January 4, 2025 4:33 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The truck attack in New Orleans by an Army veteran inspired by the Islamic State group unfolded amid months of warnings by officials about a resurgent terrorism threat. FBI Director Christopher Wray has said he could not think of another time in his career “where so many different kinds of threats are all elevated at once.” But one thing notable about the New Year’s Day attack is that the culprit didn’t coordinate with international operatives, nor is he known to have been part of a broader plot. Instead, he embodied a longstanding concern: the threat from homegrown extremists who radicalize on their own before committing mass violence.
January 4, 2025 4:30 am
The National Weather Service says a major winter storm is forecast to produce heavy snow and significant ice starting in the central U.S. and moving east. Heavy snow with winds that could lead to blizzard conditions is expected in the Central Plains starting Saturday. Hazardous freezing rain is also anticipated starting Saturday in eastern Kansas and the Ozarks extending east to the Ohio Valley and parts of the central Appalachians. The storm will then move into the Ohio Valley on Sunday, where travel disruptions are expected, and to the Mid-Atlantic on Sunday into Monday.
January 4, 2025 4:27 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The judge in President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money case has made a dramatic decision that could nevertheless bring the case to a muted end. In a ruling Friday, Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan scheduled the sentencing for 10 days before Trump’s inauguration. But the judge indicated that he’s leaning toward a sentence that would amount to just closing the case. Will it come to that? Trump wants the conviction thrown out and the case dismissed, and his communications director said Friday the president-elect will “keep fighting.” But it’s tough to predict just what will unfold in the unprecedented and unpredictable case.
January 4, 2025 4:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Mike Johnson has narrowly won reelection to the House speakership on a dramatic first-ballot vote, overcoming hard-right GOP holdouts in a tense standoff. Upon taking the gavel, Johnson vowed to slash the size and scope of the federal government. The uneasy scene brought an ominous start to the first day of the new Congress before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House with unified GOP control of Washington. In the end, however, Johnson was able to flip two holdouts who switched to support him, and Trump called the dissenting Republican lawmakers from the golf course. The final tally was 218-215.
January 4, 2025 3:39 am
The Pennsylvania State Police have released their New Year’s Holiday Crash Report. The time frame for the report is December 31, 2024 through January 2, 2025. State Police investigated 425 crashes. In those crashes there was one death and 68 injuries. Impaired driving was a factor in 31 of the crashes. During that period, 254 people were arrested for driving under the influence. Other citations were issued for 2727 cases of speeding, 383 for failure to wear a seat belt and 50 for not securing children in safety seats.
January 4, 2025 12:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has blocked the nearly $15 billion proposed deal for Nippon Steel of Japan to purchase Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel. This affirms his earlier vow to block the acquisition. In a Friday statement, Biden said, “We need major U.S. companies representing the major share of US steelmaking capacity to keep leading the fight on behalf of America’s national interests.” His decision comes after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States didn’t reach consensus on the possible national security risks of the deal last month. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel blasted the decision, saying Biden cited no credible evidence of a national security problem and suggested they’ll sue.
January 3, 2025 4:26 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — In an extraordinary turn, a judge has set President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case for Jan. 10 — little over a week before he’s due to return to the White House — but indicated he wouldn’t be jailed. Judge Juan M. Merchan issued the ruling Friday. He signaled in a written decision that he’d sentence the former and future president to what’s known as a conditional discharge, in which a case is closed without jail time, a fine or probation. The development nevertheless leaves Trump on course to be the first president to take office convicted of felony crimes.
January 3, 2025 3:09 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Mike Johnson has won re-election to House speakership on first-round voting. He pushed past GOP holdout and got a boost from President-elect Donald Trump. GOP holdouts convened in back of the House chamber during a tense roll call. It brought an ominous start to the new Congress. Johnson’s weak grip on the gavel threatens not only his own survival as speaker but Trump’s ambitious agenda. Tax cuts and mass deportations are all at stake as Republicans sweep to power in Washington. Next steps are uncertain, but the chamber is expected to try again. A flop by Johnson could have thrown Monday’s congressional certification of Trump’s 2024 election victory into turmoil without a House speaker. (Photo: AP)
January 3, 2025 1:11 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Alcohol is a leading cause of cancer, a risk that should be clearly labeled on drinks Americans consume, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy proposed on Friday. Murthy’s advisory comes as research and evidence mounts about the bad effects that alcohol has on human health. Americans should be better informed about the link between alcohol and cancer, in particular, Murthy argues. About 20,000 people die every year from those alcohol-related cancer cases, according to his advisory. Bottles of beer, wine and liquor already carry warning labels about the risk of birth defects when a pregnant woman consumes alcohol. But Murthy’s proposed label would go even further, raising awareness about the risk for cancer, too. (Photo: AP)
January 3, 2025 5:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is releasing new information about a suspect who planted pipe bombs four years ago outside the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees near the Capitol. Investigators believe the suspect is about 5 feet 7 inches tall. The FBI also is posting previously unreleased video of the suspect placing a bomb near the DNC building on Jan. 5, 2021. That was the night before a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. An FBI official says investigators haven’t established a clear link between the pipe bombs and the Jan. 6 riot. But the bureau hopes the new information will generate fresh leads from the public.
