December 14, 2024 4:26 am
A federal appeals court has left in place a mid-January deadline in a federal law requiring TikTok to be sold or face a ban in the United States. Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejecting a request made by the company to halt enforcement until the Supreme Court reviews its challenge of the statute. Attorneys for TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court. It’s unclear if the nation’s highest court will take up the case. But some experts say they expect the justices to weigh in. TikTok is also looking for a potential lifeline from President-elect Donald Trump, who promised to “save” the short-form video platform during the presidential campaign.
December 14, 2024 4:23 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s parliament has voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived martial law declaration this month. The National Assembly passed the motion in a 204-85 vote on Saturday. Yoon’s presidential powers and duties will be suspended after the copies of a document on the impeachment are delivered to him and to the Constitutional Court. The court has up to 180 days to determine whether to dismiss Yoon as president or restore his powers. If he’s thrown out of office, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days.
December 14, 2024 4:18 am
Texas has sued a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a Texas woman via telemedicine. It appears to be the first challenge in the U.S. to a state shield law that’s intended to protect prescribers in Democratic-controlled states from being punished by states with abortion bans. Prescriptions like these, made online and over the phone, are a key reason that the number of abortions has increased across the U.S. even after state bans started taking effect. Most abortions in the U.S. involve pills rather than procedures. Anti-abortion groups are increasingly focusing on the rise of pills.
December 14, 2024 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been hospitalized after she “sustained an injury” during an official engagement in Luxembourg, according to a spokesman. Pelosi is 84. She was in Europe to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Her spokesman, Ian Krager, did not describe the nature of her injury or give any additional details, but a person familiar with the incident said that Pelosi tripped and fell while at an event with the other members of Congress. The person requested anonymity to discuss the fall because they were not authorized to speak about it publicly.
December 14, 2024 3:57 am
A judge who helped orchestrate a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for kickbacks was among the 1,500 people whose sentences were commuted by President Joe Biden this week. Biden’s decision to commute the 17-year prison sentence of Michael Conahan angered many in northeastern Pennsylvania, from the governor to the families whose children were victimized by the disgraced former judge. What became known as the “kids for cash” scandal is considered one of the worst judicial scandals in U.S. history. It led the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to throw out some 4,000 juvenile convictions. Conahan was sentenced in 2011 and had already served much of it.
December 13, 2024 5:50 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is pushing toward a vote on legislation that would provide full Social Security benefits to millions of people. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer began the process on Thursday for a final vote on the bill, known as the Social Security Fairness Act. It would eliminate policies that currently limit Social Security payouts for roughly 2.8 million people. The legislation has passed the House. The bill would add more strain on the Social Security Trust funds, which are already estimated to be unable to pay out full benefits beginning in 2035. The measure would add an estimated $195 billion to federal deficits over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
December 13, 2024 10:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans may have elected Donald Trump to a second term in November, but that doesn’t mean they have high confidence in his ability to choose well-qualified people for his Cabinet or effectively manage government spending, the military and the White House. That’s according to a new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About half of U.S. adults are “not at all confident” in Trump’s ability to appoint well-qualified people for high-level government positions. Only about 3 in 10 are “extremely” or “very” confident that Trump will pick qualified people to serve in his administration.
December 13, 2024 9:47 am
A multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 79 Friday morning injured several people and closed the highway in both directions in Amwell Township for several hours, but both lanes were re-opened just after twelve-thirty. The accident happened just after eight o’clock between the Amity/Lone Pine and Laboratory exits. Authorities say a car traveling south crossed the median and went into the northbound lanes, striking another vehicle head-on. A third vehicle was also involved and one person was ejected. Four individuals were taken to area hospitals but there’s been no word on the extent of those injuries. One person was also reportedly treated at the scene and another refused treatment. (Photo: WPXI)
December 13, 2024 5:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot even though the bureau did prepare for the possibility of violence on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a watchdog report. It also says no undercover FBI employees were present that day and none of the bureau’s informants was authorized to participate. The report Thursday from the Justice Department inspector general’s office knocks down a fringe conspiracy theory advanced by some Republicans in Congress that the FBI played a role in instigating the events of Jan. 6, when rioters determined to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss stormed the building in a violent clash with police.
December 13, 2024 5:05 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia has launched a massive aerial attack against Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia fired 93 missiles and almost 200 drones in Friday’s bombardments. He says it is one of the heaviest bombardments of the country’s energy sector since Russia’s full-scale invasion almost three years ago. He says Ukrainian defenses shot down 81 missiles, including 11 cruise missiles that were intercepted by F-16 warplanes provided by Western allies earlier this year. Zelenskyy renewed his plea for international unity against Russian President Vladimir Putin. But uncertainty surrounds how the war might unfold next year. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end the war and has thrown into doubt whether vital U.S. military support for Kyiv will continue.
