Negotiations To End Partial Government Shutdown Remain At A Standstill
Negotiations among Democrats, Republicans and the White House appear to be going nowhere, as the partial government shutdown entered day six on Thursday.. ...Read Full Story
Negotiations among Democrats, Republicans and the White House appear to be going nowhere, as the partial government shutdown entered day six on Thursday.. ...Read Full Story
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President Donald Trump made a surprise visit to American troops in Iraq on Wednesday, his first trip to an active combat zone since he took office. The President was joined by first lady Melania Trump, and spent three hours on the ground with U.S. forces and met with the U.S. ambassador and commanders on the ground. . ...Read Full Story
An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died in government custody early Tuesday. This is the second immigrant child to die in detention this month. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the boy, identified by the Guatemalan consul in Phoenix as Felipe Gomez Alonzo, died shortly after midnight. The boy showed “signs of potential illness” Monday and was taken with his father to a hospital in Alamogordo, New Mexico, CBP said. After he was release, the boy was returned to the hospital Monday evening and died hours later, CBP said. The official cause of death is not known, and in accordance with CBP policy, the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility will conduct a review. . ...Read Full Story
President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Christmas Day, wished U.S. troops stationed around the country and the world a Merry Christmas. President Trump spoke by video conference to members of all five branches of the U.S. military, saying in part: “I know it’s a great sacrifice for you to be away from your families, but I want you to know that every American family is eternally grateful to you, and we’re holding you close in our hearts, thoughts and prayers. We love what you do and love your work. Amazing people.” . ...Read Full Story
The government will be partially shut down through Christmas, as Washington remains divided over budget negotiations and nowhere near a resolution to the shutdown that began early Saturday morning. All sides now anticipate the impasse will continue into the first weeks of January. On Sunday, incoming chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said the shutdown could continue into the next congressional session in January. Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives on January 3rd. . ...Read Full Story
President Trump announced Sunday that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will leave the Trump administration at the beginning of the new year. This is nearly two months earlier than Mattis said he would depart in his resignation letter submitted to the president last week, following Trump’s sudden decision to remove U.S. troops from Syria.. ...Read Full Story
On Thursday, attorneys generals from nine U.S. states sued the Trump administration to stop future seismic tests for oil and gas deposits off the East Coast, joining a lawsuit from environmentalists concerned the tests harm whales and dolphins. The lawsuit names Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the National Marine Fisheries Service as defendants. It also says the prospect of seeing marine mammals is an important draw for tourists to the states and helps coastal economies.. ...Read Full Story
House Speaker Paul Ryan emerged from a last-minute White House meeting Thursday between President Donald Trump and House Republicans, and said that the President told them he will refuse to sign a stopgap funding bill as it’s currently written — a measure that would avert a shutdown before a Friday midnight deadline.. ...Read Full Story
Brian Kolfage, a military veteran, has raised more than $3 million in donations from more than 50,000 people as of Thursday in a crowdsourced campaign for construction of the border wall.. ...Read Full Story
Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a vote on a resolution that would have allowed the Senate to intervene in a federal lawsuit against ObamaCare. The lawsuit by the state of Maryland seeks to preserve the Obamacare law in a case that also challenges Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general.. ...Read Full Story
On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that it has started the process of withdrawing all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria after the White House confirmed President Donald Trump had given the surprise order to leave because ISIS there had been “defeated.”. ...Read Full Story
Authorities say that two Chicago police officers were killed Monday after being struck by a metro train. Officers Conrad Gary and Eduardo Marmolejo were responding to a shots fired call on the city’s South Side when a passing train hit them, Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters. The train had been traveling at 60 mph to 70 mph, he said. A suspect was ultimately taken into custody and a gun was recovered, Johnson said.. ...Read Full Story
Roger Stone, a longtime GOP consultant and former adviser to President Donald Trump, has settled a defamation suit that sought $100 million in damages over false online statements he published on InfoWars.com.. ...Read Full Story
President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order before the end of the year creating a U.S. Space Command as a major military command. U.S. Officials said that Vice President Mike Pence will make the announcement Tuesday at the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Trump could sign the order as soon as Tuesday. This move is separate from Trump’s goal of creating a “Space Force” as an independent armed service branch.. ...Read Full Story
The White House is pushing the federal government closer to the brink of a partial shutdown later this week, digging in on its demand for $5 billion to build a border wall as congressional Democrats continue to stand firm against it.. ...Read Full Story
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President Trump tweeted Sunday morning that he will be reviewing the case of a former U.S. Army Green Beret who has been charged with the murder of a suspected Taliban bomb maker; indicating that the president may be considering granting a pardon.. ...Read Full Story
Kotex tampons are being pulled off the shelves by retailers across the U.S. and Canada after complaints of the product unraveling and pieces being left in the body. Some users even had to seek medical attention to remove the lost tampon pieces.. ...Read Full Story
Apple is expanding its presence in the U.S. as a part of a billion-dollar investment that the company said would generate at least 5,000 new jobs. According to a statement released early Thursday morning, the company plans to build a new $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas, and open new offices in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City, California, to broaden its U.S. footprint,. ...Read Full Story
New York Attorney General-elect Letitia James plans to launch sweeping investigations into President Donald Trump, his family and “anyone” in his circle who may have violated the law once she settles into her new job next month.. ...Read Full Story
A federal judge in Manhattan has sentenced Michael Cohen, the president’s former personal attorney, to three years in prison for crimes including campaign finance violation, tax evasion, and lying to Congress. U.S. Judge William Pauley said “Cohen pled guilt to a veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct” and “lost his moral compass.” He added that “as a lawyer, Mr. Cohen should have known better.”. ...Read Full Story
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According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, tens of thousands of pounds of Jimmy Dean meat products possibly containing pieces of metal have been recalled.. ...Read Full Story
The Supreme Court refused to hear a case that would’ve considered whether states can block Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.. ...Read Full Story
Hundreds of thousands lost power, and at least three people were killed as a winter storm brought freezing rain and as much as 2 feet of snow to parts of the Southeast. In addition, almost 2,000 flights were also canceled by the massive winter blast.. ...Read Full Story
Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly is leaving the White House as President Trump’s chief of staff, the president told reporters on Saturday. Kelly became chief of staff in July 2017 after initially serving as Trump’s Homeland Security Department secretary. . ...Read Full Story
On Sunday, Italian police investigating a deadly disco stampede said they found a pepper spray can, and were questioning dozens of witnesses following accounts by concertgoers that a teenage boy had sprayed an irritating substance, triggering the mad rush by the crowd that caused the stampede.. ...Read Full Story
KISS frontman Paul Stanley will be releasing his autobiography Backstage Pass on April 30, 2019. . ...Read Full Story
According to Japan’s Ministry of Defense and the US Marine Corps., rescuers are searching for crew members aboard two US Marine planes that collided mid-air off the coast of Japan in the early hours of Thursday morning. The KC-130 and F/A-18 collided at 1:42 a.m. local time, according to a Japanese Defense Ministry statement.. ...Read Full Story
On Thursday, six doctors were charged in an unsealed indictment with cheating Medicare and Medicaid out of almost $500 million, in addition to fueling the nation’s opioid epidemic by illegally prescribing more than 13 million doses of prescription pain medication. The money and drugs involved make the alleged health care fraud conspiracy one of the largest in Michigan history, and one of the largest nationwide. . ...Read Full Story
A filing by special counsel Robert Mueller says that President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, provided so much information to the special counsel’s Russia investigation that prosecutors say he shouldn’t do any prison time.. ...Read Full Story
Former President George H.W. Bush, who died Friday at age 94, was honored Wednesday at a state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral. George W. Bush, the 43rd president, gave a tearful eulogy of his father, saying he taught his children about the importance of public service and how to live a life with grace, humility and kindness. “He was a genuinely optimistic man,” Bush said. “And that optimism guided his children, and made each of us believe that anything was possible.” During the final moments of his eulogy, Bush fought back tears, saying “Dad is hugging Robin and holding mom’s hand again.” (referring to George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush’s daughter, who died in 1953 from leukemia at the age of 3.). ...Read Full Story
A glitch by Wells Fargo has led to hundreds of mistaken foreclosures, which means that more than 500 of the bank’s customers lost their homes. The financial institution said that a computer glitch is in part to blame for an error that reportedly led to 545 customers losing their homes. The organization filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, noting that it had incorrectly denied 870 loan modification requests.. ...Read Full Story
The Dow Jones dropped nearly 800 points on Tuesday, nearly a three percent plunge. The S&P 500 declined 2.5%, while the Nasdaq tumbled 3%.. ...Read Full Story
On Monday it was announced that Nexstar Media Group Inc. has agreed to buy Tribune Media Co. in a $4.1-billion deal, creating the nation’s largest owner of local television stations.. ...Read Full Story
The Centers for Disease Control say cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) have peaked for the year; however they still have not determined the cause of the polio-like, paralyzing illness. Cases of AFM continued to pop up nationwide, but the CDC said Monday that they expect the number of new cases to decline for the rest of 2018.. ...Read Full Story
Funeral ceremonies for former President George H.W. Bush are slated to begin Monday in Houston and then continue in Washington, D.C. before returning for a service followed by burial in College Station, according to the official schedule released this weekend.. ...Read Full Story
Afghan officials and Taliban members said on Sunday that a top commander of the Taliban was killed in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand in a joint operation by Afghan and US Special Forces.. ...Read Full Story
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said he was canceling a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled to take place during the upcoming summit for the Group of 20 industrialized nations in Argentina, citing the current Ukraine crisis.. ...Read Full Story
President Trump’s longtime former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to Congress about the Russia investigation. The deal is the second that Cohen has reached with federal prosecutors and represents a potential blow to Trump, who continues to discount both special counsel Robert Mueller and inquiries into his campaign’s potential collusion with Russia. Cohen has provided dozens of hours of interviews to the special counsel’s team, according to multiple sources. . ...Read Full Story
House Democrats selected Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as the nominee for speaker of the House on Wednesday in a closed-door meeting with the caucus. The nomination marks a win for Pelosi in her bid to reclaim the leadership position when Democrats take back control of the House in January 2019. She needed only half of the Democratic Caucus to vote on her behalf in order to secure the nomination.. ...Read Full Story
Efforts by GOP Sen. Jeff Flake and Democratic Sens. Chris Coons and Cory Booker to force a full vote on a bill designed to protect special counsel Robert Mueller was blocked Wednesday.. ...Read Full Story
NASA’s InSight lander launched early this year, and finally arrived at Mars, successfully landing on the planet’s surface. Now the robot has shot back its very first photos of its landing site.. ...Read Full Story
The NATO-led Resolute Support mission said in a statement that three U.S. service members were killed and three wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated on Tuesday near the central Afghan city of Ghazni. A U.S. civilian contractor was also wounded in the blast and was receiving treatment with the other wounded, the statement said, giving no further details. There was no word on the circumstances of the blast.. ...Read Full Story
General Motors announced they will be cutting up to 14,000 workers in North America, and put five plants up for possible closure as it abandons many of its car models to focus more on autonomous and electric vehicles. The reduction includes about 8,000 white-collar employees, or 15 percent of GM’s North American white-collar workforce. Some will take buyouts while others will be laid off.. ...Read Full Story
Cyber Monday was on track to bring in a record $7.8 billion in U.S. online sales. According to Adobe Analytics, sales were expected to pick up steam later in the day as West Coast shoppers go online after work, and those on the U.S. East Coast make purchases before bed.. ...Read Full Story
Weather officials said that many holiday travelers were stuck at airports on the final day of Thanksgiving weekend, this after more than 600 flights were canceled due to an incoming blizzard in parts of the Midwest. According the National Weather Service., blizzard warnings were issued in areas stretching across northeast Kansas to Chicago, with snow already falling in some regions including Kansas, central Missouri, southeast Nebraska and southern Iowa.. ...Read Full Story
Migrants approaching the U.S. border from Mexico were enveloped with tear gas Sunday. this after some of the migrants breached the fence separating the two countries. Earlier Sunday, several hundred Central American migrants pushed past a blockade of Mexican police who were standing guard near the international border crossing to pressure the U.S to hear their asylum claims. A second line of Mexican police carrying plastic riot shields stood guard outside a Mexican customs and immigration plaza. Migrants were asked by police to turn back toward Mexico.. ...Read Full Story
Police say that American Christian missionary John Allen Chau was killed by islanders after paying fishermen to take him to the isolated island of North Sentinel in India. The remote island’s natives are so hostile and isolated, authorities now hesitate to go in and retrieve his body. Police in India said Chau was killed last week on an unauthorized visit to North Sentinel, where people live as their ancestors did thousands of years ago and where outsiders are seen with suspicion and attacked. Police said Chau apparently was shot with arrows and buried on the beach.. ...Read Full Story
President Donald Trump used a Thanksgiving Day call to troops to air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump’s call was made from his private Mar-a-Lago club as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Trump said, “It’s a disgrace” regarding judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law. The President also threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost “control” on its side.. ...Read Full Story
Democrats will investigate Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, in connection with use of private email accounts for official White House business. ...Read Full Story
On Tuesday, health officials in the U.S. and Canada told people to avoid eating romaine lettuce because of a new E. coli outbreak. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was working with officials in Canada on the outbreak, which has sickened 32 people in 11 states in the U.S. and 18 people in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. No deaths have been reported, but 13 of the people who became sick in the U.S. were hospitalized. The last reported illness was on Oct. 31.. ...Read Full Story
A Colorado man was sentenced Monday to life in prison for killing his pregnant wife and their two young daughters and dumping their bodies on an oil work site. Prosecutors have said they agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for Christopher Watts’ guilty plea, after seeking approval from Shanann Watts’ family. Watts had pleaded guilty to three charges of murder in the deaths of his wife, Shanann Watts, and their young daughters. He also pleaded guilty on Nov. 6 to two counts of killing a child, one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.. ...Read Full Story
On Monday, CNN called on a federal court to hold emergency proceedings — this after the White House said it would again revoke press access to correspondent Jim Acosta despite a temporary restraining order on Friday to reinstate him. Acosta’s credentials were revoked after Trump denounced him as a “rude, terrible person” during a Nov. 7 news conference. CNN challenged the move in court and on Friday won a ruling that temporarily reinstated Acosta. In a filing on Monday, CNN and Acosta asked for an expedited hearing next week after top White House communications officials told Acosta in a letter late on Friday that it had already decided to suspend his press once the two-week restraining order expires.. ...Read Full Story
Authorities continued to search through the burnt wreckage of California’s deadliest ever wildfire on Sunday, searching for any signs of the reported 1,276 people listed as missing after the Camp Fire tore through the mountain town of Paradise. As of early Sunday the blaze was 60 percent contained, officials said; up from 55 percent as of Saturday. The death toll far surpasses that of any other single California wildfire, and already ranks among the deadliest U.S. wildfires since the turn of the last century.. ...Read Full Story
Republican Rick Scott, Florida’s outgoing governor, was declared the winner of the state’s U.S. Senate race on Sunday. This comes following a manual recount of ballots in the tight contest against three-term Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson.. ...Read Full Story
Pipe bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc, who is accused of mailing explosive devices to prominent Democrats and critics of President Donald Trump last month, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he used weapons of mass destruction in a domestic terrorism plan. Sayoc, 56, sat silently as his attorney entered the plea to a 30-count criminal indictment in Manhattan federal court. If found guilty of the most serious charges, he could be sentenced to life in prison. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff scheduled a preliminary trial date of July 15.. ...Read Full Story
In a story that grabbed national attention, a New Jersey couple raised more than $400,000 to help a homeless good Samaritan. However, prosecutors said on Thursday that the story was built on deception and all three parties involved were in on the scam. The couple — Mark D’Amico, 39, and Kate McClure, 28, and the homeless man, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., 35, — were charged with second-degree theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft by deception. If found guilty, they could serve up to five to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors allege that in November 2017, D’Amico and McClure concocted a GoFundMe campaign in honor of Bobbitt as a way to deceive donors moved by Bobbitt’s plight, and was allegedly motivated by a get-rich-quick scheme. Scott Coffina, the prosecutor in Burlington County, New Jersey, said at a press conference that “the entire campaign was predicated on a lie.” The couple first ran into Bobbitt at a freeway ramp near a casino in Philadelphia they frequented about a month before McClure supposedly met him. They befriended him with money and coffee, and eventually hatched their plan, Coffina said. However within a few months of the campaign’s creation, all of the money had been spent and when Bobbitt accused D’Amico and McClure of withholding most of the GoFundMe money he was owed, it led authorities to investigate the case, where the original tale then unraveled. D’Amico and McClure surrendered to authorities on Wednesday in Burlington County; police in Philadelphia also arrested Bobbitt on Wednesday in connection with the case. A court date has not been set.. ...Read Full Story
Just one day after the Office of the First Lady released a statement publicly criticizing Deputy National Security Adviser Mira Ricardel, the White House on Wednesday announced that she will be leaving her post. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Wednesday that Ricardel “departs the White House to transition to a new role within the administration.” Sanders did not specify the aide’s new role. On Tuesday, the first lady’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement: “It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House.” . ...Read Full Story