Politics

WASHINGTON (AP) — Highlights of a $2.2 trillion package to help businesses, workers and a health care system staggered by the coronavirus that President Donald Trump signed into law Friday after the House voted final congressional approval. — Loans and guarantees to businesses, state and local governments: $500 billion. Up to $50 billion for passenger […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — After days of desperate pleas from the nation’s governors, President Donald Trump took a round of steps to expand the federal government’s role in helping produce critically needed supplies to fight the coronavirus pandemic even as he warned the leaders of hard-hit states not to cross him. “I want them to be […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — When it came time to heave the largest aid package in U.S. history over the finish line, Republican Rep. Mark Meadows was the closer, working with Democrats to get it done. He wasn’t just any member of Congress. In a highly unusual arrangement, Meadows has been pulling off a balancing act, simultaneously […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Thomas Massie has always gone his own way in Congress, ever since he first ran for office inspired by a fellow libertarian-leaning Kentuckian, Rand Paul. Now in his fourth term, the Republican from northern Kentucky has frequently voted no on issues large and small, even against the wishes of GOP leaders. […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Navy, the military service hit hardest by the coronavirus, scrambled to contain its first at-sea outbreak, with at least two dozen infected aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, one of 11 active aircraft carriers whose mission is central to the Pentagon’s strategy for deterring war with China and Iran. The Roosevelt and […]

The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world: ___ The International Ski Federation (FIS) has postponed its presidential election at a biennial congress for at least three months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hosts for some world championships, including Alpine skiing in 2025, were also due to be voted […]

In some parts of the U.S., authorities say gun shops aren’t essential businesses and should close during stay-at-home orders meant to slow the coronavirus. In other places, officials are stopping background checks for concealed carry permits. Elsewhere, city leaders have invoked emergency powers allowing bans on gun sales. As the nation grapples with a pandemic […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump declared that “I’ll be the oversight” as lawmakers were in the final days of drafting what became a $2.2 trillion rescue plan for American businesses. In the end, Congress ensured that won’t be the case. The legislation, designed in part to help businesses and corporations hammered by closures due […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday abruptly waived enforcement on a range of legally mandated public health and environmental protections, saying industries could have trouble complying with them during the coronavirus pandemic. The oil and gas industry were among the industries that had sought an advance relaxation of environmental and public health […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The $2 trillion legislative package moving through Congress to shore up the U.S. economy devastated by the coronavirus was carefully written to prevent President Donald Trump and his family from profiting from the federal fund. But the fine print reveals that businesses owned by Trump and his family still may be eligible […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI won’t give up on “finding out what happened” to former agent Robert Levinson, who the U.S. government believes died in the custody of the Iranians after vanishing more than a decade ago, according to an email FBI Director Chris Wray sent to the FBI workforce on Thursday. Wray also writes […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — With rare bipartisanship and speed, Washington is about to deliver massive, unprecedented legislation to speed help to individuals and businesses as the coronavirus pandemic takes a devastating toll on the U.S. economy and health care system. The House is set to pass the sprawling, $2.2 trillion measure Friday morning after an extraordinary […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is sticking with its crowd-friendly waiver of entrance fees at national parks during the coronavirus pandemic, as managers at some parks try and fail to keep visitors a safe distance apart and communities appeal for a shutdown at other parks that are still open. While the Interior Department agreed […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says that federal officials are developing guidelines to rate counties by risk of virus spread, as he aims to begin to ease nationwide guidelines meant to stem the coronavirus outbreak. In a letter to the nation’s governors, Trump said the new guidelines are meant to enable state and local […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials in the nation’s capital lashed out Thursday at the $2.2 trillion coronavirus economic relief package moving through Congress, saying it cheats Washington, D.C., of more than $700 million by treating it as a territory rather than a state. “It’s shocking. It’s infuriating. It’s wrong. It’s outrageous,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said. “We […]