November 22, 2024 5:12 am
MARTIN, Tenn. (AP) — Losing a Cabinet nominee to the confirmation process isn’t unheard of for incoming presidents — including for Donald Trump when he was elected the first time. Matt Gaetz’s decision to pull his name Thursday from consideration for attorney general — amid continued fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation — represents the first indication of resistance that the president-elect could face from his own party to picks facing allegations of sexual misconduct or other questions. Other Trump picks have drawn negative attention as well, including Pete Hegseth for defense secretary and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence.
November 22, 2024 5:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has named Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, to be U.S. attorney general just hours after his other choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name. Bondi is a longtime Trump ally and was one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial. She’s been a vocal critic of the criminal cases against Trump. She has also been a chair at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank set up by former Trump administration staffers. Gaetz stepped aside amid continued fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed as the nation’s chief federal law enforcement officer.
November 22, 2024 5:03 am
ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – Students in the Chartiers Valley School District will learn remotely on Friday as police investigate a “concerning note.” The district announced the schedule change late Thursday night. A social media post from the district says there will be no after-school activities and no transportation will be available for any schools, including private or parochial schools. “Safety is our top priority, and we investigate all threats,” the post reads. The district says it will provide more details when they are available.
November 22, 2024 4:59 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Outside of the rain, a few fallen branches, and debris on the ground the average person may not realize that a tornado went through the Highland Park neighborhood, but experts told Channel 11 News that an EF0-tornado went through multiple city neighborhoods on Wednesday evening. “We [confirmed]circulation, and we may have a tornado debris signature, so we will need to look more into that and see if there is any damage on the surface that is correlated to that,” said Colton Milcarek, a meteorologist with National Weather Service. They say radar showed that winds had created a circular motion and picked up speeds between 60 to 80 mph. ccording to experts, an EF-0 tornado traveled through the Lincoln-Lemington and into Highland Park, a rare occurrence but not an impossible one. According to WPXI’s Chief Meteorologist Stephen Cropper, this is the 19th tornado to hit the Pittsburgh area this year; the National Weather Service said it’s the 30th for our larger region breaking a record for the most in a single season.
November 22, 2024 4:55 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania is conceding his reelection bid to Republican David McCormick. The concession came Thursday, more than two weeks after Election Day. A statewide recount is showing no signs of closing the gap and Casey’s campaign has suffered repeated blows in court. The ballot-counting process became a spectacle of hours-long election board meetings, lawsuits and accusations that some county officials were flouting the law. The Associated Press called the race for McCormick on Nov. 7, concluding that not enough ballots remained to be counted in areas Casey was winning for him to take the lead. As of Thursday, McCormick led by about 16,000 votes.
November 21, 2024 4:16 pm
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has ordered United States and Commonwealth flags on all state facilities, public buildings and grounds in Allegheny County to fly at half-staff immediately, in honor of Battalion Chief John P. Walsh, who died while in the line of duty on Wednesday. Authorities say Walsh died after he suffered a medical emergency at the scene of a house fire in Pittsburgh’s East Hills on Wednesday night. Emergency crews were called to the 700 block of Wilkinsburg Avenue around 9 p.m., Allegheny County 911 said. The 60-year-old was taken to a local hospital from the scene where he died. (Photo: WPXI)
November 21, 2024 12:52 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Matt Gaetz has withdrawn as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general following scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation. The Florida Republican made the announcement Thursday. Gaetz’s withdrawal is a blow to Trump’s push to install steadfast loyalists in his incoming administration and the first sign that Trump could face resistance from members of his own party. Trump said in a social media post that Gaetz “did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect.”
November 21, 2024 5:03 am
U.S. regulators want a federal judge to break up Google to prevent the company from continuing to squash competition through its dominant search engine after a court found it had maintained an abusive monopoly over the past decade. The proposed breakup floated in a 23-page document filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Justice Department calls for Google to sell its industry-leading Chrome web browser and impose restrictions designed to prevent Android from favoring its search engine. Regulators also want to ban Google from forging multibillion-dollar deals to lock in its dominant search engine as the default option on Apple’s iPhone and other devices.
November 21, 2024 5:02 am
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Pete Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave. That’s according to a detailed investigative report made public late Wednesday. Hegseth, a Fox News personality and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary, told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report said. The police report offers the first detailed account of what the woman alleged to have transpired — one that is at odds with Hegseth’s version of events.
November 21, 2024 5:00 am
GRINDAVIK, Iceland (AP) — A volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland is spewing lava from a fissure in its seventh eruption since December. Iceland’s seismic monitors said the eruption started with little warning late Wednesday and created a long fissure but looked to be smaller than eruptions in August and May. Around 50 houses were evacuated after the Civil Protection agency issued the alert, along with guests at the famous Blue Lagoon resort, according to the national broadcaster. The repeated eruptions over the past year have caused damage to the town of Grindavík and forced people to relocate.
