Latest news with #Trump-Vance
Newsweek
2 days ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Map Shows States With the Most Amtrak Services
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Amtrak provides a vital service to U.S. commuters; however, many states have limited access to its train network, and several states have no service at all. According to data mapped by Newsweek, the vast majority of states have access to only a handful of Amtrak routes, with over half of all states having fewer than three routes passing through their stops. Why It Matters Amtrak is the largest high-speed rail provider in the United States, carrying over 30 million passengers annually. It is supported by state and federal subsidies, much of which is focused on maintaining the Northeast Corridor, which is the busiest part of its network. What To Know Amtrak lists 39 routes across the country on its Routes and Destinations website, with many connecting to Canada in the northeast. Along with Alaska and Hawaii, which are not connected to the mainland U.S., Wyoming and South Dakota are the only states in the country that do not have any Amtrak rail service. The state with the highest number of routes is New York, with 14, which benefits from being a financial and tourism hub with a high degree of travel, and being well placed to connect to the Midwest and Washington, D.C. The second-highest was Illinois, with 12 routes, thanks to Chicago's status as a transportation hub in the Midwest. Many routes to other parts of the U.S., such as the Texas Eagle and the California Zephyr, terminate in Chicago. Many states in the South and the West benefit from major routes passing through them. Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, North Dakota, and Montana all have only one major service calling at stops there, with final destinations in bordering states. The Northeast Corridor, which runs between Boston and Washington, D.C., with major metropolitan stops in New York City and Philadelphia, accounted for more than 14 million riders in fiscal year 2024—a 15.9 percent increase from the previous year. What People Are Saying In a statement given to Newsweek, Amtrak said: "Amtrak is meeting record demand, all while delivering mega construction projects, upgrading fleet, and serving more places with state partners. With strong federal support from the Trump-Vance administration, Amtrak can continue investments in American infrastructure and jobs, strengthen the economy, and make America a world leader in rail once again." What Happens Next Amtrak is undergoing major construction work in nearly 30 areas along the Northeast Corridor, where the majority of its tracks are located.
USA Today
29-05-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Trade court blocks Trump's tariffs
Trade court blocks Trump's tariffs | The Excerpt On Thursday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: A federal court has ruled President Donald Trump can't use an emergency-powers law to impose tariffs on foreign countries. Elon Musk leaves the Trump administration. USA TODAY White House Correspondent Bart Jansen takes a look at the Trump-Vance approach to crypto. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the United States will be "aggressively" revoking visas of Chinese students. USA TODAY Government Accountability Reporter Erin Mansfield discusses exclusive findings that chapter leaders allegedly mishandled over $100,000 in a major federal union's funds. The Oklahoma City Thunder are in the NBA Finals. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to podcasts@ Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson. And today is Thursday, May 29th, 2025. This is The Excerpt. Today, a trade court has blocked Trump's tariffs. Plus, we take a closer look at the administration's approach to crypto. And leaders at a chapter of the second largest union representing federal employees allegedly mishandled union funds. ♦ A federal court has ruled that President Donald Trump cannot use an emergency powers law to impose tariffs on foreign countries, dealing a blow to his trade agenda. The three-judge panel on the US Court of International Trade unanimously found that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, which Trump invoked to enact duties on foreign goods, does not authorize the tariffs and ordered them halted. The Trump administration filed a notice of appeal minutes after the ruling. Tariffs are a centerpiece of his second-term economic agenda. He's imposed steep levies on goods from foreign countries, igniting international tensions and disrupting the global economy. Trump announced big reciprocal tariffs on a slew of nations last month, and he later paused most of them while he negotiated trade deals. ♦ Elon Musk has officially left the Trump administration. Musk had already scaled back his role with the Department of Government Efficiency announced his departure in a post on X yesterday. It comes as his designation as a special government employee, which allowed him to stay on the job for 130 calendar days a year, has ended. As the head of DOGE and a senior White House advisor, Musk led a controversial effort to rapidly gut the government of what he called waste and fraud and reduce the federal workforce. DOGE, which is manned by more than a hundred government employees, is set to continue operating without Musk in charge, but it's unclear how much power the group will maintain without its famous leader. You can read more with a link in today's show notes. ♦ Vice President J.D Vance told 35,000 attendees of the Bitcoin 2025 conference that the Trump administration would support them, building the industry of digital assets, which he said would protect against bad policies and inflation. Vance, at the conference yesterday, vowed the Trump administration would not try to kill the industry through regulation as he alleged the Biden administration had. I caught up with USA TODAY White House correspondent Bart Jansen for more on the Trump administration's stance on crypto. Thanks as always for joining me, Bart. Bart Jansen: Thanks for having me. Taylor Wilson: Vance's speech came days after President Trump's social media business announced it would raise $2.5 billion to invest in cryptocurrency. What can you tell us about this part? Bart Jansen: The company that owns Truth Social said that it was going to try to raise $2.5 billion to invest in cryptocurrency. Again, a big support for the industry. I guess they also think that this would be a profitable way to invest funds through that company that up to now had been more of a social media company. So I guess it's unclear to say what they might do with that stockpile if they pull together $2.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, but it at least shows support for the industry by investing in cryptocurrency that would keep the price up, and I'm sure they hope for future growth. Taylor Wilson: Well, Trump also had this dinner with crypto investors last week. Did anything surprise you there, Bart? Stand out from that dinner? I mean, what was your big takeaway there? Bart Jansen: Well, what's provocative is that he basically rewarded people who invested in his meme coin by holding a dinner with 220 of the top investors. So they got to schmooze and get in close contact with Trump as at least a reward for investing in the coins. They had invested something in the neighborhood of $148 million. So these were affluent folks who got a chance to basically have a private dinner with the president. The White House insisted that this was just a private dinner in his private role, but Trump spoke from behind the presidential seal and he's made no bones about supporting the industry and saying that he doesn't want regulations that would restrict the growth of cryptocurrency. Ethics, watchdogs contend that it was a horrible conflict of interest, basically rewarding people who had given him money. So it remains an ethical quandary, but he was unapologetic. And the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that he has shown that he is working just for the purpose of the American public. So any criticism of it is unwarranted. Taylor Wilson: Right. I mean, on that conflict of interest point, even before some of this recent news, several Democrats questioned financial regulators last month about how they would oversee what they called an extraordinary conflict of interest. Can you just talk through some of what we heard from Democratic lawmakers last month on this point? Bart Jansen: Senator Elizabeth Warren is one of the leaders in that, basically saying if the Trump family is going to be involved in these different crypto options such as meme coins, such as becoming Bitcoin producers and having a platform called World Financial Liberty that offers a stable coin, that how can US financial regulators be thought to be regulating those things with an even eye if they know the president basically is behind several of these opportunities. So they wrote a letter in April to Federal Reserve Vice Chair Michelle Bowman and acting Comptroller of the Currency, Rodney Hood, to ask, "How are you going to do this?" And I don't know if we've heard an answer on that yet. Taylor Wilson: But I guess we can read between the lines. But really what is the broader strategy, the broader goals for this administration as it pertains to crypto? Bart Jansen: Trump and others have said they want to encourage the growth of the industry. They want the industry basically to be headquartered or to draw its framework and its guidelines in the United States rather than helping foreign countries build what is still just a very young industry. Of course, the problem with trying to rein this in or contain it in any way is that the advantage to cryptocurrency is that it isn't tied to a specific country. It's not like the dollar tied to the United States or the British pound. So the value of it is its independence. And that's what Vance reinforced in his speech on Wednesday, was that if perhaps you have trouble getting financial services through a traditional bank because of your political views, he cited people who support Second Amendment rights, and so if you can't get a bank loan, that perhaps you could get financial services through digital assets and basically still be able to raise money even if you couldn't through a traditional bank. So it's the independence of the industry that is most intriguing to the Trump administration, but that is also what makes it difficult to basically regulate and make sure that they're not cheating people or running basically a scheme where it's just trying to gather people to contribute money without anything really to show for it. So Trump and Vance are trying to say that the administration would like to shepherd the industry to greater growth, greater benefits through guidelines, and framework that are negotiated with the industry, with the people who would be regulated. And it's a work in progress. Taylor Wilson: Great breakdown for us as always. Bart Jansen covers the White House for USA TODAY. Thanks, Bart. Bart Jansen: Thanks for having me. ♦ Taylor Wilson: Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday announced the US will be aggressively revoking visas of Chinese students. The announcement came days after President Trump demanded the names and countries of international students from Harvard University. Rubio said the State Department will be revising visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why Chinese students were being targeted, which areas of study were being considered crucial, and how many visas were expected to be revoked. The Trump administration has paused scheduling new visa interviews for international students at US embassies and consulates worldwide as the State Department prepares to expand social media vetting of foreign students according to an internal cable seen by Reuters earlier this week. The administration had also announced it would revoke visas for all foreign students at Harvard, though that measure was immediately blocked by a judge. You can read more with a link in today's show notes. ♦ A union representing some 150,000 federal workers faces allegations of financial improprieties. I spoke with USA TODAY government accountability reporter Erin Mansfield to learn more about her exclusive findings. Thanks for joining me, Erin. Erin Mansfield: Thank you for having me. Taylor Wilson: So in terms of the basics here, what is alleged about mishandled funds at this union? Let's start there. Erin Mansfield: So there's a union chapter based in San Francisco. It's part of the National Treasury Employees Union. But the title can be confusing because this chapter is mostly employees with Department of Health and Human Services. And what is alleged is the current president, he is saying that over a hundred thousand dollars is unaccounted for from this chapter. And he blames previous leadership. And there were three specific people who he alleges were involved. Taylor Wilson: Those folks, who are they? Erin Mansfield: So they're the former chapter president, a man named Michael Roberts, former FDA employee, a woman named Betty White, former treasurer, and a gentleman named Randy Plunkett. Full disclosure, we did reach out to them and did not get a response. The gentleman who's making the allegations, his name is Brandon Bruce. He's a lawyer. He worked for the FDA for a while. And he basically started getting involved in his union in California, was suspicious of some of the practices, and he went out and got an auditing firm to look into problems. They found issues like people signing checks to themselves, three different iPads in a matter of a few years approved for the union president, about $12,000 spent on a storage unit. The checks were made to public storage, including checks that seemed to be made out to someone with the same last name as Betty White, to a company we couldn't find. A lot of different issues here that all come down to money not really being accounted for. Taylor Wilson: Erin, you touched on this, but can you just help us understand a little bit more about this union, the National Treasury Employees Union, and just why it's significant? Erin Mansfield: Yeah. So in this news cycle, we have heard a lot about federal employees. And the key people going to bat for federal employees are their unions. No doubt about it. The largest is a union called American Federation of Government Employees. And the second largest is the National Treasury Employees Union. They obviously get their title from representing people who work for the Department of Treasury. They represent a lot of IRS agents. They represent a lot of people from Customs and Border Patrol, but they also are the main union for people who work at the Department of Health and Human Services. Taylor Wilson: And how is the union approaching this on a national level, Erin? Erin Mansfield: I looked at Department of Labor Records because they sent out a report pretty much every year where they show criminal enforcement actions against different chapters. They've had eight, going back to 2001, as far back as I think that web page goes. The National Union declined to comment on an ongoing investigation. But it should be noted that going back to 2001, I was able to find eight cases. The most recent was actually a little less than a year ago, where in upstate New York, police alleged that there was over $56,000 that went missing from a Customs and Border Patrol Union up near the border of Canada. The union was tipped off about issues about two years ago. In July 2023, Brandon Bruce, he's the gentleman who brought these allegations, he got a response saying, "We've conducted an investigation" and going through his allegations point by point. Among them was the idea that two people were signing checks even though they didn't really have an official position with the union, and they had an actually paid dues in a while. Taylor Wilson: As far as how common this is, Erin, can you put this in historical context for us? Erin Mansfield: It was really common in the first half of the 20th century really. And in the late '50s, Congress passed a law requiring better financial disclosures. So one of the fun things about this story was learning about these financial disclosures I've never even heard of before. But unions have to file disclosures with the Department of Labor, and this is above and beyond what they file with the Internal Revenue Service. And so the Department of Labor audits them on a pretty regular basis, and you can find those audits on their website. And the Department of Labor audited this chapter. In 2018, they found record keeping violations. Some of the same people involved. They decided to counsel them and they wrote in it how the problem had been solved, but among the issues was payments to officers. Taylor Wilson: Folks can go find this full story with a link in today's show notes. Erin Mansfield covers government accountability for USA TODAY. More great journalism from you, Erin. Thanks so much. Erin Mansfield: Thank you. ♦ Taylor Wilson: The Oklahoma City Thunder are heading to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012. They punched their ticket after a dominant win over the Minnesota Timberwolves last night. In the finals, they'll face either the Indiana Pacers or New York Knicks, with the Pacers just one win away. As always, you can follow along with USA TODAY Sports. ♦ A stem cell based therapy initially developed at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center may lead to a new treatment for advanced Parkinson's disease, involving creating neurons. That's according to results from a phase 1 clinical trial reported in nature. Dr. Lorenz Studer: You cannot cure Parkinson's disease, but maybe if it worked, ideally you could cure the movement disorder. And so I think that's really what we are trying to develop with this type of cell therapy. And maybe in the future, this'll open up the same approach for all the cell types that might affect all the symptoms as well. Taylor Wilson: That was Dr. Lorenz Studer, director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He and his colleague, Dr. Viviane Tabar, sat down recently with USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub to talk through a promising new development in the treatment for advanced Parkinson's disease. You can hear that conversation right here beginning at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time today. ♦ And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio. And if you want to email us, you can find us at podcasts@ I'm Taylor Wilson. I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.
Axios
23-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
FTC's Ferguson walks fine line at oversight hearing
FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson vigorously defended his agency's work Thursday while also standing firmly with President Trump's efforts to defang the federal government and fire those perceived as enemies to his agenda. Ferguson testified before the House Appropriations Committee and fielded questions on everything from Trump's ousting of the two Democratic FTC commissioners to his plans for Big Tech. Why it matters: Ferguson is in a unique position of having to defend his historically independent competition and consumer protection agency, tasked with taking on companies of all sizes, while taking pains to not appear out of step with the Trump agenda's aim to destroy the administrative state. Democrats pressed Ferguson on why he referred to his agency as the "Trump-Vance" FTC and what DOGE was up to at the FTC, along with how he squared cost-cutting measures with his reverence for staffers' work. Republicans praised Ferguson for what they see as his work "de-politicizing" the agency from its predecessor, Democrat Lina Khan, and removing its focus from developing new rules and red tape for companies. What they're saying: "[The staff] are the lifeblood of the FTC, and we owe our success to them," Ferguson said, and reiterated why he believes the FTC exists: "We want to protect Americans when they shop for groceries, when they go to the hospital and when they speak online." But he also said he supports efforts to whittle down its ranks: "We also confront challenges, poor management decisions made by the previous administration that have spread our resources thin." "Thankfully, the measures we have taken to restore fiscal health to the FTC align with the president's directives to ensure that the agency is operating as efficiently and effectively as possible." The intrigue: Pressed on whether DOGE staff had access to confidential business data and what they were doing at the FTC, Ferguson said they are not "given access to anything they don't have a need for." The two DOGE employees "helped us find contracts that we could descope or eliminate while still fulfilling our mission to the American people," Ferguson said. The big picture: The FTC, sans Democratic commissioners, is fighting Meta in court, pursuing other antitrust cases, bringing enforcement actions against deceptive actors and enforcing transparency rules around ticketing and other markets. But the historically cash-strapped agency, which can struggle against major corporations and their teams of lawyers, has shed staff under Trump (though not nearly as much as other agencies), and representatives from DOGE moved into the office last month. What to watch: Ferguson said the FTC will work on reviewing anti-competitive regulations and enforce the recently-passed TAKE IT DOWN Act and a newer rule against "junk fees." It will also police hospital mergers and track AI being used for fraud. Conservatives and liberals are also stronger than ever under the Trump administration.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'60 Minutes' staff stand by Kamala Harris interview at the center of Trump's major Paramount lawsuit
The ongoing legal showdown between President Donald Trump and Paramount Global could come to a head any day as both parties continue mediation in hopes of resolving his $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News. The lawsuit stems from the "60 Minutes" primetime election special that aired in early October, just weeks before the 2024 presidential election, which featured interviews with then-Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The Trump-Vance ticket snubbed the program's invitation. "I wish that Donald Trump had agreed to participate in that program," one veteran "60 Minutes" producer told Fox News Digital. "Because we've been doing fair but tough interviews with the candidates of both parties every four years for 50 years." '60 Minutes' Producers Rail Against Trump's 'Bulls---' Lawsuit, Dread Prospects Of Paramount Making Settlement Trump had an icy relationship with "60 Minutes" prior to 2024, most notably from his 2020 sit-down with "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl, who famously dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop scandal as it emerged during a tense exchange with the then-GOP incumbent. In the Harris interview, she was pressed by "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker about why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn't "listening" to the Biden administration. The exchange first aired in a preview clip on "Face the Nation." Read On The Fox News App "Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region," Harris responded. Her remarks were immediately ridiculed as "word salad" by conservative critics. Cbs News Staffers Rattled By Ceo's Abrupt Exit As Trump Lawsuit Looms Over Network However, in the primetime special that aired the following night, a shorter, more focused answer from the vice president was shown to the same question. "We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end," Harris said in the primetime special. The answer swap immediately erupted on social media, fueling allegations that CBS News deceptively edited Harris' comments to scrub her viral "word salad" comments from primetime television viewers. Days later, Trump filed his lawsuit alleging election interference. "60 Minutes" producers tell Fox News Digital, "Everything was above board." "Every '60 Minutes' interview is edited," the veteran producer said. "'Face the Nation' used part of the answer, and we used a different part of the same answer. And the only reason for that was clarity and brevity." "Any piece, unless it's live, is not airing the full answer of every question," a second "60 Minutes" producer told Fox News Digital. "And the standard at '60 Minutes' is that you not mix and match questions and answers, which was not done, but is what Trump alleges on social media, which is a lie. So he's lying about what happened, and I think people hear that and think that he's telling the truth." Sanders, Warren Warn Paramount That Settling Trump Lawsuit Could Be Illegal Bribery Act Trump has repeatedly asserted in comments to reporters and on social media that CBS News took comments from a completely separate Harris response and inserted them in the exchange about Netanyahu. The raw transcript and footage released earlier this year by the FCC showed that both sets of Harris' comments came from the same response, but CBS News had aired only the first half of her response in the "Face the Nation" preview clip and aired the second half during the primetime special. "The fact is that standard journalism procedures were followed," the second producer said. The "60 Minutes" producers who spoke with Fox News Digital firmly dismissed the notion that the edit was made to aid Harris and her campaign, insisting it was "completely circumstantial" and that there was no motivation behind it besides saving time for the one-hour special. "They're both, quite frankly, not great," the second "60 Minutes" producer said of the two Harris responses that aired. "She's not great in an interview. She wasn't a great communicator… It's such a sign that this is just a political maneuver. You know, it's just Trump making noise and trying to get people to hate the media." What was also stressed by the "60 Minutes" journalists was the timeline between "Face the Nation" on that Sunday and the primetime special Monday night. "Face the Nation" had access to portions of the Harris footage and chose what it wanted to air that Sunday morning while "60 Minutes" was still editing the primetime special for the following night. "That's why we don't let a 90-second answer run, because then you'd use a tenth of your story on the 'ums' and 'hmms'… like you ask a question in an interview and the person meanders around and then finally gets to the answer, and you're like 'Okay, that's the answer' but they were processing it," the second producer said. "If Trump wants to say that was like some agenda by '60 Minutes' to make Kamala look better, I just don't think it was, and look what happened. That's the other thing: she didn't win." While the "60 Minutes" producers were confident that what CBS News aired followed the network's standards and practices, they couldn't say if there was any instance similar to the Harris interview where two different portions of the same answer aired separately, sparking so much confusion among viewers. During the initial uproar, there were loud calls for CBS News to release the unedited transcript, which the network refused to at the time. Earlier this year, FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered CBS News to hand over the transcript of the interview as part of its investigation into whether the network violated the FCC's "news distortion" policy after a complaint was filed. Paramount Facing Mounting Pressure From Cbs Stars, Dem Lawmakers As Company Mulls Settling Trump Lawsuit One producer suggested "60 Minutes" take a page from the playbook of PBS Frontline's Transparency Project, an initiative involving the publishing of full interview footage and transcripts online when their films are released. "We might be at the point where we need to start doing that," the second "60 Minutes" producer said. "If I were the head of '60 Minutes,' I would probably be thinking about some sort of transparency project like that. Like, fine, watch the whole interview." Even with the release of the raw transcript, as the "60 Minutes" producers point out, Trump never withdrew the lawsuit and has only doubled down on the "lies." "What Donald Trump has continued to do for months and months and over and over since we released that transcript is to make charges that are false," the veteran producer said. "He is telling lies. And it's clearly demonstrable that they are lies. And it doesn't stop him from telling them." Bill Owens, the "60 Minutes" executive producer who resigned last month, was defiant as the Trump lawsuit loomed over CBS News. "There have been reports in the media about a settlement and/or apology," Owens reportedly told his staff in February. "The company knows I will not apologize for anything we have done." Owens left CBS News over what he said was his inability to maintain an independent newsroom at "60 Minutes." Leading up to his exit was the growing involvement of Shari Redstone, Paramount's controlling shareholder who favors settling the lawsuit. Redstone wanted to "keep tabs" on upcoming "60 Minutes" segments involving Trump and urged CBS execs to delay any sensitive reporting on Trump until after the Skydance merger deal closed. CBS News journalists, despite Paramount's denial, have openly linked her desire to settle the lawsuit to the merger deal, which seeks the FCC's approval. "The conditions that they were attempting to oppose on [Owens] were intolerable… It was not something that any self-respecting editor would tolerate," the first "60 Minutes" producer said about his resignation. "It made all of us feel terrible because it was so wrong and so unfair." Cbs Correspondent Scott Pelley Hits Trump For Suing Journalists 'For Nothing' In Fiery Commencement Speech Despite the turmoil that has rocked CBS News in recent months, including Monday's ousting of the network's CEO Wendy McMahon, the "60 Minutes" journalists say they remain committed to their work, but offered a warning to corporate honchos like Redstone if they continue to interfere regardless of the pending outcome of Trump's lawsuit. "If pressure continues to be exerted on '60 Minutes' journalists from the corporation, then I could see people leaving," the second producer said. "Like if we enter our next season, and I'm reporting on a story that involves the Trump administration and I get the sense that my story is being changed because of something that Shari Redstone likes or doesn't like, I think that for me and I think other people on the staff, that would be the line." Pressure continues to mount as Paramount mulls settling Trump's lawsuit, possibly to the tune of $30-50 million. CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert called out the parent company for the huge payout it is currently contemplating, saying "handing over a pile of cash to a president over a frivolous lawsuit to get your broadcast license approved sounds so shady." Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent an ominous letter to Redstone suggesting her push to settle Trump's lawsuit to benefit the Skydance merger could be interpreted as bribery. "Under the federal bribery statute, it is illegal to corruptly give anything of value to public officials to influence an official act. If Paramount officials make these concessions in a quid pro quo arrangement to influence President Trump or other Administration officials, they may be breaking the law," the lawmakers told Redstone. A spokesperson for Paramount told Fox News Digital "This lawsuit is completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process. We will abide by the legal process to defend our case." A spokesperson for Redstone told Fox News Digital she recused herself from Paramount discussions of a potential settlement in February. CBS News and President Trump's attorney did not respond to requests for comment. The prospects of an announced settlement in the coming days isn't out of reach. "60 Minutes" aired its final episode of the season this past Sunday and won't be airing new episodes until the fall, preventing someone like Scott Pelley from sounding off to viewers on the network drama like he did last month following Owens' exit. Earlier this month, in the midst of the legal drama plaguing Paramount and CBS News, the "60 Minutes" election special at the center of it all received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Edited article source: '60 Minutes' staff stand by Kamala Harris interview at the center of Trump's major Paramount lawsuit
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Climate watch: As federal climate action dominates headlines, what's happening in PA?
Without question, there's a lot of bad news coming out of the federal government about climate and the environment. The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University listed, as of early May, 113 'steps taken by the Trump-Vance administration to scale back or wholly eliminate federal climate mitigation and adaptation measures.' This column, however, will look at things happening in Pennsylvania — some good, some not — because with the firehose of federal news these items might otherwise be missed. Renewables pass coal at PJM In April, the PJM grid, which serves the mid-Atlantic states including Pennsylvania, saw renewable energy sources surpass coal in the production of electricity. Renewables created 11,800 megawatts of electricity while coal generated 11,700 megawatts. That's from an analysis provided by Allegheny Front. The surge in renewables was driven by solar which set three peak generation records for PJM last month on April 1, 16 and 17. Pittsburgh Airport doubling solar Pittsburgh International Airport has its own microgrid, powered by natural gas and solar. It pushes out 23 megawatts of power and saves the airport about a million dollars annually in utility costs. It also cuts carbon emissions by 6 million pounds each year. The airport recently announced that it will add 11,216 solar panels to the 10,000 it already employs, generating an additional 4.7 megawatts of power. Peak energy demand at the airport is about 14 megawatts. The airport sells the surplus back to the grid. Crypto-Currency and fracking A fracking-powered crypto-currency mine in Elk County has been abandoned in violation of Pennsylvania law, regulators say. In 2022 Alabama-based Diversified Energy turned on a gas well in Horton Township that had sat unused for over a decade. The well funneled gas into on-site generators powering crypto-currency mining supercomputers. After a little more than two years, the company packed up and left the well uncapped, the Department of Environmental Protection charges. Unplugged wells leak methane which stokes global warming. Pennsylvania has more abandoned gas wells than any other state. Good news on Philly emissions 'Greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of Philadelphia's economy dropped 31% between 2006 and 2022, with a third of these reductions happening since the city's last inventory in 2019.' That's from a report by WHYY in Philly. A key reason: the sharp decline in the use of coal to make electricity. ' In contrast, greenhouse gas emissions across the U.S. fell just around 15% between 2006 and 2022. PA school district goes solar Steelton-Highspire School District in Dauphin County will save $3.6 million over 20 years by participating in a power purchase agreement for a 1.7-megawatt solar array. It covers 100 percent of the District's annual energy needs, according to an article in Canary Media. Steelton-Highspire also converted its school buses from diesel to electric. The District took advantage of federal rebates created by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Same stand, new fossil fuel The coal-fired Homer City Generating Station in Indiana County closed in 2023. But another fossil fuel-burning plant is going to rise in its place. A new $10 billion methane gas-burning plant on the same site is expected to be up and running by 2027. Homer City Redevelopment LLC, backed by Knighthead Capital Management, plans a plant capable of generating 4.5 gigawatts of electricity. The company plans on locating energy-consuming data centers around the plant, declining to share more specifics with PublicSource. Richard W. Jones is a member of the State College chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby. Reach the chapter at PAStateCollege@ .
