(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Host Jimmy Kimmel speaks at the Oscars in Los Angeles on Feb. 26, 2017. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — ABC will reinstate Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show in the wake of criticism over his comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, officials with the network said Monday.

“We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday,” ABC said a statement.

ABC suspended Kimmel indefinitely on Wednesday after comments he made about Kirk, who was killed Sept. 10, in a monologue. Kimmel said “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk” and that “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”

Kimmel has hosted “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC since 2003 and has been a fixture in television and comedy for even longer. He is also well known as a presenter, having hosted the Academy Awards four times.

Backlash to Kimmel’s comments was swift. Nexstar and Sinclair, two of ABC’s largest affiliate owners, said they would be pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from their stations. Others, including several fellow comedians, came to his defense.

Sinclair said Monday that it would not air Kimmel’s show Tuesday and would broadcast news programming instead. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” the company said. There was no immediate comment from Nexstar on its plans for Kimmel’s return.

Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, the organization founded by Kirk and now headed by his widow, posted on X about Kimmel’s reinstatement: “Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmel back on the air is not surprising, but it’s their mistake to make. Nexstar and Sinclair do not have to make the same choice.”

Stephen Colbert joyfully reacted to the news during the opening of his “Late Show,” telling his audience that “our long national, late nightmare is over.”

Colbert, whose late show is being canceled by CBS after this season, said he was happy for his friend and the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” staff. Grabbing his recently-won Emmy Award for outstanding talk series, the comedian could hardly contain his glee. He added, “Once more, I am the only martyr on late night!”

President Donald Trump, one of Kimmel’s frequent targets, posted on social media that Kimmel’s suspension was “great news for America.” He also called for other late night hosts to be fired. He has yet to comment on Kimmel’s reinstatement.

Kimmel’s suspension arrived in a time when Trump and his administration have pursued threats, lawsuits and federal government pressure to try to exert more control over the media industry. Trump has reached settlements with ABC and CBS over their coverage.

Trump has also filed defamation lawsuits against The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Republicans in Congress stripped federal funding from NPR and PBS.

Brendan Carr, the head of the Federal Communications Commission, issued a warning prior to Kimmel’s suspension that criticized Kimmel’s remarks about the Kirk assassination.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Carr denied on Monday that he threatened to revoke ABC’s local station licenses because of Kimmel’s remarks.

“Jimmy Kimmel is in the situation he’s in because of his ratings. Not because of anything that’s happened at the federal government level,” Carr said at the Concordia Annual Summit.

Kimmel’s suspension has cast a spotlight on the web of business interests that require approval from the U.S. government. Disney, for instance, needs approval from the Trump administration for ESPN to complete its acquisition of the NFL Network, while Nexstar needs the administration’s approval to complete its $6.2 billion purchase of broadcast rival Tegna. Sinclair has petitioned the FCC to relax rules limiting broadcaster ownership of stations.

The suspension also happened at a time when the late night landscape is shifting. CBS announced the cancellation of Colbert’s show over the summer.

Kimmel’s contract with The Walt Disney Co.-owned network had been set to expire in May 2026. His representative did not return a message seeking comment Monday.

Word of the reinstatement came as hundreds of Hollywood and Broadway stars — including Robert De Niro, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep — urged Americans “fight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights” in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension.

More than 430 movie, TV and stage stars as well as comedians, directors and writers added their names to an open letter Monday from the American Civil Liberties Union that argues it is “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.”

Also Monday, ABC’s “The View” weighed in on the controversy after not raising it for two episodes after Kimmel was suspended. Co-host Whoopi Goldberg opened the show saying: “No one silences us” and she and her fellow hosts condemned Disney’s decision.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said Monday evening he’s willing to appear at a town hall hosted by a local ABC station after earlier canceling his appearance due to Kimmel’s suspension.

(File Photo: Caption for Photo and Credit for Photo: More Than 500K People Helped GoFundMe Set Single-Day Giving Record After George Floyd’s Death Credit for Photo: Courtesy, GoFundMe)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) A GoFundMe page has started to support the family of eighteen-year-old Kendric Curtis, Jr., a senior from Aliquippa High School who was shot and killed by an ATF agent on Thursday in Aliquippa. According to Pennsylvania State Police in Beaver, Curtis discharged a firearm and the ATF agent shot back at him on Thursday in the area of Waugaman Street and Tyler Street in Aliquippa in the shooting that took place around 6:20 p.m that day. Curtis died early Friday morning at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh and a vigil was held for him on Sunday in Aliquippa. The link to donate to the GoFundMe for Curtis’ family can be found below:

Click here to donate to Curtis’ family: Fundraiser by Mattie Levine : Justice for Kendric Curtis: Support His Family

(Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of New Brighton Borough)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(New Brighton, PA) Leaf collection will occur, weather permitting, in Daugherty Township, New Brighton Borough and Pulaski Township through December 5th, 2025, weather permitting. Residents need to go to the edge of the street to put their raked leaves there so they can be collected. Bagged leaves or leaves that have garden debris, grass clippings, garbage or rubbish, tree branches, brush or stones will not be collected. Leaf collection begins in New Brighton Borough on September 29th, 2025, leaf collection begins in Daughtery Township on October 13th, 2025 and leaf collection begins in Pulaski Township on October 20th, 2025. According to a release from New Brighton Borough, here is more information about leaf collection in that area:

• Leaf collection in Daugherty Township will follow the following schedule:

• Mondays: William Penn Way & Crescent Heights Plan, Rt. 65 (from Valley Avenue to Stuber Road), North Avenue, Franklin Plan, and McGuire Street.

• Tuesdays: Gulbranson Heights Plan, Daugherty Highlands Plan, and Hillcrest Drive.

• Wednesdays: Mercer Heights Plan, Klein Plan, Stuber Road, McCreary Plan, Cardinal Drive, Robin Trail, and Rt. 65 (from Stuber Road to Wises Grove Road).

• Thursdays: Allendale Road, Wallace Drive, Harold Street, Inman Drive, Hogue Drive, and John Street.

• Call the Daugherty Township Municipal Building at (724) 846-5337 to schedule a collection on state routes not listed above.

  Leaf collection in Pulaski Township will follow the following schedule:

• Mondays: New England Hill and Blockhouse Run Road area.

• Tuesdays: Sunflower Road – North to 36th Street.

• Wednesdays: West Side of Rochester Road from Sunflower Road to 52nd Street.

• Thursdays: East Side of Rochester Road from Sunflower Road to 52nd Street.

• Fridays: Tree branches will be collected that have fallen from storms.  Branches must be tied together into manageable bundles and not contain any other type of lawn debris.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – An employee walks through the U.S. Steel Granite City Works facility Thursday, June 28, 2018, in Granite City, Ill. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The White House said Monday that it intervened under the terms of a three-month-old national security agreement with Japan-based Nippon Steel to block a decision to stop processing raw steel at U.S. Steel’s Granite City Works plant in Illinois.

In a statement, the White House said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick delivered the message that President Donald Trump would exercise his so-called “golden share” power that was a key element in the Trump administration’s decision to allow Nippon Steel to buy out U.S. Steel.

That provision helped resolve the Trump administration’s national security concerns in Nippon Steel’s proposed buyout of the iconic American steelmaker and gives the federal government a say in certain company decisions involving domestic steel production, including over closing or idling U.S. Steel’s plants.

“The administration did intervene to block U.S. Steel’s decision to idle the Granite City Works plant, with the threat of the president invoking his golden share authority,” the White House said.

Earlier this month, Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel said it would stop processing steel slabs at its Granite City Works plant in southern Illinois, just outside St. Louis, and “optimize” its operations by focusing on processing at its Mon Valley Works in Pennsylvania and Gary Works in Indiana.

That decision was viewed as just a matter of time after U.S. Steel stopped producing steel at Granite City Works in 2023 when it idled the last operating blast furnace there. It had idled the other blast furnace there in 2019. It did say that it wouldn’t lay off any of the roughly 800 workers there or reduce their pay.

On Friday, U.S. Steel reversed course and said it would continue to supply raw steel slabs to Granite City “indefinitely” and that it had “found a solution to continue slab consumption at Granite City.”

It did not say what that solution was. It also declined to discuss the White House’s assertion that it had blocked the move.

“The Trump administration is a great friend to the American steel industry, and we have ongoing positive and productive conversations with them on a variety of topics, but we do not plan to discuss the details of any of those conversations,” U.S. Steel said in a statement.

The United Steelworkers union — which had opposed the buyout by Nippon Steel — accused U.S. Steel of trying to “wiggle out” of commitments that Nippon Steel made in its deal with the White House.

U.S. Steel responded that it is in full compliance with Nippon Steel’s agreement with the White House.

Under the national security agreement, protections expire in 2027 for Granite City Works, but last until 2035 for U.S. Steel’s other facilities.

Granite City Works makes rolls of sheet steel for the construction, container, pipe and automotive industries.

(Photo Courtesy of the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) A man from McKeesport, Pennsylvania is now in custody after an over thirteen-hour standoff occurred in the Knoxville neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Friday. According to the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office, thirty-year-old Zachary Livingston had been a fugitive when three warrants were issued for his arrest in July of 2025. These warrants include a burglary warrant out of Westmoreland County and a theft warrant out of West Mifflin, with some of the warrants for Livingston being active. Livingston was initally inside a residence on Alice Street, which was a rental property that had four units, and movement was heard by detectives on the residence’s upper floor when they saw Livingston try to exit a window on the third floor of that same residence. Livingston then escaped to a roof that was adjacent to that residence as detectives tried to enter the room of that residence on the third floor where Livingston was, and it took over thirteen hours for Livingston to surrender as first responders like Pittsburgh firefighters and Pittsburgh paramedics had to assist with negotiations with Livingston. Livingston was also sedated after being put on a ladder from firefighters and restrained by detectives. Livingston was then taken on a gurney to an ambulance, which took him to the hospital, before he was ultimately taken to the Allegheny County Jail. Livingston now has charges which include multiple counts of recklessly endangering another person and risking a catastrophe. Livingston is currently being held in the Allegheny County Jail and bail has been denied for him. The preliminary hearing of Livingston will take place on October 1st, 2025.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: A view of the scene Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, as the cleanup continues at the site of of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailment that happened on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Rochester, PA) Rochester Riverfront Park in Rochester will be the location of a concert on October 4th, 2025 to benefit those that were affected by and displaced from the train derailment that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3rd, 2023. The concert is called “Back on Track: A Concert for Our Neighbors,” and both the Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community and the mutual aid group Food & Water Watch Pennsylvania are partnering up to present this concert. Mike Stout is a musician, a former steelworker and a labor activist from the Pittsburgh area who formed Ohio Valley Derailment Mutual Aid earlier in 2025. Performers for this concert include David Granati of the Granati Brothers, a guitarist from the Pittsburgh area, an alumnus of “The Voice,” Tarra Layne, a funk band called Mean Blue Planets and Reuben’s Painted Mandolin, a Jerry Garcia Band tribute group. Tickets are worth $20 at the gate and $5 is the cost for tickets for children under thirteen years old. In advance of the concert, tickets are only $15. You can purchase tickets for this concert at the link below:

Click here to purchase tickets for “Back on Track: A Concert for Our Neighbors,” GiveButter.com/OVDMABackOnTrack.

(File Photo of the American Red Cross Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Fall has officially begun, and the American Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania is urging donors to give blood, platelets or plasma during the 2025 fall season. The blood types that are needed the most are B negative and O positive, but people are encouraged to give any type of blood. This helps for victims of car accidents, those living with cancer or sickle cell disease and all patients that rely on critical transfusions get their necessary care. If you give blood, platelets or plasma from today until October 19th, 2025, you will receive a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card by email. You can visit RedCrossBlood.org/Fall for more information about this giveaway. According to a release from the American Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania, here is some more information about donating blood and making an appointment with the American Red Cross.

How to donate blood and make an appointment

• You can make an appointment to give now by visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App.
• Simply download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enable the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device to make an appointment or for more information. All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients. A blood donor card or driver’s license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in. Individuals who are 17 years of age in most states (16 with parental consent where allowed by state law), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. High school students and other donors 18 years of age and younger also have to meet certain height and weight requirements.
• Blood and platelet donors can save time at their next donation by using RapidPass® to complete their pre-donation reading and health history questionnaire online, on the day of their donation, before arriving at the blood drive. To get started, follow the instructions at RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass or use the Blood Donor App.