Weather forecast: La Nina is here, may last through winter

Southern fires rage with 41.6 million now living in drought

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. presidential transition (all times EST): 12:30 p.m. The Indiana governor's office says Vice President-elect Mike Pence will complete his term in the state's top office. Pence spokeswoman Kara Brooks said Thursday that Pence will remain in office until his term ends Jan. 9. Pence will become vice president when President-elect Donald Trump takes office Jan. 20. Republican Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb won election Tuesday to succeed Pence. Holcomb on Wednesday left open the possibility of an early gubernatorial transition by saying that decision was up to Pence. Pence was elected governor in 2012 after 12 years in Congress. A rally to welcome Pence back to the state is set for Thursday evening on the grounds of Indianapolis International Airport. ___ 12:15 p.m. President-elect Donald Trump's meeting with President Barack Obama has now lasted more than an hour. The two were still meeting Thursday in the Oval Office as of noon. Reporters gathered by White House aides to witness the end of the meeting were waiting just outside the Oval Office, along the Rose Garden. It's unclear whether Obama and Trump will make substantive comments or just exchange pleasantries when reporters and photographers are allowed in briefly for the end of the meeting. ___ 11:50 a.m. President-elect Donald Trump has refused to let journalists travel with him to cover his first meeting with President Barack Obama. The move broke from protocol intended to ensure that the public has a watchful eye on the nation's leader. Trump flew from New York to Washington on his private jet without the so-called "pool" of reporters, photographers and television cameras that travel with presidents and presidents-elect. Trump's meeting with Obama on Thursday was due to be reported by the pool of White House journalists who cover the president. News organizations had tried for weeks to coordinate a pool of journalists who could travel with Trump immediately after Election Day if he won the election. But his campaign did not cooperate and his senior advisers refused Wednesday to discuss any such arrangements. ___ 11:40 a.m. White House chief of staff Denis McDonough is taking a walk around the South Lawn driveway with President-elect Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The two are walking together while Trump and President Barack Obama meet in the Oval Office. A handful of other Trump aides trailed behind Kushner and McDonough. Kushner is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka and was one of his closest advisers during the campaign. ___ 11:30 a.m. The British prime minister's office says Donald Trump has invited Theresa May to visit him "as soon as possible," in the first phone call between the U.S. president-elect and Britain's leader. May's office says in a statement that Trump "set out his close and personal connections with, and warmth for, the U.K." Trump has family and business ties to Scotland. Trump also praised the trans-Atlantic "special relationship." The statement said May "highlighted her wish to strengthen bilateral trade and investment with the U.S." Britain is hoping to strike new free-trade deals after Britain leaves the European Union, but Trump has signaled he may take a more protectionist attitude to the U.S. economy than his predecessors. ___ 11:25 a.m. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says it was "an embarrassment" that millions of white working-class voters decided to back Republican Donald Trump in Tuesday's presidential election. The former rival of Hillary Clinton is calling on Democrats to take a strong stand against the role of corporate interests in politics. Sanders spoke to the Associated Press by phone on Thursday. He said "there was a lack of enthusiasm" among Democrats and "people just did not come out to vote." Sanders said he will support Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota for chairman of the Democratic National Committee. And he is not ruling out another presidential campaign, saying that "four years is a long time from now." ___ 11:10 a.m. President-elect Donald Trump has arrived at the White House to discuss the transition with President Barack Obama. Trump arrived in Washington after flying from New York aboard his private jet. The meeting comes after Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's election. It symbolically begins the transition of power from Obama, a Democrat, to Republican Trump. While Trump and Obama meet in the Oval Office, first lady Michelle Obama and Trump's wife, Melania, are to meet privately in the White House residence. ___ 11:05 a.m. Experts believe new voting restrictions enacted in 14 states had some effect on turnout, especially in some of the battleground states won by Republican Donald Trump. Voter IDs restrictions, reduced early voting and polling place consolidation were among the concerns heading into this presidential election, particularly in minority communities. In some of the states, the margins between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton were simply too great for those restrictions to have been a deciding factor. But in Wisconsin, one poll monitor said the roughly 27,000-vote difference was concerning given the turmoil surrounding the state's voter ID law. As many as 300,000 Wisconsin voters did not have the required photo ID. With lower than expected turnout, Trump was the first Republican to win the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984. ___ 10:45 a.m. President-elect Donald Trump has arrived in Washington for his meeting with President Barack Obama. Trump flew from New York on his private jet and landed at Reagan National Airport, just outside of the U.S. capital. While Trump huddles with the president in the Oval Office, his wife, Melania Trump, will meet privately with first lady Michelle Obama. From the White House, Trump will travel to Capitol Hill for separate meetings with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. ___ 10:10 a.m. Jimmy Carter says President-elect Donald Trump needs Americans' "support and our prayers" as he prepares to take office. Carter briefly discussed the election at a conference Thursday focused on neglected tropical diseases. The 92-year-old former president says he spoke to Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday. Carter joked that he understands how both Trump and Clinton feel this week. He said that's "because I won the same election, as some of you may be old enough to remember, and then I lost the same election." He said: "We have a lot in common." Carter won the 1976 election and lost his 1980 re-election bid. __ 10 a.m. President-elect Donald Trump is meeting Thursday with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at the Capitol. Vice President-elect Pence will also join the early afternoon meeting according to McConnell's office. The meeting will take place after Trump meets with President Barack Obama — and has lunch with House Speaker Paul Ryan. __ 9:30 a.m. President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has launched a new website and Twitter account as the Republican prepares to take office. Visitors to greatagain.gov can find information on Trump's polices as well as biographical information about the Republican. The website also includes a notice that it's looking to fill 4,000 slots for presidential appointees, but doesn't have instructions on how to apply for positions. The transition team's Twitter account, @transition2017, posted its first tweet Wednesday night. It reads: "Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream." New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is leading Trump's transition team. ___ 8:55 a.m. When President-elect Donald Trump and his family move into The White House in January, 10-year-old Barron Trump will be the youngest presidential son to reside in the executive mansion since John F. Kennedy, Jr. The White House has been home to only presidential daughters since JFK, Jr., whose father was assassinated just before his 3rd birthday in 1963. Kennedy's son broke a long drought of boys living in The White House. He was the first since Quentin and Archie Roosevelt lived there beginning in 1901. ___ 8:45 a.m. The White House says Vice President Joe Biden will be meeting with Vice President-elect Mike Pence. The meeting will take place Thursday afternoon at the White House. Journalists and photographers won't be granted access to the meeting. The vice presidential meeting comes the same day that President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump will meet at the White House. Their wives also plan to meet. ___ 8:40 a.m. The White House says President-elect Donald Trump's team will start working directly with federal agencies this week on the transition. Trump's team will start getting briefings related to the Defense Department, State Department, Treasury Department and other agencies. The briefings will include budget details, flow charts for staff and other information. Officials at those agencies will start speaking regularly to Trump team members to facilitate the handover of power in January. And Trump's team will start creating policy teams that will work out of government-provided offices near the White House. The White House also says the Obama administration will host two "exercises" involving multiple agencies to help familiarize Trump's team with government practices and systems for responding to domestic emergencies. ___ 8:25 a.m. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he has not talked with President-elect Donald Trump about a role in the Trump administration. Speaking on NBC's "Today" show Thursday, the Republican said he does not believe the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal will cloud his future. Christie says he's not committed to doing anything in a new administration. He says his job is to get Trump through the transition and he'll talk with the president-elect if there's any job that Trump wants him to do. Christie refused to say if he was interested in a specific job. ___ 8:05 a.m. President-elect Donald Trump will meet with House Speaker Paul Ryan to talk about the Republicans' legislative agenda. The meeting Thursday with be the first face-to-face between the men since Trump's surprising win. Trump and Ryan have had a tense relationship. Ryan did not campaign with Trump and has been critical of some of his policy proposals. Trump has blasted Ryan as disloyal, "weak" and "ineffective." A source familiar with the plans tells The Associated Press that Vice President-elect Mike Pence will also attend the lunchtime meeting. It will follow Trump's White House meeting with President Barack Obama. The source asked for anonymity to discuss details before an official announcement. —By Kathleen Hennessey in Washington ___ 7:55 a.m. A top adviser to Donald Trump is dismissing post-election protesters as "a bunch of crybabies." Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was asked Thursday about protests in several cities following Trump's victory Tuesday. There have been protests in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington and elsewhere. Some demonstrators carried placards declaring "Not My President." Giuliani said on Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends" that most of the protesters are college-age students and seem to be "1 percent of 1 percent of 1 percent." Giuliani said he would advise the president-elect to tell them to calm down and after a year, "you'll be living in a better country. If not, go cry then." Giuliani is widely expected to get a major position in the Trump administration. __ 7:45 a.m. Don't expect Donald Trump to apologize for his "birther" campaign when he meets with President Barack Obama at the White House. That's according to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has been overseeing the transition for Trump. The president-elect and Obama are meeting later Thursday. Christie was asked on NBC's "Today," whether Trump would apologize for his repeated comments casting doubts on whether Obama was born in the United States. Christie said "I think that's all past us." He noted that Obama has made barbed remarks about Trump. He said: "That's politics though." Asked if Trump's birther comments were "just politics," Christie said "everything is in the context of politics" — though that doesn't mean Trump didn't believe what he was saying. Obama was born in Hawaii. ___ 3:30 a.m. President Barack Obama is set to welcome his successor, Donald Trump, to the White House, extending an olive branch to a man he blasted as unfit to serve as commander in chief and who led the charge to challenge the legitimacy of his own presidency. The Oval Office meeting on Thursday symbolically begins the transition of power. Obama is a Democrat who ushered in a sweeping health care law and brokered a landmark nuclear accord with Iran. Trump is a Republican who has vowed to wipe those measures away after he takes office on Jan. 20. First lady Michelle Obama also plans to meet privately in the White House residence with Trump's wife, Melania Trump.

The Latest: Pence to remain in governor's office till Jan. 9