Politics

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 […]
9 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 […]
9 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 […]
9 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 […]
9 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 […]
9 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 […]
9 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 […]
9 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 […]
9 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, […]
9 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 […]
9 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 […]
9 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 […]
9 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 […]
9 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 […]
9 months ago
FILE - Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith testifies before the House Judiciary Co...

Judge blocks release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump classified documents case

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday permanently barred the release of a report by special counsel Jack Smith on his investigation into President Donald Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, granted a request from the Republican president […]
9 months ago
President Donald Trump attends the National Governors Association dinner at the White House, Saturd...

The Latest: Trump says he’ll raise tariffs to 15% after Supreme Court ruling

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he wants a global tariff of 15%, up from 10% he’d announced a day earlier after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down many of the far-reaching taxes on imports that he had imposed over the last year. The court’s Friday decision struck down tariffs Trump had imposed on nearly […]
9 months ago
President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in...

Trump’s big speech will be delivered to a changed nation and a Congress he has sidelined

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will stand before Congress on Tuesday to deliver the annual State of the Union address to a suddenly transformed nation. One year back in office, Trump has emerged as a president defying conventional expectations. He has executed a head-spinning agenda, upending priorities at home, shattering alliances abroad and challenging […]
9 months ago
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is seen after a B'nai B'rith Youth Organization International Conven...

Josh Shapiro, in his own words, on political violence and antisemitism

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is opening up about his Jewish faith at a pivotal moment in his political rise. The Democratic governor is marching toward reelection in one of the nation’s most important swing states, a victory that could propel him into the very top of his party’s presidential nomination fight. But […]
9 months ago
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is seen after a B'nai B'rith Youth Organization International Conven...

As antisemitism rises and strife over Israel continues, Josh Shapiro turns toward his Jewish faith

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Thousands of teenagers from more than a dozen countries, many standing on their chairs in a cavernous convention hall, screamed and cheered as Josh Shapiro took the stage. Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor still may be unknown among many Americans outside his home state, but here at BBYO, the world’s largest conference of young […]
9 months ago
President Donald Trump dances after speaking at a rally at Coosa Steel Corporation in Rome, Ga., Th...

How Trump will use his State of the Union address to sell skeptical midterm voters on his plans

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump ‘s State of the Union address on Tuesday is likely to be a test run of the message that Republicans will give to voters in November’s elections for control of the House and Senate. The president and his party appear vulnerable, with polls showing that much of America distrusts […]
9 months ago
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks during a gath...

Never Trump Republicans are still issuing dire warnings. Is anyone listening?

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (AP) — Over and over, the Republicans and former Republicans who gathered just outside Washington this weekend warned that President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress are tearing at the very fabric of American democracy. A former congressman described the president’s party as an “authoritarian-embracing cult.” A prominent conservative writer said […]
9 months ago

The Latest: Armed man shot, killed after entering perimeter of Mar-a-Lago, Secret Service says

An armed man was shot and killed after entering the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Although Trump often spends weekends at his resort, he was at the White House during this incident. First lady Melania Trump was also with the president at the White House on Saturday night. […]
9 months ago

U.S. Secret Service shot and killed armed man who entered the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Secret Service announced Sunday that an armed man was shot and killed after entering the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Fla. Although Trump often spends weekends at his resort, he was at the White House during this incident. The name of the person who […]
9 months ago
Amanda Mogoi, an advance practice registered nurse who provides care for transgender patients in Wi...

New law puts Kansas at vanguard of denying trans identities on drivers licenses, birth certificates

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is set to invalidate about 1,700 driver’s licenses held by transgender residents and roughly as many birth certificates under a new law that goes beyond Republican-imposed restrictions in other states on listing gender identities in government documents. The new law takes effect Thursday. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the measure […]
9 months ago