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]
The Trump administration is offering a $3 million prize to revive domestic solar manufacturing, this coming after imposing tariffs opposed by much of the U.S. solar industry. The Energy Department said Wednesday that the American Made Solar Prize would help “reassert American leadership in the solar marketplace.” Earlier this week, President Donald Trump decided to impose tariffs of up to 30 percent on most imported solar cells used in solar panels. Most of the U.S. solar industry revolves around installing solar systems for homeowners and utilities, and those companies largely opposed the tariffs. A federal trade panel recommended the tariffs, which had been sought by two U.S. manufacturers.... [Read Full Story]
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would be willing to be interviewed under oath by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. “I‘m looking forward to it, actually,” Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said of an interview with Mueller. “I would do it under oath.” He later added his lawyers would have to work out the details and that there is no date set but it could be in two or three weeks. The president’s lawyersbegan meeting with Mueller’s teamin December and have been discussing how the president would respond to the special counsel’s questions, including the possibility of sending questions in writing. Sources familiar with the meeting said earlier this month that Muellerwanted to speak with the president directly.... [Read Full Story]
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill, said she and her husband “are thrilled” to announce that she is pregnant with their second child, making her the first acting senator to give birth. The soon-to-be mother of two, who’s baby girl is due this spring, thanked friends, family and hospital staff for helping in their “decades-long journey to complete” their family. Duckworth is a decorated Iraq War veteran who lost both her legs in combat. She was elected to the Senate in 2016 after previously serving two terms in the House of Representatives. The senator’s latest pregnancy news makes her one of 10 women to have a baby while serving their term in Congress, and Duckworth will reportedly be the first acting senator to do so. Duckworth, 49, first became a mom in 2014 after giving birth to daughter Abigail. She was a member of the House at the time. ... [Read Full Story]
A 15-year-old student killed two classmates and hit a dozen others with gunfire Tuesday, methodically firing a handgun inside a crowded atrium at his rural Kentucky high school. Seventeen students were injured, 12 of them hit with bullets and five others hurt in the scramble as hundreds of students fled for their lives from Marshall County High School. The gunman kept firing until he ran out of ammunition and tried running away. Police arrested him moments later, leading him away in handcuffs to be charged with murder and attempted murder. Authorities did not identify the gunman responsible for the nation’s first fatal school shooting of 2018, nor did they release any details about a motive. The attack marked the year’s first fatal school shooting, 23 days into 2018.... [Read Full Story]
Former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV vice president Alphons Iacobelli pleaded guilty on Monday in connection with a U.S. investigation into allegations he made at least $1.5 million in improper payments to senior union officials, the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit said. Iacobelli, 58, a former Fiat Chrysler vice president of employee relations, was charged in July in U.S. District Court in Detroit with taking part in a conspiracy to pay prohibited money and gifts to United Auto Workers union officials. Sentencing was set for May 29. Iacobelli faces a statutory maximum of eight years in prison, and prosecutors said he will be required to repay $835,000. ... [Read Full Story]
Congress agreed to a short-term bill to fund the government for three weeks and end the three-day long federalgovernment shutdownMonday after Senate Republicans provided assurances to Democrats thatimmigration reformand other contentious issues would be addressed in the near future. After the Senate passed the bill by an 81-18 margin Monday afternoon, the House of Representatives concurred with the measure 266-150, sending it to President Donald Trump, whose signature would bring an end to the impasse. Between 700,000 and 800,000 federal employees were furloughed during the standoff, according to the Office of Management and Budget.... [Read Full Story]
The Senate will vote at noon on Monday on whether to cut off a Democratic filibuster of legislation to end the government shutdown, as the shutdown continues into it’s third day. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said there is still no agreement to pass the stopgap funding bill. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set the vote after Schumer blocked a bid for an immediate vote Sunday night. McConnell said he intends to bring up free-standing immigration legislation in February. Democrats have blocked a House-passed temporary funding bill to reopen the government’s doors through Feb. 16. The pending Senate measure would last through Feb. 8. ... [Read Full Story]
At least 15 people were injured on Monday when a train crashed into a barrier in the northwest of Sydney, Australia’s largest city, and were being treated by emergency services personnel, an ambulance spokesman said. Pictures taken at the scene showed the train had run into buffers at the end of the railway line at Richmond, about 40 miles northwest of central Sydney. The injured were being carried on stretchers into waiting ambulances. Train operator NSW Trains said on Twitter the train had hit a buffer at the end of the line. Television footage showed that it was still upright on the tracks and that its carriages did not appear to be crumpled.... [Read Full Story]
New details have emerged about the shocking abuse 13 children allegedly endured at the hands of their own parents when they were held captive in their own home in California. Riverside County district attorney Mike Hestrin revealed on Thursday that David and Louise Turpin’s 13 children, aged 2 to 29, had been tied up for years as a punishment; when one child managed to break free, the parents shackled them to beds with chains and padlocks and were not even released from their shackles to go to the toilet. Mr Hestrin said all 13 children were severely malnourished. The parents, who appeared in court on Thursday dressed in black and with their legs shackled, appeared calm as they plead not guilty to multiple counts of torture and abuse. Disturbing stories have been revealed, including that the couple would bring home food for themselves but not allow the children to eat it. A law enforcement official said that the children were served only one rationed meal per day and that several of the kids were cognitively impaired as a result of the starvation, had nerve damage because of the “extreme and prolonged physical abuse” and “lacked a basic knowledge of life”. He also revealed that the children were permitted to shower only once a year.... [Read Full Story]
An Arizona man has been accused of a murder spree in which he allegedly killed nine people in three weeks, a rampage that would make him one of the most prolific serial killers in the state’s history. Cleophus Cooksey Jr., 35, was arrested on Dec. 17, 2017, after police responded to a call of shots fired in Phoenix. When officers arrived they found Cooksey’s mother and stepfather dead. Cooksey was not linked to the other homicides until he was in custody, police said Thursday. Investigators used shell casings to link the other murders, police said. Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said new technology allowed officers to determine the evidence was linked to the suspect quickly. Cooksey’s other alleged victims include the brother of his ex-girlfriend and various men and women of black, white and Hispanic race and ethnicity.... [Read Full Story]
Apple Inc. will open a new campus as part of a five-year, $30 billion U.S. investment plan and will make about $38 billion in one-time tax payments on its overseas cash, one of the largest corporate spending plans announced since the passage of a tax cut signed by President Donald Trump. The company has been under increasing pressure to make U.S. investments since the 2016 presidential campaign, when Trump targeted the iPhone maker for making products in Asian factories. While Apple has announced no plans to change that practice, the company has begun to emphasize its U.S. economic impact, from developers who sell software on its App Store to the tens of billions of dollars per year it spends with U.S. suppliers. On Wednesday, Apple estimated it would spend $350 billion in the United States over the next five years.... [Read Full Story]
Senate Republicans rejected a bipartisan deal to protect DREAMers and are going back to the drawing board, despite a threat by Democrats to shut down the government within days without one. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday Congress would be “just spinning our wheels” if it voted on an immigration deal reached by a bipartisan group of senators without assurances from President Trump that he will sign it. Republicans overwhelmingly say there is no chance for a deal to get done by this week and talks will be restarting from scratch. Democrats will have to choose between potentially forcing a government shutdown over DACA, or taking the CHIP funding for now and hoping for an immigration bill to pass before the March deadline.... [Read Full Story]
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Tuesday she did not hear President Donald Trump use a vulgarity to describe African countries during an impassioned White House meeting last week. Nielsen’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee echoed statements she has made since the meeting on Thursday with Trump and Republican and Democratic legislators, which continued the debate on an immigration law deal and generated accusations of racism toward Trump. Nielsen said she did not remember Trump categorizing African countries in a specific way. “The conversation was very impassioned. I don’t dispute that the president was using tough language,” Nielsen said, adding that several people in the room were using profanity. ... [Read Full Story]
A former CIA officer has been arrested and charged with illegally retaining classified records, including names and phone numbers of covert CIA assets. 53 year-old Jerry Chun Shing Lee was arrested Monday night after arriving at JFK International Airport. He made an initial appearance Tuesday in federal court in New York, but will face charges in northern Virginia, where the CIA is located. According to court documents, Lee, a Hong Kong resident, served in the CIA from 1994 to 2007 as a case officer. A court affidavit states that Lee traveled to northern Virginia with his family in 2012, when the FBI searched Lee’s possessions and found two small books with handwritten notes containing names and numbers of covert CIA employees and locations of covert facilities.... [Read Full Story]
A firestorm ignited by President Donald Trump’s remarks last week has impaired lawmakers’ ability to reach a deal on immigration and spending levels, according to congressional aides. Sources also caution of a possible government shutdown at week’s end. Congressional aides say they are expecting a short-term deal funding the government for a few weeks to come to the table, but by no means do they feel it is guaranteed. Prospects for any deal diminished because of controversial reported comments last week from President Trump in a meeting with lawmakers about his desire to stop immigration from “shithole countries.” Mr. Trump denied reports of his remarks, saying “they weren’t made,” and accused Democrats of backing away from a deal. Two Republican senators also called into question the reports quoting Mr. Trump, though others in attendance have confirmed them.... [Read Full Story]
Two parents were arrested after police discovered that 13 people were being held captive in their California home, shackled to beds with chains and padlocks in filthy conditions, officials said Monday. David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were charged Sunday with torture and child endangerment and bail has been set at $9 million each. The couple was taken to the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside. Their victims ranged in age from 2 to 29, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. One victim, a 17-year-old girl, managed to escape from the residence in Perris, California on Sunday and called 911 from a cell phone she found in the house, police said. The girl claimed her 12 brothers and sisters were being held captive inside the home by her parents, some of them bound with chains and padlocks. The children and adults were being treated at medical facilities in the area. ... [Read Full Story]
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Peru Sunday morning, leaving at least one person dead and dozens injured. A 55-year-old man died in the town of Yauca after being crushed by a rock said Yamila Osorio, governor of the southwestern city of Arequipa. Osorio said at least 20 people also were injured in the quake. The earthquake hit offshore at about 4:18 a.m. at a depth of 24.4 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Its epicenter was in the Pacific Ocean, 25 miles from the town of Acari. Effects of the quake were also felt in Chile, andpower was lostin the cities of Acari, Jaqui, Tanaca Yauza, Salamanca, Condesuyos and others, said Acari Mayor Jorge Alfonso De La Torre Velarde.... [Read Full Story]
Hawaii’s emergency authorities lacked reasonable safeguards to prevent the kind of false alert that panicked residents with a warning of an imminent ballistic missile attack, the head of the Federal Communications Commission said. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement on Sunday that an investigation into the incident is well under way with federal and state officials. Hawaiian residents were sent into a panic on Saturday by the false missile alert. The alert was sent when an employee at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency “pushed the wrong button,” according to Governor David Ige. The FCC has jurisdiction over the emergency alert system. Federal and state lawmakers have also called for an investigation into Hawaii’s incident.... [Read Full Story]
On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to renew sweeping surveillance powers for the government’s intelligence agencies. The vote on Section 702 of theForeign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which must be renewed every five years and is set to expire on January 19, passed by a 256 to 164 margin. Contradictory early morning tweets by President Donald Trump sparked confusion prior to the House vote. Initially in his tweet, he seemed opposed to the bill. A little over an hour later he had completely reversed himself, tweeting: “We need it! Get smart!”... [Read Full Story]
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens admitted late Wednesday that he had been “unfaithful” in his marriage, after a St. Louis television station reported he had an affair before he became governor and that he allegedly threatened to blackmail the woman about their sexual encounter. The allegations prompted the opening of a probe by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office and prompted calls by Republican Missouri state senators for an immediate investigation by the state’s attorney general. They asked that the Senator resign if the blackmail allegations are proven to be true. Greitens has denied through his attorney, James Bennett, that he had tried to blackmail the woman to keep her quiet, and said there were multiple false allegations in the TV station’s report.... [Read Full Story]
President Donald Trump is telling South Korea’s president that he’s open to U.S.-North Korean talks “at the appropriate time, under the right circumstances.” That’s according to a White House readout of the president’s call Wednesday with South Korean President Moon Jae-In. The phone call comes after the Koreas held their first high-level talks in two years. North Korea agreed to send a delegation to the Olympic Games and both sides agreed to hold talks on reducing tensions along their border. Moon has said he’s open to meeting with Kim Jong Un to resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff.... [Read Full Story]
