News Daypop Archives

Washington became the first in the country to sign a bill specifically opposing the Federal Communications Commission’s rollback of net neutrality regulations. Net neutrality requires providers to treat all content in a similar fashion, without slowing down or speeding up users’ service. Washington’s bill prohibits companies that offer internet services from blocking legal content, applications, services or non-harmful devices. It also prevents providers from impairing internet traffic based on the content users are viewing. “Today we make history: Washington will be the first state in the nation to preserve the open internet,” Gov. Jay Inslee said. “We’ve seen the power of an open internet. It allows a student in Washington to connect with researchers all around the world — or a small business to compete in the global marketplace.” The law was approved by the state Legislature last month and will take effect on June 6.. ...Read Full Story

The White House said on Tuesday that top White House economic adviser Gary Cohn, a Wall Street banker who became a key architect of the 2017 tax overhaul within the Trump administration, is resigning. “It has been an honor to serve my country and enact pro-growth economic policies to benefit the American people, in particular the passage of historic tax reform. I am grateful to the President for giving me this opportunity and wish him and the Administration great success in the future,” Cohn said in a statement issued by the White House. Cohn’s resignation came after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Trump’s pledge to impose tariffs prompted speculation Cohn might leave the White House because of his opposition to the policy. Cohn was the former president and chief operating officer of investment bank Goldman Sachs, and was hired by Mr. Trump after the 2016 presidential election.. ...Read Full Story

Republican U.S. Senator Thad Cochran, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said on Monday he will resign on April 1st. The 80-year-old Cochran stayed home for a month last fall with urinary tract infections, returning to Washington in October to give Republicans the majority they needed to pass a budget plan. Cochran said in a statement, “I regret my health has become an ongoing challenge. I intend to fulfill my responsibilities and commitments to the people of Mississippi and the Senate through the completion of the 2018 appropriations cycle, after which I will formally retire from the U.S. Senate.”  Cochran was first elected to the Senate in 1978 after serving six years in the House.  Republican Gov. Phil Bryant will appoint a temporary replacement, and a special election will be held to fill the rest of the term through January 2021.. ...Read Full Story

Sam Nunberg, a former aide to Donald Trump, has been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller to appear before a grand jury, but he says he’s not planning to testify.  The subpoena also asks that Nunberg hand over communications between him and a number of members of the Trump campaign, including the president himself. Nunberg told The Washington Post he won’t provide that information either.  Mr. Nunberg worked for Mr. Trump from 2011 to 2015; however he was fired from the Trump campaign after Business Insider published a story about racially charged Facebook posts he had made.. ...Read Full Story

The man who fatally shot himself in front of the White House has been identified as a 26-year-old from Maylene, Alabama. Officials say Cameron Ross Burgess removed a concealed handgun and began firing rounds in the vicinity of the North White House fence line just after 11:45 a.m. Saturday. Police do not believe any of those shots were being directed at the White House. President Donald Trump was in Florida during the shooting, but returned to Washington later in the day. No one else was injured.  After the incident the Secret Service released this statement, “The subject approached the vicinity of the North White House fence line and removed a concealed handgun and fired several rounds, none of which appear at this time to have been directed towards the White House.” The public was immediately alerted after the shots were fired and the White House was locked down.  . ...Read Full Story

The Florida Senate rejected a proposal to ban assault weapons, and voted for a measure to arm some teachers.  This comes after 17 people were killed in the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. An amendment that would have banned assault weapons attached to a wider bill failed on Saturday in a largely party-line vote, in response to the Feb. 14 killing of 14 students and three faculty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Parkland. The vote was 20-17 against the assault weapon ban, with two Republicans joining all of the senate’s 15 Democrats in support of the proposal.  . ...Read Full Story

President Vladimir Putin announced an array of new nuclear weapons on Thursday, in one of his most bellicose speeches in years, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a U.S.-built missile shield.   Putin said a nuclear attack on any of Moscow’s allies would be regarded as an attack on Russia itself and draw an immediate response. But in Washington, officials cast doubt on whether Russia has added any new capabilities to its nuclear arsenal beyond those already known to the U.S. military and intelligence agencies. The Trump administration also accused Moscow of violating a Cold War-era treaty which banned nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of 300-3,400 miles. “President Putin has confirmed what the United States government has known all along, which Russia has denied: Russia has been developing destabilizing weapons systems for over a decade in direct violations of its treaty obligations,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.. ...Read Full Story

Stocks fell on Thursday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. will implement tariffs on steel and aluminum imports next week. The Dow Jones industrial average traded 358 points lower after rising more than 150 points earlier in the day. The 30-stock index fell as much as 586 points.  The U.S. will set tariffs of 25 percent for steel and 10 percent for aluminum, President Trump said. It is unclear whether they will apply to all imports or only metals from certain countries. . ...Read Full Story

Jeff Sessions fired back Wednesday at criticism from President Donald Trump, saying in a statement that “as long as I am the Attorney General, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor.” Mr. Sessions’s statement came hours after Mr. Trump criticized the Attorney General’s decision to refer a probe of the Justice Department’s handling of secret surveillance warrants to the agency’s inspector general rather than another office.  The President’s tweet followed a disclosure by Mr. Sessions on Tuesday that the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, would investigate how the FBI and federal prosecutors obtained warrants from the nation’s secret spy court to spy on a former Trump campaign foreign-policy adviser who had previously been targeted by Russian intelligence for recruitment.. ...Read Full Story

Effective immediately, retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods said it will no longer sell “assault-style rifles,” nor sell any firearm to anyone under 21 years of age, and is banning the sale of high capacity magazines. The company also emphasized it has never and will never sell bump stocks and other devices that makes a semi-automatic weapon shoot more quickly.  According to Chairman and CEO Edward Stack, the shooter in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, bought a gun from the company in 2017. While the gun wasn’t used in the school shooting, the company feels it’s necessary to scale back the type of firearms it sells. “We did everything that the law required and still he was able to buy a gun,” Stack said of the shooter. “When we looked at that, we said, ‘The systems that are in place across the board just aren’t effective enough to keep us from selling someone a gun like that.’” . ...Read Full Story

Sen. Bob Corker, one of the most outspoken Republican critics of President Trump, has decided not to run for re-election, ending weeks of uncertainty about his future. The Tennessee U.S. senator has spent much of this month rethinking his decision to forgo a third term and saying little in public about his status. On Tuesday, his chief of staff Todd Womack issued a written statement cementing his plans. After Corker initially said he was stepping down, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., entered the contest. Democrats, meanwhile, are pinning their hopes on former Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has the inside track for his party’s nomination. . ...Read Full Story

Public schools in West Virginia remained closed Tuesday as thousands of schoolteachers continued their demands for better wages. Teachers on strike have demanded a face-to-face meeting with Gov. Jim Justice and leaders from the state legislature to address their complaints, a union official said Monday. Schoolteachers announced they would continue to strike until they are granted a meeting with the state’s leaders, said Christine Campbell, president of the American Federation of Teacher’s West Virginia chapter.  The average pay for West Virginia teachers ranks among the lowest in the nation. Last week the state’s Republican governor signed a bill into law that would raise pay for teachers and state employees. Teachers would see a pay increase of $808 next year and $404 the following two year; however teachers said the increases are not enough, especially as health care costs rise. Missed class time as a result of the strike will be automatically added to the end of the school year.. ...Read Full Story

Florida Governor Rick Scott called on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Sunday to investigate law enforcement response to the deadly school shooting in South Florida last week.  The call for an investigation comes after a state representative asked the governor to remove Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel from his post for his deputies’ “incomprehensible inaction” during the shooting.  Much debate has surfaced over the response of Broward deputies after Israel announced Thursday afternoon the resignation of Scot Peterson, the school resource officer on duty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School at the time of the shooting. Israel said Peterson, who was armed, never went into building where the shooter was firing at students and instead took a position outside and did “nothing.” Peterson was suspended without pay pending the investigation but chose to resign completely, Israel said. The sheriff said his department is also looking into reports that at least three other Broward Sheriff’s deputies didn’t enter the school building during shooting.. ...Read Full Story

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from the Trump administration to decide the legality of the president’s plans to end the DACA program affecting young illegal immigrants. In an unsigned comment released Monday, the Supreme Court denied the unusual request to take up the issue, saying the appeal should move through the normal appellate process. The move kicks the case back to the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. In recent months, lower court judges have moved to stop the administration from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects about 800,000 young immigrants brought to country illegally as children from deportation.. ...Read Full Story

Former First Lady Michelle Obama announced that her upcoming memoir will be published on November 13, 2018. The book, titled Becoming, will start with Obama’s story from childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her career and role in the White House. In a tweet on Sunday, Mrs. Obama said, “I talk about my roots and how a girl from the South Side found her voice; I hope my journey inspires readers to find the courage to become whoever they aspire to be.” The book will be released simultaneously in 24 languages worldwide, according to a statement from its book’s publisher, Penguin Random House. Obama is scheduled to embark on a U.S. and international book tour, with dates to be announced at a later date. You can sign up for information about the tour dates on: www.becomingmichelleobama.com. ...Read Full Story

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck in the middle of Papua New Guinea on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake struck about 55 miles southwest of Porgera in the Pacific island nation at a depth of about 23 miles, according to the agency. No tsunami watches or warnings were issued from the quake, and there were no immediate reports of injuries.  The Geological Survey website had 19 reports of feeling the quake, including some saying the shaking was violent.  . ...Read Full Story

Special counsel Robert Mueller filed a new indictment on Thursday against former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort and former campaign aide Robert Gates, charging them with new tax and bank fraud crimes and hiking the amount of money they allegedly laundered to more than $30 million. The 32-count indictment was filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia. Manafort and Gates are both accused of tax evasion and not reporting money in foreign accounts, and they are also accused of defrauding banks on paperwork for real-estate loans. While Manafort was originally indicted on charges he laundered $18 million through offshore bank accounts, the new indictment pushes that sum to $30 million. Gates remains accused of laundering $3 million. The charges against Manafort and Gates are related to money from their lobbying work for pro-Russian political figures in Ukraine.. ...Read Full Story

According to one of the survivors of the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High, CNN nixed his proposed town hall questions and tried to get him to ask a scripted question instead. Colton Haab, a Junior ROTC student at the school who helped fellow classmates get to safety as the shooting began, says “CNN had originally asked me to write a speech and questions and it ended up being all scripted. I don’t think that it’s going get anything accomplished. It’s not gonna ask the true questions that all the parents and teachers and students have.” On Thursday morning, CNN denied providing a scripted question to Haab. The network stated it never scripts its town halls and that the teenager’s father instead pulled him from the production.  “We asked him to expand on his original question but the town hall wasn’t the place for a speech at which point his father declined for him to participate,” a source from CNN said. While CNN pushed back on Haab’s claim, they offered him the chance to appear on the network Thursday to discuss his views.. ...Read Full Story

New sealed criminal charges have been filed in federal court in the criminal case brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller against President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and campaign aide Rick Gates, a court record indicated on Wednesday.  The single-page document did not reveal the nature of the new charges. Manafort, who was Trump’s campaign manager for almost five months in 2016, and Gates, who was deputy campaign manager, were indicted by Mueller’s office in October. They face charges including conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to defraud the United States and failure to file as foreign agents for lobbying work they did on behalf of the pro-Russian Ukrainian Party of Regions. Both have pleaded not guilty.  . ...Read Full Story

Reverend Billy Graham, the North Carolina pastor who took his evangelizing crusades around the country and the globe, died on Wednesday morning. He was 99. Graham achieved prominence as an evangelist serving as a counselor or minister to a dozen U.S. presidents. He preached to an estimated 215 million people in 185 countries around the world during his life, and his message reached millions more as he maintained a near-constant presence on radio, television and the internet. Graham also wrote more than two dozen books, including his 1997 memoir, “Just as I Am,” which was a New York Times best-seller.  Graham died just before 8 a.m. at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, surrounded by family, according to a spokesman for Samaritan’s Purse, the nondenominational evangelical Christian organization headed by Graham’s son Franklin. . ...Read Full Story

...Read Full Story

The US Army is awarding the Medal of Heroism to three students killed in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting last week. An Army spokesman confirmed that the award had been approved for three members of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps who “gave their lives during the shooting.” The family of Peter Wang received the award during his funeral Tuesday. The family had requested that he be buried in his JROTC uniform, and the Army provided a medal to be pinned to his uniform at the open-casket service. Wang, 15, was last seen holding a door open so that others could escape the shooter and was wearing his ROTC uniform when he was shot and killed. On the day of his funeral, the academy posthumously admitted him in the class of 2025.  The medal was also presented to the family of 14-year-old Alaina Petty at her memorial service on Monday, and a third cadet who died, Martin Duque, will also receive a JROTC Heroism Medal from the Army. It will be presented to his family during his viewing and service on Saturday, a spokesman said.. ...Read Full Story

A group of Washington, D.C., teenagers staged a “lie-in” outside the White House on Monday to show their support for the victims of last week’s mass shooting at a Florida high school — and to demand action from President Trump on gun control. “Teens for Gun Reform” took turns lying down for three minutes to symbolize “how quickly” the organization says suspected shooter Nikolas Cruz could have legally purchased the gun he allegedly used to kill 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14. In a statement posted on its Facebook page the group said “we call on President Trump and leaders from both parties to finally act in the interest of America’s youth and end these tragic mass shootings!” Dozens of teenagers participated in Monday’s lie-in. The demonstration was just one of several student-led protests planned in response to the Florida school shooting.. ...Read Full Story

Nikolas Cruz, 19, is charged with the premeditated murder 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, later confessing to police that he was the gunman in the shooting, according to a Broward Sheriff’s Office affidavit.  But when the Snead family took Nikolas Cruz into their home last November after his mother passed away, they thought of him as one of their own. Now they’re trying to recall any warning signs they might have missed. “The Nik we knew was not the monster he turned out to be,” James Snead, whose son befriended Cruz, told NBC News.  They said he was depressed after losing his mother, but no red flags ever went off about his behavior. Snead and wife, Kimberly, described Cruz as polite and “normal,” saying they set rules for the teen, which he followed.  They said reports from the Florida Department of Children and Families about Cruz were never brought to their attention, and that they knew Cruz had guns and were OK with it. There was a gun safe and James Snead believed he possessed the sole key.. ...Read Full Story

The Supreme Court will hold a closed-door meeting on Friday to decide whether to take up a lower court opinion that blocked the White House plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which is at the forefront of the debate on illegal immigration. The nation’s highest court will consider the possibility of reviewing the opinion without a ruling from a federal appeals court.  The Justice Department requested the court to rule on whether the administration must continue to accept DACA renewal applications from participants after federal Northern California District Judge William Alsup blocked President Trump’s decision to end the program.. ...Read Full Story

All 66 people on board a passenger plane that crashed Sunday in a mountainous region of southern Iran are presumed dead, the airline said. The Aseman Airlines plane was flying from Tehran to the southwestern city of Yasuj when it disappeared 50 minutes into the flight, according to a post on the airline’s Instagram account. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani expressed their condolences to the victims and their families, ordering officials to spare no efforts in their rescue operation, the state-run Islamic News Agency (IRNA) reported. . ...Read Full Story

On Thursday, the US Senate voted down President Donald Trump’s immigration proposal, leaving Congress with no viable plan for shielding “Dreamer” immigrants from deportation once their protections expire beginning March 5. At least 14 Republicans joined most Democrats in opposing the measure, which was defeated 39 to 60 despite the president warning he would veto any plan that did not meet his criteria. The Senate had earlier rejected a bipartisan proposal that would have put 18 million immigrants brought to the country illegally as children on a path to citizenship and funded border security upgrades, but which made only slight changes to legal immigration policy.. ...Read Full Story

An orphaned 19-year-old with a troubled past and an AR-15 rifle was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder Thursday morning after being questioned for hours by state and federal authorities following the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. in five years. Fifteen wounded survivors were hospitalized as bodies were recovered from inside and around Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Nikolas Jacob Cruz was booked into the Broward County Jail early Thursday, still wearing the hospital gown he was given after being treated for labored breathing following his arrest.  Cruz appeared in court Thursday afternoon and was ordered held without bond. His attorney did not contest the order and had her arm around Cruz during the brief court appearance.. ...Read Full Story

At least 17 people were killed when a teen opened fire at a high school in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday afternoon, officials said. At least 15 others were wounded, five of whom suffering life-threatening injuries Wednesday night, hospital officials said. Authorities said the suspect, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, concealed himself in the crowd fleeing Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He was arrested in nearby Coral Springs. Broward County schools said Cruz had recently been expelled from Douglas for disciplinary reasons and was enrolled elsewhere in the district. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Cruz was believed to have been armed with a AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle and multiple magazines. The gunfire began outside the school and continued inside, where 12 of the victims were killed, Israel said. All of those victims have been identified, he said, but no identities will be made public until the families of all of those affected have been notified.. ...Read Full Story

Michael Cohen, a longtime lawyer for President Trump, told the New York Times he personally paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 of his own money after she claimed to have had an affair with Trump. In a subsequent statement, Cohen suggested that the money was not an admission that Daniels’s claims were true. Cohen’s payment to Daniels was first reported by the Wall Street Journal last month. The newspaper said Daniels “privately alleged” her rendezvous with Trump took place at a celebrity golf tournament where they met in 2006, and reported that Cohen gave Daniels the six-figure sum as part of a nondisclosure agreement that barred her from discussing her alleged dalliance with Trump.  “Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” Cohen said. “The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.”. ...Read Full Story

Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney will announce Thursday that he’s running for the Utah Senate seat held by retiring Orrin Hatch. The former Republican presidential candidate will release an online video Thursday announcing he’s running for the seat. His first public appearance as a Senate candidate will be Friday night at a county Republican party dinner in Provo. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is expected to easily win the Senate seat in Utah. The 70-year-old Republican moved to Utah after losing the 2012 presidential election and is very popular in the state. Romney isn’t expected to face any serious challenges for the seat. Orin Hatch plans to retire after 2018, following more than four decades in the Senate. One of the longest-serving senators in U.S. history, Hatch began floating Romney’s name last year as his potential successor.. ...Read Full Story

A New Jersey man who set off small bombs in two states, including a pressure cooker device that blasted shrapnel across a New York City block, was sentenced Tuesday to multiple terms of life in prison. Ahmad Khan Rahimi, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan, was criticized by a prosecutor for failing to show remorse.  Manhattan’s U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said it was hard to reconcile the “reasonable enough” man he saw in court with the terrorist who tried to kill as many people as he could. Berman called Rahimi, 30, a “clear and present danger” and said it was too big a risk not to impose a life sentence, especially after Rahimi offered “not an ounce of justification” for his crimes. The bombings triggered a two-day manhunt that ended in a shootout with police in Linden, N.J. Rahimi was shot several times but survived. Police officers also were injured.. ...Read Full Story

A second U.S. judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s decision to end a program that protects immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children from deportation. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn ruled that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, cannot end in March as planned. The decision is similar to an earlier ruling by a federal judge in San Francisco that DACA must remain in place while litigation over Trump’s decision unfolds. The Supreme Court on Friday is due to consider whether to take up the administration’s appeal of the San Francisco ruling. The court could announce as soon as Friday afternoon whether it is hearing the case.. ...Read Full Story

Vanessa Trump, the wife of Donald Trump Jr., and two other people were taken to a New York hospital on Monday after she opened a piece of mail containing an unidentified white powder that was later determined to be non-hazardous, officials said. New York Police Department spokesman Carlos Nieves said that “the substance had arrived by mail and it was addressed to Donald Trump Jr.” Vanessa Trump, the daughter-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, was hospitalized after she complained of nausea following her exposure, New York officials said. Three patients from the household were transported to the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center for further evaluation.. ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump unveiled a $4.4 trillion budget for next year that heralds an era of $1 trillion-plus federal deficits. The growing deficits reflect the impact of last year’s tax overhaul, which is projected to cause federal tax revenue to plummet.  Monday’s budget submission does not yet reflect last week’s two-year bipartisan $300 billion pact that wholly rejects Trump’s plans to slash domestic agencies.  The budget projects tax revenue would plummet by $3.7 trillion over the 2018-27 decade. In addition, Trump would again spare Social Security retirement benefits and Medicare as he promised during his 2016 campaign.. ...Read Full Story

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has filed a civil rights lawsuit against former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company. According to court documents, the lawsuit seeks to “remedy a years-long gender-based hostile work environment.” It targets Harvey Weinstein for allegations of sexual misconduct, as well as the executives and board of The Weinstein Company for failing to protect employees from Weinstein. Charges were filed in the New York Supreme Court and include new and “extensive” allegations against Weinstein. Earlier this month, it was reported that The Weinstein Company is reportedly in the process of being sold for up to $500 million. The suit comes after a four-month investigation by the Attorney General’s office into mounting allegations against Weinstein and The Weinstein Company.. ...Read Full Story

A Russian passenger plane believed to be carrying 71 people crashed Sunday afternoon near Moscow, shortly after takeoff from one of the city’s airports. No survivors were immediately reported. The An-148 regional jet disappeared from radar screens a few minutes after departing from Domodedovo Airport en route to the city of Orsk, 1,000 miles southeast of Moscow. Footage on state television showed plane fragments strewn across a snowy field about 25 miles from the airport. Russia’s Investigative Committee said all possible crash causes were being looked into.. ...Read Full Story

A senior U.S. cybersecurity official has said that Russian hackers successfully penetrated the voter registration rolls of several U.S. states prior to the 2016 presidential election. Jeanette Manfra, head of cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security, said Russia targeted 21 states, and “an exceptionally small number of them were actually successfully penetrated.” NBC News said Wednesday that it had contacted the 21 states that were targeted. Five states, including Texas and California, said they were not attacked.  Many of the states said they weren’t provided specific details from the government about the cyberthreats. Others said they were waiting for the government to provide cybersecurity help.n The revelations have sparked fears that Russia or another foreign government could try to interfere in future elections using cyberattacks and other tactics.. ...Read Full Story

Newsweek has fired its top two editors as well as two senior reporters. According to reports, Bob Roe, the editor-in-chief, and Kenneth Li, the executive editor, were both let go, along with senior politics writer Celeste Katz and senior writer Josh Saul.  In the wake of the above events, the company’s chair and finance director both stepped down last week.  Hours after the firings went public, the company announced in an internal staff email that cofounder Jonathan Davis would return as interim Chief Content Officer, and that Nancy Cooper, the managing editor of IBT, is now acting editor of Newsweek.  . ...Read Full Story

A top aide to President Trump has resigned amid allegations of abusive behavior from his two ex-wives. White House staff secretary Rob Porter had been accused in multiple media reports published earlier in the week of choking and dragging his wives. Although White House aides had defended Porter in statements to the media, Porter submitted his resignation on Wednesday as scrutiny of his past relationships intensified.  “He is going to be leaving the White House. It won’t be immediate,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters on Wednesday.  Sanders also read a statement from Porter that described the allegations as “outrageous.”  “I will not further engage publicly with a coordinated smear campaign,” Porter said in the statement Sanders read. Porter is reported to be in a romantic relationship with White House communications director Hope Hicks. His last day in the West Wing has not yet been set. . ...Read Full Story

Senate leaders announced Wednesday they have sealed agreement on a two-year budget pact that would provide both the Pentagon and domestic programs with almost $300 billion above existing limits. The agreement is likely to be added to a stopgap spending bill that passed the House on Tuesday, aimed at averting a government shutdown Thursday at midnight. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York called the Senate agreement “a genuine breakthrough.” However, it would not resolve the plight of immigrant “Dreamers” who face deportation after being brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California held the floor in the House, declaring she would oppose the measure unless her chamber’s GOP leaders promised a vote on legislation to protect the younger immigrants. . ...Read Full Story

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation Tuesday that would reform the way lawmakers’ offices handle cases sexual harassment.  The bill, born in the wake of the #MeToo movement, would overhaul aspects of the Congressional Accountability Act, the decades-old law that put in place the system through which sexual harassment, discrimination and other workplace-related claims on Capitol Hill are handled. But the bill would weaken the authority of the independent entity currently probing lawmakers’ behavior, according to some. The legislation had been worked on for months by a bipartisan group of lawmakers as a direct response to a series of allegations, resignations and retirements that have rocked Capitol Hill in recent months regarding lawmakers from both parties making inappropriate comments or sexually harassing female staffers. . ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he welcomes a government shutdown if congressional leaders do not agree to a deal to keep the government open later this week. “I’d love to see a shutdown,” he said during a roundtable with legislators and law enforcement officials on immigration, adding that Democrats need to agree to his demands for immigration restrictions. “Shut it down.” Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), who was attending the roundtable, told Trump: “We don’t need a government shutdown over this.” Lawmakers in both parties have said they hope to avoid another government shutdown like the one that occurred after talks broke down last month.. ...Read Full Story

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to block a lower court ruling requiring Republican-drawn congressional districts in Pennsylvania to be reworked immediately, boosting Democratic hopes of winning control this year of the U.S. House of Representatives.  Justice Samuel Alito denied an emergency application filed by Republicans to stop the immediate reworking of the electoral district boundaries. The Jan. 22 Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling gives Republican legislators until Friday to submit a revised map to Democratic Governor Tom Wolf, who would have until Feb. 15 to sign off on the changes.  In a statement, the state’s top Republican lawmakers, Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and House Speaker Mike Turzai, said they still believe the Pennsylvania Supreme Court exceeded its authority.. ...Read Full Story

Wall Street continued a broad selloff Monday, as the Dow plunged a record 1,175 points amid inflation fears. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 24,345. The S&P 500 fell 113 points to 2,648. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 273 points to 6,967. The Dow fell as much as 1,597 points in afternoon trading, the largest intraday drop in history. The blue-chip index’s 4.6% decline reflected its worst day since at least Aug. 10, 2011. Coming off its worst week in two years, the Dow wiped out its 2018 gains with its pullback Monday.  . ...Read Full Story

Thousands are expected to descend on the Space Coast for Tuesday’s inaugural SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch to witness the rocket lift off from Kennedy Space Center. The demonstration mission from pad 39A, which includes a 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. launch window, has already generated remarkable buzz online for an un-crewed mission. SpaceX announced late Saturday that when it conducts its first test launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket this Tuesday, it will also attempt to land all three of the giant rocket’s first-stage cores. Two will aim for landings at Cape Canaveral in Florida, while one, the center core, will attempt to land on a drone ship at sea.  . ...Read Full Story

An Amtrak passenger train slammed into a freight train parked on a side track in South Carolina early Sunday, killing two Amtrak employees and injuring more than 110 people, authorities said. It was the third deadly wreck involving Amtrak in less than two months. Amtrak’s Silver Star was on its way from New York to Miami with eight crew members and about 140 passengers around 2:45 a.m. when it plowed into the CSX train at an estimated 59 mph. The wreck took place around a switchyard about 10 miles south of Columbia.. ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump is expected to approve the release of a controversial congressional memo alleging surveillance abuses by the FBI, after the White House agreed to some redactions at the bureau’s request, but the document may not be made public before Friday, according to senior administration officials. The redactions were the result of a review of the memo’s classified contents by White House and intelligence community officials. The memo suggests that the early origins of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election were tainted by political bias. Once Trump approves its release, the White House will transmit the memo back to the House Intelligence Committee, which has the authority to release it to the public. . ...Read Full Story

A 12-year-old girl was arrested Thursday after opening fire inside a Los Angeles middle school, leaving four students injured, authorities said. Two 15-year-olds were seriously wounded in the shooting, hospital officials said in a press conference. Two others suffered minor injuries from what appeared to be grazing wounds. A 30-year-old woman also sustained minor injuries, according to the Los Angeles Fire department. Los Angeles Police officials said they began to receive reports of shots fired at Salvador Castro Middle School at 8:55 am, prompting the school to go on lockdown. Police said the suspect was taken into custody and a firearm, a semi-automatic weapon, was recovered. Law enforcement officials did not disclose what may have led to the school shooting, or if the suspect had any connection to any of the victims wounded Thursday morning.. ...Read Full Story

Twitter notified 1.4 million people that they may have interacted with fake Russia-backed accounts during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the company announced Wednesday afternoon. Twitter identified 3,814 accounts “potentially connected to a propaganda effort by a Russian government-linked organization known as the Internet Research Agency.” According to Twitter, an “interaction” with any of these Russian-linked accounts is identified as either following, retweeting, quoting, replying to, mentioning, or liking those accounts or their content.  Anyone who was actively following any of these accounts was suspended. . ...Read Full Story

A train carrying Republican members of Congress to a legislative retreat slammed into a garbage truck in western Virginia Wednesday morning, killing at least one person and injuring at least five others. The deadly crash occurred in Crozet, Virginia, about 15 miles west of Charlottesville. The Amtrak train carrying the legislators blasted into the garbage truck at about 50 miles an hour, according to lawmakers. The group was headed for The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. The White House said in a statement that President Donald Trump had been briefed on the accident all morning. Later, in the Oval Office, he said the accident was “very sad.” . ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump, whose first year in office saw division, said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday that he has ushered in an ebullient “new American moment” and issued a summons for “the unity we need to deliver for the people we were elected to serve.” The president set an ambitious agenda for his second year in office, from a $1.5 trillion plan to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure to a four-pronged immigration package to a pledge to reduce prescription drug prices. The president also laid out details of his immigration package, offering citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, who are known as “dreamers,” in return for increased spending on border security, including for his promised wall at Mexico’s border; an end to the visa lottery; and limits on family reunification policies. While Republicans cheered throughout, Democrats sat stonily. . His one-hour, 20-minute speech was the longest since Bill Clinton’s State of the Union address in 2000.. ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump, whose first year in office saw division, said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday that he has ushered in an ebullient “new American moment” and issued a summons for “the unity we need to deliver for the people we were elected to serve.” The President set an ambitious agenda for his second year in office, from a $1.5 trillion plan to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure to a four-pronged immigration package to a pledge to reduce prescription drug prices. The president also laid out details of his immigration package, offering citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, who are known as “dreamers,” in return for increased spending on border security, including for his promised wall at Mexico’s border; an end to the visa lottery; and limits on family reunification policies. While Republicans cheered throughout, Democrats sat stonily. His one-hour, 20-minute speech was the longest since Bill Clinton’s State of the Union address in 2000.. ...Read Full Story

Hawaii’s emergency management leader has resigned and a state employee who sent an alert falsely warning of an incoming ballistic missile has been fired, officials said Tuesday, after the mistake caused widespread panic earlier this month. Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi stepped down Tuesday, state Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Joe Logan said. A second agency worker quit before disciplinary action was taken and another was being suspended without pay, Logan said in announcing results of an internal investigation. The fallout came the same day the Federal Communications Commission revealed that the worker who pushed out the alert thought an actual attack was imminent. The state emergency agency worker believed the attack was real because of a mistake in how the drill was initiated during a shift change, the FCC said in a report.. ...Read Full Story

Terrorism was being eyed as a possible motive after a man in a black Honda targeted pedestrians Monday morning in Philadelphia, seriously injuring one person before being shot in the head by an off-duty cop, officials said. The driver, who wasn’t immediately identified, was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said. The driver was initially in “extremely critical condition” after the incident and was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross Jr. said at a news conference Monday evening that while initial reports said the driver attempted to hit multiple people with his car, police have been “unable to confirm that he was trying to strike several people.” Authorities said they were reviewing videos of the incident and looking for more witnesses for more information.. ...Read Full Story

Andrew McCabe on Monday left his job as deputy director of the FBI after enduring withering attacks from President Trump and other Republicans. McCabe went on leave from the FBI on Monday, pending the effective date of his retirement in March, said two government officials familiar with the move. McCabe already had intended to retire this spring, and he has been a frequent target of criticism from President Donald Trump. Earlier this month, reports said that Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions pressured FBI Director Christopher Wray to push McCabe out, and a report in the Washington Post said that Trump, after firing former FBI director James B. Comey, asked McCabe how he voted in the 2016 election. . ...Read Full Story

In an interview with Piers Morgan airing Sunday, President Donald Trump covered a wide-range of topics. The President said he usually tweets at breakfast or over lunch before getting down to the work of government in the day, and he insisted he was ‘very popular’ in Britain, despite vows from protesters that his visit to the country will be greeted with huge protests. Trump also sparked a diplomatic row by claiming the Prime Minister had invited him to make two trips to the UK this year, including a State visit in October. However Trump reportedly refused a State visit to the UK after Theresa May criticized him for retweeting videos from British far-Right extremists. The President said he would apologize if the far-right group is seen as being ‘horrible and racist’.  The President also answered the question of whether or not he is a feminist. His answer was a clear ‘no.’ Trump said, ‘no, I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist. I mean, I think that would be, maybe, going too far. I’m for women, I’m for men, I’m for everyone.”. ...Read Full Story

Four people were killed in a shooting at a car wash in Pennsylvania on Sunday morning and the shooter is in critical condition, state police said. Officials originally reported five people were killed in the shooting, but police later identified the fifth person as the suspected shooter, 28-year-old Timothy Smith. Smith was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the head and is not expected to survive. Officials said it is possible the gunshot wound was self-inflicted. A woman survived the shooting, but sustained minor injuries from broken glass, as officials believe she was able to duck out of the shooter’s view. Officials said the shooter was armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a 9-millimeter handgun and a 308 rifle and was wearing body armor. Pennsylvania State Troopers said a motive for the shooting had not yet been identified.. ...Read Full Story

The engineer on an Amtrak train that derailed in Washington state last month, killing three people, told investigators he mistook a wayside signal for another signal before the track speed dropped to 30 mph, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday. Additionally more than 70 people were injured when Train 501 of Amtrak’s Cascades service from Seattle to Portland derailed and went off a bridge in the city of DuPont on Dec. 18. Both the engineer and conductor suffered “serious injuries” in the crash and couldn’t be interviewed until last week, the agency said. A cause has not been determined. The NTSB investigation is expected to take between one and two years.. ...Read Full Story

The White House said that President Donald Trump is proposing a plan that provides a path to citizenship for 1.8 million of the “Dreamer” immigrants, tighter restrictions on legal immigration and $25 billion in border security.  Senior White House officials offered a preview of Trump’s immigration framework Thursday, casting it as a compromise that could pass the Senate. The proposal represents a reversal for the president, who once promised to eliminate an Obama-era program protecting immigrants brought to the U.S. as children and now in the country illegally. . ...Read Full Story