January 21, 2025 6:12 pm
(AP) – The residents who question whether Norfolk Southern’s $600 million settlement offers enough compensation for the East Palestine train crash don’t plan to let a judge’s order requiring an $850,000 bond derail their appeal. Instead, they’ve asked an appeals court to reject the judge’s requirement that they put up that huge sum. The class-action attorneys who negotiated the deal say the appeal will add administrative costs for the firm distributing settlement money to those who lived or worked in the area of the February 2023 derailment. Nearly $300 million of the settlement has been on hold because of the appeal though a judge approved the deal in September.
January 21, 2025 6:08 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s three statewide row officers have been sworn in to four-year terms, marking the first time that all three offices were filled by Republicans at the same time who were elected. Treasurer Stacy Garrity and Auditor General Tim DeFoor were sworn in to a second four-year term on Tuesday. Attorney General-elect Dave Sunday was sworn in to his first four-year term. They took their oaths in ceremonies in the Forum Auditorium, across the street from the state Capitol. The offices are often viewed as springboards to running for higher office. The row officers each have built-in watchdog duties that could affect how Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro governs.
January 21, 2025 5:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump’s action Monday paves the way for the release from prison of people found guilty of violent attacks on police, as well as leaders of far-right extremist groups convicted of failed plots to keep the Republican in power after he lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden. The pardons are a culmination of Trump’s yearslong campaign to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack that left more than 100 police officers injured.
January 21, 2025 3:51 pm
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order Monday to keep TikTok operating for 75 days, a relief to the social media platform’s users even as national security questions persist. TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance was supposed to find a U.S. buyer or be banned on Jan. 19. Trump’s order could now give ByteDance more time to find a buyer. Former President Joe Biden declined to enforce the bipartisan measure that he signed into law, while Trump has pledged to keep TikTok open after crediting it for helping his 2025 election victory. Trump’s legal authority to preserve TikTok is unclear under the terms of the law recently upheld unanimously by the U.S. Supreme Court. (Photo: AP)
January 21, 2025 5:00 am
A search for a man involved in a one-vehicle crash early Tuesday morning has been called off. Washington County 9-1-1 dispatchers say a woman called and reported that she was talking to her boyfriend when he was involved in a crash. Dispatchers say the unidentified man was traveling from Bridgeville and they were able to locate a pickup truck on its side in the 3000 block of Reissing Road in Cecil Township around 2:30 a.m. The man had fled on foot when first responders arrived and dispatchers say he continued to run from them as they searched for him. The search was called off just after 4 a.m. No other information is available at this time
January 20, 2025 4:53 am
SCENERY HILL, Pa. — State Police are asking for the public’s help to find a missing and endangered woman with dementia from Washington County. Ellen Donahoo, 76, from Scenery Hill, left her house in a 2020 Lincoln Continental MKZ and has not been located or contacted by friends or family. Donahoo is described as being 5 feet, 5 inches tall and 130 pounds. She has blonde or strawberry hair and hazel eyes. Anyone with information is asked to contact state police.
January 21, 2025 5:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state, giving President Donald Trump the first member of his Cabinet. The vote was unanimous. Senators went back to work Monday night in the Capitol after Trump’s inauguration. Rubio is among the least controversial of Trump’s nominees. Another pick, John Ratcliffe for CIA director, is also expected to have a swift vote, as soon as Tuesday. Action on other Trump Cabinet picks, including former combat veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, is expected later in the week. It’s typical for the Senate to confirm some of a new president’s top Cabinet positions on Inauguration Day.
January 21, 2025 5:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed a bill that would require federal authorities to detain migrants accused of theft and violent crimes. It’s the first measure that President Donald Trump likely will sign into law and gives more weight to his plans to deport millions of migrants. Trump has made a broad crackdown on illegal immigration his top priority. The Laken Riley Act is named after a Georgia nursing student whose murder by a Venezuelan man last year became a rallying cry for Trump’s White House campaign. The bill now heads back to the Republican-controlled House, which passed its version earlier this month and will need to approve changes made in the Senate.
January 20, 2025 5:09 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A second day of windy and dry conditions is forecast for Southern California. Ferocious winds are expected to continue through Tuesday morning, raising the risk of new wildfires sparking. Forecasters say gusts could peak at 70 mph along the coast and 100 mph in the mountains and foothills during extreme fire weather that is expected to last through Tuesday. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says the city is prepared for any possible new fires and warned that strong winds could disperse ash from existing fire zones across Southern California.
January 21, 2025 1:45 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Garth Hudson, the Band’s virtuoso keyboardist and all-around musician who drew from a unique palette of sounds and styles to add a conversational touch to such rock standards as “Up on Cripple Creek,” “The Weight” and “Rag Mama Rag,” has died at age 87. Hudson was the eldest and last surviving member of the influential group that once backed Bob Dylan. His death was confirmed Tuesday by The Canadian Press, which cited Hudson’s friend, Jan Haust. Additional details were not immediately available. Hudson had been living in a nursing home in upstate New York. No matter the song, Hudson summoned just the right feeling or shading, whether the tipsy clavinet and wah-wah pedal on “Up on Cripple Creek,” the galloping piano on “Rag Mama Rag” or the melancholy saxophone on “It Makes No Difference.” The only non-singer among five musicians – Hudson mostly loomed in the background, but he did have one showcase: “Chest Fever,” a Robbie Robertson composition for which he devised an introductory organ solo (“The Genetic Method”), an eclectic sampling of moods and melodies that segued into the song’s hard rock riff. (Photo: AP)
