President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, passed a key procedural vote in the Senate on Thursday, clearing the path for his final confirmation vote. 

The Senate’s vote this afternoon to invoke cloture ended the debate on Lutnick’s nomination and paved the way for his confirmation as Commerce secretary. Senators advanced his nomination by a 52-45 vote. Republicans control the Senate by a 53-47 majority. 

Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald and a co-chair of Trump’s 2024 presidential transition team, needed a majority vote to bring his final confirmation vote to the Senate floor. 

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee voted 16-12 on February 5 to advance Lutnick to the procedural vote. Lutnick testified for over three hours before the Senate Commerce Committee on January 29. 

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If confirmed, Lutnick will become one of the wealthiest people to serve in a presidential administration, along with Elon Musk and Trump himself. During Lutnick’s confirmation hearing, he committed to selling all of his interests and assets if confirmed. 

TULSI GABBARD SWORN IN AT WHITE HOUSE HOURS AFTER SENATE CONFIRMATION

"My plan is to only serve the American people. So I will divest — meaning I will sell all of my interests, all of my business interests, all of my assets, everything," Lutnick said. "I've worked together with the Office of Government Ethics, and we've reached agreement on how to do that, and I will be divesting within 90 days upon my confirmation."

Lutnick said selling his businesses would prevent a conflict of interest. 

"Upon confirmation, my businesses will be for sale and someone else will lead them going forward," Lutnick added. 

Trump announced Lutnick’s nomination two weeks after he was elected president. 

"I am thrilled to announce that Howard Lutnick, Chairman & CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, will join my Administration as the United States Secretary of Commerce. He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative," Trump said. 

Trump applauded Lutnick’s leadership during the presidential transition, saying he "created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen."

With Lutnick teed up to lead Trump’s "Tariff and Trade agenda," he faced questions during his confirmation hearing about tariff policy. Lutnick said the argument that tariffs create inflation is "nonsense." 

"We are treated horribly by the global trading environment. They all have higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and subsidies. They treat us poorly. We need to be treated better. We can use tariffs to create reciprocity," Lutnick said.

Lutnick testified that he shares Trump’s stance on tariffs, adding he prefers an "across-the-board" strategy to "country-by-country" tariffs. 

Trump on Monday announced a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports from all countries, adding up to a 35% tariff for Chinese steel and aluminum imports. The tariffs are set to go into effect on March 12. 

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday removed a key legal hurdle stalling President Donald Trump ’s plan to downsize the federal workforce with a deferred resignation program.

The Boston-based judge's order in the challenge filed by a group of labor unions was a significant legal victory for the Republican president after a string of courtroom setbacks.

“This goes to show that lawfare will not ultimately prevail over the will of 77 million Americans who supported President Trump and his priorities,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Another group of unions filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C. late Wednesday, though its potential impacts were not immediately clear.

About 75,000 federal workers accepted the offer to quit in return for being paid until Sept. 30, according to McLaurine Pinover, a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management. She said the deferred resignation program “provides generous benefits so federal workers can plan for their futures," and it was now closed to additional workers.

American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said in a statement that the union's lawyers are assessing the next steps.

“Today’s ruling is a setback in the fight for dignity and fairness for public servants," Kelley said. “But it’s not the end of that fight. Importantly, this decision did not address the underlying lawfulness of the program.”

The union continues to maintain that it's illegal to force American citizens to make a decision, in a few short days, without adequate information, about “whether to uproot their families and leave their careers for what amounts to an unfunded IOU from Elon Musk,” the statement said.

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston found that the unions weren’t directly affected, so they didn't have legal standing to challenge the program, commonly described as a buyout. O'Toole was nominated by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.

The deferred resignation program has been spearheaded by Elon Musk, who is serving as Trump’s top adviser for reducing federal spending. Under the plan, employees can stop working and get paid until Sept. 30.

Labor unions argued the plan is illegal and asked for O’Toole to keep it on hold and prevent the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, from soliciting more workers to sign up.

A Justice Department lawyer has called the plan a “humane off ramp” for federal employees who may have structured their lives around working remotely and have been ordered to return to government offices.

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Federal Communication Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr has opened an investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices at Comcast and NBCUniversal.

Carr wants to ensure that Comcast, which owns multiple assets including NBCUniversal, is not promoting unfair forms of discrimination in violation of FCC regulations and civil rights laws. Carr, who was selected to serve as FCC chairman by President Trump, said the administration has already taken quick and decisive actions to root out the scourge of DEI. 

"President Trump is leading America away from the scourge of invidious DEI discrimination and ensuring that everyone in this country has a fair shot at succeeding. Discriminatory DEI programs cannot be squared with this country’s civil rights laws and following President Trump’s leadership the FCC will ensure that every company we regulate ends illegal DEI programs," Carr told Fox News Digital. 

FCC CHAIR SAYS IT’S ‘REALLY CONCERNING’ THAT A SOROS-BACKED RADIO STATION EXPOSED UNDERCOVER ICE AGENTS

Carr sent a lengthy letter to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts on Tuesday, informing the Philadelphia-based company’s top executive of the probe.

"I am writing to inform you that I have asked the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau to open an investigation into Comcast and NBCUniversal. In particular, I want to ensure that your companies are not promoting invidious forms of discrimination in violation of FCC regulations and civil rights laws," Carr wrote in the letter obtained by Fox News Digital. 

"As you know, the Communications Act and Commission rules prohibit regulated entities—like Comcast and NBCUniversal—from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, or gender. Indeed, the FCC’s longstanding Equal Employment Opportunity or EEO rules set forth specific requirements that both Comcast and NBCUniversal must adhere to," the letter continued. "Nonetheless, I am concerned that Comcast and NBCUniversal may be promoting invidious forms of DEI in a manner that does not comply with FCC regulations."

Carr then noted that Comcast promotes DEI as "a core value of our business" online and public reports state that the company has an entire "DEI infrastructure" that includes annual "DEI day[s]," "DEI training for company leaders" and other similar initiatives.

"NBCUniversal has similar DEI initiatives, including executives specifically dedicated to promoting DEI across the TV and programming side of the business," Carr wrote. 

FCC LAUNCHES PROBE INTO SOROS-BACKED RADIO STATION THAT REVEALED LIVE LOCATIONS OF UNDERCOVER ICE AGENTS

"But promoting invidious forms of discrimination cannot be squared with any reasonable interpretation of federal law. It can only deprive Americans of their rights to fair and equal treatment under the law," he continued. "Despite the emergence of DEI initiatives in recent years, these forms of discrimination have long been condemned by America’s civil rights laws."

Carr noted that the Supreme Court has stated "distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality" and has written that racial classifications "threaten to stigmatize individuals by reason of their membership in a racial group and to incite racial hostility." 

Carr added that Trump has already "issued an Executive Order that will end the radical and wasteful DEI programs that have spread across the federal government" and issued another executive order to "end illegal discrimination and restore merit-based opportunity across the private sector." 

"At my direction, the FCC has already taken action to end its own promotion of DEI. As a next step, the FCC will be taking fresh action to ensure that every entity the FCC regulates complies with the civil rights protections enshrined in the Communications Act and the agency’s EEO rules, including by shutting down any programs that promote invidious forms of DEI discrimination," Carr wrote. 

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"I am starting this broader effort with Comcast and NBCUniversal for two reasons. First, as noted above, there is substantial evidence that your companies are still engaging in the promotion of DEI. Second, your companies cover a range of sectors regulated by the FCC—from cable to high-speed Internet and from broadcast TV stations to MVNO wireless offerings," Carr continued. "Therefore, I expect that this investigation into Comcast and its NBCUniversal operations will aid the Commission’s broader efforts to root out invidious forms of DEI discrimination across all of the sectors the FCC regulates."

Comcast provided Fox News Digital with the following statement: "We have received an inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission and will be cooperating with the FCC to answer their questions. For decades, our company has been built on a foundation of integrity and respect for all of our employees and customers."

Carr was previously the senior Republican member of the FCC, first nominated to the commission by Trump in 2017.

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Need dinner reservations? How about a table for none?

That's how local restaurants feel when they prepare tables for guests and then those guests simply don't show up. The trend is called reservation ghosting — when a person or group makes a reservation at a restaurant, but on the day and time of that reservation they simply don't show up. It's happening, more often than you think.

"When you're going around making all these reservations and then ghosting the ones you don't wanna go to, it really is putting a significant impact on everyone else around you," said Luce Chef Antonio Caruana. "We have to make up and compensate for the lost wages. It's kind of a selfish act on the customer because they are trying to pick and choose because they have the luxury of doing so, whereas 10 to 15 years ago the reservation platforms didn't exist like they do today."

Reservation platforms like OpenTable, Resy and Toast Tables are what restaurants use.

Toast provided us with this statistic: 17% of reservations were canceled in 2024, down from 19% compared to last year, saying no shows are no more.

Caruana, however, would disagree.

And in a way, it has caused his restaurant, Luce, to come up with a method to combat this.

"There's only one way and that's to monetize that reservation," Caruana said.

This means requiring credit cards to book.

"So if 10 people are reserved and five people show up, the other five are going to be charged $25," Caruana said, "and that's the only way we can do it to make sense for the losses all the way around."

He says it has helped things flow better at Luce's two locations — one in Chesapeake and the other in downtown Norfolk,

Other restaurants are having to adapt their business models, also.

"I don't take call-in orders anymore just for that reason because people don't come pick up their food," said Allen Young, owner of Major Phillie Cheesesteaks on Granby Street.

Young says his business is more walk-in based, but he empathizes with his colleagues.

"Reservation ghosting, I'm a little guilty of that, but not with restaurants just hotels," Young said. "But yeah, that's a problem, because if you make the reservation, you block that side [and] you push other people away who come in and might be walk-ins, so you're pushing them away."

Pushing away customers like Frederick Dennis, who says he almost never makes a reservation because it can be hard to commit to it.

"That's not something I usually do," Dennis said. "I just go with the flow of my day."

"It's as simple as saying I'm not going to make it — it's that quick" Caruana said. It's easier to break the reservation a day before than to just ignore it altogether."

Twenty-four hour notice is all that's needed to modify a reservation, and restaurant staffs are happy to help because this is their passion, taking care of and feeding this community.

"If the Eagles win the Super Bowl, the Wednesday after the Super Bowl, we're giving out free cheesesteaks from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.," Young said.

"Our teams, both here and Luce Norfolk, focus on the hospitality, and we want to make sure that when you do make that reservation and come in, you're getting exactly what you reserved for," Caruana said.

If you're interested in dining at Luce, click here. If you're interested in dining at Major Phillie Cheesesteaks, click here.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Dominion Energy's colossal offshore wind project will cost more than originally projected, and customers will help to pay for the increase.

In a release to shareholders Monday, Dominion Energy announced the price of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project has increased by $900 million, or 9%, bringing the total to $10.7 billion.

The regulated utility places the blame on "higher onshore electrical interconnection costs" and "higher network upgrade costs" they must pay as part of coming onto the electric grid.

The cost increase will translate to about 43 cents per month on the average customer bill according to a spokesperson.

Dominion Energy, as well as Stonepeak, their alternative investment firm financier, will also be on the hook for some of the cost overruns.

Dominion’s offshore wind project spared from Trump’s pause

CVOW Phase 1, which involves installing 176, 800-plus-foot tall wind turbines 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, is still on track to be completed by 2026.

As the largest offshore wind farm under construction in the United States, CVOW is nearly 50% complete.

Roughly 80 monopile bases are now sitting in the ocean floor. At Portsmouth Marine Terminal, the first of three, 4,300-ton offshore substations to be set up at the 113,000 acre farm site has arrived.

"The project continues to achieve significant milestones on schedule and is fully prepared for the upcoming monopile installation season this spring," said Jeremey Slayton, Dominion Energy's spokesperson for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. "The cost of the project still compares very favorably to other forms of new power generation, including solar, battery storage and natural gas."

Dominion has touted that the 2.6 gigawatts of energy produced would be enough to power up to 660,000 homes and avoid the carbon emissions equivalent to the removal of one million cars off the road each year.

$280M-plus wind turbine blade production facility won’t come to Portsmouth after all