Politics

Energy Secretary Chris Wright walks to the White House following an interview with CNN, Thursday, M...

Trump once bragged about low gas prices. The Iran conflict has him doing an about-face

WASHINGTON (AP) — Since starting a war with Iran caused oil and gasoline prices to spike, President Donald Trump has pivoted from a focus on keeping energy prices low to painting high oil prices as a positive. The about-face comes as Trump’s team has struggled to offer a clear plan for opening up the critical […]
6 months ago
This undated photo released by the Willamette River Preservation Trust, shows the Abiqua Falls in n...

An iconic Oregon waterfall was put up for sale on Redfin. Lawmakers approved the money to buy it

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The state of Oregon may soon have some new public property: A spectacular waterfall, beloved by generations, that was recently put up for sale on Redfin. Abiqua Falls — known for its 92-foot (28-meter) vertical drop over a columnar basalt cliff — has been privately owned for over a century but […]
6 months ago
FILE - Eswatini's King Mswati III speaks during a news conference after talks with Serbian Presiden...

Eswatini receives third batch of migrants deported by the US

Johannesburg (AP) — Four more African migrants deported from the United States arrived in Eswatini, authorities said Thursday. This is the third batch of deportees that the Trump administration has sent to Eswatini. They are the latest of more than 40 deportees sent to Africa as part of largely secretive agreements with at least seven […]
6 months ago
The U.S. Capitol photographed Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)Cre...

Senate passes bipartisan housing bill to improve access and affordability

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a broad bill on Thursday to make U.S. housing more accessible and affordable, a rare bipartisan effort in Congress to address a growing national problem. The bill, which passed 89-10, would reduce regulations, regulate corporate investors and expand how housing dollars can be used to build affordable homes and […]
6 months ago

California governor says no imminent threat despite warning about possible Iran drone attack

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said there was no imminent threat to the state, despite a warning from the FBI that Iran could send drones to the West Coast in retaliation for war. Newsom said drone issues “have always been top of mind.” “We’ve been aware of that information. … It’s all […]
6 months ago
Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., speaks ahead of former President Joe Biden, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, in Col...

Long-serving Democrat Jim Clyburn of South Carolina will run for an 18th term in Congress

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the dean of South Carolina’s Democrats, said Thursday that he will run for an 18th House term, a move that could position him as an influential elder statesman in Congress if his party regains the majority in November. At 85, Clyburn is among the oldest Democrats serving […]
6 months ago
FILE - This May 8, 2019, file photo, shows a sign for Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. (AP ...

Ohio State names provost as new president after predecessor’s abrupt resignation

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State acted swiftly on Thursday to move past the abrupt resignation of the university’s president over the weekend, elevating its chief academic officer into the role. Trustees are voting to appoint Executive Vice President and Provost Ravi Ballamkonda as Carter’s successor, bypassing the traditional nationwide search to name its fourth […]
6 months ago
School children visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture's Middle Passage ...

Slavery exhibit is changing at the Smithsonian museum as a loan agreement ends

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Smithsonian museum exhibit about the maritime journey that millions of Africans were forced to take across the Atlantic to slavery in the Americas will change later this month, when a remnant from one of the first sunken slave ships ever recovered is taken off display in Washington. The National Museum of […]
6 months ago
The National Assembly passes a law to implement hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. investments...

South Korean lawmakers pass law to manage Seoul’s pledge of $350 billion in US investments

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean lawmakers on Thursday passed a law to implement a pledge of $350 billion in U.S. investments Seoul made last year to avoid the Trump administration’s highest tariffs. Government officials had urged lawmakers to quickly pass the contested bill, submitted in November, as uncertainty mounts for the country’s trade-dependent […]
6 months ago

Damage to historical sites in Iran raises alarm about war’s impact on protected places

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran have damaged at least four cultural and historical sites, including palaces and an ancient mosque, raising alarms about the impact of the widening war on protected landmarks that are important to Iranian identity and world history. The speed and extent of the damage have so […]
6 months ago
FILE - A sign in a Kwik Trip store shows the store will no longer be using pennies to give change, ...

State lawmakers rush to set rounding rules for when there are no pennies

Months after the last of the United States’ 1-cent coins were pressed, some states are beginning to offer their own 2 cents on the penny problem by setting rounding guidance for cash purchases. President Donald Trump announced early last year an end to penny production, saying it was wasteful. It cost 3.7 cents to make […]
6 months ago
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at an event at the National Governors Association Winter Meeting, Thur...

Utah’s anti-gambling tradition meets Kalshi and Polymarket in a new legal fight

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — For more than a century, Utah has kept gambling almost entirely out of the state. There are no casinos, no lotteries and no racetracks that allow bets, a prohibition rooted in the conservative ideals of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which views gambling as a vice that […]
6 months ago
FILE - A student prepares to leave school, Aug. 13, 2014, southeast of Brookhaven, Miss. (AP Photo/...

Trump visa changes squeeze rural schools relying on international teachers

Like many school systems facing teacher shortages, South Carolina’s Allendale County has looked overseas for help. A quarter of the teachers in the rural, high-poverty district come from other countries. The superintendent praises the international educators — mostly from Jamaica and the Philippines — for their skill and dedication, but she is preparing to lose […]
6 months ago
A TSA agent wears a U.S. Department of Homeland Security patch on their uniform at Love Field Airpo...

Lawmakers vent frustration over DHS shutdown as lines grow at nation’s airports

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican and Democratic senators vented their frustrations Wednesday with the lack of progress in funding the Department of Homeland Security, which is resulting in more Americans enduring long lines at airports around the country. It’s a problem that is expected to intensify as the impasse enters its fourth week. Democrats stressed they […]
6 months ago
A worker lifts an aluminum beam on the factory floor at The Luxury Pergola, a company that manufact...

Trump administration kicks off new process to try to replace tariffs struck down by Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday opened a new trade investigation into manufacturing in foreign countries — an effort that comes after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s previous use of tariffs by declaring an economic emergency. Trump and his team have made clear that they’re seeking to replace the hundreds […]
6 months ago
Rescue workers and residents search through the rubble in the aftermath of a strike on a girls' ele...

Senators demand answers on school strike in Iran as growing evidence points to US involvement

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dozens of Democratic senators demanded answers from the Trump administration on Wednesday as a growing body of evidence suggested that the U.S. was likely responsible for a strike at an elementary school in Iran that killed over 165 people, many of them children. The letter from more than 45 senators pressed Defense […]
6 months ago
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of ...

UN panel says racist hate speech by Trump and other US leaders has led to human rights violations

GENEVA (AP) — A U.N.-backed panel of independent experts focusing on racial discrimination says racist hate speech by U.S. President Donald Trump and other American political leaders, along with a crackdown on immigration in the United States, have led to “grave human rights violations.” The Geneva-based Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued its […]
6 months ago
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, departs following votes at the Capitol, Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Wash...

Should Trump endorse Cornyn? Some Texas Republicans say it would be a MAGA ‘mistake’

President Donald Trump likes to say that no one understands the Make America Great Again movement like him, its founder and undisputed champion. But as he weighs which candidate to endorse in the U.S. Senate runoff in Texas, some of the state’s Republicans fear he may be out of step with what his base wants. […]
6 months ago
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of ...

FACT FOCUS: The Trump administration is falsely claiming Jimmy Carter was against mail-in voting

The Trump administration is using a 20-year-old report to misrepresent former President Jimmy Carter’s views on mail-in and absentee ballots as it pushes for federal legislation that would impose strict new proof-of-citizenship and photo ID requirements for voting ahead of the midterm elections. On two successive days this week, President Donald Trump and White House […]
6 months ago

Social Security watchdog opens probe into alleged misuse of data by ex-DOGE employee

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Social Security Administration’s internal watchdog is investigating a whistleblower complaint into what it describes as a former Department of Government Efficiency worker’s potential misuse of data obtained from the Social Security Administration. According to a document the Associated Press obtained Wednesday, the SSA’s inspector general informed the leadership of four congressional […]
6 months ago
Richard Khan, Jeffrey Epstein's accountant and co-executor of his estate, arrives for his depositio...

Epstein’s longtime accountant testifies on his wealth and business ties

WASHINGTON (AP) — House lawmakers were digging into Jeffrey Epstein’s sprawling financial portfolio Wednesday as a committee deposed his former accountant and tried to understand his connections to some of the world’s wealthiest men. Richard Kahn, who worked closely with Epstein for years and now serves as an executor of his estate, appeared for the […]
6 months ago
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of ...

States sue the Trump administration to challenge policy requiring colleges to collect race data

BOSTON (AP) — A coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a Trump administration policy that requires higher education institutions to collect data showing they aren’t considering race in admissions. President Donald Trump ordered the new policy in August after he raised concerns that colleges and universities were using personal […]
6 months ago
FILE - CoreCivic's shuttered prison, the Midwest Regional Reception Center, is seen on March 3, 202...

Leavenworth, Kansas, relents and will allow a private prison to reopen and house immigrants

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas town known for its prisons is allowing a shuttered private prison to reopen and house immigrants detained for living in the U.S. illegally after a nearly yearlong legal fight amid a massive national push for new detention centers. The City Commission in Leavenworth on Tuesday approved a permit to […]
6 months ago

Ecuador readies a major offensive on criminal groups, with US logistical support

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador is preparing a “major offensive” against criminal organizations set to begin this weekend with logistical support from the United States, the interior minister said Wednesday. Speaking to a local radio station, Interior Minister John Reimberg also urged citizens to observe a curfew from March 15-30 in the provinces of Guayas, […]
6 months ago