Politics

FILE - The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott A...

In their words: What judges have said about birthright citizenship and nationwide injunctions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal courts have uniformly blocked President Donald Trump’s order seeking to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to someone in the country illegally. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments Thursday in appeals of three of those orders that prevented the Trump administration’s citizenship restrictions from taking effect anywhere […]
1 year ago
A woman from CASA Maryland holds her 9-month-old baby as she joins others in support of birthright ...

Supreme Court weighs whether to let Trump’s birthright citizenship restrictions take effect

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday weighed whether to allow President Donald Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship to temporarily take effect in most of the country, even if they might ultimately be found to violate the Constitution. The justices heard arguments in the Trump administration’s emergency appeals over lower court orders that have […]
1 year ago
FILE - White House executive chef Cris Comerford, holds dishes as she speaks during a media preview...

Former White House chef for 5 presidents says first families are ‘just regular people’ at home

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cristeta Comerford, a longtime White House executive chef who recently retired after nearly three decades of preparing meals for five presidents and their guests, says first families are “just regular people” when they’re at home in the private living areas of the executive mansion. “It’s not what you see on the news,” […]
1 year ago
David Perdue and Secretary of State Marco Rubio listen as President Donald Trump speaks before Perd...

New US ambassador, former senator and business executive David Perdue, arrives in China

BEIJING (AP) — The new U.S. ambassador to China, former senator and business executive David Perdue, arrived in Beijing on Thursday as China and the U.S. reached a temporary break in the damaging tariff war. “It is an honor to represent President Trump as the U.S. Ambassador to China,” Perdue wrote on X. “I am […]
1 year ago
Palestinians evacuate after the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning for several schools and a...

54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital says

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — A hospital in southern Gaza says 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis. An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 airstrikes on the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the morgue in the city’s Nasser Hospital. […]
1 year ago

Alabama lawmakers approve additional legal protections for police officers

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers on Wednesday approved enhanced legal protections for police officers, changes that Republicans said show support for law enforcement but Democrats called “a green light to kill Black folks.” The Alabama Legislature gave final approval to the legislation that sets legal standards for the use of force and provides for […]
1 year ago
FILE - Mifepristone tablets are seen in a Planned Parenthood clinic, July 18, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. ...

Judge to hear arguments to Louisiana law listing abortion pills as controlled dangerous substances

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Arguments surrounding first-of-its-kind legislation that categorizes two widely used abortion -inducing drugs as “controlled dangerous substances” in Louisiana are scheduled to take place before a state judge Thursday morning. In a lawsuit against the state, plaintiffs say the reclassification of misoprostol and mifepristone — which have critical reproductive health care […]
1 year ago
FILE - Newark mayor and gubernatorial candidate Ras Baraka speaks to reporters after a protest in f...

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka set to appear in court on charge of trespassing at immigration facility

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is set to appear in federal court Thursday for a status conference on the Trump administration’s charge he trespassed at an immigration detention center in the city last week. Baraka, a Democrat running for governor in the June 10 primary, will be at the procedural hearing, his office said. U.S. Magistrate […]
1 year ago
Linda Hilton, a 76-year-old retired office worker, stands in front of her home Tuesday, May 13, 202...

Older people in crosshairs as government restarts Social Security garnishment on student loans

NEW YORK (AP) — Christine Farro has cut back on the presents she sends her grandchildren on their birthdays, and she’s put off taking two cats and a dog for their shots. All her clothes come from thrift stores and most of her vegetables come from her garden. At 73, she has cut her costs […]
1 year ago
FILE - Kentucky Republican gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron concedes to supporters during an ...

Ethics complaint resurfaces as Kentucky Republican Daniel Cameron runs for a U.S. Senate seat

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — An ethics complaint stemming from Republican Daniel Cameron’s failed run for Kentucky governor has resurfaced as the former state attorney general campaigns to succeed U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in next year’s hotly contested election. The state’s Executive Branch Ethics Commission on Wednesday took another step in its investigation into whether Cameron […]
1 year ago
CORRECTS BUDGET DATES Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom presents his revised 2025-2026 state budget during a...

Here is how California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to address a $12 billion budget shortfall

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California would scale back state Medicaid coverage for immigrants without legal status, eliminate coverage for certain weight loss drugs and use money from a key climate program to help fund state fire response under a $322-billion budget proposal announced Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Democratic governor’s plan aims to fill […]
1 year ago

Missouri lawmakers approve referendum to repeal abortion-rights amendment

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Six months after Missouri voters approved an abortion-rights amendment, Republican state lawmakers on Wednesday approved a new referendum that would seek the amendment’s repeal and instead ban most abortions with exceptions for rape an incest. The newly proposed constitutional amendment would go back to voters in November 2026, or sooner, […]
1 year ago
A sign decorates the campus of Florida AM University in Tallahassee, Fla., Wednesday, May 14, 2025....

Students at Florida’s only public HBCU protest presidential candidate with DeSantis ties

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s only public historically Black university could soon be run by an ally of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has restricted the teaching of African American history and banned public colleges from using taxpayer money on diversity programs. Marva Johnson, a lobbyist and executive for the telecom company Charter Communications and […]
1 year ago
Palestinians evacuate after the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning for several schools and a...

New US-backed group says it will start aid operations in Gaza within weeks

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new humanitarian organization that has U.S. backing to take over aid delivery to starving civilians in Gaza said Wednesday that it expects to begin operations before the end of the month — after what it describes as key agreements from Israeli officials. A statement from the group, called the Gaza Humanitarian […]
1 year ago
FILE - Army soldiers look at the border wall next to a surveillance vehicle during the visit to the...

New militarized border zone spurs national security charges against hundreds of immigrants

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Several hundred immigrants have been charged with unauthorized access to a newly designated militarized zone along the southern U.S. border in New Mexico and western Texas since the Department of Justice introduced the new approach in late April. President Donald Trump’s administration has transferred oversight of a strip of land […]
1 year ago
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears before a Senate committee on H...

Kennedy assures Congress funding for Head Start will not be cut

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday told Congress the Trump administration would not cut funding for Head Start, after layoffs at the agency and funding freezes raised fears the six-decade-old program would be radically downsized. In an appearance before a Senate subcommittee, Kennedy said the administration would […]
1 year ago
FILE - Sunlight illuminates the exterior of the North Dakota House of Representatives and the state...

Ruling in North Dakota case erases path for people in 7 states to sue under the Voting Rights Act

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal appeals court that already has said private individuals and groups cannot sue under a key part of the federal Voting Rights Act went even further Wednesday toward blocking lawsuits over alleged racial bias in voting in seven Midwest states. But its decisions may not be the last word, because […]
1 year ago
FILE - EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, April 30, 2...

EPA chief Zeldin faces bipartisan anger in Senate over funding freeze, grant cancellations

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency came under bipartisan criticism Wednesday over his agency’s actions to cancel billions of dollars in congressionally approved spending to address chronic pollution in minority communities and jump-start clean energy programs across the country. Nearly 800 grants were awarded by former President Joe Biden’s administration under […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump, with Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Se...

FACT FOCUS: Trump blames other countries for high US drug prices. Experts say it’s not their fault

President Donald Trump incorrectly placed the blame for high prescription drug prices in the U.S. on foreign nations, making the comments Monday when signing an lower their cost. The order sets a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to electively lower prices in the U.S. or face new limits in the future over what the government will […]
1 year ago
FILE - Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, left, joined by CIA Director John Ratcliffe...

Gabbard fires 2 top intelligence officials and will shift office that preps Trump’s daily brief

WASHINGTON (AP) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard fired two veteran intelligence officials because they oppose President Donald Trump, her office said, coming a week after the release of a declassified memo written by their agency that contradicted statements the Trump administration has used to justify deporting Venezuelan immigrants. Mike Collins was serving as […]
1 year ago
FILE - James O'Keefe, founder of a conservative nonprofit, waits to be introduced during a news con...

Ex-FBI agent and Pentagon contractor sues over secret recording showing him criticizing Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI agent and Pentagon contractor has sued the founder of a conservative nonprofit known for its hidden camera stings over secretly recorded videos showing the contractor criticizing President Donald Trump to a woman he thought he had taken on a date. Jamie Mannina says in his lawsuit that he was […]
1 year ago
FILE - Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., speaks at the Labor Day parade in Detroit, Sept. 4, 2023. (AP P...

Smart politics or a publicity stunt? The man behind the latest effort to impeach Donald Trump

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan congressman is charging ahead — largely without support from his own party — in his attempt to impeach President Donald Trump, a move that comes as the congressman faces political trouble at home. Second-term U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar has introduced seven articles of impeachment against the Republican president, which […]
1 year ago

Governor warns Pennsylvanians will lose health care, hospitals will close under GOP cuts to Medicaid

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Josh Shapiro warned Wednesday that the Medicaid cuts Congress is considering would mean billions of dollars in lost federal aid to Pennsylvania, hundreds of thousands of people losing access to the health insurance program and more struggling rural hospitals shutting their doors. Shapiro, a Democrat who is considered a potential […]
1 year ago
FILE - Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer, left, and journalist Megyn Kelly, attend a confirmat...

Trump surgeon general pick praised unproven psychedelic therapy, said mushrooms helped her find love

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s new pick for surgeon general wrote in a recent book that people should consider using unproven psychedelic drugs as therapy and in a newsletter suggested her use of mushrooms helped her find a romantic partner. Dr. Casey Means’ recommendation to consider guided psilocybin-assisted therapy is notable because psilocybin […]
1 year ago