AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Winning Texas has been the Democratic Party’s white whale for years, the much-hyped attempts repeatedly ending in disappointment. Now, the U.S. Senate contest between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton is another tantalizing opening, and as the long race enters its final few days, the contest could well turn on […]
BLAINE, Wash. (AP) — The Trump administration’s top border official defended plans to build a wall and other infrastructure in Texas’ Big Bend region despite mounting opposition against the project and a court-ordered pause on construction, saying his goal of fortifying the country’s borders was “non-negotiable.” In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Customs […]
Defense attorneys for the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk are suggesting a 2029 trial date because they say it could take them that long to prepare their case. Attorneys for Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, said Thursday that the defense’s proposed schedule was “absurd” and defendant Tyler Robinson was simply trying to delay. […]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Most of the immigrants targeted by federal authorities in California this week for alleged voter fraud had applied for U.S. citizenship and now face charges related to lying on forms or during interviews. Those charges could lead to years in prison and thwart their efforts to naturalize. One of them is […]
The federal government has stopped sharing evidence with Minnesota authorities who are investigating the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers, state officials said in recent court filings. Minnesota officials sued President Donald Trump’s administration in March for access to materials they said they needed to independently investigate the shootings during Trump’s […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump told reporters that he had “heard something about” the Department of Justice investigating allegations that Corey Lewandowski profited off his past role as an adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, after media reports of an investigation surfaced Thursday. Lewandowski, who worked at the agency as a special government […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for New Hampshire to fully ban the use of student IDs for voting during the midterm elections. The justices granted a Republican-backed emergency appeal and blocked the use of student IDs as a backup method of identification. The Supreme Court cited a longstanding legal principle […]
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Thursday that the Trump administration remains “full-bore ahead” with a sweeping reorganization of the Forest Service and other agencies after a judge blocked the changes last week. The administration wants to move Forest Service headquarters from Washington to Salt Lake City, shutter 23 research stations, and […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has issued a new directive telling troops they cannot use “nonpublic information” to make bets on prediction markets. “Our enemies watch movements in these markets,” Hegseth wrote in a memo dated Tuesday and reviewed by The Associated Press. “When an American Service member, intelligence professional, or other Department […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Calley Means, a top adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a chief advocate for the Make America Healthy Again movement, resigned from his Trump administration role Thursday just days ahead of the midterm elections. In a statement, Means said he “leaves with tremendous respect” for President Donald Trump and […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department proposed a rule Thursday to crack down on American high-tech investments such as supercomputing and artificial intelligence in China, Russia, North Korea and other “countries of concern.’’ The U.S. government has been working for years to deny China and other adversaries investments that could help them boost their […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Recent efforts to throttle Ukraine’s access to satellite systems have created a blame game of sorts among Trump administration officials and their allies, who have offered mixed messages about what led to the sudden restrictions on Kyiv’s ability to intercept Russian strikes. The limitations placed on Starshield — SpaceX’s military-grade version of […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — More than a dozen people in Southern California were charged with allegedly siphoning nearly $2 billion in fraudulent healthcare costs, the Department of Justice and state prosecutors announced Thursday, as President Donald Trump’s administration ramps up efforts to end the abuse of federal aid programs. Fifteen people were charged and so […]
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday accused LeBron James of disrespecting the United States after the NBA star appeared to continue his warmups while the national anthem was performed before Philadelphia’s season opener on Tuesday. “I said right from the beginning that he’s no good, a TOTAL DISGRACE,” Trump said of James in […]
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — At 94 years, the Kansas GOP’s streak of one-party dominance in Senate races is the nation’s longest because even in the toughest years, disaffected Republican-leaning voters have reliably drifted back to the party’s fold before Election Day. But Republicans fear this year could be different, setting the race between Republican Sen. […]
A federal judge in California has ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to halt investigations in nine states into whether noncitizens are registered to vote. U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin in Oakland found the government’s effort is relying on data that is full of errors and that it’s leading to intimidation of groups performing voter […]
MIAMI (AP) — Lawyers for the BBC and for Donald Trump were tussling in court Thursday over whether former special counsel Jack Smith should be deposed in the president’s $10 billion defamation case against the broadcaster — a possibility that Trump strongly opposes. In a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett in Miami, the […]
NEW YORK (AP) — The Ford Foundation, one of the world’s largest private grantmakers, will overhaul its spending to counter what new leadership views as the mutually reinforcing rise of both autocracy and inequality. The New York-based philanthropy committed Thursday to driving more funds toward the basic building blocks of democracy. The new strategic direction […]
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, was charged on Thursday in connection with what federal authorities alleged was a role leading a criminal enterprise that acquired and distributed large quantities of marijuana and laundered the proceeds. An indictment unsealed on Thursday charged Lucas and […]
Voter turnout is soaring compared with the last midterm election in many of the states that are expected to decide control of the U.S. Senate, according to an Associated Press analysis of early voting two weeks before Election Day. Advocates for greater voter identification requirements are pursuing a new approach in some states: a mandate […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is on track to deport about 660,000 people over the past year, a new report released Thursday shows, as arrests ramp up across the country fueled by billions of dollars meant to supercharge his immigration agenda. The report by the Migration Policy Institute shows deportations increased from 620,000 […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Regardless of the outcome in the coming election, a new AP-NORC poll shows voters from both major political parties want the next Congress to focus on making life more affordable and ending the war in Iran, while fewer are looking for an emphasis on President Donald Trump — whether it’s investigating him […]
A single figure sets Venezuela apart from the rest of the world: 303 billion barrels of so-called proven oil reserves. But experts say the country’s estimate is inherently problematic and far from proven — rooted in exaggerated, aging data from a corrupt government. The number has long been touted by politicians and investors as an […]
Advocates for greater voter identification requirements are pursuing a new approach in some states: a mandate to place driver’s license or partial Social Security numbers on mail-in ballots. Variations of the voter ID proposals are being decided in the midterm elections in California, Colorado and Nevada — three states where conservative activists collected petition signatures […]
