First Erik, then Lyle Menendez denied parole; California board says they pose safety risk
LOS ANGELES — Lyle Menendez was denied parole Friday by the same board that a day earlier rejected his brother Erik’s appeal for freedom after serving decades in prison for killing their parents in 1989 at their Beverly Hills mansion. The reason was the same: misbehavior behind bars. A panel...
Judge blocks Trump from cutting funding from 34 cities and counties over ‘sanctuary’ policies
A judge ruled late Friday the Trump administration cannot deny funding to Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and 30 other cities and counties because of policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration efforts. U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco extended a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from cutting...
A President’s House architect is ready to ‘fight’ the Trump administration’s potential exhibit removal next month
PHILADELPHIA — When Troy C. Leonard, who worked on designing the President’s House almost two decades ago, first found out exhibits at the site are at risk under the Trump administration, he said, he was crushed. “I was devastated that the exhibit that we had worked so hard on and...
Epstein’s former girlfriend told Justice Department she did not see Trump act in ‘inappropriate way’
WASHINGTON — Jeffrey Epstein’s imprisoned former girlfriend repeatedly denied to the Justice Department witnessing any sexually inappropriate interactions with Donald Trump, according to records released Friday meant to distance the Republican president from the disgraced financer. The Trump administration issued hundreds of pages of transcripts from interviews that Deputy Attorney...
Justice Department releases first batch of Epstein files to House committee
The Justice Department on Friday afternoon released the first batch of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation to the House Oversight Committee. The Republican-controlled Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Justice Department for the files early this month. The move to do so was initiated by U.S. Rep. Summer...
HHS moves to strip thousands of federal health workers of union rights
NEW YORK — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has moved to strip thousands of federal health agency employees of their collective bargaining rights, according to a union that called the effort illegal. HHS officials confirmed the department is ending its recognition of unions for a number of...
New York tour bus crash on interstate highway leaves 5 passengers dead and many others injured
PEMBROKE, N.Y. — A tour bus returning to New York City from Niagara Falls with 54 people aboard crashed and rolled Friday on an interstate highway, killing five passengers and injuring many others, authorities said. The bus apparently lost control on Interstate 90 near Pembroke, about 25 miles east of...
Kilmar Abrego Garcia freed from Tennessee jail to rejoin family in Maryland, await trial
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Kilmar Abrego Garcia was released from jail in Tennessee on Friday so he can rejoin his family in Maryland while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges. The Salvadoran national’s case became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda after he was mistakenly deported in March. Facing...
Pa. rebuffs federal request for voter rolls containing personal data
This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s collaboration with Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting. Sign up for Votebeat’s free newsletters here. Pennsylvania told the U.S. Justice Department that it will not give federal officials a version of the state’s voter rolls that contains...
Powell signals Fed may cut rates soon even as inflation risks remain
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday opened the door ever so slightly to lowering a key interest rate in the coming months but gave no hint on the timing of a move and suggested the central bank will proceed cautiously as it continues to evaluate...
Trump embraces tough-on-crime mantra amid DC takeover as he and Democrats claim political wins
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump stood among several hundred law enforcement officers, National Guard troops and federal agents at a U.S. Park Police operations center in one of Washington, D.C.’s most dangerous neighborhoods. As the cameras rolled, he offered a stark message about crime, an issue he’s been hammering...
Is empathy a sin? Some conservative Christians argue it can be
WASHINGTON — Empathy is usually regarded as a virtue, a key to human decency and kindness. And yet, with increasing momentum, voices on the Christian right are preaching that it has become a vice. For them, empathy is a cudgel for the left: It can manipulate caring people into accepting...
FBI searches home and office of ex-Trump national security adviser John Bolton
WASHINGTON — The FBI on Friday searched the Maryland home and Washington office of former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton as part of a criminal investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information, a person familiar with the matter said. Bolton, who emerged as an outspoken critic of...
Take the TribLive weekly news quiz: Aug. 22
The following is a feature from TribLive: A weekly news quiz: 1. This week, a state will require applicants for teaching jobs from California and New York to pass an exam that the state’s top education official says is designed to safeguard against “radical leftist ideology.” What state was it?...
Penn Township to draft ‘no parking’ ordinance; Rowe Road residents vie to keep street parking
The Penn Township Commissioners gave the go-ahead to start drafting a “no parking” ordinance for some roads throughout the municipality. Commissioners discussed expanding the parking ordinance to select roads about a year and a half ago but revisited the topic after township staff noticed potential parking complications on Rowe Road....
Don’t put these in your luggage: TSA has added new items to its banned list
Trying to figure out what you should and shouldn’t take with you on a trip can be a frustrating experience (especially if you’re the type who happens to overthink things). And then, of course, you have to try and remember what the Transportation Security Administration won’t allow you to take...
Florida must stop expanding ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigration center, judge says
MIAMI — A federal judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction halting further expansion of an immigration detention center built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” that advocates said violated environmental laws. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams’ injunction formalized a temporary halt she had ordered...
California Legislature approves special election on new congressional map favoring DemocratsVideo
SACRAMENTO — California voters will decide in November whether to approve a redrawn congressional map designed to help Democrats win five more U.S. House seats next year, after Texas Republicans advanced their own redrawn map to pad their House majority by the same number of seats at President Donald Trump’s...
Supreme Court lets Trump administration cut $783 million of research funding in anti-DEI push
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration can slash hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of research funding in its push to cut federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the Supreme Court decided Thursday. The high court majority lifted a judge’s order blocking $783 million worth of cuts made by the National...
Debate swirls around Trump’s call to end unrestricted mail-in voting
Nearly one in five Pennsylvanians who voted for Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election cast their ballots by mail, and the GOP spent millions to promote mail-in voting in the run-up to the election. Now, President Trump says he wants to end the practice of allowing people to vote...
Villanova says report of campus shooter was a ‘cruel hoax’
VILLANOVA — A report of a shooter on Villanova University’s campus that sparked panic among students and drew a heavy police presence was a “cruel hoax,” the school’s president said Thursday. Earlier in the afternoon, students had received a text from the Villanova alert system that told them to lock...
Judge says former Trump lawyer Alina Habba has been unlawfully serving as U.S. attorney in New Jersey
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Alina Habba, has been unlawfully serving as the the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey since last month. U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann held that Habba’s term as the interim U.S. attorney ended in July, and...
Trump’s crackdown in D.C. leaves residents on edge as federal agents set up checkpoints
WASHINGTON — Federal authorities have set up checkpoints around the nation’s capital, sometimes asking people for their immigration status and detaining them, as President Donald Trump’s crackdown ensnares more residents each day. Trump claimed that a crime crisis required his Republican administration’s intervention in the Democratic-led city this month, brushing...
Gymnast who sparked FBI sex abuse inquiry into coach says she’s proud to come forward
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Recalling the damage her now-arrested coach inflicted on her and many of her gymnast friends, Finley Weldon said she feels a sense of pride. Free from the grip that Sean Gardner had during her years of training at an Iowa academy known for producing Olympians, Weldon...
Orlando officials denounce removal of rainbow crosswalk near Pulse nightclub mass shooting site
ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando officials on Thursday denounced the overnight removal by Florida transportation workers of a rainbow-colored crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub where 49 people were gunned down, saying it was part of an attack on LGBTQ lives by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer called...