National News

COVID-19 Vaccine To Arrive in States Monday

U.S. officials say the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine will begin arriving in states Monday morning. Trucks will roll out Sunday morning as shipping companies UPS and FedEx begin delivering Pfizer’s vaccine to nearly 150 distribution centers across the states. An additional 425 sites will get shipments Tuesday, and the remaining 66 on Wednesday. Initially, about 3 million doses are expected…

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Lawsuit to Overturn Joe Biden’s Presidential Election Victory

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit backed by President Trump to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory, ending a desperate attempt to get legal issues rejected by state and federal judges before the nation’s highest court. Trump had called the lawsuit filed by Texas against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin “the big one.” The court’s order was its second…

Biden, Harris Named Time Magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool) WASHINGTON (AP) – Time magazine has named President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris its “Person of the Year.” Time’s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal says Biden and Harris won the honor for “changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing…

US Carries Out Rare Execution During Presidential Transition

. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) – The Trump administration has carried out its ninth federal execution of the year in what has been a first series of executions during a presidential lame-duck period in 130 years. Federal prison officials in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Thursday, executed a Texas street-gang member for his role in the 1999 slayings…

Minneapolis Approves Cuts to Police Budget, Not Staffing

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a budget early Thursday that will shift about $8 million from the police department toward violence prevention and other programs – but will keep the mayor’s targeted staffing levels for sworn officers intact. Mayor Jacob Frey had threatened to veto the entire budget if the council went ahead with its plan…

Trump Lawyer Rudy Giuliani Tests Positive for COVID-19

FILE (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) President Trump says his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani  has tested positive for coronavirus. The 76-year-old former New York mayor has traveled extensively to battleground states in effort to help Trump subvert his election loss. On numerous occasions he has met with local officials for hours at a time without wearing a mask. Trump wished Giuliani…

Lawmakers Say COVID-19 Relief Bill Won’t Offer $1,200 Checks

  With time running out, lawmakers are closing in on a proposed COVID-19 relief bill that would provide roughly $300 in extra federal weekly unemployment benefits but not another round of $1,200 in direct payments to most Americans. That’s an issue that President-elect Joe Biden will have to wrestle over with a new Congress next year. The $908 billion aid…

Biden Eyes Defeated Candidates for Key Administration Role

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Losing can have an upside. Just ask Rep. Abby Finkenauer, Sen. Doug Jones, and Rep. Donna Shalala. The list goes on. So does the age-old practice of an incoming president offering losing politicians a place in a new White House. As Biden fills out his administration, his team is looking to recently defeated members of…

Senate GOP Leader Sticking With Partisan Virus Relief Plan

WASHINGTON (AP) – Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell says he’s sticking with his scaled-back COVID-19 relief bill with the goal of passing a significant down payment during the lame-duck session and then revisiting the topic next year. The Kentucky Republican made the announcement after President-elect Joe Biden called upon lawmakers to follow a similar path. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi resumed…

Biden Chooses an All-Female Senior White House Press Team

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool) WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden will have an all-female communications team at his White House, led by campaign communications director Kate Bedingfield. Bedingfield will serve as Biden’s White House communications director, and Jen Psaki, a longtime Democratic spokeswoman, will be his press secretary. The choices reflect Biden’s stated desire to build out a diverse…