For Black women of my mother’s generation, Coretta Scott King was like Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Following the assassination of her husband, during days of very public mourning, Mrs. King was a port...

WASHINGTON (AP) — After a resounding election victory, delivering what President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans said is a mandate to govern, an uneasy political question is emerging: Will there be...

In September, I wrote, “No matter who wins, the next president will declare that they have a ‘mandate’ to do something. And they will be wrong.” I was wrong in one sense. Now, I still think the idea o...

WHAT IS BULLYING? What is harassment? The definitions in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary are simple. Bullying is abuse and mistreatment of someone vulnerable by someone stronger or more powerful. Harassm...

The late H.L. Mencken has always been among my favorite misanthropes. Like all satirists, he took a dim view of human nature. One of my favorite Mencken epigrams seems particularly apt in the wake of ...

The election was a devastating defeat for Democrats. But does it foreshadow an enduring realignment of American politics? Probably not. There’s plenty of evidence that voters chose between two distinc...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President- elect Donald Trump chose Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general on Wednesday, bypassing more experienced options in favor of a loyalist who...

NEARLY HALF OF THE 67 counties in Pennsylvania are now under a drought watch, according to a recent press release issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The Pennsylvania Dro...

As my assiduous readers know, I’ve been down on Donald Trump for abandoning the central promises of his 2016 campaign — a campaign so spectacular that I wrote an homage to it, “In Trump We Trust.” In ...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Donald Trump’s first picks for immigration policy jobs spent the last four years angling for this moment. Stephen Miller and Thomas Homan had critical roles in the first Trump adminis...

By SIBI ARASU AND DORANY PINEDA Associated Press BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — After nearly a decade of negotiations, leaders during the United Nations climate conference’s first day decided on some of the ...

LAW ENFORCEMENT officers have been in the spotlight often in recent years for being on the wrong side of the handcuffs. Sheriffs, deputies, police chiefs, officers, state troopers and more have been a...

As we faced a presidential election, Pope Francis asked us to have a heart. Writing about the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he used it as a reminder to all of us: We are loved. So many of us don’t believe it...

The presidential race was not unpredictable, as the now once again discredited polls swore to us. The Republicans had made massive gains in voter registrations since 2020, when Donald Trump had lost t...

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI AND MIKE HOUSEHOLDER Associated Press DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Faced with two choices she didn’t like, Suehaila Amen chose neither. Instead, the longtime Democrat from the Arab Ameri...

By MARK STEVENSON AND MARÍA VERZA Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico is facing a second Donald Trump presidency, and few countries can match its experience as a target of Trump’s rhetoric: The...

IF THERE WAS ONE LESSON from the presidential election, it might be about counting chickens. The old adage suggests not counting them before they are hatched. Farm wisdom will tell you just because yo...

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. — “The Second Coming,” William Butler Yeats My daughter was born in December 2008. Just a few weeks earlier, the United States had elected its first Black pr...

The editorial department of the Mon Valley Independent encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be no more than 500 words, must be in good taste and must include the author’s name, town of resid...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden’s name wasn’t on the ballot, but history will likely remember Kamala Harris’ resounding defeat as his loss too. As Democrats pick up the pieces after President-elect Donald...