November 20, 2025 5:00 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second time in two days, President Donald Trump said he would like to appoint Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to chair the Federal Reserve. Despite his protestations, Bessent is widely seen as a leading potential replacement for Powell. Trump has been sharply critical of the current Fed chair, Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May, for not cutting interest rates quickly enough. Trump’s pick will almost certainly push for rapid interest rate cuts and likely institute wide-ranging changes in how the Fed operates.
November 20, 2025 4:58 am
The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious. The Associated Press has found that the predictive intelligence program has resulted in people being stopped, searched, and in some cases arrested. A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going, and which route they took. Federal agents in turn may then flag local law enforcement. The Border Patrol’s parent agency said they use license plate readers to help identify threats and disrupt criminal networks and are governed by “federal law and constitutional protections.”
November 20, 2025 4:56 am
More than 30 babies in 15 states, including Pennsylvania, have been sickened in a growing outbreak of infant botulism linked to recalled ByHeart infant formula, federal health officials said Wednesday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 31 cases of confirmed or suspected illness in babies who consumed ByHeart formula since August. The most recent case was reported on Nov. 13. No deaths have been reported in the outbreak, which was announced Nov. 8. “Do not use any ByHeart Whole Nutrition infant formula,” the CDC said. ByHeart, a New York-based manufacturer of organic infant formula, has recalled all its products sold in the U.S. The company, which accounts for about 1% of the U.S. infant formula market, had been selling about 200,000 cans of the product each month. It can take up to 30 days for symptoms of infantile botulism to develop, medical experts said.
November 20, 2025 4:48 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — The City of Washington is anxious for its day in court as they take legal action against a business owner and property owner to clean up a mounting pile of waste along Jefferson Avenue. It’s called ‘Hauling and That’ and its a junk removal business. Mayor JoJo Burgess says the property is not zoned for such a business. Burgess says the business owner, Michael Lynch, moved in over the summer. Burgess said he spoke with Lynch personally then, asking if he’d obtained the proper permits from the city. Months later, that still hasn’t happened. As a result, there are now tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines after the city cited Lynch, as well as the property owner, Talebi Homes. Burgess said Lynch brought in dumpsters and cleared the property in October, but less than a month later, it’s even worse. Burgess says a hearing is scheduled for November 25.
November 20, 2025 1:22 am
Former Washington City Councilman Matt Staniszewski has been sentenced to house arrest for violating his probation for a DUI incident in Bedford County in 2022. According to court records on line, Staniszewski pleaded guilty to a DUI second offense charge in March of 2022 that saw him serve 30 days in jail with a three year probation sentence to follow. In June of 2024, Staniszewski was arrested for his third DUI in Allegheny County. He pleaded guilty to that charge and was sentenced to seven years probation. That guilty plea triggered the probation revocation in Bedford County on November 17 and Staniszewski was sentenced to serve 30 days to 23 1/2 months confinement followed by 12 months probation. He was transferred to Allegheny County where he had a review hearing Wednesday and is now on house arrest. (File Photo)
November 19, 2025 4:27 pm
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Federal agents have now arrested more than 250 people during an immigration crackdown in North Carolina centered around Charlotte, the state’s largest city. Those totals released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are about double the arrest figures announced earlier this week. The operation that began over the weekend is the latest phase of Republican President Donald Trump’s aggressive mass deportation efforts. Military and immigration agents have converged on Democratic-run cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles. The push to carry out arrests in North Carolina expanded to areas around the state capital of Raleigh in just the last day.
November 19, 2025 4:25 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Labor Department said Wednesday that it will not be releasing a full jobs report for October because the 43-day federal government shutdown meant it couldn’t calculate the unemployment rate and some other key numbers. Instead, it will release some of the October jobs data — most importantly the number of jobs that employers created last month — along with the full November jobs report, now due a couple of weeks late on Dec. 16. The department’s “employment situation″ report usually comes out the first Friday of the month. But the government shutdown disrupted data collection and delayed the release of the reports. For example, the September jobs report, now coming out Thursday, was originally due Oct. 3.
November 19, 2025 4:24 pm
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey has hit another hurdle. The Justice Department acknowledged in court Wednesday a possible lapse in how the case was presented to a grand jury. The revelation that the full grand jury didn’t review a copy of the final indictment came during a hearing where Comey’s lawyers asked a judge to throw out the case on grounds the government is being vindictive. Comey has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of making a false statement and obstructing Congress. President Donald Trump’s Justice Department says Comey was indicted because he broke the law, not because Trump ordered it.
November 19, 2025 7:25 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Target’s third-quarter profit tumbled as the retailer struggles to lure shoppers that are being pressed by stubbornly high inflation. The Minneapolis company said Wednesday that it expects its sales slump to extend through the critical holiday shopping season. Investors have punished Target’s stock recently, sending it down 43% over the past year. Shares slipped in premarket trading.
November 19, 2025 5:58 am
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Federal agents have expanded their North Carolina immigration crackdown to the area around the state capital of Raleigh. The crackdown spread fear in at least one immigrant-heavy suburb where restaurants closed and many people stayed home. The North Carolina operation began over the weekend in the state’s largest city, Charlotte, where officials said more than 130 people have been arrested. Mayor Janet Cowell said she did not know how large the operation would be or how long agents would be present. Immigration authorities have not spoken about it.
