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.

Michigan recount halted  —  (CNN)A federal judge has ordered Michigan's Board of Elections to stop the state's electoral recount.  —  US District Judge Mark Goldsmith issued the order late Wednesday — dissolving a previous temporary restraining order against the Board of Elections that allowed the recount to continue.

Exclusive: Judge to Trump: No getting out of Jupiter golf club lawsuit  —  President-Elect Donald J. Trump at Mar-A-Lago on Palm Beach  —  U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Marra on Wednesday refused yet another request by Donald Trump to toss a 2013 lawsuit filed against his Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.

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 …

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 …

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 …

Even anti-Trump working-class voters are having second thoughts  —  INDIANAPOLIS — Robert James stood outside the Carrier plant just before the president-elect addressed workers at the refrigeration and heating assembly plant.  —  “I feel a great swing of emotions that go from disbelief …

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 …

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.

Trump Appears to Soften on Deporting Thousands of Young Immigrants  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday appeared to soften his stance on whether to deport the more than 700,000 young people who entered the country illegally as children and were permitted to stay by President Obama.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

Secretary of state candidate Rep. Dana Rohrabacher defends Russia, denounces China  —  Secretary of state candidate Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said in an interview Wednesday that the United States cooperating with Russia is a good thing and that China is not America's friend.

Paul Ryan: Trump Can Steal All He Wants As Long As I Get Tax Cuts  —  Faced with the extraordinary circumstance of a president who refuses either to release his tax returns or to divest his business holdings, Republicans have devised a series of creative explanations for why Donald Trump is entitled to behave like a kleptocrat.

Washington Post Appends “Russian Propaganda Fake News” Story, Admits It May Be Fake  —  In the latest example why the “mainstream media” is facing a historic crisis of confidence among its readership, facing unprecedented blowback following Craig Timberg November 24 Washington Post story …

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.

Koch Industries Says House GOP's Tax Plan ‘Could Be Devastating’  —  Billionaire brothers' firm adds to retailers' complaints  —  Corporate overhaul would tax imports while exempting exports  —  Koch Industries Inc., the influential private firm headed by billionaire Republican supporters Charles …