November 21, 2025 4:54 pm
President Donald Trump and New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani met at the White House and focused more on their shared goals rather than their combustible differences. The president has previously said Mamdani is a “100% Communist Lunatic” and a “total nut job.” Mamdani has called Trump’s administration “authoritarian” and described himself as “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.” At their first-ever meeting they discussed housing affordability and the cost of groceries and utilities, as Mamdani successfully used frustration over inflation to get elected, just as the president did in the 2024 election.
November 21, 2025 2:57 pm
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — An American proposal to end the war in Ukraine puts the country in a delicate diplomatic position — caught between placating its most important ally, the United States, and not capitulating to Russia, its much larger neighbor that launched a full-scale invasion nearly four years ago. The 28-point peace plan was crafted by the U.S. and the Kremlin, without Ukrainian involvement. It acquiesces to many Russian demands that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory.
November 21, 2025 2:57 am
Washington County Commissioners voted 2-1 to authorize the release of a letter of intent to the State Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs of their desire to assume the responsibilities of drug and alcohol programs under the County’s department of Human Services. The measure calls into question the continued existence of the Washington Drug and Alcohol Commission (WDAC). During public comment at the meeting, Cheryl Andrews, Executive Director of the WDAC, said the county relinquished responsibility of the programs more than 20 years ago. She felt that the transition would be detrimental to recovery efforts of addicts. Several people in public comment characterized the measure as a money and power grab. Heaven Sensky-Kirsch from the Center for Coalfield Justice is one of those people. She also said that the county being closely affiliated with law enforcement may deter people from seeking recovery. Commissioner Larry Maggi dissented saying that the WDAC has done a great job all these years. He is concerned that the move is an expansion of government and the county should let the experts continue to do their job and keep government out of it.
November 21, 2025 4:59 am
A Monessen couple is facing charges after a two-year old overdosed from cocaine and fentanyl. The Westmoreland County District Attorney and Monessen police were called to a home back on October 4 after reports of a child overdosing. According to The Trib, Sable Ford, 36, and Travis Holmes told police the child found a baggie in the front yard and put it in its mouth. The child was then taken to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for treatment and tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl. According to the report, police found white residue in the home that was identified as cocaine. They also found drug paraphernalia. Ford and Holmes are both charged with endangering the welfare of children, criminal conspiracy, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance. Both were reportedly being held in the Westmoreland County Jail on $50-thousand bond.
November 21, 2025 4:46 am
The Trump administration has threatened to withhold nearly $75 million in funding if Pennsylvania does not immediately revoke what the administration claims are illegally issued commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants. The move on Thursday by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to target Pennsylvania follows similar action against California. Duffy has made it a priority to scrutinize how the licenses are issued since August, when a tractor-trailer driver not authorized to be in the U.S. made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people. That incident thrust the issue into the public’s consciousness.
November 21, 2025 5:03 am
President Donald Trump is accusing half a dozen Democratic lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” after the lawmakers called on U.S. military members to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders.” The 90-second video was first posted early Tuesday from Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s X account. It features six lawmakers, all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community. In the video, they speak directly to U.S. service members, whom Slotkin acknowledges are “under enormous stress and pressure right now.” Trump on Thursday reposted messages from others about the video, amplifying it with his own words. Democrats accused him of acting like a king and trying to distract from the soon-to-be-released files about disgraced financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
November 21, 2025 5:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump-appointed prosecutor overseeing the James Comey case is insisting in a new court filing that the full grand jury approved the final indictment against the former FBI director. She is reversing course from statements a day earlier that defense lawyers had seized on to ask for a dismissal. The latest statements from Lindsey Halligan, the hastily named interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, represent an attempt to backtrack on earlier comments the prosecution team made under persistent questioning from a judge about the seemingly jumbled process leading to the return of the two-count indictment.
November 21, 2025 5:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is examining the handling of the mortgage fraud investigation into Sen. Adam Schiff. That’s according to a document reviewed by The Associated Press. Authorities are scrutinizing the potential involvement of people who claimed to be acting at the behest or direction of two Trump administration officials who’ve pushed the probe of the California Democrat. Officials involved in the Schiff investigation in Maryland have interviewed a Republican congressional candidate who has promoted the mortgage fraud allegations against Schiff. The development is likely to bring fresh scrutiny to the already criticized efforts by the two administration officials, Bill Pulte and Ed Martin, to investigate Trump political foes for mortgage fraud.
November 21, 2025 5:07 am
The Federal Aviation Administration says only 776 of the nearly 20,000 air traffic controllers and technicians who had to work without pay during the shutdown will receive bonuses. The announcement Thursday means thousands without perfect attendance during the shutdown won’t receive the $10,000 bonuses that President Donald Trump suggested. Many controllers called out of work as they dealt with the financial pressure of not getting a paycheck. Some got side jobs, but others simply couldn’t afford the child care or gas they needed to work. Their absences forced delays at airports across the country and led to the government to cut some of their flights at 40 busy airports.
November 21, 2025 5:08 am
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Law enforcement leaders in Charlotte, North Carolina, say a federal immigration crackdown centered around the city appears to be tapering off Thursday. But a Homeland Security official insists the operation will continue. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin says the operation is not over and not ending anytime soon. That comes after both the local sheriff and police department said earlier in the day that the crackdown appeared to be over less than a week after it began. Homeland Security officials say about 370 people have been arrested over the past five days since the North Carolina enforcement began.
