Politics

In this photo provided by migrant farmworker José Molina-Aguilar, he works milking cows on a Vermo...

A Vermont dairy farm was raided. The mixed messages from Washington since then have increased fears

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — After six 12-hour shifts milking cows, José Molina-Aguilar’s lone day off was hardly relaxing. On April 21, he and seven co-workers were arrested on a Vermont dairy farm in what advocates say was one of the state’s largest-ever immigration raids. “I saw through the window of the house that immigration were […]
1 year ago
FILE - A crowd gathers in Foley Square, outside the Manhattan federal court, in support of Mahmoud ...

Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activists faces federal trial

BOSTON (AP) — A federal bench trial begins Monday over a lawsuit that challenges a Trump administration campaign of arresting and deporting faculty and students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and other political activities. The lawsuit, filed by several university associations against President Donald Trump and members of his administration, would be one of the […]
1 year ago

Risk of further floods in Texas during desperate search for missing as death toll tops 80

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — With more rain on the way, the risk of life-threatening flooding was still high in central Texas on Monday even as crews search urgently for the missing following a holiday weekend deluge that killed at least 82 people, including children at summer camps. Officials said the death toll was sure to […]
1 year ago
FILE - Flowers rest at the front door of the Mohn residence in Upper Orchard section of Levittown, ...

Pennsylvania man accused of beheading father and posting video of his severed head to stand trial

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man accused of killing his father and posting video of his severed head online — and calling for others to help him try to overthrow the U.S. government — is set to stand trial Monday in the Philadelphia suburbs. Justin D. Mohn, 33, faces charges of murder, abuse of […]
1 year ago
From left to right, Deja Foxx, Adelita Grijalva, Patrick Harris Sr., Daniel Hernandez Jr. and JosÈ...

Deep-blue Arizona congressional district is up for grabs. Who will fill Raúl Grijalva’s shoes?

PHOENIX (AP) — For over two decades, much of southern Arizona was represented in Congress by Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a champion of environmental, immigrant and Native American causes who cast a large shadow in progressive politics. He staked out principled but often futile positions, led an influential bloc of progressive elected officials and breezed […]
1 year ago
Officials inspect an area at Camp Mystic along the banks of the Guadalupe River after a flash flood...

The places where deadly Texas floodwaters have killed at least 70 people

Search teams are using helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims in flash floods that have torn across central Texas since the at the start of the July Fourth weekend. At least 70 people have died and many more are still missing, including at least 11 girls from a summer camp. At the center […]
1 year ago
FILE - President Donald Trump, right, speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Of...

Musk forms new political party after split with Trump over president’s signature tax cuts law

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — Elon Musk say he’s carrying out his threat to form a new political party after his fissure with President Donald Trump, announcing on X that he is forming the America Party in response to the president’s sweeping tax cuts law. Musk, once a ever-present ally to Trump as he headed up […]
1 year ago
FILE - A billboard urges drivers to vote on Election Day in Union City, Calif., Nov. 5, 2024. (AP P...

Trump and GOP target ballots arriving after Election Day that delay counts and feed conspiracy fears

ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump and other Republicans have long criticized states that take weeks to count their ballots after Election Day. This year has seen a flurry of activity to address it. Part of Trump’s executive order on elections, signed in March but held up by lawsuits, takes aim at one of the […]
1 year ago
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, center, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, right, discuss the ong...

Texas officials face scrutiny over response to catastrophic and deadly flooding

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Before heading to bed before the Fourth of July holiday, Christopher Flowers checked the weather while staying at a friend’s house along the Guadalupe River. Nothing in the forecast alarmed him. Hours later, he was rushing to safety: He woke up in darkness to electrical sockets popping and ankle-deep water. Quickly, […]
1 year ago
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at the start of a signing ceremony at the Palac...

US completes deportation of 8 men to South Sudan after weeks of legal wrangling

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight men deported from the United States in May and held under guard for weeks at an American military base in the African nation of Djibouti while their legal challenges played out in court have now reached the Trump administration’s intended destination, war-torn South Sudan, a country the State Department advises against […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump holds a gavel after he signed his signature bill of tax breaks and spending ...

Trump branded, browbeat and prevailed. But his big bill may come at a political cost

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama had the President Donald Trump will have the tax cuts. All were hailed in the moment and became ripe political targets in campaigns that followed. In Trump’s case, the tax cuts may almost become lost in the debates over other parts of the multitrillion-dollar bill that Democrats say will force […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump walks to greet guests during a Fourth of July celebration on the South Lawn ...

Trump signs tax and spending bill at White House picnic in photos

WASHINGTON (AP) — At a Fourth of July White House picnic, President Donald Trump signed a major tax and spending bill, celebrating its passage through the Republican-led Congress. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
1 year ago

Trump is expected to sign his huge bill of tax and spending cuts at the White House July 4 picnic

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to sign his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law Friday after his cajoling produced almost unanimous Republican support in Congress for the domestic priority that could cement his second-term legacy. Against odds that at times seemed improbable, Trump achieved his goal of celebrating a […]
1 year ago
FILE - People displaced by the fighting with M23 rebels make their way to the center of Goma, Democ...

UN experts say Rwanda supported rebels in Congo and smuggled minerals at ‘unprecedented levels’

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Rwanda provided “critical” support to the M23 rebels’ recent offensive in eastern Congo, which helped secure Kigali’s access to minerals and fertile ground, according to a confidential United Nations report seen by The Associated Press. The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group is the most prominent armed group in the conflict in Eastern […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump dances after speaking at a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Thursday, Ju...

Trump said he didn’t know an offensive term he used in a speech is considered antisemitic

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he didn’t know the term “shylock” is considered antisemitic when he used it in a speech to describe unscrupulous moneylenders. Trump told reporters early Friday after returning from an event in Iowa that he had “never heard it that way” and “never heard that” the term was considered […]
1 year ago
FILE - Portraits of a red-headed Thomas Jefferson, left, and John Dickinson, right, by by Charles W...

A year before declaring independence, colonists offered ‘Olive Branch’ petition to King George III

NEW YORK (AP) — Alarmed by the policies of President Donald Trump, millions turned out last month for protests around the United States and overseas. Mindful of next year’s 250th anniversary of American independence, organizers called the movement “No Kings.” Had the same kind of rallies been called for in the summer of 1775, the […]
1 year ago

Rural hospitals brace for financial hits or even closure under Republicans’ $1 trillion Medicaid cut

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Tyler Sherman, a nurse at a rural Nebraska hospital, is used to the area’s aging farmers delaying care until they end up in his emergency room. Now, with Congress planning around $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over 10 years, he fears those farmers and the more than 3,000 residents of Webster […]
1 year ago
Seasonal laborers harvest onions on a privately owned ranch along the southern U.S. border in an un...

Takeaways: US military expands enforcement zone to 1/3 of southern border

COLUMBUS, N.M. (AP) — The military is expanding its authority and reach along swaths of the southern U.S. border where troops have been empowered to detain people who enter the country illegally. Designated militarized zones will soon cover nearly one-third of the U.S. border with Mexico under supervision of nearby military bases. Federal prosecutors have […]
1 year ago
A sign warns against unauthorized entry into a militarized zone along the southern U.S. border in N...

US expands militarized zones to 1/3 of southern border, stirring controversy

COLUMBUS, N.M. (AP) — Orange no-entry signs posted by the U.S. military in English and Spanish dot the New Mexico desert, where a border wall cuts past onion fields and parched ranches with tufts of tall grass growing amidst wiry brush and yucca trees. The Army has posted thousands of the warnings in New Mexico […]
1 year ago
A local resident listen to a speech during an Iowa Democratic Party rally, Thursday, July 3, 2025, ...

Democrats see Trump’s big bill as key to their comeback. It may not be so easy

WINDSOR HEIGHTS, Iowa (AP) — It is big and it is beautiful, says President Donald Trump. But for many Democratic leaders, the tax break and spending cut package adopted by Trump’s Republican allies in Congress Thursday represents the key to the Democratic Party’s resurgence. Even before the final vote was tallied, Democratic officials were finalizing […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Thursday, July 3,...

Trump wants to celebrate 250 years of independence with a UFC fight at the White House

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he’s thinking of staging a UFC match on the White House grounds with upwards 20,000 spectators to celebrate 250 years of American independence. “We have a lot of land there,” said Trump, a UFC enthusiast who has attended several of its mixed martial arts […]
1 year ago

Missouri judge again blocks many of the state’s anti-abortion laws

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge blocked many of the state’s abortion restrictions Thursday, reimposing a preliminary injunction against them just a little over a month after the state’s highest court had lifted a previous hold. The order by Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang said the abortion restrictions likely violate a state […]
1 year ago

How people are celebrating, protesting and traveling for July Fourth

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Recent polls will tell you there’s been a drop in national pride among Americans, particularly Democrats in the Trump era, with some questioning whether to celebrate July Fourth at all this year. But Scott Allen, a registered Democrat in southern California, isn’t one of them. He planned to commemorate the nation’s […]
1 year ago
FILE - The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott A...

Supreme Court clears way for deportation to South Sudan of several immigrants with no ties there

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for the deportation of several immigrants who were put on a flight in May bound for South Sudan, a war-ravaged country where they have no ties. The decision comes after the justices found that immigration officials can quickly deport people to third countries. The […]
1 year ago