TWN'S Authors

When Tamarack Dispensary opened in the northwestern Montana city of Kalispell in 2009, medical marijuana was legal but still operating on the fringes of the conservative community. Times have changed. Owner Erin Bolster no longer receives surprised or puzzled looks... Read More

WASHINGTON — On a family vacation in Virginia in 2017, Democratic Maryland state Del. Charles E. Sydnor III was driving in the left lane on a nearly empty, unfamiliar highway when a state trooper pulled him over. Sydnor’s wife and... Read More

President Donald Trump spent more than $1 billion in taxpayer funds, rolled back environmental rules and tried to stop power plant closings to fulfill a vow he made to West Virginia coal miners in the 2016 campaign. But nothing he’s... Read More

WASHINGTON — Democrats think it’s dangerous and unnecessary. Republicans consider it safe and essential. And both agree that, when it comes to in-person voter communication, neither side has ever experienced a dynamic like the one in this election. The ongoing... Read More

WASHINGTON — When the pandemic hit and more than a thousand usual poll workers backed out of working the April primary in Madison, Wisconsin, City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl needed replacements who were available to work late, had customer service skills... Read More

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose warned voters during a Tuesday news conference that results reported after the polls close on Election Day will be strictly unofficial, and he said state law bars his office and county... Read More

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans plan to vote later this week on another economic relief package for Americans dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, but the slimmed-down plan — which does not include new checks for individuals — is already a deal-breaker... Read More

Two new studies made the case recently for an alternative to the invasive COVID-19 tests that require collecting a sample from deep in the nose. Saliva samples, both studies found, were nearly as reliable and far less of a hassle.... Read More

WASHINGTON — In the final days of her 2018 campaign, Lauren Underwood was sitting in a car, looking on her phone at a 1957 picture of a white woman angrily screaming at a young Black woman as she went to... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Bureau of Prisons directed all federal prisons to reopen visitation for inmates by Oct. 3 in a memo sent to wardens last week, a move that representatives for correctional officers said would be dangerous and “opening Pandora’s... Read More

SODUS POINT, N.Y. — On Mother’s Day three years ago, Tom Frank was at his bayside restaurant, Captain Jack’s Good Time Tavern, when a brimming Lake Ontario surged onto the back patio. Water spilled across the wooden deck, a sun-soaked... Read More

SEATTLE — Seattle Police Officer Ron Willis was exceptionally busy in 2019 — so much so that he crammed the work of two years into just one. Willis, a 58-year-old patrol officer, made $414,543.06 last year — more than the... Read More

In the 2014 elections, Republicans rode a wave of anti-Affordable Care Act sentiment to pick up nine Senate seats, the largest gain for either party since 1980. Newly elected Republicans such as Cory Gardner in Colorado and Steve Daines in... Read More

The world is hurtling toward an unprecedented hunger crisis. As many as 132 million more people than previously projected could go hungry in 2020, and this year’s gain may be more than triple any increase this century. The pandemic is... Read More

WASHINGTON — The cumbersome and sometimes slow counting of an expected record number of mail-in ballots — especially in some crucial swing states — could delay results and open the door to challenges in this year’s elections. In 13 states... Read More

The first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine should go to front-line health-care workers and first responders, followed by people at higher medical risk from the virus, said a group of scientists and academics advising the U.S. government. The draft guidelines... Read More

The Justice Department announced a sweeping set of controls on surveillance activities, especially those targeting elected officials, candidates for federal office or their staff and advisers. The new restrictions announced in memos Tuesday by Attorney General William Barr reflect his... Read More

Federal agencies are bolstering arsenals of tear gas, sponge-tipped bullets and other crowd-control gear after President Donald Trump ordered U.S. agents to assume new policing powers in cities to quell protests that he said threatened government monuments, statues and property.... Read More

District Chief Paul Duarte’s team, the first to reach the Pine Gulch fire as it began spreading across western Colorado about three weeks ago, put months of planning to the test as they prepared to battle their first major wildfire... Read More

The day before a planned visit from President Donald Trump earlier this month, a technician swabbed Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to test him for COVID-19. Within 15 minutes, a plus sign for a positive result appeared on the screen of... Read More

Through his high school years in Orlando in the 1990s, Florida state Sen. Randolph Bracy never heard a word about a massacre seven decades earlier that took place on Election Day just 15 minutes away in Ocoee. Only later did... Read More

MILAN, Minn. — The October chill hit Gabriel Elias like a truck when he reached the airport parking lot in Minneapolis. He recalls surveying the cold, unfamiliar landscape. The trees looked near death. As his uncle drove nearly three hours... Read More

It was well past 3 a.m. ET on Nov. 8, 2000, when NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw looked into a camera on his network’s election night set and delivered what is likely the most humbling remark to come from a... Read More

PHILADELPHIA — Few people think President Donald Trump will win the most votes in the 2020 election. But he could still become the first president to serve two terms without ever winning a majority of the country’s support. And Pennsylvania... Read More

MIAMI — Despite highly publicized efforts by Democrats and Republicans to win over Hispanic voters, a new national and swing states poll has found that a majority of Florida’s Hispanic voters have yet to be contacted about the November election.... Read More

After nearly 20 years of disappointment and dead ends, authorities charged two men with murder in the cold-case killing of hip-hop pioneer Jam Master Jay, who was gunned down in his Queens music studio in 2002 during what prosecutors described... Read More

BRUSSELS — U.K. and European Union officials have the next seven weeks to find something that has eluded them since March: an agreement over their future relationship. After a brief summer hiatus, face-to-face discussions will resume in Brussels on Tuesday.... Read More

WILMINGTON, Del. — The vetting Kamala Harris endured to earn her spot on Joe Biden’s presidential ticket was like none other in recent history. It was at once a public audition and highly secretive. It took sharp turns as the... Read More

WASHINGTON — The fundraising email from California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris hit inboxes Tuesday evening with the subject line “Proud to announce.” But it wasn’t about Harris making history as her party’s vice presidential nominee.  “I’m excited to let you... Read More

President Donald Trump on Wednesday tweeted that the “suburban housewife” will vote for him in the upcoming election — but polls and past election results tell a different story. “The ‘suburban housewife’ will be voting for me,” the president tweeted.... Read More