Donald Trump just insulted a union leader on Twitter.  Then the phone started to ring.  —  Chuck Jones uses a flip phone, so he didn't see the tweet.  His friend of 36 years called him Wednesday night and said: The president-elect is smearing you on Twitter.

Trump Picks Scott Pruitt, Climate Change Denialist, to Lead E.P.A.  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump has selected Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general and a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, to run the Environmental Protection Agency, signaling Mr. Trump's determination …

Federal judge kills recount effort in Michigan  —  A federal judge has stopped the hand recount of nearly 5 million ballots in Michigan, a decision that seems to secure Donald Trump  —  's narrow victory in the traditionally blue state.  —  U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith …

The Comet Ping Pong Gunman Answers Our Reporter's Questions  —  WASHINGTON — Edgar M. Welch, 28, of Salisbury, N.C., was arrested Sunday after firing a gun inside a pizza restaurant in Washington as he investigated false claims in online articles that the pizzeria was at the center of a child sex slave ring, the police said.

Donald Trump Is Said to Intend to Keep a Stake in His Business  —  President-elect Donald J. Trump is considering formally turning over the operational responsibility for his real estate company to his two adult sons, but he intends to keep a stake in the business and resist calls to divest …

How Donald Trump's Web of LLCs Obscures His Business Interests  —  The opacity of his holdings makes it impossible to gauge the full extent of potential conflicts he may face as president  —  President-elect Donald Trump owns a helicopter in Scotland.  —  To be more precise …

The Supreme Court oral argument that cost Democrats the presidency  —  The presidential election was so close that many factors were “but-for” causes of Donald Trump's victory.  One that's been mostly overlooked is Trump's surprising success with religious voters.

Our campaign lost the election.  But Trump's team must own up to how he won.  —  Jennifer Palmieri was communications director for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.  —  I know how to be a gracious loser.  —  I could have let it go last week when Kellyanne Conway …

Meet the Democrats' proto-Trumps  —  Four weeks out from Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election, Democrats may soon be launching a few unorthodox, mega-rich candidates of their own.  —  In three major states with a governor's mansion up for grabs in 2018, a big-name …

Two juveniles charged with arson in Tennessee wildfires that left 14 people dead  —  Two juveniles have been charged with aggravated arson in connection with the East Tennessee wildfires that killed 14 people last week and left nearly 150 others injured, authorities said Wednesday.

Reid predicts death of filibuster  —  Senate Democrats are about to get rolled on Donald Trump's Cabinet picks.  They could spend years in the minority.  And instead of the GOP collapse that many expected on Nov. 8, it's now Democrats soul-searching about what went wrong.

‘They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals’  —  YOU HEAR A MURDER SCENE before you see it: The desperate cries of a new widow.  The piercing sirens of approaching police cars.  The thud, thud, thud of the rain drumming on the pavement of a Manila alleyway — and on the back of Romeo Torres Fontanilla.

U.S. life expectancy declines for the first time since 1993  —  For the first time in more than two decades, life expectancy for Americans declined last year — a troubling development linked to a panoply of worsening health problems in the United States.  —  Rising fatalities from heart disease …

Obama officials alarmed at slow pace of agency-level transition  —  Donald Trump is beating President Barack Obama on the pace of splashy cabinet announcements, but the president-elect is lagging his predecessor when it comes to other transition efforts critical to fulfilling his campaign promises.

Quite Possibly the Funniest Thing That Brian Williams Has Ever Said  —  For years I've wondering if former NBC news anchor Brian Williams is an aspiring stand-up comic.  What he said last night on The 11th Hour sealed it — this guy can make people laugh, albeit not always intentionally.

CBS2 Exclusive: Giants' Nikita Whitlock Has Home Vandalized With Hateful Graffiti  —  MOONACHIE, N.J. — The Bergen County home of a local athlete was broken into Tuesday evening.  Several items were taken, but what's more disturbing is what the suspects left behind.