WPTF News Archives - Page 2 of 90

Trump and Musk solidify their bond with Texas trip for rocket launch

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 19, 2024, 5:27 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump and Elon Musk have been nearly inseparable since the election. On Tuesday, Trump arrived in Texas to watch one of Musk’s companies test its Starship rocket. If successful, the rocket’s reusable booster will be caught back at the launch pad. It’s a remarkable display of intimacy between the president-elect and the world’s richest man. Musk supported Trump’s candidacy and has been given unparalleled access. The billionaire has been helping shape the new administration and he’s positioned in a way that could help his own companies, which have billions of dollars in federal contracts and routinely deal with government regulators.… Read More

Here are the people Trump has picked for key positions so far

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 19, 2024, 4:54 pm

President-elect Donald Trump is filling key posts in his second administration, putting an emphasis so far on aides and allies who were his strongest backers during the 2024 campaign. Among his picks are Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state, former Democratic House member Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general.… Read More

FEMA administrator says she supports investigation of alleged Trump bias in relief efforts

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 19, 2024, 4:35 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency tells lawmakers she has encouraged the agency’s inspector general to review whether an employee was acting alone when directing workers helping hurricane victims to avoid homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said Tuesday it is critical to meet survivors and make them aware of federal resources available to help them. The employee, she said, wrote to about 11 staffers under her supervision that they should “avoid homes advertising Trump.” Criswell tells lawmakers reviewing FEMA’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton that she believes the employee’s actions were not indicative of any widespread cultural problems at the agency.… Read More

Stock market today: Nvidia and Walmart drive US indexes higher

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 19, 2024, 4:16 pm

NEW YORK (AP) — Nvidia helped pull U.S. stock indexes higher after they stumbled in the morning on worries about escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% Tuesday. The Nasdaq composite also erased an early loss to turn 1% higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3%. Nvidia rallied ahead of its profit report for the latest quarter, which is coming on Wednesday. Strategists say it appears to be the most anticipated event left on the calendar this year for Wall Street. Walmart rose after topping profit forecasts, while Treasury yields eased.… Read More

North Carolina GOP’s legislative priorities for this year inch closer to becoming law

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 19, 2024, 4:07 pm

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina House voted to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill that drastically expands private school scholarship grants and forces local sheriffs to comply with federal immigration agents’ requests to detain certain inmates. The House voted along party lines on Tuesday. The bill includes about $463 million to eliminate the state’s private school voucher waitlist. The other part of the legislation focuses on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cooperation with sheriffs. Proponents say the legislation will keep North Carolinians safer. But opponents say it unfairly targets immigrant communities.… Read More

Prosecution rests in trial over death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 19, 2024, 3:58 pm

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Prosecutors have rested their case in the trial against the man accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley. Jose Ibarra is charged with murder and other crimes in Riley’s death in February. He waived his right to a jury trial, meaning the case will decided by a judge alone. Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, testified Tuesday about how she texted and called her daughter with increasing concern after Riley didn’t call her back. Phillips cried while watching surveillance footage showing Riley running on the morning of her death. Defense attorneys have asked questions of witnesses that seem designed to create doubt by suggesting that Ibarra’s brother could not be excluded as a suspect.… Read More

Republican lawmakers are set to elect a new North Carolina House speaker, Destin Hall

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 19, 2024, 3:34 pm

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina House Republicans have carried out a succession plan to choose the chamber’s rules committee chairman to succeed Rep. Tim Moore after 10 years as speaker. Republicans who recently won House elections met Tuesday and chose Rep. Destin Hall of Caldwell County to succeed Moore in the post when the next two-year session opens in January. Moore was elected to Congress this fall and is departing after a record five terms as speaker. Key House GOP leaders backed a plan in which Hall would become the speaker nominee and Bell would succeed Hall as the next rules chairman.… Read More

Trump chooses billionaire and key transition adviser Howard Lutnick for commerce secretary

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 19, 2024, 2:49 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Howard Lutnick, head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and cryptocurrency enthusiast, as his nominee for commerce secretary. Trump made the announcement Tuesday on his social media platform, Truth Social. Lutnick is a co-chair of Trump’s transition operation helping to find the team that will work in the next administration. He has donated to both Democrats and Republicans in the past, once appeared on Trump’s NBC reality show, “The Apprentice,” and has become a part of the president-elect’s inner circle. He shared the stage with Trump at events in the closing days of his campaign, including at a rally at Madison Square Garden.… Read More

Founder of artificial intelligence company used by schools in Los Angeles, NYC, Atlanta is arrested

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 19, 2024, 2:43 pm

NEW YORK (AP) — The founder of an artificial intelligence company that worked with large school districts nationwide has been arrested on fraud charges. Joanna Smith-Griffin had been arrested Tuesday in North Carolina. She is the founder of the AI technology company ALLHere Education Inc. It serviced schools in Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta using a chatbot that created learning plans for each student. Federal authorities say she defrauded investors out of millions of dollars by inflating the company’s financial information to secure investments. It was not immediately clear who would represent her in an afternoon court appearance in North Carolina.… Read More

Jersey Mike’s sandwich chain is acquired by private equity firm Blackstone for $8 billion

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 19, 2024, 2:30 pm

NEW YORK (AP) — Jersey Mike’s, the quickly expanding sandwich chain, is being acquired by the private equity firm Blackstone in a deal valued at $8 billion. The transaction is “intended to help enable Jersey Mike’s to accelerate its expansion across and beyond the U.S. market,” the companies said Tuesday, as well as aid ongoing technological investments. Under terms of the agreement, Jersey Mike’s founder and CEO Peter Cancro will continue to lead the business and maintains a “significant equity stake” in the chain. Jersey Mike’s has expanded rapidly over the last decade, growing from 857 stores in 2014 to more than 2,800 this year.… Read More

Forget driverless cars. One company wants autonomous helicopters to spray crops and fight fires

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 19, 2024, 11:22 am

HENNIKER, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire company is working to develop a fleet of autonomous helicopters that it hopes can be used to put out fires, spray crops and handle other dangerous jobs. Rotor Technologies has built two of the autonomous helicopters, started running test flights and plans a demonstration of the helicopter at an agriculture trade show in Texas on Wednesday. The company is hoping to sell as many as 20 of the small helicopters next year, most of which would be used by farmers to spray fields with pesticides and fertilizers. To allow those flights, the company is counting on getting Federal Aviation Administration approval by next year.… Read More

The White House’s Christmas tree is a symbol of resilience for hurricane-hit North Carolina farms

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 19, 2024, 11:02 am

NEWLAND, N.C. (AP) — The White House’s Christmas tree is slated to be cut and transported from a North Carolina farm on Wednesday. Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm is located in Avery County, North Carolina. It was one of the hardest-hit counties from Hurricane Helene just a few months before. The farm experienced some road damage and lost between 5,000 to 6,000 smaller trees in a mudslide. But one of the owners, Sam Cartner Jr., says that other Christmas tree farmers had it much worse than his family’s farm. He hopes the White House tree can be an inspiring symbol for western North Carolina.… Read More