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Prince William Co. Supervisors chair breaks down 2025 successes 12/26/2025 07:26pm • In an end-of-the-year interview with WTOP, Chair of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors Deshundra Jefferson covered everything from data centers to federal job cuts to tax breaks. Jefferson said she's been proud of how they've been able to put aside differences for progress. "Th What to know about the Christmas Eve Powerball jackpot in Arkansas worth $1.8 billion 12/26/2025 04:34pm • Christmas came early for someone who purchased a Powerball ticket at a gas station outside Little Rock, Arkansas, worth more than $1.8 billion. The lone winner in Wednesday's Christmas Eve drawing matched all five winning numbers and the Powerball to capture the second-largest lottery jackpot in U.S Japan's Cabinet OKs record defense budget that aims to deter China 12/26/2025 07:46am • TOKYO (AP) ��� Japan's Cabinet on Friday approved a record defense budget plan exceeding 9 trillion yen ($58 billion) for the coming year, aiming to fortify its strike-back capability and coastal defense with cruise missiles and unmanned arsenals as tensions rise in the region. The draft budget for Trump launched global tariff wars in 2025. Here's a recap of his trade actions this year 12/26/2025 06:22am • It's been a rollercoaster of a year for U.S. trade policy. President Donald Trump launched a barrage of new tariffs in 2025, plunging the U.S. into trade wars with nearly every country in the world. Volley after volley of threats and steeper import taxes often arrived erratically ��� with Trump clai Afghanistan's historic Ariana Cinema torn down to make way for shopping center 12/26/2025 12:21am • KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ��� Through the decades, downtown Kabul���s Ariana Cinema had weathered revolution and war, emerging battered and bruised but still standing to entertain Afghans with Bollywood movies and American action flicks. Now, it is no more. On Dec. 16, demolition crews began to tear Amid a battery boom, graphite mining gets a fresh look in the US 12/26/2025 12:02am • GOUVERNEUR, N.Y. (AP) ��� Graphite mines in the United States largely closed down seven decades ago. Mining the ubiquitous mineral found in everything from nuclear reactors to pencils seemed to make little sense when it could be imported inexpensively from other nations, especially China. That view Montgomery County Executive Elrich says federal downsizing, cuts had profound impact in 2025 12/25/2025 07:30pm • Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich spoke to WTOP about the issues that affected the county the most in 2025, and what's ahead for 2026. By far, actions taken by the Trump administration, through federal downsizing and program cuts, had the most profound impact on Montgomery County, according 2025's economic bottom line, from tariffs to the K-shaped economy 12/25/2025 08:46am • Sorting out our topsy-turvy economy and looking ahead to 2026, Bankrate's Mark Hamrick still says, "there are reasons to be optimistic." "Certainly a volatile, disruptive year, and unfortunately I think those characteristics are going to be very much with us in 2026," he said. Hamrick points t Federal judge upholds Hawaii's new climate change tax on cruise passengers 12/24/2025 07:38pm • HONOLULU (AP) ��� A federal judge���s ruling has cleared the way for Hawaii to include cruise ship passengers in a new tourist tax to help cope with climate change, a levy set to go into effect at the start of 2026. U.S. District Judge Jill A. Otake denied a request Tuesday that sought to stop offic A message from Prince William County: Don���t be so trashy 12/24/2025 06:20pm • Prince William County, Virginia, has put a lot of effort into cleaning up roadside trash over the last few years, but county leaders hope people will do better. At a recent board of supervisors meeting, Khattab Shammout, director of Prince William County Public Works, said in 2025, about 167,000 Editorial Roundup: United States 12/24/2025 03:01pm • Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: ___ Dec. 23 The Washington Post on conservatism and free markets When American conservatives abandon free-market principles, there���s no telling what follows. The Heritage Foundation has been illustrating this the past few months. One Student loan borrowers in default may see wages garnished in 2026 12/23/2025 07:08pm • WASHINGTON (AP) ��� The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it will begin garnishing the wages of student loan borrowers who are in default early next year. The department said it will send notices to approximately 1,000 borrowers the week of January 7, with more notices to come at an incre Medicaid paid more than $207 million for dead people. A new law could help fix that 12/23/2025 06:50pm • WASHINGTON (AP) ��� Medicaid programs made more than $200 million in improper payments to health care providers between 2021 and 2022 for people who had already died, according to a new report from the independent watchdog for the Department of Health and Human Services. But the department's Office Editorial Roundup: United States 12/23/2025 05:31pm • Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: ___ Dec. 12 The Wall Street Journal on Pete Hegseth's ���Zombie Reaganism��� You almost have to admire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth taking the stage at the Ronald Reagan presidential library and immediately opening fire. ���Most who France's parliament approves emergency bill to prevent US-style government shutdown 12/23/2025 05:00pm • PARIS (AP) ��� France���s fractured parliament approved an emergency bill Tuesday designed to prevent a U.S.-style government shutdown next week, after negotiations on a 2026 budget collapsed. With just days left before the new year, President Emmanuel Macron and his Cabinet met Monday night to pres