National News

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — In an abrupt change, the White House is floating new plans to pay for parts of President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion social services and climate change package, shelving a proposed big increase in corporate tax rates though also adding a new billionaires’ tax on the investment gains of the very richest Americans. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of talks, Democrats are edging closer to an agreement on what programs and policies to include in President Joe Biden’s massive plan to expand health and safety net programs and combat global warming. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House is expected to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress. It’s up to the Justice Department, and the courts, to determine what happens next. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the third time this year, Senate Democrats on Wednesday tried to pass sweeping elections legislation that they tout as a powerful counterweight to new voting restrictions sweeping conservative-controlled states. Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering 17 people during a rampage at his former high school in Parkland, Florida, leaving a jury to decide whether he will be executed for one of the nation’s deadliest school shootings. Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — After struggling to hire workers for its outlet store in Dallas, Balsam Hill finally opened on Sept. 1. But the very next day, the online purveyor of high-end artificial holiday trees was forced to close after four of its five workers quit. Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Nine months after being expelled from social media for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he’s launching a new media company with its own social media platform. Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s company is under criminal investigation by a district attorney in a New York City suburb into whether it misled officials to cut taxes for a golf course there, according to The New York Times. Read more

(AP) — An extraordinarily rare coin with a face value of just pennies when it was minted in mid-17th century New England could sell for the equivalent of about $300,000 when it’s put up for auction in London next month. Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Potential human remains were found Wednesday in a Florida wilderness area along with items believed to belong to Brian Laundrie, whose girlfriend, Gabby Petito, was found slain after he returned home alone from their cross-country road trip, according to the FBI. Read more

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton released a video on Wednesday, saying he is on the road to recovery after being hospitalized in Southern California for six days to treat an infection unrelated to COVID-19. Read more

CHICAGO (AP) — Royal Smart remembers every detail: the feeling of the handcuffs on his wrists. The panic as he was led outside into the cold March darkness, arms raised, to face a wall of police officers pointing their guns. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agents were carrying out “law enforcement activity” on Tuesday at a Washington mansion and New York City townhouse tied to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scaling down his “build back better” plans, President Joe Biden has described a more limited vision to Democratic lawmakers of a $2 trillion government-overhaul package with at least $500 billion to tackle climate change and money for middle-class priorities — child tax credits, paid family leave, health care and free pre-kindergarten. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection voted unanimously to hold former White House aide Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress after the longtime ally of former President Donald Trump defied a subpoena for documents and testimony. Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man charged with raping a woman on a commuter train just outside of Philadelphia harassed her for more than 40 minutes while multiple people held up their phones to seemingly record the assault without intervening, authorities said. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection is moving swiftly Tuesday to hold at least one of Donald Trump’s allies in contempt as the former president is pushing back on the probe in a new lawsuit. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Monday it is launching a broad strategy to regulate toxic industrial compounds associated with serious health conditions that are used in products ranging from cookware to carpets and firefighting foams. Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump was questioned Monday in a deposition for a lawsuit brought by protesters who say his security team roughed them up in the early days of his presidential campaign in 2015. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s Washington’s enduring question: What does Joe Manchin want? Read more

CAMPTON, Ky. (AP) — A 4-year-old boy who fell off a 70-foot cliff at Red River Gorge in eastern Kentucky suffered a few scratches and bruises, but walked away without any severe injuries, officials said. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — A child of working-class Jamaican immigrants in the Bronx, Colin Powell rose from neighborhood store clerk to warehouse floor-mopper to the highest echelons of the U.S. government. It was a trailblazing American Dream journey that won him international acclaim and trust. Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An elementary school teacher in South Carolina surrendered to authorities Friday after being accused of having marijuana edibles in a student prize box in her classroom. Read more

A Vermont high school homecoming football game turned into a “drag ball” runway at halftime, with a mix of students and faculty members parading in gowns, wigs and makeup — and a big crowd in rainbow colors to cheer them on. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — As traffic fatalities spike in the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal agency in charge of auto safety is struggling with a growing backlog of safety rules ordered by Congress that are years overdue and could save thousands of lives. Read more

ORANGE, Calif. (AP) — Bill Clinton arrived Sunday at his home in New York to continue recovering from an infection that left him in treatment for six days at a Southern California hospital, officials said. Read more

WASHINGTON — Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers detected a record number of firearms at airport security checkpoints this year, establishing a 20-year record with three months remaining in the calendar year and fewer passengers traveling due to the pandemic. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — A commission tasked with studying potential changes to the Supreme Court has released a first look at its review, a draft report that is cautious in discussing proposals for expanding the court but also speaks approvingly of term limits for justices. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators say they are cracking down on “an explosion” of businesses’ use of fake reviews and other misleading messages to promote their products and services on social media. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton was admitted to a Southern California hospital Tuesday with an infection but he is “on the mend,” his spokesman said. Read more

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas can continue banning most abortions after a federal appeals court rejected the Biden administration’s latest attempt to stop a novel law that has become the nation’s biggest curb to abortion in nearly 50 years. The decision Thursday could push the law closer to returning to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has already once allowed the restrictions to take effect without ruling on its constitutionality. The Texas law bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks and before some women know they are pregnant. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has won back his full pension as part of a settlement of his lawsuit arising from his firing during the Trump administration more than three years ago, his lawyers announced Thursday. McCabe, a frequent target of then-President Donald Trump’s ire, was fired in March 2018 after the Justice Department’s inspector general concluded he had authorized the release of information to a newspaper reporter and then misled internal investigators about his role in the leak. The termination by Jeff Sessions, the attorney general at the time, came hours before McCabe was due to retire, denying the FBI official his pension. The settlement agreement vacates that decision, expunges from his personnel folder references to having been fired and entitles McCabe, who joined the FBI in 1996, to his full pension. “Politics should never play a role in the fair administration of justice and civil service personnel decisions,” McCabe said in a s… Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection has moved aggressively against close Trump adviser Steve Bannon, swiftly scheduling a vote to recommend criminal contempt charges against the former White House aide after he defied a subpoena. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to a former Justice Department lawyer who positioned himself as an ally of Donald Trump and aided the Republican president’s efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election. Read more

Thousands of public servants who were rejected from a student loan forgiveness program will get their cases reviewed by the Education Department as part of a settlement in a lawsuit brought by one of the nation’s largest teachers unions. Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court decided Wednesday it will not review a nonprofit group’s effort to open a supervised injection site in Philadelphia to try to reduce overdose deaths. The high court’s decision in the widely watched test case is a setback for the two dozen U.S. states and cities that supported the petition. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Another jump in consumer prices in September sent inflation up 5.4% from where it was a year ago, matching the largest increase since 2008 as tangled global supply lines continue to create havoc. Read more