December 18, 2025 5:03 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he is sending a $1,776 bonus check to U.S. troops for Christmas. It was a highlight of an unusually partisan address carried live on network television on Wednesday. Trump said his tariffs were funding the payments as he tried to reassure a worried public about the health of the economy. Trump says 1.45 million military service members will get what he called a “warrior dividend” before the holiday. “The checks are already on the way,” he said. His bonus payments for the troops come as millions of Americans are fretting about the costs of groceries, housing, utilities and their holiday gifts as inflation remains elevated and the labor market has weakened in recent months.
December 18, 2025 5:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that could reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. This move could ease regulations and expand medical research by shifting marijuana from a Schedule I drug, like heroin, to a Schedule III substance, similar to ketamine. This change won’t legalize recreational use nationwide but may alter regulation and taxation. Former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department had also proposed reclassifying marijuana, but Trump’s order on Thursday could speed up the process,. Some Republicans oppose the change, arguing marijuana remains dangerous. Trump has focused on combating other drugs, like fentanyl, during his second term. (Photo: AP)
December 17, 2025 5:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four centrist Republicans have broken with their party’s leadership over health care. They’ve signed onto a Democratic-led petition that will force a House vote on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowers health insurance costs for millions of Americans. The stunning move Wednesday comes the same day House Republican leaders pushed to passage a health care bill that doesn’t address the soaring monthly premiums coming for those with insurance through the Affordable Care Act. A House vote on the subsidies could come as soon as early January. Even if it passed, it would face an arduous climb in the Republican-led Senate.
December 18, 2025 5:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino says he’ll resign from the bureau next month, ending a brief tenure in which he clashed with the Justice Department over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and was forced to reconcile the realities of his law enforcement job with provocative claims he made in his prior role as a popular podcast host. The departure, which had been expected, would be among the highest-profile resignations of the Trump administration. It comes as FBI leadership has been buffeted by criticism over Director Kash Patel’s use of a government plane for personal purposes and social media posts about active investigations.
December 18, 2025 2:25 am
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The proposed $85 billion merger of the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads has lost the support of two unions that represent more than half their workers. The unions representing engineers and maintenance workers worry the deal will jeopardize safety and jobs, and lead to higher shipping rates and consumer prices. They are now among the most prominent critics of this deal. But the deal does have the support of the nation’s largest rail union that represents conductors and hundreds of individual shippers. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board will weigh the opinions of all stakeholders to determine if the merger is in the public interest.
December 17, 2025 4:52 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four centrist Republicans have broken with their party’s leadership over health care. They’ve signed onto a Democratic-led petition that will force a House vote on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowers health insurance costs for millions of Americans. The stunning move Wednesday comes after House Republican leaders pushed ahead with a health bill that doesn’t address the soaring monthly premiums coming for those with insurance through the Affordable Care Act. A House vote on the subsidies could come as soon as January. Even if it passed, it would face an arduous climb in the Republican-led Senate.
December 17, 2025 5:42 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith has told lawmakers in a closed-door interview his team “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” President Donald Trump criminally conspired to overturn his 2020 election loss. That’s according to portions of Smith’s opening statement obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday. Smith says investigators had “powerful evidence” Trump broke the law by hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate from his first term as president and by obstructing government efforts to recover the records. Smith says decisions in the investigations were made without regard to consideration of Trump’s Republican candidacy in 2024. Trump has said he’d rather see Smith testify publicly. (Photo: AP)
December 17, 2025 4:54 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States gained a decent 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October as federal workers departed after cutbacks by the Trump administration, the government said in delayed reports. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, highest since 2021. Both the October and November job creation numbers, released Tuesday by the Labor Department, came in late because of the 43-day federal government shutdown. Hiring has clearly lost momentum, hobbled by uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of the high interest rates the Federal Reserve engineered in 2022 and 2023 to rein in an outburst of inflation.
December 17, 2025 4:49 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nick Reiner, son of Rob Reiner, appeared in court as he faces charges of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents. The 32-year-old did not enter a plea as he appeared Wednesday from behind the glass wall of a custody area. He was in shackles and wearing a jail suicide prevention smock. The 78-year-old actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead from stab wounds in their Los Angeles home Sunday. The couple’s other two children, Jake and Romy Reiner, released a statement saying they are feeling unimaginable pain at the loss of parents who were also their best friends.
December 17, 2025 2:20 am
South Strabane Township wrapped up 2025 with a packed agenda and a meeting that lasted two and a half hours. Supervisors approved the hiring of Peter Stefansky as the township’s new township manager. Stefansky says he has worked in several capacities in municipal government over the years and is looking forward to working in South Strabane Township. Stefansky, who begins work on January 5th, served as the Main Street Manager in the city of Washington. Supervisors also held two public hearings on projects concerning power. In the first hearing supervisors were considering a draft ordinance for solar energy systems. Linda Rumbaugh voiced her concerns about property setbacks and how chemicals used in solar farms can be harmful. She also was concerned about other environmental issues such as noise. In a second public hearing supervisors were considering a draft ordinance governing battery storage systems. Jorgan and Jocelyn Liberatore raised similar concerns about setbacks and questioned whether the light industrial zone is appropriate for such a project. They live near the light industrial zone and feel the industrial zone is better suited for the use. They also are concerned about fire safety in case any of the lithium ion batteries were to catch fire. Both meetings were continued to an undetermined date so supervisors may review and possibly incorporate some of the issues raised at the meeting. Despite announcements regarding a data center ordinance not being on the agenda, approximately a dozen residents spoke for 50 minutes about that ordinance. A public hearing about data centers could be held in January.
