Politics

This photo combination shows, from top left, former agriculture secretary under President Bill Clin...

From Cabinet secretary to doomsday president: What being the designated survivor is like

WASHINGTON (AP) — They typically start the day as low-profile Cabinet secretaries. They end it that way, too, God willing. But when the rest of the government is gathered together for a big event, like President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, a designated survivor is kept away to ensure someone in […]
6 months ago
FILE - In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian, second...

A look at the long, fraught timeline of Iran nuclear tensions as talks with US loom

Iran and the United States are due to hold new talks in Geneva on Thursday over Tehran’s nuclear program. The talks come as America has assembled the largest fleet of warplanes and aircraft in the Mideast in decades as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to force Iran into a deal after it saw nationwide […]
6 months ago

France’s foreign minister says the US ambassador to Paris must respond to a French summons

PARIS (AP) — France’s spat with the U.S. ambassador to Paris took another turn Tuesday with the French foreign minister saying the top U.S. diplomat in France must explain himself after ignoring a French summons. The minister suggested that Ambassador Charles Kushner won’t have access to French government officials until he complies. French authorities had […]
6 months ago
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at ...

FACT FOCUS: A look at Trump’s false and misleading claims ahead of the State of the Union

President Donald Trump will deliver the first State of the Union address of his second term on Tuesday. Priorities for the Republican’s administration have centered largely on the economy, immigration, crime, energy and national security. Trump has spent the last year touting his accomplishments while mocking the record of his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. […]
6 months ago
President Donald Trump holds up a signed resolution during a Board of Peace meeting at the U.S. Ins...

State of the Union offers Trump a chance to make the case for his foreign policy approach

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address is expected to tilt heavily on domestic issues, but it’s also a chance for the Republican to make the case for his foreign policy efforts to Americans who are increasingly demonstrating uneasiness about his priorities. The president counts brokering a fragile ceasefire deal in […]
6 months ago
The U .S. Capitol is seen after sunset in Washington, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, ahead of President Don...

Trump’s State of the Union will seek to calm voters’ economic concerns ahead of midterm elections

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will use Tuesday’s State of the Union to champion his immigration crackdowns, his slashing of the federal government, his push to preserve widespread tariffs that the Supreme Court just struck down and his ability to direct quick-hit military actions around the world, including in Iran and Venezuela. The Republican […]
6 months ago
FILE - Isaac Hayes III, right, and his attorney address reporters outside a federal courthouse in A...

Isaac Hayes estate settles lawsuit accusing Trump of unauthorized song use

President Donald Trump has settled a lawsuit with the estate of renowned singer and songwriter Isaac Hayes that accused the president of using the hit record “Hold On, I’m Coming” in his campaign without permission, Hayes’ family said Monday. Hayes’ estate filed the lawsuit in August 2024 alleging that the Trump campaign used the song […]
6 months ago
FILE - Democratic presidential hopeful Jesse Jackson with his wife, Jacqueline, salutes the cheerin...

Body of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson is to lie in state in South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. will be honored at the South Carolina capitol in the state where he was born and where his crusade career as a civil rights activist started in high school by pushing to integrate his local library. Jackson’s body will lie in state next Monday at the […]
6 months ago
Containers are stored in a cargo terminal in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/M...

Supreme Court ruling against Trump’s tariffs is unlikely to mean an end to trade policy chaos

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s stunning rebuke of President Donald Trump’s most sweeping tariffs means he can’t conjure up new import taxes on a whim anymore. But the justices’ ruling on Friday is nonetheless unlikely to ease the uncertainty over Trump’s trade policy that has paralyzed businesses over the past year. “It’s only gotten […]
6 months ago
A document that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files...

Medical influencer Attia resigns post at CBS News after name included in multiple Epstein files

NEW YORK (AP) — Dr. Peter Attia, a medical influencer whose emails with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were revealed in the latest U.S. Justice Department release of files, has resigned a post with CBS News. Attia, podcast host and author of “Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity,” was one of a group […]
6 months ago
FILE - A man crosses Wacker Drive in front of a waiting city snowplow in Chicago, Jan. 28, 2019. (R...

Chicagoans name snowplow ‘Abolish ICE’ in annual contest

When it comes to putting a name to Chicago’s annual battle against its infamously inclement weather, it turns out that the practical is also the political. “Abolish ICE” was the top vote-getter in the city’s “You Name a Snowplow” contest. Choosing the protest slogan with a double meaning proved a potent way for voters to […]
6 months ago
Mayor James Mueller poses for a portrait Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, at City Hall in South Bend, Ind. ...

Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge winners use AI and resident input to improve city services

The winners of this year’s Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge created innovative projects to improve their cities’ core services – many using some combination of artificial intelligence and the wisdom of their residents. That’s what South Bend, Indiana, Mayor James Mueller did with his initiative that uses AI to interpret data about residents, like a family […]
6 months ago
Brandon Judd, U.S. ambassador to Chile, gives a press conference at a U.S embassy in Santiago, Chil...

US ambassador defends travel bans on 3 Chilean officials as a ‘sovereign decision’

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to Chile on Monday defended the recent visa restrictions against three high-ranking Chilean officials, saying it is a “sovereign decision” to determine who enters its territory. Ambassador Brandon Judd was responding to the controversy generated after the Trump administration hit the officials with travel bans for their alleged […]
6 months ago
FILE - Federal agents walk down a street while conducting immigration enforcement operations, Thurs...

ICE officer training is ‘deficient’ and ‘broken,’ former agency lawyer tells congressional forum

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyer who was responsible for training new deportation officers warned Monday that the agency’s training program for new recruits is “deficient, defective and broken.” Ryan Schwank’s comments during a forum held by congressional Democrats come at a time of intense scrutiny of the officers tasked […]
6 months ago
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. holds his wife, Cheryl Hines, during the ...

RFK Jr. fought pesticides for years. Now he’s backing their production

NEW YORK (AP) — For years as an environmental lawyer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. crusaded against a controversial herbicide ingredient known as glyphosate, even winning a landmark case against chemical giant Monsanto by arguing that its Roundup weedkiller contributed to his client’s cancer. But now that he’s the nation’s top health official, Kennedy is falling […]
6 months ago
Education Secretary Linda McMahon arrives at The Mar-a-Lago Club, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Palm Bea...

Education Department hands off more of its responsibilities to other US agencies

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department is handing over more of its programs and grants to other federal agencies, announcing a pair of new agreements Monday that move the Trump administration closer to its goal of shutting down the department. Under one interagency agreement, the Health and Human Services Department will take over grant programs […]
6 months ago
FILE - The Pentagon, the headquarters for the U.S. Department of Defense, is seen from the air, Sep...

US military strikes alleged drug boat in Caribbean Sea, killing 3

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said it killed three people Monday in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Trump administration’s monthslong campaign against alleged traffickers. Monday’s attack brought the death toll to at least 151 people since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls […]
6 months ago
FILE - Christopher Yeaw, center, arrives to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation heari...

US sheds light on its allegation of Chinese nuclear test and urges nations to push for disarmament

GENEVA (AP) — A U.S. official focusing on arms control on Monday provided what he called new, declassified details of a Chinese underground nuclear test nearly six years ago and urged countries to press China and Russia to do more on nuclear disarmament. Christopher Yeaw, assistant secretary of state for the bureau of arms control […]
6 months ago

Federal court rejects GOP-led Utah Legislature’s latest try to block House map that helps Democrats

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — New Utah voting districts that give Democrats an improved shot at winning a U.S. House seat can be used in this year’s election, a federal court ruled Monday while turning aside a Republican request to block the new map. The ruling marked the second setback in recent days for Republicans, […]
6 months ago
A document that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files...

Citizen journalists, citizen sleuths helping to unravel the tangle of Epstein documents

When sifting through the seemingly endless collection of documents in the Epstein files gets to be too much and Ellie Leonard needs a break, she takes a walk outside. Then it’s back to the computer. The New Jersey mother of four is among hundreds of citizen-journalists, or sleuths, absorbed by the material connected to the […]
6 months ago
FILE - Britain's Prince Andrew during the coronation ceremony of Britain's King Charles III at West...

How the former Prince Andrew could be removed from Britain’s line of succession

LONDON (AP) — It’s been 90 years since a British royal was removed from the line of succession. That might happen again now that Britain’s government says it will consider introducing legal changes to formally remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the list of royals in line to the throne. Despite being stripped of his status as […]
6 months ago

Armed man shot and killed at Mar-a-Lago was never interested in politics or guns, cousin says

CAMERON, N.C. (AP) — The 21-year-old North Carolina man who drove through a gate at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort with a shotgun before he was shot and killed worked as a golf course groundskeeper and liked to sketch. Austin Tucker Martin rarely, if ever, talked about politics, seemed afraid of guns, and came from […]
6 months ago
The Capitol is seen during heavy rain as the Department of Homeland Security funding bill remains i...

After Supreme Court rebuke, Democrats call for government to refund billions in Trump tariff money

WASHINGTON (AP) — A trio of Senate Democrats is calling for the government to start refunding roughly $175 billion in tariff revenues that the Supreme Court ruled were collected because of an illegal set of orders by President Donald Trump. Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire […]
6 months ago
The Supreme Court is photographed, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)Credit...

Supreme Court agrees to hear from oil and gas companies trying to block climate change lawsuits

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear from oil and gas companies trying to block lawsuits seeking to hold the industry liable for billions of dollars in damage linked to climate change. The conservative-majority court agreed to take up a case from Boulder, Colorado, among a series of lawsuits alleging […]
6 months ago