Politics

Official fired during Trump’s first term appointed president of embattled US Institute of Peace

A senior State Department official who was fired as a speechwriter during President Donald Trump ‘s first term and has a history of incendiary statements has been appointed to lead the embattled U.S. Institute of Peace. The move to install Darren Beattie as the institute’s new acting president is seen as the latest step in […]
1 year ago

Trump says Japan will invest $550 billion in US at his direction. It may not be a sure thing

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is bragging that Japan has given him, as part of a new trade framework, $550 billion to invest in the United States. It’s an astonishing figure, but still subject to negotiation and perhaps not the sure thing he’s portraying. “Japan is putting up $550 billion in order to lower […]
1 year ago

How redistricting in Texas and other states could change the game for US House elections

WASHINGTON (AP) — Redistricting usually happens after the once-a-decade population count by the U.S. Census Bureau or in response to a court ruling. Now, Texas Republicans want to break that tradition — and other states could follow suit. President Trump has asked the Texas Legislature to create districts, in time for next year’s midterm elections, […]
1 year ago

Immigration judges fired by Trump administration say they will fight back

CHICAGO (AP) — Federal immigration judges fired by the Trump administration are filing appeals, pursuing legal action and speaking out in an unusually public campaign to fight back. More than 50 immigration judges — from senior leaders to new appointees — have been fired since Donald Trump assumed the presidency for the second time. Normally […]
1 year ago

Michigan led on safe water after Flint, but mobile home parks are stubborn rough spot

After the Flint water crisis, Michigan became a national leader on safe drinking water, requiring the removal of lead pipes and the reduction of harmful “forever chemicals” years before the federal government acted. But the state has a blind spot when it comes to the hundreds of thousands of people who live in its mobile […]
1 year ago

As the ADA turns 35, groups fighting for disability rights could see their federal dollars slashed

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Nancy Jensen believes she’d still be living in an abusive group home if it wasn’t shut down in 2004 with the help of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, which for decades has received federal money to look out for Americans with disabilities. But the flow of funding under the Trump […]
1 year ago

Statehouses are the public’s houses, but the fight for potty parity continues

For female state lawmakers in Kentucky, choosing when to go to the bathroom has long required careful calculation. There are only two bathroom stalls for women on the third floor of the Kentucky Statehouse, where the House and Senate chambers are located. Female legislators — 41 of the 138 member Legislature — needing a reprieve […]
1 year ago

Lumbee tribe of North Carolina sees politics snarl recognition by Washington

Since the 1980s, the Lumbee Tribe has lobbied Congress to acknowledge it as a sovereign nation. There was renewed hope last year when both major party candidates in the presidential election promised to intervene on behalf of the Lumbee. In his first week in office, President Donald Trump appeared to be making good on his […]
1 year ago

With Columbia as a model, White House seeks fines in potential deals with Harvard and others

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is pursuing heavy fines from Harvard and other universities as part of potential settlements to end investigations into campus antisemitism, using the deal it struck with Columbia University as a template, according to an administration official familiar with the matter. Fines have become a staple of proposed deals in […]
1 year ago

Judge dismisses Trump administration lawsuit against Chicago ‘sanctuary’ laws

CHICAGO (AP) — A judge in Illinois dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit Friday that sought to disrupt limits Chicago imposes on cooperation between federal immigration agents and local police. The lawsuit, filed in February, alleged that so-called sanctuary laws in the nation’s third-largest city “thwart” federal efforts to enforce immigration laws. It argued that local […]
1 year ago

Democrats and advocates criticize Trump’s executive order on homelessness

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Leading Democrats and advocates for the homeless are criticizing an executive order President Donald Trump signed this week aimed at removing homeless people from the streets, possibly by committing them for mental health or drug treatment without their consent. Trump directed some of his Cabinet heads to prioritize funding to cities […]
1 year ago

Judge blocks Trump’s birthright citizenship restrictions in third ruling since high court decision

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from ending birthright citizenship for the children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally, issuing the third court ruling blocking the birthright order nationwide since a key Supreme Court decision in June. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, joining another district court as […]
1 year ago

House ethics panel tells Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to pay more for Met Gala attendance

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee on Friday told Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to make additional payments for her attendance at the 2021 Met Fashion Gala, where she drew attention for wearing a dress adorned with the message “tax the rich.” The ethics panel, which found the New York Democrat had underpaid for some of […]
1 year ago

Takeaways: US military enters gray area with expanded role at Mexico-US border

NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — President Donald Trump has thrust the military into a central role in deterring illegal crossings into the U.S. at its southern border. The strategy is playing out in Arizona’s border community of Nogales, where an Army scout used an optical scope this week to find a man atop the border wall […]
1 year ago

Israel says hundreds of truckloads of aid are waiting to enter Gaza. Why can’t the UN bring them in?

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The United Nations and experts say that Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of famine, with reports of increasing numbers of people dying from causes related to malnutrition. Yet Israel says hundreds of truckloads of aid are waiting at the border for the U.N. to distribute in Gaza. On Thursday, […]
1 year ago

In Epstein furor, Trump struggles to shake off a controversy his allies once stoked

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite the sun bearing down on him and the sweat beading across his face, President Donald Trump still lingered with reporters lined up outside the White House on Friday. He was leaving on a trip to Scotland, where he would visit his golf courses, and he wanted to talk about how his […]
1 year ago

Education Department says it will release billions in remaining withheld grant money for schools

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is releasing billions of dollars in grants to schools for adult literacy, English language instruction and other programs, the Education Department said Friday. President Donald Trump’s administration had withheld $6 billion in funding on July 1 as part of a review to ensure spending aligned with the White House’s […]
1 year ago

Trump wants to play global peacemaker. Derailed Gaza ceasefire shows how daunting that ambition is

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States cutting short Gaza ceasefire talks this week plunges one of President Donald Trump’s pushes to solve global conflicts into new uncertainty. The derailing of talks to solve the 21-month Israel-Hamas war is the latest blow to Trump as several of his efforts to broker agreements for fraught conflicts and […]
1 year ago

AP PHOTOS: A look back at the White House Rose Garden as Trump’s paved makeover nears completion

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s paved makeover of the White House’s Rose Garden appears to be nearly finished. The garden’s previously grassy lawn was fully covered by pavement as construction crews put the final touches on Trump’s project Friday. The last rows of pavers were put in place as workers taped off their edges. […]
1 year ago

Longtime lawmaker shapes the debate as Arizona grapples with dwindling water supplies

PHOENIX (AP) — Throughout two decades marked by drought, climate change and growing demand for water, Arizona’s leaders have fiercely debated an increasingly urgent problem: how to manage dwindling water supplies in an arid state. At the crossroads sits Rep. Gail Griffin, a savvy and quietly assertive lawmaker who has for years used her status […]
1 year ago

From Benjamin Franklin to Pony Express to anthrax: How the US Postal Service shaped a nation

The one government agency that still reaches nearly every American daily — undeterred by rain, sleet, snow or even gloom of night — turns 250 on Saturday. Established in 1775, when the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin as postmaster general, the postal service predates the United States itself. It was launched nearly a year […]
1 year ago

Seeing yellow: Massive police presence highly visible ahead of Trump’s visit to Scotland

TURNBERRY, Scotland (AP) — It may not be typical golf attire, but one of the most ubiquitous outfits seen on President Donald Trump ‘s golf course Friday ahead of his visit was the reflective yellow vest worn by Scottish police. The standard issue garb that is far removed from the traditional Turnberry tartan was highly […]
1 year ago

The Latest: Trump leaves for Scotland to inaugurate a new golf course in Aberdeenshire

President Donald Trump will travel to Scotland on Friday as his family’s business prepares for the Aug. 13 opening of a new golf course in Aberdeenshire billed as “the greatest 36 holes in golf.” While there, Trump will talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a meeting he’s said will take place at “probably […]
1 year ago

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez becomes the first Democrat to enter the 2026 governor race

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Democratic Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, a former emergency room nurse, announced Friday that she is running for governor, the day after the incumbent decided against seeking a third term. Rodriguez is the first Democrat to officially enter the 2026 race. Several others are considering running after Gov. Tony Evers said […]
1 year ago