(File Photo: Source for Photo: The U.S. Capitol is photographed on 37th day of the government shutdown, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate took the first step to end the government shutdown on Sunday after a group of moderate Democrats agreed to proceed without a guaranteed extension of health care subsidies, angering many in their caucus who say Americans want them to continue the fight.

In a test vote that is the first in a series of required procedural maneuvers, the Senate voted 60-40 to move toward passing compromise legislation to fund the government and hold a later vote on extending Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire Jan. 1. Final passage could be several days away if Democrats object and delay the process.

The agreement does not guarantee the health care subsidies will be extended, as Democrats have demanded for almost six weeks. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York voted against moving ahead with the package, along with all but eight of his Democratic colleagues.

A group of three former governors — New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine — broke the six-week stalemate on Sunday when they agreed to vote to advance three bipartisan annual spending bills and extend the rest of government funding until late January in exchange for a mid-December vote on extending the health care tax credits.

The agreement also includes a reversal of the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration since the shutdown began on Oct. 1 and would ensure that federal workers receive back pay.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune quickly endorsed the deal and called an immediate vote to begin the process of approving it as the shutdown continued to disrupt flights nationwide, threaten food assistance for millions of Americans and leave federal workers without pay.

“The time to act is now,” Thune said.

Returning to the White House on Sunday evening after attending a football game, President Donald Trump did not say whether he endorsed the deal. But he said, “It looks like we’re getting close to the shutdown ending.”

Five Democrats switch votes

In addition to Shaheen, King and Hassan, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, home to tens of thousands of federal workers, also voted in favor of moving forward on the agreement. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and Nevada Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen also voted yes.

The moderates had expected a larger number of Democrats to vote with them as 10-12 Democratic senators had been part of the negotiations. But in the end, only five Democrats switched their votes — the exact number that Republicans needed. King, Cortez Masto and Fetterman had already been voting to open the government since Oct. 1.

The vote was temporarily delayed on Sunday evening as three conservatives who often criticize spending bills, Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, withheld their votes and huddled with Thune at the back of the chamber. They eventually voted yes after speaking to Trump, Lee said.

Another Republican, Sen John Cornyn of Texas, had to fly back from Texas to deliver the crucial 60th vote.

Schumer votes no

After Democrats met for over two hours to discuss the proposal, Schumer said he could not “in good faith” support it.

Schumer, who received blowback from his party in March when he voted to keep the government open, said that Democrats have now “sounded the alarm” on health care.

“We will not give up the fight,” he said.

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, said giving up the fight was a “horrific mistake.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., agreed, saying that in last week’s elections people voted overwhelmingly Democratic “to urge Democrats to hold firm.”

A bipartisan agreement

Democrats had voted 14 times not to reopen the government as they demanded the extension of tax credits that make coverage more affordable under the Affordable Care Act. Republicans said they would not negotiate on health care, but GOP leaders have been quietly working with the group of moderates as the contours of an agreement began to emerge.

The agreement includes bipartisan bills worked out by the Senate Appropriations Committee to fund parts of government — food aid, veterans programs and the legislative branch, among other things. All other funding would be extended until the end of January, giving lawmakers more than two months to finish additional spending bills.

The deal would reinstate federal workers who had received reduction in force, or layoff, notices and reimburse states that spent their own funds to keep federal programs running during the shutdown. It would also protect against future reductions in force through January and guarantee federal workers would be paid once the shutdown is over.

House Democrats push back

House Democrats swiftly criticized the Senate.

Texas Rep. Greg Casar, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said a deal that doesn’t reduce health care costs is a “betrayal” of millions of Americans who are counting on Democrats to fight.

“Accepting nothing but a pinky promise from Republicans isn’t a compromise — it’s capitulation,” Casar said in a post on X. “Millions of families would pay the price.”

Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota posted that “if people believe this is a ‘deal,’ I have a bridge to sell you.”

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries blamed Republicans and said Democrats will continue to fight.

“Donald Trump and the Republican Party own the toxic mess they have created in our country and the American people know it,” Jeffries said.

Health care debate ahead

It’s unclear whether the two parties would be able to find any common ground on the health care subsidies before a promised December vote in the Senate. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he will not commit to bring it up in his chamber.

Some Republicans have said they are open to extending the COVID-19-era tax credits as premiums could skyrocket for millions of people, but they also want new limits on who can receive the subsidies and argue that the tax dollars for the plans should be routed through individuals.

Other Republicans, including Trump, have used the debate to renew their yearslong criticism of the law and called for it to be scrapped or overhauled.

Shutdown effects worsen

Meanwhile, the consequences of the shutdown have been compounding. U.S. airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights on Sunday for the first time since the shutdown began, and there were more than 7,000 flight delays, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks air travel disruptions.

Treasury Secretary Sean Duffy said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that air travel ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday will be “reduced to a trickle” if the government doesn’t reopen.

At the same time, food aid was delayed for tens of millions of people as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits were caught up in legal battles related to the shutdown.

And in Washington, home to tens of thousands of federal workers who have gone unpaid, the Capital Area Food Bank said it is providing 8 million more meals ahead of the holidays than it had prepared for this budget year — a nearly 20% increase.

FILE – SNAP EBT information sign is displayed at a gas station in Riverwoods, Ill., Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, file)

By DAVID A. LIEB, MICHAEL CASEY, SCOTT BAUER and MIKE CATALINI Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s emergency appeal to temporarily block a court order to fully fund SNAP food aid payments amid the government shutdown, even though residents in some states already have received the funds.
A judge had given the Republican administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But the administration asked an appeals court to suspend any court orders requiring it to spend more money than is available in a contingency fund, and instead allow it to continue with planned partial SNAP payments for the month.
After a Boston appeals court declined to immediately intervene, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued an order late Friday pausing the requirement to distribute full SNAP payments until the appeals court rules on whether to issue a more lasting pause. Jackson handles emergency matters from Massachusetts.
Her order will remain in place until 48 hours after the appeals court rules, giving the administration time to return to the Supreme Court if the appeals court refuses to step in.
The food program serves about 1 in 8 Americans, mostly with lower incomes.
Officials in more than a half-dozen states confirmed that some SNAP recipients already were issued full November payments on Friday. But Jackson’s order could prevent other states from initiating the payments.
Which states issued SNAP payments
In Wisconsin, more than $104 million of monthly food benefits became available at midnight on electronic cards for about 337,000 households, a spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said. The state was able to access the federal money so quickly by submitting a request to its electronic benefit card vendor to process the SNAP payments within hours of a Thursday court order to provide full benefits.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, said state employees “worked through the night” to issue full November benefits “to make sure every Oregon family relying on SNAP could buy groceries” by Friday.
Hawaii had the information for November’s monthly payments ready to go, so it could submit it quickly for processing after Thursday’s court order — and before a higher court could potentially pause it, Joseph Campos II, deputy director of Hawaii’s Department of Human Services, told The Associated Press.
“We moved with haste once we verified everything,” Campos said.
Trump’s administration told the Supreme Court that the fast-acting states were “trying to seize what they could of the agency’s finite set of remaining funds, before any appeal could even be filed, and to the detriment of other States’ allotments.”
“Once those billions are out the door, there is no ready mechanism for the government to recover those funds,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the court filing.
Officials in California, Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington state also said they moved quickly to issue full SNAP benefits Friday, while other states said they expected full benefits to arrive over the weekend or early next week. Still others said they were waiting for further federal guidance.
Many SNAP recipients face uncertainty
The court wrangling prolonged weeks of uncertainty for Americans with lower incomes.
An individual can receive a monthly maximum food benefit of nearly $300 and a family of four up to nearly $1,000, although many receive less than that under a formula that takes into consideration their income.
For some SNAP participants, it remained unclear when they would receive their benefits.
Jasmen Youngbey of Newark, New Jersey, waited in line Friday at a food pantry in the state’s largest city. As a single mom attending college, Youngbey said she relies on SNAP to help feed her 7-month-old and 4-year-old sons. But she said her account balance was at $0.
“Not everybody has cash to pull out and say, ‘OK, I’m going to go and get this,’ especially with the cost of food right now,” she said.
Later Friday, Youngbey said, she received her monthly SNAP benefits.
The legal battle over SNAP takes another twist
Because of the federal government shutdown, the Trump administration originally had said SNAP benefits would not be available in November. However, two judges ruled last week that the administration could not skip November’s benefits entirely because of the shutdown. One of those judges was U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr., who ordered the full payments Thursday.
In both cases, the judges ordered the government to use one emergency reserve fund containing more than $4.6 billion to pay for SNAP for November but gave it leeway to tap other money to make the full payments, which cost between $8.5 billion and $9 billion each month.
On Monday, the administration said it would not use additional money, saying it was up to Congress to appropriate the funds for the program and that the other money was needed to shore up other child hunger programs.
Thursday’s federal court order rejected the Trump administration’s decision to cover only 65% of the maximum monthly benefit, a decision that could have left some recipients getting nothing for this month.
In its court filings Friday, Trump’s administration contended that the judge usurped both legislative and executive authority in ordering SNAP benefits to be fully funded.
“This unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers,” Sauer told the Supreme Court.
States are taking different approaches to food aid
Some states said they stood ready to distribute SNAP money as quickly as possible.
Colorado and Massachusetts said SNAP participants could receive their full November payments as soon as Saturday. New York said access to full SNAP benefits should begin by Sunday. New Hampshire said full benefits should be available by this weekend. Arizona and Connecticut said full benefits should be accessible in the coming days.
Officials in North Carolina said they distributed partial SNAP payments Friday and full benefits could be available by this weekend. Officials in Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana and North Dakota also said they distributed partial November payments.
Amid the federal uncertainty, Delaware’s Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer said the state used its own funds Friday to provide the first of what could be a weekly relief payment to SNAP recipients.
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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri; Bauer from Madison, Wisconsin; and Catalini from Newark, New Jersey. Associated Press writers Mark Sherman in Washington; Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; Sejal Govindarao in Phoenix; Susan Haigh in Norwich, Connecticut; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Anthony Izaguirre in New York; Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu; Mingson Lau in Claymont, Delaware; John O’Connor, in Springfield, Illinois; Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Colleen Slevin in Denver; and Tassanee Vejpongsa in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

(Photo of twenty-four-year-old Justin Dougherty of McKees Rocks Courtesy of the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(McKees Rocks, PA) According to the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office, twenty-four-year-old Justin Daugherty of McKees Rocks was taken into custody in Stowe Township today. Daugherty is facing multiple charges including kidnapping of a minor and aggravated assault on an unborn child after being accused of beating his pregnant ex-girlfriend and kidnapping her and a one-year-old child after two people attempted to rescue her from a home. Police met with the ex-girlfriend of Daugherty on August 27th, 2025, when shots were fired in an apartment in McKees Rocks and she told authorities that she had been physically assaulted and restrained by Daugherty, and three days prior, he showed up at her apartment after being released from jail for physically assaulting her. Daugherty was allegedly angry the victim had a new boyfriend and told her, “You’re not going outside, you’re not going to work, you’re not going nowhere.” The ex-girlfriend of Daugherty also stated that Daugherty hit her in the abdomen and continued to do so for days. This happened when the victim was pregnant with her new boyfriend. According to a complaint, the new boyfriend and another man attempted to rescue the victim, but Daugherty shot at them. The other man was taken to a hospital where he was treated after getting hit by the gunfire. Daugherty allegedly grabbed the victim’s keys and forced her and a 1-year-old child into a car after firing gunshots and allegedly drove them around the area and continued to make threatening comments. The same complaint also notes that while this driving occurred, the ex-girlfriend of Daugherty secretly called dispatchers who were able to inform police and trace the vehicle she was in. A report confirms that Daugherty eventually released the one-year-old child and his ex-girlfriend, told her to go back to her apartment and added she needed to “say the right things” to police. Detectives went into a home and took Daugherty into custody after he allegedly attempted to flee out a window, but retreated when he saw a K9.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: A plume of smoke rises from the site of a UPS cargo plane crash at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Two days after a deadly UPS plane disaster, a candlelight vigil was held Thursday in Louisville to remember the victims and thank first responders, while teams still worked to find or identify people caught in the crash and subsequent firestorm.

“Our hope is that we have located all of the victims at this point. But again, we do not know,” Mayor Craig Greenberg said earlier in the day.

The inferno destroyed the enormous plane and spread to nearby businesses, killing at least 13 people, including a child and three UPS crew on the cargo hauler. No one expects to find survivors in the crash at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub.

The plane had been cleared for takeoff Tuesday when a large fire developed in the left wing and an engine fell off, said Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.

Meanwhile, UPS Worldport operations resumed Wednesday night with its Next Day Air, or night sort, operation, spokesperson Jim Mayer said. All three runways at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport were also open again.

Death toll rises to 13

Teamsters Local 89, which represents UPS workers, hosted a candlelight vigil, which began with a moment of silence at 5:14 p.m., the approximate time of the crash two days earlier.

“This incident was so sudden, so unexpected,” the mayor told the crowd of 200. “No one had a chance to say goodbye to any of those who we have lost.”

Greenberg disclosed that the death toll had risen to 13.

Bob Travis, who is president of the Independent Pilots Association and flies for UPS, told vigil attendees that the work of emergency responders, public officials and the community has been “absolutely overwhelming and amazing.”

“Everybody’s seen the video,” he said of the crash. “It’s hard not to.”

Names of pilots released

UPS released the names of three people who died in the plane: Capt. Richard Wartenberg, First Officer Lee Truitt and International Relief Officer Capt. Dana Diamond.

Truitt lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and had been a pilot for UPS since 2021, flying the MD-11 airliner, according to Truitt’s LinkedIn profile. Before that, he was a captain for SkyWest Airlines, a flight instructor at Bode Aviation and graduated from The University of New Mexico.

Wartenberg lived in Independence, Kentucky, which sits south of Cincinnati, according to public records.

Diamond, the flight’s international relief officer, live in Caldwell, Texas, less than a two-hour drive east of Austin, according to public records.

Black box provides insight

Earlier Thursday, Greenberg described the crash site as “horrific,” with “charred, mangled metal.” Part of the plane’s tail, he said, appeared to be sticking out of a storage silo.

“You hear people say, ‘Oh, you only see that in the movies.’ This was worse than the movies,” Greenberg told reporters.

The plane’s last data recordings showed it had reached an altitude of 475 feet (145 meters) and a speed of 210 mph (340 kph) before crashing just outside the Louisville airport, Inman said Thursday.

The engine’s main component and pieces of engine fan blades were recovered from the airfield. Inman said UPS indicated that no maintenance work was performed before the flight “that would delay it in any way.” He noted that investigators will look at video to see what, if anything, was being done around the MD-11 aircraft in preceding days.

The UPS package handling facility in Louisville is the company’s largest. The hub employs more than 20,000 people in the region, handles 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour.

Flames, panic and more questions

The crash and explosion caused even more blasts and destruction at businesses in an industrial corridor just outside the airport.

Sabit Aliyev, the owner of Kentucky Truck Parts and Service, still doesn’t know if his business is standing. He said he was inside the shop Tuesday when the burning plane passed by, followed by an explosion. He went outside and recorded what sounded like another explosion.

“It was like hell,” Aliyev said. “There was fire all over. It was sky high.”

He and his workers fled over vacant land but were suddenly trapped by a high security fence until a police officer used bolt cutters to cut open a gate.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said a number of things could have caused the fire as the 34-year-old plane was rolling down the runway.

“It could have been the engine partially coming off and ripping out fuel lines. Or it could have been a fuel leak igniting and then burning the engine off,” Guzzetti said.

Flight records show the UPS plane was on the ground in San Antonio from Sept. 3 to Oct. 18, but it was unclear what maintenance was performed.

“We will look at every piece of maintenance done, from the San Antonio time all the way to the date of the flight. … It’s going to be a laborious process,” Inman of the NTSB said.

He said there was no reason to take any immediate safety actions against other MD-11 planes in service.

(Photos Provided with Release Courtesy of Congressman Chris Deluzio’s Office)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Carngeie, PA) The office of Congressman Chris Deluzio recently helped a male veteran of the Vietnam War replace his awards he earned while he was in the military leading up to Veterans Day on Tuesday, November 11th, 2025. Mr. John M. Denk, a resident of Aliquippa who served in the U.S. Navy during the war in Vietnam called the office of Deluzio, who is a U.S. Navy veteran himself, to help Mr. Denk get replacements for his several military awards after he lost them. The office of Deluzio worked with the Department of the Navy to successfully get replacement awards, and during an emotional meeting, Deluzio presented them to Mr. Denk and his family. According to a release from Deluzio’s office, the replacement medals and ribbons that Deluzio presented to Mr. Denk included: 

• Combat Action Ribbon 
• Meritorious Unit Commendation 
• Navy Good Conduct Medal 
• National Defense Service Medal 
• Vietnam Service Medal (with three Bronze Campaign Stars) 
• Honorable Reserve Discharge Button

(Photo Courtesy of WPXI/WPXI)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The storms that occurred in Western Pennsylvania on April 29th, 2025 were so powerful that three people were killed that evening in relation to these storms and hundreds of thousands of people lost power. They were also recently classified by the Storm Prediction Center as a derecho, which is a severe wind event with consistent wind gusts of over 58 miles per hour over the course of at least 25 miles. The trio of men that were killed in relation to these storms were sixty-seven-year-old Raymond Gordon, fifty-nine-year-old David Lepinsky of Reserve and twenty-five-year-old Andrew M. Celaschi of Jefferson. Gordon was killed when he was hit by tree on Evergreen Road in Allegheny County. Lepinsky was electrocuted by live wires in Pittsburgh on St. Martin Street. Celaschi was a passenger traveling in a vehicle on Jefferson Road in Franklin Township, and he was killed because of a tree that fell on top of the vehicle that he was in.