Payback: Trump ousts officials who testified on impeachment
By DEB RIECHMANN, COLLEEN LONG and NANCY BENAC Associated Press
President Donald Trump is exacting swift punishment against those who crossed him during his impeachment hearings. On Friday he ousted two government officials who had delivered damaging testimony. The president took retribution just two days after his acquittal by the Senate. First came news that Trump had ousted Lt. Col Alexander Vindman, the decorated soldier and national security aide who played a central role in the Democrats’ impeachment case. He was escorted out of the White House complex Friday. Next came word that Gordon Sondland, Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, also was out.

Actor-comedian Orson Bean, 91, hit and killed by car in LA
Authorities in Los Angeles say actor and comedian Orson Bean was hit and killed by a car in Los Angeles. He was 91. He was known for his appearances on TV game shows and for playing a crotchety merchant on “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” among scores of other film, television and theater credits. Police say he was walking in the Venice neighborhood when he was clipped by one vehicle and fell. A second driver then struck him in what police say was a fatal collision. He’s survived by wife Alley Mills and four children. He was also the father-in-law of late conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart.

Key takeaways from Democratic debate in New Hampshire
By HUNTER WOODALL and NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press
At the Democratic presidential candidate debate in New Hampshire, the top finishers in Iowa, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, gained the most attention from their opponents Friday night and had some standout moments. Joe Biden, whose campaign is flagging and in the middle of a shakeup, had some feisty exchanges, but it’s not clear whether his performance will quell worries. Elizabeth Warren, who is competing with Sanders among progressives, also did little to change the campaign narrative. And Amy Klobuchar was quick with the quips as she tried gain an edge in the primary’s moderate lane.

AND NOW IT’S TIME FOR THE ‘BUSINESS MINUTE’ REPORT…BROUGHT YOU BY MINUTEMAN PRESS:

A federal appeals court ruling will prevent Philadelphia employers from asking job applicants for their salary history. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’s ruling Thursday partially reversed a lower court’s 2018 decision that said the city couldn’t ban employers from asking about salary history but could ban them from using it to determine wages. The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce sued the city after the law was passed in 2017, saying the law would violate employers’ First Amendment rights. Supporters of the law have said the practice of asking for a salary history can help perpetuate a cycle of lower salaries for women.

A new report recommends Pennsylvania’s Legislature increase licensing fees and take other steps to put the state Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement on more sound financial footing. The report released Thursday by Auditor General Eugene DePasquale says the agency could run out of money sometime this summer. It also recommends that lawmakers increase penalties for kennels that fail inspections but remain open while they appeal. The bureau has 41 dog law wardens and inspects about 2,600 kennels. Dog licenses currently cost $6.50 a year for dogs that have been spayed or neutered, or $8.50 if they haven’t.

Japanese automaker Honda is reporting a nearly 31% dive in its October-December profit as strong demand for its motorcycles failed to make up for falling vehicles sales.  Honda Motor Co. reported Friday quarterly profit of 116.4 billion yen, or $1.1 billion, down from 168 billion yen the previous year. Sales for the three months slipped 6%. Honda said the damage from the outbreak of a virus that began in central China is not reflected in its forecasts through March 2020. Tokyo-based Honda said its three auto-assembly plants in Wuhan, the city at the center of the virus outbreak, will remain closed through Feb. 13.

U.S. stocks are falling in early trading on Friday, following other markets around the world lower. The S&P 500 is still on track to close out its best week in eight months. Stocks have rallied sharply since Monday and had erased all their earlier losses from worries about a new virus from China that’s rapidly spreading. Those gains were so strong that some market watchers caution stocks may have gotten ahead of themselves. Energy stocks had some of the day’s sharpest losses as the price of oil fell again. Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.58%.

AND THAT’S THE ‘BUSINESS MINUTE’ REPORT…BROUGHT YOU BY MINUTEMAN PRESS.

 

 

President Trump said Friday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “broke the law” when she ripped up a copy of his State of the Union address moments after he delivered the speech.  “I thought it was a terrible thing when she ripped up the speech,” the president told reporters. “First of all, it’s an official document. You’re not allowed. It’s illegal what she did. She broke the law.” Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, has filed an ethics complaint against Mrs. Pelosi for her action, saying she “destroyed official records.” “The law does not allow the speaker of the House to destroy the records of the House and the rules of the House do not permit some little temper tantrum just because you don’t like what the president of the United States says,” Mr. Gaetz told Laura Ingraham of Fox News.  Mrs. Pelosi said the president “shredded the truth” in his speech and she responded in kind.  “I shredded his state-of-mind address,” she said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court in Washington has dismissed one of several ongoing lawsuits charging that President Donald Trump has illegally profited off the presidency. The lawsuit the court dismissed Friday was filed by Democratic members of Congress in 2017. The court was not ruling on whether Trump violated the law. It just said that the approximately 200 members of Congress who brought the lawsuit lack the ability to sue. The lawsuit had charged that the president violated the U.S. Constitution’s emoluments clause by accepting benefits to his businesses from foreign governments without congressional approval.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump will promote economic revitalization in low-income areas during a visit to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Friday. It is Trump’s first trip outside of Washington since his acquittal this week in the Senate impeachment trial. Before leaving, he continued to air grievances about his impeachment ordeal. The president is scheduled to deliver closing remarks at the North Carolina Opportunity Now Summit at Piedmont Community College. Trump will promote help for thousands of neighborhoods that were designated as opportunity zones under tax-cut legislation he signed into law in 2017. Tax breaks are provided for certain investments in these lower income areas.