Four of the six Planned Parenthood clinics in Iowa and four in Minnesota will shut down in a year, the Midwestern affiliate operating them said Friday, blaming a freeze in federal funds, budget cuts proposed in Congress and state restrictions on abortion. The clinics closing in Iowa include the only Planned Parenthood facility in the […]
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A United Nations expert warned Friday at the conclusion of her two-week visit that Guatemala’s prosecutor’s office is increasingly using criminal law against former prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, journalists and others. Margaret Satterthwaite, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, traveled the country meeting with judges, lawyers, […]
HONOLULU (AP) — Environmentalists are challenging in court President Donald Trump’s executive order that they say strips core protections from the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument and opens the area to harmful commercial fishing. On the same day of last month’s proclamation allowing commercial fishing in the monument, Trump issued an order to boost […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is ordering a massive overhaul of the National Security Council that will shrink its size and return many career appointees back to their home agencies, according to two U.S. officials and one person familiar with the reorganization. The move is expected to significantly reduce the number of staff at […]
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A divided North Carolina Supreme Court confirmed Friday that it was OK for a new law that shifted the power to appoint State Board of Elections members away from the Democratic governor to have taken effect earlier this month, even as the law’s constitutionality is deliberated. The Republican majority on the […]
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department’s new pardon attorney said he is going to take a “hard look” at two men who are serving long prison terms for leading a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. “On the pardon front, we can’t leave these guys behind,” Ed Martin Jr. said this week on […]
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Two groups filed a lawsuit Friday over an executive order by West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey granting religious exemptions from required school vaccinations. The American Civil Liberties Union’s West Virginia chapter and Mountain State Justice filed the lawsuit against the state Department of Health, its Bureau for Public Health and […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday permanently blocked another of President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting a major law firm, calling it unconstitutional retaliation designed to punish lawyers for their legal work that the White House does not like. The ruling from U.S. District Judge John Bates marks the second time this month […]
Privacy and hunger relief groups and a handful of people receiving food assistance benefits are suing the federal government over the Trump administration’s attempts to collect the personal information of millions of U.S. residents who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., on Thursday says the U.S. Department of Agriculture […]
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency said Friday it fears that 427 Rohingya fleeing Myanmar and a refugee camp in Bangladesh may have died at sea this month. UNHCR said it has collected reports from family members and others of two separate boat tragedies off the coast of Myanmar in May. It acknowledged that […]
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — President Donald Trump green-lit disaster relief for eight states on Friday, assistance that some of the communities rocked by natural disasters have been waiting on for months. The major disaster declaration approvals allow Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas access to financial support through the Federal Emergency Management […]
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Representatives of Balkan nations that benefited from the 30-year-old Dayton Peace Accords joined Americans of both political parties on Friday to affirm the value of NATO to maintaining peace around the world. U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker told a public forum at the University of Dayton held in conjunction with […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Even as his fame and wealth have soared over the decades, Bruce Springsteen has retained the voice of the working class’ balladeer, often weighing in on politics — most notably when he was a regular presence on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. This month, though, his music and public statements have ended up […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts agreed Friday to temporarily pause orders that would require Elon Musk ’s Department of Government Efficiency to publicly disclose information about its operations. The order came after the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court in a lawsuit filed against DOGE by a government watchdog group. Citizens for […]
DENVER (AP) — A jury in Colorado found a couple guilty on Friday of conveying false information about a threat against a Black mayoral candidate when they burned a cross in front of his campaign sign, even though the couple was trying help the candidate by generating sympathy among voters. Prosecutors argued that Ashley Blackcloud, […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that U.S. Steel will keep its headquarters in Pittsburgh as part of what he called a “planned partnership” between the iconic American steelmaker and Japan-based Nippon Steel, which has sought to buy it. Nippon Steel’s nearly $15 billion bid to buy U.S. Steel was blocked by former […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed executive orders Friday intended to quadruple domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years, a goal experts say the United States is highly unlikely to reach. To speed up the development of nuclear power, the orders grant the U.S. energy secretary authority to approve advanced reactor […]
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The Trump administration sued four New Jersey cities over their so-called sanctuary city policies aimed at prohibiting police from cooperating with immigration officials, saying the local governments are standing in the way of federal enforcement. The Justice Department filed the suit Thursday against Newark, Jersey City, Paterson and Hoboken in New […]
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — For students around the world, an acceptance letter to Harvard University has represented the pinnacle of achievement, offering a spot among the elite at a campus that produces Nobel Prize winners, captains of industry and global leaders. That allure is now in jeopardy. In its intensifying fight with the White House, […]
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Almost four dozen Venezuelan workers who had temporary protected status have been put on leave by Disney after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to strip them of legal protections. The move was made to make sure that the employees were not in violation of the law, Disney said […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans were jubilant after muscling through President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax and immigration package by a single vote. But across the Capitol, senators were more cautious. Senate Majority Leader John Thune can afford to lose three Republican senators and still pass the bill, and there are more than that, right […]
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Vice President JD Vance told military academy graduates Friday that President Donald Trump is working to ensure that U.S. armed forces are only sent into harm’s way with clear goals rather than the “undefined missions” and “open-ended conflicts” of the past. Vance, in a commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy, […]
LONDON (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Warren Stephens met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday to “convey the priorities of the Trump administration,” after President Donald Trump urged the U.K. to ditch wind power projects and drill for oil. The U.S. Embassy said those priorities include “maximizing the U.S.-U.K. partnership to advance our shared interests, […]
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The Trump administration has continued releasing people charged with being in the country illegally to nongovernmental shelters along the U.S.-Mexico border after telling those organizations that providing migrants with temporary housing and other aid may violate a law used to prosecute smugglers. Border shelters, which have long provided lodging, meals and […]
