MARYLAND

WASHINGTON>> It’s been a month since a Maryland man became the second person to receive a transplanted heart from a pig — and hospital video released Friday shows he’s working hard to recover.

Lawrence Faucette was dying from heart failure and ineligible for a traditional heart transplant when doctors at the University of Maryland School of Medicine offered the highly experimental surgery.

In the first glimpse of Faucette provided since the Sept. 20 transplant, hospital video shows physical therapist Chris Wells urging him to push through a pedaling exercise to regain his strength.

“That’s going to be tough, but I’ll work it out,” Faucette, 58, replied, breathing heavily but giving a smile.

The Maryland team last year performed the world’s first transplant of a heart from a genetically altered pig into another dying man.

CIVIL FRAUD TRIAL

NEW YORK>> Former President Donald Trump was fined $5,000 on Friday after his disparaging social media post about a key court staffer in his New York civil fraud trial lingered on his campaign website for weeks after the judge ordered it deleted.

Judge Arthur Engoron avoided holding Trump in contempt for now but reserved the right to do so — and possibly even put the 2024 Republican front-runner in jail — if he again violates a limited gag order barring case participants from personal attacks on court staff members.

Engoron said in a written ruling that he is “way beyond the ‘warning’ stage,” but that he was fining Trump only a nominal amount because this was a “first-time violation” and Trump’s lawyers said the website’s retention of the post had been inadvertent.

GOP Probe

WASHINGTON>> The special counsel overseeing the Hunter Biden investigation is expected to testify before a congressional committee behind closed doors as a GOP probe into the Justice Department’s handling of the case continues to unfold.

In a rare step, David Weiss is set to appear for a transcribed interview before members of the House Judiciary Committee on Nov. 7, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press Friday.

The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the closed-door appearance.

It comes months after an Internal Revenue Service agent testified as part of a GOP probe that the investigation into the president’s son was “slow-walked” and mishandled. Weiss has denied one of the more explosive allegations by saying in writing that he had final say over the case.

Scotland

Britain’s weather agency has once again issued a rare red warning in Scotland because of “exceptional” levels of rain, its second such warning in less than three days, as Storm Babet continues to wreak havoc over the region.

At least three people have died because of the storm. On Thursday, police said, a 57-year-old woman was swept into a river in Angus, Scotland, and a 56-year-old man died after a tree hit his van in nearby Forfar.

A man in Shropshire, England, died Friday morning after he was caught in fast-flowing floodwaters from a brook that breached a road, West Mercia Police said.

“The rainfall we’ve been seeing is exceptional,” said Stephen Dixon, a spokesperson for the weather agency, known as the Met Office. “It’s not normal autumn weather.” The storm is also bringing winds of up to 70 mph, Dixon added.

— Denver Post wire services