Politics

President Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrew...

President Donald Trump hints at an announcement in the ‘next two days’ on Iran nuclear talks

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday indicated there was progress with Iran on its nuclear program and hinted that an announcement could come in the “next two days.” He was notably more upbeat than the Omani mediator of the talks between the United States and Iran, who said Friday that the two nations […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Ai...

President Donald Trump says Russian leader Vladimir Putin ‘has gone absolutely CRAZY!’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump made it clear he is losing patience with Vladimir Putin, leveling some of his sharpest criticism at the Russian leader as Moscow pounded Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles for a third straight night. “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Ai...

Trump says he’ll delay a threatened 50% tariff on the European Union until July

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that the U.S. will delay implementation of a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union from June 1 until July 9 to buy time for negotiations with the bloc. That agreement came after a call Sunday with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European […]
1 year ago

Powell defends Federal Reserve in Princeton speech amid onslaught of attacks from Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell defended the central bank’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic Sunday in a Princeton University commencement speech in which he also praised government employees and U.S. universities, both of which have been targeted by the Trump administration. Powell and the central bank have been subject to extensive criticism […]
1 year ago

In an uneasy climate, diverse pride groups converge on DC with differing interests but common goals

WASHINGTON (AP) — You’ve heard of twofers. Kenya Hutton is a “threefer.” His parents are immigrants, he’s a Black man and he’s gay — at a moment in history when anti-immigrant fervor, racism and anti-LGBTQ feelings are rampant and amplified by Trump administration policies. Hutton is hardly alone. As members of the Black and Latino […]
1 year ago
Free Geek employee Ashley Martinez points to the screen while helping John Castro during a keyboard...

The Digital Equity Act tried to close the digital divide. Trump calls it racist and acts to end it

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — One program distributes laptops in rural Iowa. Another helped people get back online after Hurricane Helene washed away computers and phones in western North Carolina. Programs in Oregon and rural Alabama teach older people, including some who have never touched a computer, how to navigate in an increasingly digital world. It […]
1 year ago
FILE - The sun shines above a mural honoring George Floyd in Houston's Third Ward on Sunday, June 7...

Cities tied to George Floyd mark the 5th anniversary of his death

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Religious services, concerts and vigils are set to mark Sunday’s fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer even as police reform and civil rights activists face what they see as a backlash from the Trump administration. Events in Minneapolis center around George Floyd Square, the intersection where police […]
1 year ago
FILE - This 5-foot tall stone slab bearing the Ten Commandments stands near the Capitol in Austin, ...

Texas is closer to putting the Ten Commandments in classrooms after a key vote

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas would require all public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments under a Republican proposal that cleared a major vote Saturday and would make the state the nation’s largest to impose such a mandate. If passed as expected, the measure is likely to draw a legal challenge from critics who […]
1 year ago

A federal judge orders the Trump administration to return a Guatemalan deported to Mexico to the US

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration late Friday to facilitate the return of a Guatemalan man it deported to Mexico in spite of his fears of being harmed there. The man, who is gay, was protected from being returned to his home country under a U.S. immigration judge’s order at the time. But the […]
1 year ago

In their words: How recent presidents have honored America’s fallen on Memorial Day

WASHINGTON (AP) — From Arlington National Cemetery outside the nation’s capital to the American burial ground in Normandy, France, presidents customarily commemorate Memorial Day on hallowed ground. In somber wreath-laying ceremonies and poignant speeches, presidents remember the military members who died serving the country, even as many Americans associate the holiday with a three-day weekend […]
1 year ago
A nurse enters the medicine inventory room at New Hope Hospital in Plaine-du-Nord, Haiti, Wednesday...

Haitians with HIV defy stigma as they publicly denounce USAID cuts and dwindling medication

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A video showing dozens of people marching toward the office of Haiti’s prime minister elicited gasps from some viewers as it circulated recently on social media. The protesters, who were HIV positive, did not conceal their faces — a rare occurrence in a country where the virus is still heavily stigmatized. […]
1 year ago
Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Colmon Elridge addresses a "Rural Listening Tour" gathering in P...

The Democrats’ path back to power might start in places like this Appalachian town

PAINTSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Janet Lynn Stumbo leaned on her cane and surveyed the two dozen or so voters who had convened in a small Appalachian town to meet with the chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party. A former Kentucky Supreme Court justice, the 70-year-old Stumbo said the event was “the biggest Democratic gathering I […]
1 year ago
Interim US Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba, left, arrives to the courthouse in Newark, N.J., Th...

Some of Trump’s loyalty-first picks for prosecutors draw opposition from senators who can block them

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s early selections for U.S. attorneys have drawn strong pushback from Democratic senators who have considerable power to block them, setting up another fight over personnel picks from a president who places a premium on loyalty as he staffs his administration. His choices for the top prosecutors in Nevada, New […]
1 year ago
A protester carries a U.S. flag upside down, a sign of distress, next to a burning building in Minn...

AP PHOTOS: Looking back at 10 days in 2020 of fervent non-stop protests for George Floyd

As cellphone video documenting the last breaths of George Floyd spread across the internet, so did the collective outrage. For 10 consecutive days after his murder at the hands of Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day in 2020, protests erupted across the U.S., not just in major cities but suburbs and small towns, too. Five […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J....

President Donald Trump is set to give the commencement address to West Point graduates

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is delivering his first military commencement address since returning to office. The Republican president is set to speak to West Point’s graduating class on Saturday morning. Trump gave the commencement address at West Point in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The president urged the graduating cadets […]
1 year ago
House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., poses for a photo in the Congressional Prayer Room at the U.S. C...

At 3 a.m. in the Capitol, the Speaker of the House pauses to share his place for prayer

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was just past 3 a.m., a few hours before the House vote on President Donald Trump’s top priority in Congress, his “big, beautiful bill.” House Speaker Mike Johnson was rushing through the Capitol halls with his security guards and aides in tow. For a moment, he paused. Would you like to […]
1 year ago
U.S. Institute of Peace employees hold an impromptu celebration on the steps of the U.S. Institute ...

Judge denies stay request, lets ruling stand blocking DOGE efforts to shut down peace institute

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday denied the Trump administration’s request that she stay her May 19 ruling that returned control of the U.S. Institute of Peace back to its acting president and board. In a seven-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell said the government did not meet any of […]
1 year ago
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens during an event with President Donald Trump to sign executiv...

Defense Secretary Hegseth, bedeviled by leaks, orders more restrictions on press at Pentagon

Bedeviled by leaks to the media during his short tenure, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a series of restrictions on the press late Friday that include banning reporters from entering wide swaths of the Pentagon without a government escort — areas where the press has had access in past administrations as it covers the activities […]
1 year ago
FILE - A protester demonstrates in front of a Planned Parenthood on July 12, 2022, in Saint Paul, M...

A Planned Parenthood affiliate plans to close 4 clinics in Iowa and another 4 in Minnesota

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 […]
1 year ago
CORRECTS TIME SPENT IN COUNTRY - The UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyer...

UN expert says Guatemalan prosecutor’s office using criminal law to pursue opponents

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, […]
1 year ago

Environmentalists’ lawsuit challenges Trump’s order to allow commercial fishing in Pacific monument

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 […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J....

White House conducting massive overhaul of National Security Council, officials say

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 […]
1 year ago

North Carolina’s high court says elections board shift can continue while governor appeals

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 […]
1 year ago
FILE - Ed Martin speaks at an event hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at the Capitol in Washington...

US Justice Department pardon lawyer pledges ‘hard look’ at plot to kidnap Michigan governor

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 […]
1 year ago