Epstein email says Trump ‘knew about the girls’ as WH calls its release a Democratic smear

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says Democrats who released Jeffrey Epstein emails mentioning him are trying to bring up his ties to the late sex offender again because “they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done” on the government shutdown and other issues. The emails were made public Wednesday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. The White House accuses Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to smear the Republican president. Epstein wrote in a 2011 email Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with a sex trafficking victim and said in a separate message years later Trump “knew about the girls.” Trump denies any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.

US Mint in Philadelphia presses final pennies as the 1-cent coin gets canceled

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The U.S. Mint has ended production of the penny, a change made to save money and in recognition of the growing irrelevance of the 1-cent coin. The last pennies were struck Wednesday at the mint in Philadelphia, where the country’s smallest denomination coins have been produced since 1793, a year after Congress passed the Coinage Act. President Donald Trump ordered the penny’s demise as costs climbed to nearly 4 cents per penny and the 1-cent valuation became somewhat obsolete. Billions of pennies remain in circulation, but they are rarely essential for financial transactions in the 21st century economy.

Atlanta Fed president Bostic to retire in February, opening seat on key committee

WASHINGTON (AP) — Raphael Bostic, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, will retire at the end of his current term in February, opening up a new seat on the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee at a time that President Donald Trump is seeking to exert more control over the central bank. As president of one of the Fed’s 12 regional banks, Bostic, 59, serves on the 19-member committee that meets eight times a year to decide whether to change a key short-term interest rate that influences borrowing costs throughout the economy. Only 12 of the 19 participants vote on rates at each meeting. The regional Fed presidents rotate as voters, and the Atlanta Fed’s president will next vote in 2027. Bostic’s replacement will be selected by the Atlanta Fed’s board of directors, which are made up of local business and community leaders, not the Trump administration.

Global tuberculosis diagnoses rise to a record, but deaths fall, WHO reports

NEW YORK (AP) — The number of people diagnosed with tuberculosis worldwide rose again last year, eclipsing 2023’s record total. About 8.3 million people across the globe were reported as newly diagnosed with TB in 2024. The World Health Organization notes that not all infections are diagnosed and that the new numbers represent 78% of the estimated number of actual new cases. Globally, the number of deaths caused by TB fell in 2024. Tuberculosis cases in the U.S. continued to rise last year, reaching the highest level in more than a dozen years. The vast majority of U.S. TB cases are diagnosed in people born in other countries.