judge found the administration had not fully obeyed an earlier order. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned back the emergency appeal, though it said it expected the lower court judge to act quickly to clarify. The Justice Department had asked the appeals court to let it implement sweeping pauses on federal grants and loans, calling the lower court order to keep promised money flowing “intolerable judicial overreach.” A group of states say the president can’t block money that Congress has approved, and some still-frozen grants and loans are causing serious problems for their residents.

Trump Again Slaps Taxes On Foreign Steel, Aluminum

February 11, 2025 4:55 am

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is hitting foreign steel and aluminum with a 25% tax. If that sounds familiar, it’s because he did pretty much the same thing during his first term. Trump’s original metals tariffs gave America’s struggling steel and aluminum producers some relief from intense global competition, allowing them to charge higher prices. In anticipation of the new tariffs, shares of steel and aluminum producers climbed Monday. But the tariffs took a toll last time, too, damaging U.S. relations with allies like Canada and Mexico and driving up costs for “downstream’’ U.S. producers that buy steel and aluminum and use them to manufacture goods.

EU Vows Tough Countermeasures To US Tariffs

February 11, 2025 4:52 am

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed that U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered” and will trigger tough countermeasures from the 27-nation bloc. “The EU will act to safeguard its economic interests. We will protect our workers, businesses and consumers,” von der Leyen said Tuesday in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum the previous day.

Trump Readies Matching Tariffs On Trade Partners

February 11, 2025 4:51 am

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump could sign an order as soon as Wednesday to require that U.S. tariffs on imports match the tax rates charged by other countries. It’s a bet that his economic ideas can eventually deliver meaningful results for voters, even if by Trump’s own admission the import taxes could involve some financial pain in the form of inflation and economic disruptions. For all of Trump’s talk, the impact will likely depend on the details of the tariffs and how other nations respond. The tariffs could set off retaliatory measures that could roil growth around the globe and reset where the United States stands with allies and rivals alike.

UPMC To Require Masks

February 11, 2025 4:47 am

PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – UPMC announced via social media that starting Wednesday, masking at all hospitals and outpatient areas is mandatory. From RSV to the flu, to COVID-19, respiratory illnesses and the rate at which they’re infecting people have taken center stage. “We keep hearing about things called the tripledemic because we have these three pretty nasty viruses that can all cause significant disease and lead to hospitalization,” said Doctor Todd Wolynn. He says the viruses tend to hit the elderly, immunocompromised and kids under the age of one the hardest. UPMC says it closely monitors the spread of respiratory illness in healthcare settings, and is why the healthcare provider decided to make masking mandatory again. Allegheny Health Network says it hasn’t issued a mask mandate but that they are strongly encouraged in AHN facilities.