USA TODAY:… • Said he wants to work with the new Republican Congress on tax changes, seeking to create a simpler system in which the wealthy pay more of their “fair share.” He added, however, that “the devil’s in the details.” He insisted he can find common ground with Republicans but also said there could […]

NEW YORK TIMES: …The evidence collection and retention system is the backbone of the F.B.I.’s investigative process, and the report said it is beset by problems. It also found that the F.B.I. was storing more weapons, less money and valuables, and two tons more drugs than its records had indicated. The report’s findings, based on […]

HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS: Gov.-elect Tom Wolf has decided to buck tradition by not having a formal ball, parade or fireworks to celebrate his inauguration. The governor-elect’s inaugural committee announced Friday the events for Wolf’s inauguration day on Jan. 20. The day will kick off with the official swearing-in ceremony for the lieutenant governor and governor at […]

ALJAZEERA: …The labor board attorney said the fast food company engaged in practices such as “threats, surveillance, interrogation, promises of benefit, and overbroad restrictions on communicating with union representatives or with other employees about unions” in restaurants across the country… Crucially, the general counsel argues that the McDonald’s Corporation is responsible for the alleged mistreatment […]

FINANCIAL TIMES: … “We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States,” [President Barack] Obama said. “Because if somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary that they don’t like, […]

FINANCIAL TIMES: Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman, has lambasted the “eternal lobbying” of Wall Street after regulators granted the industry more time to comply with a rule designed to prevent them from owning hedge funds. In a withering statement — as much an attack on his successors at the Fed as a critique […]

USA TODAY: Billionaire investor Carl Icahn pledged $20 million on Thursday to keep Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal casino open indefinitely, eliminating a plan to shut it down Saturday. In a letter dated Thursday, Icahn promised Trump Entertainment Resorts that he would provide enough money to keep the casino open throughout bankruptcy proceedings. It had been […]

USA TODAY: Pakistani warplanes and ground forces killed at least 77 militants in a northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said Friday, days after Taliban fighters killed 148 people — most of them children — in a school massacre. Meanwhile, a Pakistani prosecutor said the government will try to cancel the bail granted […]

Article “Judge delays January trial on Penn State sanctions” reports: “HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP, Dec. 18) — A judge is delaying a trial on the legality of the NCAA’s consent decree that punished Penn State for its handling of sex abuse complaints about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky… The judge says she needs more time […]