February 8, 2025 9:28 am
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israel is releasing 183 Palestinian prisoners in the latest exchange for Israeli hostages held in Gaza, part of a ceasefire that has paused the war but whose future is uncertain. Israel views the security prisoners as terrorists, while Palestinians see them as freedom fighters resisting a decades-long military occupation. Nearly every Palestinian has a friend or family member who has been jailed by Israel at some point, for militant attacks or lesser offenses like rock-throwing, protesting or membership in a banned political group. Some are held for months or years without trial.
February 8, 2025 4:03 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has dealt President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk their first big setback in their dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, ordering a temporary halt to plans to pull thousands of agency staffers off the job. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, also agreed to block an order that would have given the thousands of USAID workers the administration wanted to place on abrupt administrative leave just 30 days to move back to the U.S. on government expense. Both moves would have exposed the U.S. workers and their spouses and children to unwarranted risk and expense, the judge said.
February 8, 2025 4:01 am
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Authorities say a small commuter plane that crashed in western Alaska on its way to the hub community of Nome has been located on sea ice and all 10 on board are dead. Mike Salerno is a spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard. He says rescuers were searching the aircraft’s last known location by helicopter when they spotted the wreckage. A Coast Guard photo shows the plane’s splintered body and debris lying on the ice. Two people in brightly colored emergency gear circle the wreckage. The Bering Air single-engine turboprop plane was traveling from Unalakleet on Thursday afternoon with nine passengers and a pilot. It lost contact less than an hour after takeoff.
February 8, 2025 3:58 am
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump says he’s revoking former President Joe Biden’s access to government secrets and ending the daily intelligence briefings he’s receiving in payback for Biden doing the same to him in 2021. Trump made the announcement Friday on social media shortly after arriving at Mar-a-Lago for the weekend. He said “there is no need” for Biden to continue to receive access to classified information and said it would be revoked “immediately.” He ended his post by saying, “I will always protect our National Security — JOE, YOU’RE FIRED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Biden didn’t immediately comment on the move.
February 8, 2025 3:56 am
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is using federal prisons to detain some people arrested in its immigration crackdown. The federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed the move Friday in a statement to The Associated Press. It’s a return to a detention strategy that drew allegations of mistreatment during Trump’s first term. In a statement to AP, the prison agency said it is assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “by housing detainees and will continue to support our law enforcement partners to fulfill the administration’s policy objectives.” The Bureau of Prisons has declined to say how many immigration detainees it is accepting, or which prison facilities are being used.
February 8, 2025 3:35 am
PennDot and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission are urging drivers to exercise extreme caution due to upcoming winter weather. They advise to avoid all unnecessary driving during the storm. Several travel restrictions will be enacted beginning at 3:00 PM Saturday for highways east of Washington County. Additional restrictions will take place at 7:00 PM Saturday for areas in the center of the state. A full list of where the restrictions will take place and updates on current weather conditions can be found at www.511PA.com or on the 511PA smartphone app.
February 8, 2025 3:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is suggesting that Nippon Steel will no longer buy U.S. Steel as planned, but the Japanese company will instead invest in the symbolically important American business. The U.S. president mistakenly referred to Nippon Steel as “Nissan,” the Japanese automaker. But it’s Nippon Steel’s bid that generated controversy as both Trump and his predecessor in the White House, Joe Biden, vowed to block the merger. Trump said at a news conference Friday with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba that Nippon Steel “is going to be doing something very exciting about U.S. Steel.”
February 8, 2025 1:41 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. winter virus season is in full force, and by one measure is the most intense in about 15 years. One indicator of flu activity is the percentage of doctor’s office visits driven by flu-like symptoms. According to data posted Friday, that level last week was higher than the peak of any winter flu season since 2009-2010. So far this season, the CDC estimates, there have been 13,000 flu deaths — including at least 57 children. The flu has forced schools to shut down in some states. One Texas district closed for three days because 650 students and 60 staff were out one day last week. (Photo: AP)
February 7, 2025 5:42 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from placing 2,200 employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development on paid leave. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols sided with two federal employee associations in agreeing to a pause in plans to put the employees on paid leave as of midnight Friday. The workers associations argue that President Donald Trump lacks the authority to shut down an agency enshrined in congressional legislation. “CLOSE IT DOWN,” Trump said Friday on social media. Crews used duct tape to block out the agency’s name on a sign outside its Washington headquarters Friday, and a flag was taken down.
February 7, 2025 4:14 pm
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Searchers in Alaska are flying over stretches of ice-covered seas and scouring miles of frozen tundra for any sign of a plane that went missing just south of the Arctic Circle with 10 people on board. The Bering Air Caravan disappeared Thursday afternoon over the Norton Sound while en route from Unalakleet to Nome with nine passengers and a pilot. Authorities are working to determine the single-engine turboprop’s last known coordinates. Unalakleet is a community of about 690 people in western Alaska.
