President Donald Trump has directed his Justice Department to pause enforcement of the TikTok ban until early April, but a host of questions remain – including whether Trump has the authority to issue such an order and if TikTok’s China-based parent would be amenable to selling the popular social media platform. In an executive order signed on Monday, Trump instructed the U.S. attorney general to not enforce the ban for 75 days while his administration determines “the appropriate course forward in an orderly way that protects national security while avoiding an abrupt shutdown” of TikTok. Under a federal law that…
Author: MAK Gojar
WASHINGTON — For Marco Rubio, the easy part is over. He was confirmed by the Senate as secretary of state with unanimous support, Democrats joining Republicans in praising his acumen and judgment. Now comes the task that will make or break his tenure: retaining the full backing of his new boss, Donald Trump. The 53-year-old Rubio is coming into the job with more experience than President Trump’s previous secretaries of state, having spent the last 14 years in the Senate becoming intimately acquainted with U.S. foreign policy from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East and Latin America. But that traditional…
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Cynthia Erivo, who is starring in the hit musical “Wicked,” was named Tuesday as the 2025 Woman of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals. The theater group, which dates to 1844 and claims to be the world’s third-oldest still operating, said Erivo will receive her Pudding Pot award at a celebratory roast Feb. 5. Afterward, she will attend a performance of Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ 176th production, “101 Damnations.” Actor Jon Hamm, who came to fame starring as ad executive Don Draper on the AMC series “Mad Men,” is the 2025 Man of the Year. He…
President Donald Trump once expressed concern with how low showerhead flow affected his “perfect” hair. Now back in the White House, he’s again taking aim at some high-efficiency household items — and that may mean higher water and electric bills in your home. One of Trump’s several dozen first-day executive orders promises to “unleash American energy,” including a pledge to ease efficiency standards for household appliances and fixtures. The standards are intended to make dishwashers, showerheads, refrigerators, laundry machines, toilets and the like use less energy and water. The higher-efficiency appliances can have higher upfront costs, but they save water…
U.S. stocks rose Tuesday after more companies said they made bigger profits at the end of last year than analysts expected and as Treasury yields eased. The S&P 500 climbed 0.9%, while many markets around the world took only tentative steps following Donald Trump’s return to the White House on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 538 points, or 1.2%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.6%. Trump has promised sweeping moves to reshape global trade and the economy, often at the expense of other countries, but most stock indexes in Asia and Europe made only modest moves. In the…
Israel’s top general resigned Tuesday, taking responsibility for security failures tied to Hamas’ surprise attack that triggered the war in Gaza and adding to pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has delayed any public inquiry that could potentially implicate his leadership. While a fragile new ceasefire in the Gaza Strip held, Israel launched a “significant and broad” military operation in the occupied West Bank, killing at least nine people and injuring 40, Palestinian officials said. Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi is the most senior Israeli figure to resign over the security and intelligence breakdown on Oct. 7, 2023, when thousands…
Rep. Elise Stefanik pledged Tuesday to push President Donald Trump’s “America First” stance if confirmed as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and roll out a review of U.S. funding critical for U.N. operations and its many agencies around the world. Noting that the U.S. is the largest single contributor to the United Nations, Stefanik said at her confirmation hearing that the country has to ensure its investments are making America safer, stronger and more prosperous — echoing Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests,…
President Donald Trump signed an executive order promising to eliminate what he incorrectly labels “the electric vehicle mandate” imposed under former President Joe Biden. His order on Monday is consistent with pledges Trump made on the campaign trail to end what he calls a “preposterous” focus on EVs by Biden and other Democrats. The order, along with other steps expected in a second Trump administration, could slow U.S. efforts to address climate change, much of which is caused by burning gasoline and diesel fuel that emit carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases. Here is a look at Trump’s actions…
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer has died. Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer has died. NEW YORK (AP) — Jules Feiffer, an Oscar- and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and writer whose prolific output ranged from a long-running comic strip to plays, screenplays and children’s books, died Friday. He was 95 and, true to his seemingly tireless form, published his last book just four months ago. Feiffer’s wife, writer JZ Holden, said Tuesday that he died of congestive heart failure at their home in Richfield Springs, New York, and was surrounded by friends, the couple’s two cats and his…
President Trump signed a barrage of orders to dismantle Joe Biden’s agenda on climate and clean energy. Here are three that could have far-reaching consequences. President Trump signed a barrage of orders to dismantle Joe Biden’s agenda on climate and clean energy. Here are three that could have far-reaching consequences. On the heels of the hottest year in recorded history, one that brought the planet to a dangerous temperature threshold, President Donald Trump effectively told the world Monday that the United States is out of the climate fight. Hours after his inauguration, Trump signed a barrage of executive orders to…
Chef José Andrés has responded after President Trump claimed he “fired” the Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient from the White House council on nutrition.
After taking the oath of office, Marco Rubio promised that every action taken by the State Department will be determined by the answers to three questions.
Phish is heading back to California, with dates set at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and Hollywood Bowl. Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif., on Monday, April 17, 2023. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) Phish, the world’s greatest jam band, has announced a West Coast tour for April. The trek brings the Vermont quartet — consisting of vocalist-guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman and keyboardist Page McConnell — to California for five dates. Phish performs two nights — April 22 and 23 — at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco…
Attorneys general from 18 states sued Tuesday to block President Donald Trump’s move to end a decades-old immigration policy known as birthright citizenship guaranteeing that U.S.-born children are citizens regardless of their parents’ status. Trump’s roughly 700-word executive order, issued late Monday, amounts to a fulfillment of something he’s talked about during the presidential campaign. But whether it succeeds is far from certain amid what is likely to be a lengthy legal battle over the president’s immigration policies. Here’s a closer look at birthright citizenship, Trump’s executive order and reaction to it: What is birthright citizenship? Birthright citizenship means anyone born in the…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order promising to eliminate what he incorrectly labels “the electric vehicle mandate” imposed under former President Joe Biden. His order on Monday is consistent with pledges Trump made on the campaign trail to end what he calls a “preposterous” focus on EV’s by Biden and other Democrats. The order, along with other steps expected in a second Trump administration, could slow U.S. efforts to address climate change, much of which is caused by burning gasoline and diesel fuel that emit carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases. Here is a look at…
NEW YORK — Right-wing extremists are celebrating Elon Musk’s straight-arm gesture during a speech Monday, although his intention wasn’t totally clear and some hate watchdogs are saying not to read too much into it. “I just want to say thank you for making it happen,” Musk said during a speech at Capitol One Arena on Monday afternoon, referring to Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election. Then he slapped his hand on his chest, extended his arm straight outward and upward with his palm facing downwards. He turned around and made a similar gesture facing the other way. “My heart…
Four men with Northwest Indiana ties were among the more than 1,500 people pardoned by President Donald Trump Monday for storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Dale Huttle, 73, of Crown Point has served about six months of a 2 ½ year sentence at FCI Thomson, a federal prison near the Illinois-Iowa border. His original release date was in December 2026. Michelle Peterson, his federal public defender, confirmed Tuesday he is set to be released, but declined further comment. Court filings state Huttle had two “violent confrontations” with law enforcement officers on the building’s Lower West Terrace. That…
A little imagination goes a long way. Neuqua Valley High School will be putting that message on display in more ways than one this week as a group of students from the Naperville school compete in the Student Silent Film Festival. Taking place Wednesday night at Tivoli Theatre in Downers Grove, the annual competition invites students from across the Chicago area to create their own original films without the aid of voices or sound effects. Neuqua Valley is one of 11 participating high schools this year and the only competitor from Naperville. “I’m really excited,” said senior Emma Jenkins, a…
What living composer is more versatile than Jeanine Tesori? Lyric Opera subscribers heard her beautiful score for the opera “Blue” this past autumn and now Porchlight Music Theatre is reviving “Fun Home,” one of the best song suites in any contemporary musical, not least because of how well Tesori adapted her colossal talents to a woman’s story rooted in memory both traumatic and elegiac. “Fun Home” is based on a graphic novel memoir by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel and probes many of life’s paradoxes through the recollection of the authorial lesbian character, Alison, who grew up in the 1970s…
A 27-year-old Miami Gardens woman was arrested early Saturday morning after allegedly stabbing a juvenile following an argument outside a liquor store in northwest Miami-Dade, authorities confirmed Tuesday. Leer en español Deputies with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene near Northwest Seventh Avenue and Northwest 107th Street just before 4:30 a.m. Deputies said they found the victim suffering from a stab wound to her left arm. The victim told deputies she had been arguing with a woman inside the liquor store which led to the alleged attack, according to an arrest report. After the victim left the liquor…