BISMARCK, N.D. — Former President Donald Trump has chosen North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to head the Interior Department. Some things to know about the two-term Republican governor of a sparsely populated state: Burgum's Background Is in Business Burgum, 67, grew up in tiny Arthur, North Dakota, population 328. He...
Trump Rewards Legal Defense Team, Picks Lawyer Todd Blanche as No. 2 Justice Official
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Todd Blanche, an attorney who led the legal team that defended the Republican at his hush money criminal trial, to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official. A former federal prosecutor, Blanche has been a key figure on Trump's defense team both...
Trump Chooses Former Rep. Doug Collins to Run Veterans Affairs
NEW YORK — Doug Collins, a former congressman from Georgia, is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the Department of Veterans Affairs. “We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform,” Trump said in a statement Thursday. Collins is a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve...
Suicides in the US Military Increased in 2023, Continuing a Long-Term Trend
Suicides in the U.S. military increased in 2023, continuing a long-term trend that the Pentagon has struggled to abate, according to a Defense Department report released on Thursday. The increase is a bit of a setback after the deaths dipped slightly the previous year. The number of suicides and the...
Average Rate on 30-Year Mortgage in US Slips to 6.78%
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. edged lower this week, ending a six-week climb. The rate slipped to 6.78% from 6.79% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. That's still down from a year ago, when the rate averaged 7.4%. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate...
Trump Hammered Democrats on Transgender Issues. Now the Party Is at Odds on a Response
ATLANTA — After losing the White House and both houses of Congress, Democrats are grappling with how to handle transgender politics and policy following a campaign that featured withering and often misleading GOP attacks on the issue. There is plenty of second-guessing after President-elect Donald Trump anchored his victory over...
What Are Recess Appointments and How Could Trump Use Them to Fill His Cabinet?
WASHINGTON — As President-elect Donald Trump moves to set up a more forceful presidency than in his first term, he is choosing loyalists for his Cabinet and considering a tool known as recess appointments to skip over Senate confirmations for even some of the most powerful positions in U.S. government....
Warren Buffett Is Sitting on Over $325 Billion Cash as Berkshire Hathaway Sells Apple Stock
OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett is now sitting on more than $325 billion cash after continuing to unload billions of dollars worth of Apple and Bank of America shares this year and continuing to collect a steady stream of profits from all of Berkshire Hathaway's assorted businesses without finding any...
Trump Chooses Anti-Vaccine Activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As Health Secretary
NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting him in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net...
Satire Publication The Onion Buys Alex Jones’ Infowars at Auction With Sandy Hook Families’ Backing
The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones' Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax. "The dissolution of Alex Jones' assets and...