Disney says it has $40 billion economic impact in Florida as it battles DeSantis in court
ORLANDO, Fla. — Disney on Tuesday released a study showing its economic impact in Florida at $40.3 billion as it battles Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his appointees over their takeover of the district that governs the entertainment company’s massive resort in central Florida. Disney accounted for 263,000 jobs in...
New Speaker Mike Johnson formally endorses Trump
NEW YORK — House Speaker Mike Johnson endorsed Donald Trump for president on Tuesday, a move that was a symbolic departure from his ousted predecessor leading the House. Johnson, an ally and defender of the former president, said Tuesday morning in an interview on CNBC, “I have endorsed him wholeheartedly.”...
A veteran journalist who is refusing to divulge her sources could be held in contempt of court
WASHINGTON — In a case with potentially far-reaching press freedom implications, a federal judge in Washington is weighing whether to hold in contempt a veteran journalist who has refused to identify her sources for stories about a Chinese American scientist who was investigated by the FBI but never charged. The...
3rd round of U.S. sanctions against Hamas focuses on money transfers from Iran to Gaza
WASHINGTON — The U.S. on Tuesday said it imposed a third round of sanctions on a group of Hamas officials, members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who work to transfer money from Iran to Gaza, and a Lebanese money exchange service that facilitates the transfers. The Treasury Department sanctions, coordinated...
In fight to curb climate change, a grim report shows world is struggling to get on track
The world is off track in its efforts to curb global warming in 41 of 42 important measurements and is even heading in the wrong direction in six crucial ways, a new international report calculates. The only bright spot is that global sales of electric passenger vehicles are now on...
House votes to prevent a government shutdown as GOP Speaker Johnson relies on Democrats for help
WASHINGTON — The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to prevent a government shutdown after new Republican Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to reach across the aisle to Democrats when hard-right conservatives revolted against his plan. The bipartisan tally — 336-95 with 93 Republicans voting no —showed Johnson’s willingness to leave his...
Biden administration is slow to act as millions are booted off Medicaid, advocates say
WASHINGTON — Up to 30 million of the poorest Americans could be purged from the Medicaid program, many the result of error-ridden state reviews that poverty experts say the Biden administration is not doing enough to stop. The projections from the health consulting firm Avalere come as states undertake a...
As fighting empties north Gaza, humanitarian crisis worsens in south
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — About 200,000 Palestinians have streamed out of northern Gaza toward worsening conditions in the south in recent days, a U.N. agency said Tuesday, as Israeli troops battled militants around hospitals where patients, newborns and medics are stranded with no electricity and dwindling supplies. Only one...
Casey proposes anti-bullying bill
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, introduced a bill last month that could help protect K-12 students from bullying and harassment. The Safe Schools Improvement Act would require school districts to include a line in their code of conduct prohibiting bullying and harassment surrounding race, color, national origin, sex, disability and...
Biden, Xi to announce deal for China to crack down on fentanyl
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, are set to announce an agreement that would see Beijing crack down on the manufacture and export of fentanyl, according to people familiar with the matter, potentially delivering the U.S. president a major victory. Under the deal — which is...
Nearly 2 dozen toddlers sickened by lead linked to tainted applesauce pouches, CDC says
U.S. health officials are warning doctors to be on the lookout for possible cases of lead poisoning in children after at least 22 toddlers in 14 states were sickened by lead linked to tainted pouches of cinnamon apple puree and applesauce. Children ages 1 to 3 were affected, and at...
Report: Fulton County defendant Jenna Ellis says she was told Trump was ‘not going to leave’ White HouseVideo
ATLANTA — Jenna Ellis, the former Trump campaign attorney who recently struck a plea deal in Fulton County, reportedly told prosecutors she was informed in the weeks following the 2020 election that the then-president was “not going to leave” the White House despite his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The...
Officials exhume body of Mississippi man buried without his family’s knowledge
RAYMOND, Miss. — The body of a Mississippi man who died after being hit by a police SUV driven by an off-duty officer was exhumed Monday, months after officials failed to notify his family of his death. At a news conference, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, local leaders and family...
Maryanne Trump Barry, the former president’s older sister and a retired federal judge, dies at 86
NEW YORK — Maryanne Trump Barry, a retired federal judge and former president Donald Trump ‘s oldest sister, has died at age 86 at her home in New York. Until her retirement in 2019, Barry was a senior judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a level below...
Escaped murderer charged with burglary and theft while on the run for 2 weeks
A convicted murderer who escaped from a southeastern Pennsylvania prison earlier this year and eluded a massive two-week search before he was recaptured is now facing new theft, burglary and other charges in connection with alleged crimes committed while he was on the run. Danilo Cavalcante, 34, convicted of the...
New Jersey man accused of spraying officers with chemical irritant in Capitol riot makes 1st court appearance
A New Jersey man accused of spraying police officers with a chemical irritant in the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol made an initial federal court appearance Monday and was ordered held without bail until trial. The FBI released photos at the U.S. District Court hearing in Trenton, saying they...
The Supreme Court says it is adopting a code of ethics, but it has no means of enforcement
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday adopted its first code of ethics, in the face of sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices, but the code lacks a means of enforcement. The policy, agreed to by all nine justices, does not appear to...
International student enrollment rebounds to nearly pre-pandemic levels, report says
International enrollment at colleges nationwide has rebounded to almost pre-pandemic levels, with last year’s 12% enrollment jump representing the biggest annual increase in four-plus decades, a new report shows. The report released Monday by the New York-based nonprofit Institute of International Education puts the U.S. head count at about 1.06...
Michigan man pleads guilty to making violent threats against Jews
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A 19-year-old Michigan man pleaded guilty Monday to using social media to make violent threats against Jewish people last summer. Seann Pietila, who has been in custody since June, was accused of using Instagram to spread neo-Nazi ideology, discuss plans to kill people and compliment mass...
Natural gas commodities market, milder weather predictions could ease winter heating costsVideo
Members of the natural gas industry, both locally and nationally, are predicting a decline in winter heating bills in 2024 based on the current commodities market as well as the long-range winter forecast. “I think you’re looking at increased production and lower demand overall,” said Columbia Gas spokesperson Lee Gierczynski....
Ex-Prime Minister David Cameron makes shock return to U.K. government as foreign secretary
LONDON — Former British Prime Minister David Cameron made an unexpected return to high office on Monday, becoming foreign secretary in a major shakeup of the Conservative government that also saw the firing of divisive Home Secretary Suella Braverman. Cameron, who led the U.K. government between 2010 and 2016 and...
U.S. conducts airstrikes against Iran-backed groups in Syria, retaliating for attacks on U.S. troops
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military conducted airstrikes on two locations in eastern Syria involving Iranian-backed groups, hitting a training location and a weapons facility, according to the Pentagon and U.S. officials. It marks the third time in a bit more than two weeks that the U.S. has retaliated against the...
Bird flu reports increasing in U.S.; flocks culled in effort to reduce spread
Avian flu has reappeared in U.S. flocks for the first time since April. In an online report updated Wednesday by the USDA, 15 states in the past 30 days have reported at least one confirmed infected flock. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a flock of more than 47,300...
Biden sees hopeful signs for his reelection in Democrats’ 2023 wins. Others in his party are worried
WASHINGTON — Surrounded by dozens of Democratic donors at a glass art gallery space in Chicago last week, President Joe Biden urged them to look beyond negative poll numbers and feel assured their donations were not being wasted. Then Biden joked to the crowd: “I could still screw up.” The...
Donald Trump Jr. lauds dad’s real estate exploits as ex-president’s civil fraud trial begins defense
NEW YORK — Donald Trump Jr. returned to court Monday as something of a character witness for his father’s real estate empire, waxing exuberantly about the former president’s “incredible vision” and portfolio of “great, iconic projects” at the New York civil fraud trial now threatening his company’s future. The namesake...
