Trump’s second week in office delivers jolts and chaotic orders with a mix of politics and tragedy
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s second week in office seemed to deliver a daily dose of deliberate jolts for the country. There were chaotic reminders of his first term. The White House found itself backtracking on its directive to freeze federal spending on grants and loans. And the Republican president...
Think you can bellow like a stag? German hunters compete in national deer calling championship
DORTMUND, Germany — German hunters tried to convince the jury at a national stag calling championship that they can imitate a bellowing red deer most realistically. The unique tradition goes back hundreds of years and initially was aimed at feigning a stag’s rival during the rutting season so the deer...
Move over, Punxsutawney Phil: Woodstock Willie brings Groundhog Day spirit to Illinois
Western Pennsylvania has its beloved Punxsutawney Phil, but in Illinois, there’s a lesser-known contender for the groundhog throne: Woodstock Willie. Home of the popular “Groundhog Day” movie starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, Woodstock, Ill., attracts a bustling crowd hoping to catch a glimpse of Willie’s weather prediction every Feb....
Child patient from Mexico, her mother on plane that crashed in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — A medical transport jet with a child patient, her mother and four others aboard crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood shortly after takeoff Friday evening, exploding in a fireball that engulfed several homes. All six people aboard were from Mexico. The child had been treated in Philadelphia for a...
Health data disappears as Trump administration targets ‘gender ideology’
Public health data disappeared from websites, entire webpages went blank and employees erased pronouns from email signatures Friday as federal agencies scrambled to comply with a directive tied to President Donald Trump’s order rolling back protections for transgender people. The Office of Personnel Management directed agency heads to strip “gender...
Philly DA: Local officials don’t have to comply with Trump administration’s immigration crackdown
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Friday local elected officials and law enforcement cannot be forced to comply with the Trump administration’s “Nazi stuff,” referring to the president’s planned crackdown on immigration. “Local law enforcement can volunteer to do Nazi stuff,” said Krasner, a Democrat. “I’m sure I...
Boy, 5, dies in hyperbaric chamber explosion at Michigan medical facility
TROY, Mich. — A pressurized oxygen chamber exploded Friday, killing a 5-year-old patient and injuring his mother at a suburban Detroit medical facility. The hyperbaric chamber explosion occurred about 8 a.m. at the Oxford Center in Troy, north of Detroit. The child, from Royal Oak, Michigan, had been inside the...
What can the black box tell us about plane crashes?
It’s one of the most important pieces of forensic evidence following a plane crash: The so-called “black box.” There are actually two of these remarkably sturdy devices: the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. And they’re typically orange, not black. Federal investigators on Friday recovered the black boxes...
New York doctor indicted for prescribing abortion pill in Louisiana
BATON ROUGE, La. — A New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury on Friday for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country. Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish...
Senior Trump official travels to Venezuela for talks on migrants
CARACAS, Venezuela — A senior Trump administration official has traveled to Venezuela to urge President Nicolás Maduro’s government to take back deported migrants who’ve committed crimes in the U.S. and release a handful of imprisoned Americans, a U.S. official said Friday. The visit by Richard Grenell, who U.S. President Donald...
The convicted mother of a Michigan school shooter is seeking a new trial over witness deals
PONTIAC, Mich. — The first U.S. parent to be held criminally responsible for a mass school shooting committed by a child asked a Michigan judge to throw out her conviction Friday, arguing that her trial was spoiled by the prosecutor’s failure to disclose key details about two major witnesses. Nick...
Shapiro’s budget is expected to seek more for schools and transit, emphasize frugality
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will deliver his third budget proposal to lawmakers next week, a plan that’s expected to seek substantially more aid for the poorest public schools, emphasize frugality and press the politically fraught topics of bailing out public transit and legalizing marijuana. The plan to be...
Black History Month explained: Its origins, celebrations and myths
WASHINGTON — Beginning Feb. 1, schools, museums and communities across the nation will mark the start of Black History Month —- a celebration of Black history, culture and education. The history of the month dates back almost a century, and the way it is celebrated and evolved has created history...
RFK Jr. kept asking to see the science that vaccines were safe. After he saw it, he dismissed it
WASHINGTON — The man who hopes to be President Donald Trump’s health secretary repeatedly asked to see “data” or “science” showing vaccines are safe — but when an influential Republican senator did so, he dismissed it. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent two days this week insisting to senators that he’s...
From avocados to autos, Trump tariffs on Canada and Mexico could hit close to home
WASHINGTON — The 25% tax that President Donald Trump plans to slap on imports from Canada and Mexico as soon as Saturday could drive up the price of everything from gasoline and pickup trucks to Super Bowl party guacamole dip. The tariffs would also invite retaliation. Doug Ford, the premier...
Boats return to the Potomac River for D.C. plane crash recovery and investigation
ARLINGTON, Va. — Police boats combed the banks of the Potomac River on Friday, moving slowly under rainy skies and scanning the shoreline as investigators sought clues into the midair collision that killed 67 people and raised questions about air traffic safety around the nation’s capital. No one survived the...
Officials search river where a passenger jet and Army chopper crashed, and probe the cause
American Airlines Flight 5342 with 60 passengers and four crew hit an Army helicopter near Washington D.C.’s Reagan National Wednesday night, sending the two aircraft into the Potomac River and killing all aboard in the deadliest U.S. air crash in more than two decades. The crash around 9 p.m. threw...
Take the TribLive weekly news quiz: Jan. 31
The following is a regular feature from TribLive: A weekly news quiz:...
White House says Trump tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China will come Saturday. No word on exemptions
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said, but it provided no word on whether there would be any exemptions to the measures that could result in...
A New Zealand mountain is granted personhood, recognizing it as sacred for Māori
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A mountain in New Zealand considered an ancestor by Indigenous people was recognized as a legal person on Thursday after a new law granted it all the rights and responsibilities of a human being. Mount Taranaki — now known as Taranaki Maunga, its Māori name —...
Conspiracies, espionage, an enemies list: Takeaways from a wild day of confirmation hearings
WASHINGTON — Conspiracy theories about vaccines. Secret meetings with dictators. An enemies list. President Donald Trump’ s most controversial Cabinet nominees — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel — flooded the zone Thursday in back-to-back-to-back confirmation hearings that were like nothing the Senate has seen in modern...
FDA approves painkiller designed to eliminate the risk of addiction associated with opioids
WASHINGTON — Federal officials on Thursday approved a new type of pain pill designed to eliminate the risks of addiction and overdose associated with opioid medications like Vicodin and OxyContin. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Journavx for short-term pain that often follows surgery or...
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick to oversee U.S. spy agencies, grilled about Snowden, Syria and Russia
WASHINGTON — Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, faced sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike Thursday during a fiery confirmation hearing focused on her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting with Syria’s now-deposed leader and her past support for government leaker Edward...
Police: Snowmobilers said they were trying to run over fox they chased through Lebanon County field
A Lebanon County man and teenager admitted they were trying to run over a fox when they chased the animal on snowmobiles through a field earlier this month, newly filed court documents show. Myerstown resident Jeffrey S. Horst, 20, was charged Thursday with six offenses, including animal cruelty, court records...
2 aircraft that collided over Washington are both workhorses in use around world
The Army helicopter and regional American Airlines jet that collided over Washington are both workhorse aircraft that operate around the world on a daily basis. There were 60 passengers and four crew members on the jet, a Bombardier CRJ-700, officials said. Three service members were on a training flight on...
