Politics

FILE - Transport Minister Roman Starovoit attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin a...

Kremlin calls transportation minister’s death ‘tragic’ but gives no clues about his apparent suicide

MOSCOW (AP) — The apparent suicide of Russia’s transportation minister brought expressions of shock and sorrow Tuesday from the Kremlin but no new clues as to why Roman Starovoit might have taken his own life amid media speculation that he potentially was facing corruption charges. Starovoit, who served in his post for little over a […]
1 year ago
FILE - A doctor performs an ultrasound scan on a pregnant woman at a hospital in Chicago, Aug. 7, 2...

US adults want the government to focus on child care costs, not birth rates, AP-NORC poll finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — While the Trump administration explores ways to encourage Americans to have more babies and reverse the United States’ falling birth rate, a new poll finds that relatively few U.S. adults see this as a priority or share the White House’s concerns. Instead, Americans are more likely to want the government to focus […]
1 year ago
Roseline Phay, 32, stands with her daughter Pauline outside their home in Bong County, Liberia, Sat...

As US abruptly ends support, Liberia faces empty health clinics and unplanned pregnancies

SARWORLOR, Liberia (AP) — Five months ago, Roseline Phay, a 32-year-old farmer from the West African nation of Liberia, set off on a quest to find contraceptives. Phay and her partner have two daughters, and they barely make ends meet. Determined not to have more children, she went to a health worker in her village, […]
1 year ago
FILE - Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom presents his revised 2025-2026 state budget during a news conferenc...

Gavin Newsom swings through South Carolina, where Democrats will play pivotal 2028 nominating role

FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is launching a two-day tour of South Carolina on Tuesday, meeting voters across rural areas — and some GOP strongholds — in the early-voting state, the latest signal that the Democrat is eyeing a 2028 run for president. Over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, Newsom is […]
1 year ago
FILE - A sign outside the Internal Revenue Service building is photographed May 4, 2021, in Washing...

Pastors who endorse political candidates shouldn’t lose tax-exempt status, IRS says in filing

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS says pastors who endorse political candidates from the pulpit should not have to risk losing their tax-exempt status. The move effectively calls for a carve out for religious organizations from the rarely used IRS rule called the Johnson Amendment, put in place in 1954 and named after then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson. […]
1 year ago
Federal agents stage at MacArthur Park Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovar...

What to know about the troops and federal agents in LA’s MacArthur Park

LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. military troops and federal immigration officers made a brief but mighty show of force Monday at a Los Angeles park in a neighborhood dubbed the “Ellis Island of the West Coast” for its large immigrant population. The operation left local officials and organizers with many questions. Here is a look […]
1 year ago
FILE - President Donald Trump's motorcade heads east on Southern Blvd. from Palm Beach Internationa...

Section of South Florida roadway could be renamed ‘President Donald J. Trump Boulevard’

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A busy stretch of South Florida roadway could soon be called “President Donald J. Trump Boulevard.” The Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners is set to vote Tuesday on a resolution that would rename a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) stretch of South Boulevard that runs from Palm Beach International Airport […]
1 year ago
FILE - Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, center, speaks to a delegate at the Georgia Republican ...

Republican Chris Carr raises $1.25M more for 2026 Georgia governor bid

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said Monday he raised another $1.25 million for his 2026 gubernatorial bid from Feb. 1 to June 30. The Republican announced the fundraising totals to The Associated Press on Monday, although he hasn’t yet filed an official report with the state Ethics Commission. Those reports are due […]
1 year ago
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, center, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, arrives at the U.S. District Court...

Migrants deported from US to Salvadoran prison remain under US control, Salvadoran officials tell UN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government of El Salvador has acknowledged to United Nations investigators that the Trump administration maintains control of the Venezuelan men who were deported from the U.S. to a notorious Salvadoran prison, contradicting public statements by officials in both countries. The revelation was contained in court filings Monday by lawyers for more […]
1 year ago
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., testifies during a House Energy and C...

RFK Jr. promoted a food company he says will make Americans healthy. Their meals are ultraprocessed

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday praised a company that makes $7-a-pop meals that are delivered directly to the homes of Medicaid and Medicare enrollees. He even thanked Mom’s Meals for sending taxpayer-funded meals “without additives” to the homes of sick or elderly Americans. The spreads include chicken bacon ranch […]
1 year ago
FILE - State Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, speaks with a colleague, Feb. 14, 2023, at the State Hous...

Maine and a GOP lawmaker who ID’d a transgender athlete online agree lawsuit is now moot

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Attorneys for the state of Maine and a conservative lawmaker who identified a transgender teen student athlete online now agree that the lawmaker’s appeal over her loss of voting rights for her post is now moot. Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby identified the athlete in a February social media post that […]
1 year ago
FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk walks to the stage to speak at the Butler Farm Show, Oct. 5, ...

Elon Musk says he’s formed a new political party. But it’s not clear if he actually has

Elon Musk has said that he’s formed a new political party, but it’s unclear what steps — if any — he’s taken to do so, or how the effort might affect upcoming elections. Musk has not yet released any additional information. Spokespeople for Musk and his political action committee, America PAC, didn’t immediately comment Monday. […]
1 year ago
FILE - A dump truck hauls coal at Contura Energy's Eagle Butte Mine near Gillette, Wyo., March 28, ...

Trump administration weighs new coal sales from public lands in Montana and Wyoming

DENVER (AP) — Federal officials on Monday took a first step toward reopening vast areas of public lands in two Western states to new coal sales as part of President Donald Trump’s push to expand U.S. fossil fuel production. The Interior Department proposal comes after the Biden administration, citing climate change, tried to end sales […]
1 year ago
FILE - Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney looks through paperwork, Aug. 14, 2023, i...

Georgia appeals court upholds ruling saying election officials must certify results

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that said county election officials in the state must vote to certify results according to deadlines set in law. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney had ruled in October that “no election superintendent (or member of a board of elections and […]
1 year ago
FILE - The TikTok app logo is shown on an iPhone on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/As...

What to know about a potential deal to keep TikTok running in US

Less than a month after extending a deadline to ban TikTok for the third time, President Donald Trump told reporters late Friday night that, “We pretty much have a deal,” on TikTok — but he did not offer details. The details and timing of a potential deal are not clear. TikTok did not immediately respond […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump walks toward the media to speak with them before boarding Air Force One, at ...

Student loan cancellation program could become Trump retribution tool, some advocates fear

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is reshaping a student loan cancellation program into what some fear will become a tool for political retribution, taking aim at organizations that serve immigrants and transgender youth. The Education Department is preparing an overhaul of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that would strip the benefit from organizations […]
1 year ago
FILE - Flags for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the state of North Dakota stand i...

Appeals court rules against North Dakota tribes in voting rights case that could go to Supreme Court

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal appeals court won’t reconsider its decision in a redistricting case that went against two Native American tribes that challenged North Dakota’s legislative redistricting map, and the dispute could be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court. The case has drawn national interest because of a 2-1 ruling issued in May […]
1 year ago
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, center, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, joins supporters of Abrego Garcia ...

US will try to deport Abrego Garcia before his trial, Justice Department attorney says

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — The U.S. government would initiate deportation proceedings against Kilmar Abrego Garcia if he’s released from jail before he stands trial on human smuggling charges in Tennessee, a Justice Department attorney told a federal judge in Maryland on Monday. The disclosure by U.S. lawyer Jonathan Guynn contradicts statements by spokespeople for the […]
1 year ago
FILE - Supporters of temporary protected status immigrants hold signs and cheer at a rally before a...

Temporary status to be removed from roughly 80,000 Hondurans, Nicaraguans after 25 years in US

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is ending the temporary status for nearly 80,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans that has allowed them to live and work in the U.S. for a quarter of a century after a devastating hurricane hit Central America, according to federal government notices — a move that comes as the White House […]
1 year ago
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to the media, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the briefing room of the ...

Epstein ‘client list’ doesn’t exist, Justice Department says, walking back theory Bondi had promoted

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeffrey Epstein did not maintain a “client list,” the Justice Department acknowledged Monday as it said no more files related to the wealthy financier’s sex trafficking investigation would be made public despite promises from Attorney General Pam Bondi that had raised the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists. The acknowledgment that […]
1 year ago
FILE - Shoppers shop electric rice cookers imported from Japan and Korea at the H Mart in Niles, Il...

Trump to put 25% tariffs on Japan and South Korea

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday placed a 25% tax on goods imported from Japan and South Korea, citing persistent trade imbalances with the two crucial U.S. allies in Asia. Trump provided notice of the tariffs to begin on Aug. 1 by posting letters on Truth Social that were addressed to the leaders […]
1 year ago
FILE - Syria's interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, listens during a press conference in Paris, May ...

Trump administration revokes terrorism designation of new Syrian leader’s group

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is revoking the terrorism designation of a group led by Syria’s new president as part of a broader U.S. engagement with the transitional government since the ouster of former leader Bashar Assad late last year. In a notice to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, Secretary of […]
1 year ago
FILE - Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden arrives at the presentation of the Gershwin Prize, to be ...

Former Librarian of Congress, fired by Trump, vows to improve public information in new Mellon role

NEW YORK (AP) — The former Librarian of Congress abruptly fired by President Donald Trump has found a new position with the country’s largest philanthropic supporter of the arts. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation exclusively told The Associated Press that Carla Hayden will join the humanities grantmaker Monday as a senior fellow whose duties will […]
1 year ago

The Latest: Trump to meet with Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump are set to meet for the third time this year. Among the issues for discussion: Israel’s 21-month war against Hamas in Gaza and questions over how hard Trump will push for an end to the conflict. Trump has made clear that following the 12-day war between […]
1 year ago