Politics

Passengers deboard an Amtrak train at Union Station in Los Angeles, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP P...

Amtrak may make it easier to bring guns on its trains despite the alleged attempt on Trump’s life

Amtrak is considering allowing people to store guns in lockboxes on most of its trains, which critics say would weaken security measures that instead should be strengthened in light of the shooting at last weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. The company has been considering the policy change since at least early this year, after […]
4 months ago
FILE - Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., speaks with reporters on the steps at the Capitol in Washing...

FEMA workers who sounded alarm over nation’s disaster preparedness reinstated after 8 months

Employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who signed a public letter of dissent last August sounding alarms about the nation’s disaster preparedness have been reinstated after being put on paid administrative leave for eight months, according to two FEMA staff members. The 14 employees were among over 190 current and former FEMA employees who […]
4 months ago
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, April 30, 2026, in W...

Trump gives go-ahead to major new Canada-US oil pipeline

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — President Donald Trump granted a key approval Thursday for a major new oil pipeline that would carry oil from Canada into the U.S. where it would be exported and refined. The three-foot-wide (1 meter) Bridger Pipeline Expansion would carry up to 550,000 barrels (87,400 cubic meters) of oil a day […]
4 months ago
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks to reporters outside the chamber at the Capitol i...

Congress approves short-term extension of divisive US surveillance program hours before expiration

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has approved a short-term extension of a critical surveillance program used by U.S. spy agencies, staving off a Friday expiration as disputes over a longer reauthorization remain unresolved. The House sent the extension to President Donald Trump’s desk Thursday after the Senate cleared it earlier in the day. The move comes […]
4 months ago
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks speaks during an event ...

Trump administration defers $91M more in Minnesota Medicaid funding citing fraud vulnerabilities

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday notified Minnesota that it’s deferring an additional $91 million in Medicaid funding, due to fresh concerns about vulnerabilities to fraud in state-run but federally funded social service programs. The announcement from Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, cited searches by federal […]
4 months ago
FILE -Internally displaced people (IDPs) fleeing fighting in Congo's South Kivu province arrive in ...

US hits Congo’s former president with sanctions over support for rebels

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on former Congolese President Joseph Kabila for his alleged role in funding and providing political support to rebel groups operating in the east of his country. The Treasury and State departments announced Thursday that they had targeted Kabila, who served as Congo’s president from 2001 until […]
4 months ago

Six transgender Idaho residents sue Idaho over strict new bathroom ban

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Six transgender Idaho residents are suing the state in federal court, asking a federal judge to declare a strict new bathroom ban unconstitutional. The law, which goes into effect in July, is the strictest bathroom ban in the nation, subjecting people to time behind bars if they knowingly enter a bathroom, […]
4 months ago
Britain's King Charles III walks to his vehicle during the departure from the South Lawn of the Whi...

Trump says he’s listing certain tariffs on Scotch whisky after royal visit

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he is removing certain tariffs on Scotch whisky after this week’s White House visit by King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom. “The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!” Trump posted […]
4 months ago
FILE - An advertisement for prediction market platform Kalshi hangs at 13th and L Streets in northw...

Senate bans its own members and staff from betting in prediction markets

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has approved a bipartisan resolution to prevent its own members from using prediction markets, banning senators who are often privy to sensitive information from making bets on upcoming events. The measure that passed unanimously by voice vote Thursday was written as a change to the Senate’s rules, so it will […]
4 months ago
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at a news conference at the Federal Reserve, followin...

Federal Reserve faces unorthodox leadership change: Warsh enters, Powell remains

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, has said he wants to bring “regime change” to the central bank, but if confirmed by the Senate he will find a Fed already transformed by the White House’s attacks. For the first in almost five decades, there will be a former […]
4 months ago
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he meets with NASA's Artemis II astronauts Victor Glo...

Trump pulls nomination for stalled surgeon general nominee Means and says he’ll put forth Saphier

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has pulled the nomination for stalled surgeon general nominee Casey Means and says he’ll put forth Dr. Nicole Saphier.
4 months ago
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he meets with NASA's Artemis II astronauts Victor Glo...

Trump order aims to help more people get retirement savings plans in time for new federal match

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday calling for a new government website where people in the United States can find and compare private-sector retirement savings accounts, aiming to help millions of workers whose employers do not offer such plans. The order is intended to help more people gain […]
4 months ago
FILE - Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves delivers his State of the State address to the Missi...

Reeves establishes Mississippi office for Rural Health Transformation Program funds

Gov. Tate Reeves on Wednesday announced he’s creating an office to oversee distribution of hundreds of millions of federal dollars aimed at improving rural healthcare. The new office will be overseen by the governor and led by certified public accountant Richard Grimes. Reeves also unveiled a website he said will provide the public with a […]
4 months ago
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum arrives at the National Palace to give her daily morning press ...

Sheinbaum says Mexico will investigate US indictment alleging Sinaloa Cartel ties

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday that she wouldn’t let the U.S. meddle in the country’s affairs, and that her attorney general would investigate allegations from a New York court indictment accusing 10 Mexican current and former officials of working with the Sinaloa Cartel to traffic drugs. The indictment named […]
4 months ago
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends an event on health care affordabi...

Trump administration appeals court order in effort to cut vaccine recommendations for kids

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration is appealing a judge’s order as it tries to cut the number of vaccines recommended for every child in the United States. The appeal filed Wednesday was a delayed response to a March 16 court order that blocked the decision by President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. […]
4 months ago
Adam Hamilton, a Methodist mega-church pastor from Kansas, talks to voters as he wraps up a U.S. Se...

The pastor of the nation’s largest Methodist church is running for the US Senate in Kansas

LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — The pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the U.S. launched a campaign Thursday for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas, upending the race in a normally Republican state as the GOP’s small majority seems less secure than it was a year ago. The Rev. Adam […]
4 months ago
U.S. Secret Service agents respond on stage during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday,...

Man accused of trying to kill Trump at correspondents’ gala is set to return to court

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who authorities say tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner with guns and knives and tried to kill President Donald Trump will appear Thursday in court as a judge decides whether Cole Tomas Allen will remain behind bars while awaiting trial. In pressing for Allen’s continued detention, prosecutors […]
4 months ago
Mark Sanford, former congressman and South Carolina governor, takes questions from reporters as he ...

Mark Sanford quits latest bid for Congress and says he’ll set up a debt-focused nonprofit instead

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Mark Sanford, the Republican former South Carolina congressman and governor whose political ascendency was stalled by a 2009 affair, has ended his latest bid for public office, saying that he’s quitting the race to reclaim his former coastal district to set up a nonprofit to address the national debt, his signature […]
4 months ago

Louisiana congressional primaries suspended as a result of Supreme Court ruling, state officials say

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana’s congressional primaries won’t be going forward as scheduled in May, as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a majority Black congressional district, the state’s top elected officials said Thursday. Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a joint statement that Wednesday’s […]
4 months ago
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appears before a House Committee on Armed Services business meeti...

The Latest: Hegseth faces a second day of Democrats grilling him over the Iran war

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will face a second day of grilling from Democrats on Capitol Hill, with senators getting their first opportunity on Thursday to confront or praise the Pentagon chief over his handling of the Iran war. Hegseth battled with Democrats — and some Republicans — a day earlier during a nearly six-hour House […]
4 months ago
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz drives in the armoured fighting vehicle Boxer during his visit to ...

New ‘bluster’ from Trump? Germany faces new threat about reduced US military presence in Europe

MUNSTER, Germany (AP) — President Donald Trump has again threatened that the United States could reduce its military presence in Germany, a key NATO ally and the European Union’s largest economy. Europeans have heard this before. Trump’s social media post on Wednesday followed comments by Chancellor Friedrich Merz that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by […]
4 months ago
FILE - President Lyndon B. Johnson holds the signed document of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as he...

Supreme Court hollows out a landmark law that had protected minority voting rights for 6 decades

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Lyndon B. Johnson knew the legislation he was about to sign was momentous, one that took courage for certain members of Congress to pass since the vote could cost them their seats. To honor that, he took the unusual step of leaving the Oval Office and going to Capitol Hill for […]
4 months ago
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appears before a House Committee on Armed Services business meeti...

Hegseth faces a second day of Democrats grilling him over the Iran war

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will face a second day of grilling from Democrats on Capitol Hill, with senators getting their first opportunity on Thursday to confront or praise the Pentagon chief over his handling of the Iran war. Hegseth battled with Democrats — and some Republicans — a day earlier during a […]
4 months ago
Rep. Cleo Fields, D-La., center, who represents Louisiana's 6th congressional district, is joined b...

The Black Caucus is the ‘conscience of Congress.’ Supreme Court ruling has it bracing for a big hit

Black members of Congress are bracing for a crippling shakeup of their ranks after a Supreme Court ruling gutted a key section of the Voting Rights Act that had protected minority communities in political redistricting and helped boost their representation. Wednesday’s decision clears the way for Republican-led states to redraw U.S. House districts without regard […]
4 months ago