Tom Ramstack

WASHINGTON -- Incidents the past few days in New York City demonstrate why a congressional subcommittee met Thursday to discuss “a national mental health crisis.” Last week, an emotionally disturbed man barricaded himself in a subway motorman’s car, shutting down train service on the rail line... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Infectious disease experts urged Congress Wednesday to move quickly to vaccinate Americans before the COVID-19 virus mutates to become more dangerous. Without fast action to create herd immunity, emerging virus strains could make current vaccines less effective, experts told the House Science, Space and... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee tried Tuesday to amend a bill before sending it off to a final vote that would set national standards for elections. It made little headway in reaching agreement in a sharply divided Senate Rules and Administration Committee. Republicans said it was... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The ongoing energy crisis created by a Russian gang’s ransomware attack late last week led the Biden administration to announce a multi-pronged strategy for confronting it on Monday. While President Biden declared an emergency, Colonial Pipeline officials said they expect to resume transporting most... Read More

Florida was hit with multiple civil rights lawsuits Thursday minutes after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill to limit mail-in voting and to require more complete voter identification. The NAACP, the League of Women Voters and others said in their lawsuits in federal court that the... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Biden’s advocacy during a speech in Lake Charles, La., for $2.25 trillion in infrastructure spending won support from passenger rail executives who testified in Congress Thursday. Biden’s plan would set aside $621 billion specifically to rebuild the nation's roads, bridges, rails and airports.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A top Transportation Security Administration official gave an upbeat outlook to Congress Wednesday for a return to normal travel habits as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides in the United States. He said the agency would continue its pandemic health and safety procedures but did not... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Defense experts portrayed a bleak outlook Tuesday during a congressional hearing for risks to the United States and the world from weapons of mass destruction. No recent example is better than the COVID-19 pandemic, which is fast approaching 3.5 million deaths worldwide, according to... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration’s pledge to up the wages and fair labor standards of low-income workers hit a roadblock among Republicans during a congressional hearing Monday. The intentions are good but the economics are bad, according to critics who say the plan would backfire by... Read More

WASHINGTON - The District of Columbia government this week agreed to pay $1.6 million to settle two lawsuits by protesters during the January 2017 presidential inauguration of Donald Trump. In one of the lawsuits, six demonstrators represented by the ACLU of the District of Columbia will... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol came back to haunt Congress Thursday as lawmakers sifted through ideas to ensure it never happens again. The riot was the immediate subject of a House subcommittee hearing but domestic terrorism was the greater concern. “This... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Mental health experts are warning that although the COVID-19 pandemic might be subsiding in the United States, it is leaving a legacy of depression and addiction that will linger long after the virus. Now lawmakers are grappling for ways to confront what they describe... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A California law that requires nonprofit organizations to disclose their donors met with skepticism among most of the U.S. Supreme Court’s justices during a hearing Monday. The law is opposed by coalitions of nonprofit organizations that say the disclosures could dry up their contributions... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Washington, D.C.’s attorney general sued baby food maker Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp. this week with claims the company misled consumers by failing to disclose toxic metals in its food. The lawsuit filed in District of Columbia Superior Court incorporates evidence from a congressional report in... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday to make the District of Columbia the 51st U.S. state at a time political support for the legislation is the strongest it has ever been. The bill, entitled H.R. 51, now heads to the Senate, where... Read More

WASHINGTON -- As COVID-19 puts pressure on industries to innovate for solutions, a Senate subcommittee is looking at why women and minorities are left behind in the search for new technologies. The ultimate goal of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on intellectual property is to add patents... Read More

Two federal agencies are investigating the fatal crash of a Tesla car on Saturday near Houston that burned for four hours as firefighters poured about 32,000 gallons of water on it. Local police said they are certain no one was behind the wheel when the self-driving... Read More

The Hartford Financial Services Group announced Friday it would pay $650 million to settle sexual abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America. If it is approved by a Delaware bankruptcy judge, the payment to the Boy Scouts and its 272 local councils would release the... Read More

Officials from the top U.S. pharmaceutical companies making the COVID-19 vaccine are saying vaccinated persons are likely to need booster shots within a year. In fact, they probably will need to get vaccinated yearly for the foreseeable future, similar to the annual flu vaccines. “A likely... Read More

WASHINGTON -- As the U.S. death toll reached 564,000 from COVID-19, the nation’s top disease experts said Thursday normal life will return for Americans only when enough of them get vaccinated. But with more than 70,000 new infections daily, they could not predict for Congress when... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A Biden administration plan to increase affordable housing drew sharp warnings from Republicans about adding to the U.S. budget deficit during a congressional hearing Wednesday. Meanwhile, Democrats said the $213 billion plan for affordable housing more equitably distributes wealth. They largely disagreed it would... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. economy is continuing its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic but not fast enough for tourism officials who testified before a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. They said their industry was the hardest hit during the pandemic shutdown and will be one of the slowest... Read More

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Maryland's General Assembly on Saturday enacted the nation’s most sweeping police reform legislation to make officers more accountable to the public. The new rules place more restrictions on use of force and no-knock warrants. Other provisions require body cameras and give civilians a... Read More

A startup airline based in Norway is running into opposition from a leading U.S. congressman on transportation policy over its plan to expand into the United States. The issue is its “flag of convenience” business plan. The startup, called Norse Atlantic Airways, has links to Norwegian... Read More

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden announced measures Thursday to restrict sales of “ghost guns” and to take firearms away from potentially dangerous persons. The proposals are part of a larger campaign against gun violence. “Gun violence in this country is an epidemic and it’s an international... Read More

An executive order on Tuesday from Texas' governor that prohibits state agencies from using tax money for vaccine passports is kicking up a dispute over the breadth of public health laws during the COVID-19 pandemic. Airlines and other private companies are moving ahead with their own... Read More

WASHINGTON - The National Labor Relations Board’s finding announced this week that online retailer Amazon retaliated unfairly against two of its headquarters staff members is paving the way for a possible lawsuit against the company. The two workers publicly criticized Amazon for its climate policies and... Read More

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden announced Friday that he is reversing a Trump administration policy that sanctions the International Criminal Court in what he described as another sign of a return of U.S. foreign policy to more cooperation. Trump criticized the ICC for its policies against... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Virginia’s plan for a $3.7 billion passenger rail expansion was revolutionary on Tuesday when the governor announced it but later in the week looked like the tip of the iceberg. The next day, President Joe Biden presented his plan for $2.2 trillion in infrastructure improvements,... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The backlash continued Thursday against Georgia’s new elections law while Congress moved ahead with a bill that could eliminate much of states’ rights to determine the conditions for which residents vote, when they vote and where.  Civil rights activists called on major corporations to... Read More

President Joe Biden unveiled his plan Wednesday for a $2.2 trillion government investment into improving the nation’s infrastructure. Biden described the plan as an effort to create jobs and make the United States more competitive while recovering from the economic devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Now... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Arrests of Jan. 6 insurrectionists at the U.S. Capitol are continuing this week even as the zeal to throw the defendants in prison with severe sentences begins to subside or run into stumbling blocks of criminal law. In the few weeks after the violent... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Trade Commission is organizing a new rulemaking office to coordinate its efforts against what it calls deceptive business practices. The agency’s chairwoman described the reorganization as the start of a more aggressive campaign to protect consumers from corporations that use their market... Read More

WASHINGTON -- As Congress struggled Friday to find the fine line between protecting crime victims and suspects in pre-trial proceedings, federal prosecutors were trying to recover from an embarrassing blunder. In both cases, the federal government seeks to eliminate stumbling blocks to fair trials. At a... Read More

WASHINGTON -- No one at a congressional hearing Thursday doubted the arts and humanities suffered severely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The question was how much longer the government should continue to bail them out with financial rescue grants. “We know that because of COVID-19, the arts... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The turmoil former President Donald Trump kicked up over integrity of the vote last November continued Wednesday with a Senate reform proposal that would turn states’ rights to control elections on their heads. The Senate is considering a bill that would set national minimum... Read More

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden visited Ohio Tuesday to promote his economic stimulus program while Congress took steps to move the health insurance part of it into new territory. The Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan expands subsidies to make health insurance more affordable for... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The tumultuous legacy left by rioters during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol carried through into a congressional hearing Monday on statehood for the District of Columbia. The mayor wanted to call in the National Guard as soon as the rioters tried... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The day before actor Daniel Dae Kim testified to Congress Thursday about hate crimes against Asian Americans, he talked about an attack on his sister while he was being interviewed on CNN. “She was running in her own neighborhood when a man driving a... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Congress sent clear signals this week that clean energy technology and the infrastructure to support it will provide a path to help the nation’s economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. In two hearings, economists and lawmakers bemoaned the loss of millions of jobs, many... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Weeks after Congress approved legislation that dedicates $35 billion to promote energy efficiency, lawmakers forged ahead Friday to determine how they will spend it. They hope to push the U.S. economy toward more renewable energy while moving away from fossil fuels and greenhouse gas... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The COVID-19 pandemic is winding down but lawmakers in Congress said Wednesday their work to halt the hunger that resulted from it continues. This week, an estimated 9.6 million jobs remain lost compared with the start of the pandemic early last year, according to... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The railroad industry moved closer Wednesday to becoming a big winner in President Joe Biden’s environmentally friendly policies. A House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee weighed options during a hearing on which passenger and freight railroad projects should get federal funding. Comments from lawmakers implied... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A government report released Tuesday raised alarms about the quality of pharmaceuticals made in foreign countries but consumed by Americans. It said the purity of the drugs is questionable because of a lack of adequate inspections by the Food and Drug Administration of the... Read More

WASHINGTON - COVID-19 has exposed a dark underbelly of vulnerability for the U.S. economy: hunger. Congress plans to take a look on Thursday at what can be done about it, now and in future calamities. The House Agriculture Committee is calling together government and private experts... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Norma Torres talked Monday about how union membership protected her family after they arrived from Guatemala in 1970 as refugees from a civil war that killed more than 200,000 people. Her father, an electrician, was a union member who was able to support his... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Islands that fall under U.S. protection asked Congress for help Thursday from the climate change that is making their shores sink into the ocean and subjecting them to devastating hurricanes. With so little land compared with the U.S. mainland, they are suffering some of... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Airline industry officials made a plea Tuesday for additional federal assistance to help their deeply wounded businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. They asked a congressional committee for another round of Payroll Support Program funds, not only to keep their workers employed, but in... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Democrats in Congress want to overhaul the nation’s voting laws with the “For the People Act” (H.R. 1). Their majority in the House makes approval of the bill likely as soon as this week. H.R. 1 would reduce barriers to voting by extending early... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A congressional hearing Friday showed that foreign computer hackers are facing a growing likelihood of counterattack from the United States as a result of the SolarWinds software breach. Lawmakers and computer industry officials agreed the hackers must face consequences to deter them in the... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A congressional panel wants to cut off funding for the kind of White supremacists who raided the U.S. Capitol building Jan. 6. They described the attack as the first of many against government targets unless they act promptly to stop them. “This threat is... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The news media fell under attack Wednesday in Congress for exacerbating the COVID-19 pandemic, encouraging the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and irresponsibly downplaying threats of global warming. The criticisms were hurled during a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing. “They engage... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers repeated their conviction at a Senate hearing Tuesday that never again should insurrectionists be allowed to attack the U.S. Capitol like they did on Jan. 6 while acknowledging huge security lapses. They reviewed failures in intelligence reports, coordination of law enforcement efforts and... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Merrick Garland brought his middle-of-the-road opinions of justice to a Senate hearing Monday to help lawmakers decide whether to confirm him as the next U.S. attorney general. Garland is a federal judge who also is President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Speaking to a congressional panel on Friday, child care experts talked about how children and their caretakers were thrown into sometimes chaotic lifestyles and schedules by the coronavirus pandemic and the recession it caused. A House Appropriations subcommittee on human services listened as the... Read More

A ruling by Britain's top court last week that said Royal Dutch Shell oil company could be liable in English courts for pollution by its subsidiary in Nigeria, is likely to expand the company’s potential liability abroad. The court’s decision also creates a likelihood of liability... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A congressional subcommittee tried to assess the well-being and mental health of its own workforce Thursday after a year that one of its members described as “like drinking from a firehose while in freefall.” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-N.Y., was talking about how the COVID-19... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Witnesses at a congressional hearing Wednesday said the African American community should receive reparations for the inequality and bigotry that started with slavery but continues now. They were speaking in support of a recently reintroduced bill that would set up a new government commission... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A federal election official described the 2020 vote as one of the most difficult in American history during a congressional hearing Monday. The COVID-19 pandemic, reports of attempted foreign cyberattacks and allegations of fraud by President Donald Trump and his supporters played havoc with... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Former Fox News television host Gretchen Carlson advocated during a congressional hearing Thursday against employment arbitration contracts that limit workers’ rights to sue their employers. She said they often force employees into silence about misdeeds of their bosses, such as Carlson’s former supervisor who... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Cybersecurity experts suggested to a congressional committee Wednesday that lawmakers act quickly to address growing threats from hackers. They mentioned the SolarWinds computer infiltration by the Russians last year and a hacker’s attempt to poison a Florida municipal water supply last week as examples.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A backlash against former President Donald Trump continued Tuesday, first with a Senate trial on whether to impeach him again and second with a House hearing on whether to strip the presidency of some authority to grant clemencies to convicted criminals. Trump was accused... Read More

Public school classes are resuming this week but some teachers in cities nationwide say they might not be there. They are threatening sickouts or strikes because of the risk of COVID-19 infection if they return to in-class education. The United States this week is approaching a... Read More

Electronic voting systems operator Smartmatic is suing two of former President Donald Trump’s attorneys and Fox News cable network, claiming they defamed the company by accusing it of rigging the 2020 presidential election in favor of Joe Biden. The lawsuit filed in New York state court... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Some domestic terrorism experts left no doubt during a congressional hearing Thursday they believe new laws and intelligence procedures are needed to avoid the kind of violence displayed during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. They predicted the threats from domestic terrorists... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee reviewed U.S. progress toward reducing climate change Wednesday to determine whether the nation is ready for President Joe Biden’s executive orders on environmental policy. The witnesses and senators spent much of their time discussing emissions from burning oil and coal as... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Signs of hope are emerging to end the COVID-19 pandemic but they will continue only if the United States speeds up its rate of vaccinations, state health officials told a congressional subcommittee Tuesday. The number of vaccinations administered this week surpasses the number of... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is accusing SpaceX of stonewalling for information after a job applicant filed a complaint saying the rocket company discriminates against foreign citizens. U.S. attorneys said in a court filing last week that they subpoenaed documents about an applicant’s complaint but Space... Read More

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden issued an executive order Tuesday to end the Justice Department's use of private prisons. The order tells the Justice Department not to renew contracts with the corporations that incarcerate more than 120,000 people in the United States, or about 8.2% of... Read More

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden’s executive order Monday to boost American manufacturing is receiving a warm welcome from some major industry associations but words of caution from U.S. trade partners. The order requires federal agencies to purchase more of their equipment from American manufacturers. Biden described... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Another Trump administration lawyer was hit with a billion-dollar plus lawsuit for defamation Monday after he alleged the company that supplied the voting machines in the 2020 presidential election was implicated in fraud. This time the defendant is Rudolph W. Giuliani, former New York... Read More

A federal court in New York on Friday upheld the convictions of three Adidas shoe company executives for paying bribes to basketball recruits to direct them to specific universities. The bribes were to ensure the recruits signed with Adidas-sponsored schools. If they later turned pro, they... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The government agency that runs Voice of America is getting a new chief executive after the controversial previous head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media resigned Wednesday. Michael Pack was given an ultimatum by the Biden administration: resign or be fired. He was... Read More

RICHMOND, Va. - A Virginia General Assembly bill introduced last week to abolish the death penalty has the added backing of the governor in a state that has led the nation in the number of convicts given capital punishment. At the same time, newly inaugurated President... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Only about 200 demonstrators made good on their pledge to protest the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden on Wednesday. This time, there was no large-scale protest of the election like the one that drew thousands to Washington on Jan. 6. The tamer demonstrations Wednesday... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee on Tuesday reviewed a Biden nominee to become secretary of state in a move that represents one of several big changes planned by the new president. Biden nominated his long-time foreign affairs advisor Antony J. Blinken in hopes he would moderate... Read More

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor is facing federal fraud charges after allegedly lying about transferring nanotechnology research to organizations associated with the Chinese government. On grant applications and tax forms, MIT professor Gang Chen allegedly did not disclose that he had received $29 million from... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Secretary of the Air Force announced Wednesday that Huntsville, Ala., will be the new headquarters of the U.S. Space Command. The announcement was welcomed in Alabama but criticized as an example of partisan politics by government officials in Colorado, where the Space Command... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Trump-appointed chief executive who oversees Voice of America is facing an onslaught of crises only days before the president is scheduled to leave office. First, the attorney general of the District of Columbia last week sued U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Michael... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A new policy requiring members of Congress to pass through metal detectors to search for weapons created a controversy Tuesday evening only hours after the House sergeant at arms announced it. The policy is a reaction to rioting at the Capitol last week and... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Expert witnesses described a deeply troubled Defense Department at a Senate hearing Tuesday as Congress tries to decide whether to approve a new leader for the U.S. military. They said the Defense Department has fallen victim to political partisanship and mismanagement that they hope... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Voting machine manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems Corp. sued former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell Friday in a lawsuit seeking $1.3 billion in damages for defamation. The lawsuit called Powell’s accusations that Dominion fraudulently deleted or changed votes to defeat President Donald Trump in the... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Washington’s mayor and the FBI are pledging to track down and prosecute any protesters who broke the law during the riot at the U.S. Capitol building Wednesday. They are posting photos and videos from the mob violence on Internet sites while asking members of... Read More

Washington, D.C.’s mayor called in the National Guard Monday ahead of demonstrations scheduled for this week to protest Congress’ expected vote to certify that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. President Donald Trump and his supporters say the election was tainted by voter fraud and... Read More

The U.S. Defense Department changed course Sunday and sent an aircraft carrier to stand ready off the coast of Iran as tensions escalate with the United States. The USS Nimitz was heading home last week after a 10-month deployment in the Persian Gulf but was sent... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency last week finalized plans to keep ozone air pollution standards at a level that environmentalists say is too high to prevent respiratory and other health problems.  In 2015 the EPA lowered the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s signature on the sweeping coronavirus relief and federal spending bill passed by Congress just before Christmas will likely spare the nation’s public transit the drastic cuts in services and employees the industry has been anticipating for months. Public transit agencies have... Read More

Nineteen state attorneys general filed an amicus brief this month supporting a lawsuit that seeks to require the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to regulate Internet sales of “ghost gun” components. Ghost guns refer to homemade or improvised firearms that lack commercial serial... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress who handle environmental issues are adding their voices to a federal court case that threatens to roll back protections of the 1972 Clean Water Act. They are siding with the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that opposes the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Democrats in Congress are preparing legislation intended to capitalize on President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge to reform the Justice Department. The most recent examples are bills introduced last week in the House and Senate to reinstate the Justice Department’s Office of Access to Justice. The... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A congressional committee is pressuring the Centers for Disease Control to deliver more information on the role of cruise ships in spreading coronavirus. Cruise operators like Carnival Corp. are accused of marketing their tourist ships as being safe despite growing evidence they turned into... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Congress is trying to make sure the lights don’t go dark on Broadway any longer than necessary as the coronavirus pandemic devastates the live entertainment industry. Since quarantine shut down much of the industry last March, actors, singers, musicians and their support staff have... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress lashed into the Sackler family Thursday for its pharmaceutical company’s role in promoting a painkiller blamed for killing about 230,000 Americans. Lawmakers on the House Oversight and Reform Committee said the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma L.P. enriched themselves despite knowing about... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate continued a hardline crackdown on China Wednesday during a hearing on how to ratchet up American economic competitiveness. Economic advisors repeated warnings that the U.S. government needs to create more incentives for domestic industries that are lagging behind Chinese competitors. Otherwise,... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Student athletes would get a big opportunity to earn income from their sports under a bill introduced in the Senate last week. The proposed legislation would allow them to strike up contracts with advertisers to use their names or images to promote products and... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Democratic members of Congress are trying to throw a lifeline to families and individuals teetering toward financial disaster during the COVID-19 pandemic with a new bill designed to make claiming bankruptcy easier. The Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act introduced this week would lower the cost... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A federal panel of outside experts on Thursday endorsed a coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, recommending that the Food and Drug Administration move forward with emergency authorization. President-elect Joe Biden responded with a statement saying, “Today’s approval by the Food & Drug Administration... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress sought assurances from investigators Wednesday that the kind of behavioral and criminal offenses that have plagued Fort Hood, Texas, in recent years can be brought to an end. By the end of the congressional hearing, some of them seemed skeptical about... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Witnesses at a congressional hearing Tuesday clashed over whether to continue authorizing a law that blocks federal funds from being used to pay for abortions. Two doctors said withholding the funds was unfair to low income and minority women who sometimes are compelled to... Read More

Members of two Virginia churches are trying again in a lawsuit filed on Friday to challenge the governor’s restrictions intended to control the spread of coronavirus. The lawsuit says the restrictions Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam announced in mid-November “discourage the religious gathering of large groups of... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi moved a $1.4 trillion relief package closer to approval Friday by joining pandemic assistance and economic stimulus measures into a single bill headed toward a vote in Congress. Negotiations dragged on for months between Republicans and Democrats before the election.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Drug policy analysts told a congressional committee Thursday that the U.S. government has largely failed to stop illegal drug smuggling because of an unfocused strategy against the cartels. Instead, they recommended flexibility that seeks solutions based on local conditions. In one example analysts mentioned... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A former Trump administration head of cybersecurity is considering legal action against a lawyer for the president who said Monday he should be executed. The dispute arose from President Donald Trump’s allegations of voter fraud during the presidential election he lost last month. Christopher... Read More

NEW YORK -- Fox News is paying a reported seven-figure sum in a settlement reached this week with the parents of a Democratic National Committee staff member who was murdered in Washington, D.C.’s Bloomingdale neighborhood in 2016. A subsequent Fox News investigative story implied that DNC... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Defense analysts warned Congress Friday against the U.S. troop withdrawal in Afghanistan announced this week amid indications that radical Islamists could resume terrorist attacks. They said further proof is needed that Taliban fighters would not try to seize control of Afghanistan before the Trump... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Medical experts told a Senate committee Thursday that misguided information about early treatment contributed to giving the United States the world’s highest death rate from coronavirus. Some of them blamed the Food and Drug Administration for halting a treatment they say could have reduced... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Federal agency executives and senators at a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday showed strong support for continuing telework among government employees even after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. They said telework is bringing down their costs and improving the quality of job applicants without reducing productivity.... Read More

WASHINGTON - A Senate committee left little doubt Tuesday that changes are coming to social media giants Facebook and Twitter for their policies on controlling content posted on their websites. Democrats and Republicans at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing accused the companies of favoring some kinds... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee implied Tuesday that government officials will be fired or prosecuted soon for investigating whether Trump administration officials sought Russian assistance to influence the 2016 election. He called the Crossfire Hurricane investigation politically motivated by President Donald Trump’s... Read More

WASHINGTON -- District of Columbia voters continued their tolerance toward psychedelic plant-based drugs this week by decriminalizing the use of magic mushrooms. Unlike the four other cities that decriminalized use of the drug, Washington, D.C., faces the risk of a congressional veto. Supporters of Initiative 81,... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of protesters, onlookers and well-wishers wandered among television cameras and police outside fences placed around the White House Tuesday evening. Around them boarded up buildings stretched for blocks in anticipation of violence when the election results are announced. Protest signs covered a large... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The chief executive officers of the world’s largest social media companies assured a skeptical U.S. Senate committee Wednesday they try to remain neutral in deciding which Internet content they block. They also advocated against government regulation that could interfere with free speech on the... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court Monday evening, marking the first time in 151 years that a justice was confirmed without the support of a single member of the minority party. Shortly afterward, President Donald Trump held a swearing-in... Read More

RICHMOND, Va, - Virginia’s General Assembly passed a jury sentencing reform bill this week that is revolutionary for the state but is already being done nearly everywhere else. The bill allows juries to decide whether a criminal defendant is guilty but requires judges to set the... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee voted to subpoena the chief executives of Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. Thursday over what its chairman called censorship of information potentially embarrassing to presidential candidate Joe Biden. The social media giants limited the sharing of New York Post articles that... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday approved the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, nearly guaranteeing she will be confirmed by a vote of the full Republican-controlled Senate. “How could anybody in their right mind after listening to Judge Barrett... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Amtrak’s president asked Congress for a nearly $5 billion bailout Wednesday as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to scare passengers away. The result has been a dramatic drop in fare revenue, furloughs and layoffs for thousands of workers and cutbacks of passenger rail service nationwide.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A nationwide coalition of prosecutors is pledging not to enforce anti-abortion laws as protests spread against a Supreme Court nominee who is a staunch abortion opponent. They issued their “Joint Statement from Elected Prosecutors” last week during Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Amy... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Social media experts described organized disinformation campaigns on social media as a threat to democracy during a congressional hearing Thursday. Confusion created by the disinformation is leading some Americans to perceive threats to their health, safety or political leadership where none exist, witnesses told... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote October 22 on whether to confirm Amy Coney Barrett as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senate Judiciary Committee set the date Thursday on the fourth day of contentious confirmation hearings in which Republicans and... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee predicted the outcome of confirmation hearings to the U.S. Supreme Court of Amy Coney Barrett shortly after the first session started Monday morning. “All the Republicans will vote yes, all the Democrats will vote no,” said... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers joined the Internal Revenue Service’s commissioner Wednesday in making a plea to upgrade the computers and staff that collect the nation’s taxes. They said budget cutbacks and the coronavirus have resulted in shortcomings in the agency’s ability to enforce tax laws and return... Read More

WASHINGTON -- State and federal election officials advocated for aggressive measures to prevent foreign influence and voter fraud in the Nov. 3 election during a congressional hearing Tuesday. They also denied President Donald Trump’s assertions that a big increase in mail-in voting to protect voters from... Read More

The attorneys general from 18 states are pushing back against the Small Business Administration for what they describe as an overly zealous crackdown on fraud in the coronavirus relief loans. They are bothered by the SBA's proposed appeal process for small business owners who are denied... Read More

RICHMOND, Va. - Religious groups and a wedding photographer are suing the state of Virginia over a new law that bans discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender persons. The law is directed primarily against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations, such as restaurants and stores.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A Small Business Administration inspector general defended his agency Thursday during questioning from members of Congress about reports of widespread fraud in government loans to employers. The loans are supposed to help small businesses stay afloat during the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A congressional committee sought assurances from medical experts Wednesday that the COVID-19 vaccines pharmaceutical companies plan to distribute soon will protect the public from the disease. Lawmakers were concerned that political pressure would force the companies to sacrifice the safety or effectiveness of a... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers and witnesses at a congressional hearing Tuesday urged greater vigilance of police departments to weed out officers with White supremacist tendencies. They said the White supremacists create a risk of inflaming racial tensions in a way that could go beyond any single police... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats used a hearing on climate change Thursday to advocate for pending clean energy bills that would revamp a big swath of federal regulations. Record-setting wildfires in western states and hurricanes along the Gulf Coast are adding to the fervor for aggressive environmental... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A congressional panel sought assurances Wednesday that veterans’ claims of illnesses from exposure to toxins in the Middle East will be addressed promptly. A House Veterans Affairs subcommittee was responding to a National Academy of Sciences report this month describing alarming health problems for... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Economists warned Congress Tuesday of long-term damage to the U.S. economy if the coronavirus pandemic is not brought under control soon. They cautioned during two separate congressional hearings that the slow improvement to the economy since the pandemic hit the United States eight months... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The FBI’s director acknowledged Thursday that the risks of terrorism and other attacks against the United States are evolving so fast that his agency has difficulty managing them. Cyberattackers threaten the next presidential election, COVID-19 vaccine development and U.S. industries’ best research into new... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Congress discussed proposals Wednesday to switch the United States to 100% clean energy as Western governors confronting out-of-control wildfires demand action on global warming. A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee is trying to figure out a way to recover jobs lost during the coronavirus... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A congressional resolution that started Monday as a condemnation of hate crimes against Asians quickly turned into a dispute over who should be blamed for the devastation caused by coronavirus. Democrats blamed President Donald Trump for mishandling the U.S. response to the pandemic that... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Scientists updated a congressional committee Friday on how the U.S. Energy Department is helping to develop a cure and vaccine for COVID-19. They said Energy Department supercomputers are unlocking mysteries about the structure of the virus as they look for ways to deactivate it.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Amtrak made a plea to Congress Wednesday for billions of dollars in supplemental funding to avoid financial collapse as the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate its ridership. The number of riders on the national passenger railroad dropped by 97% during the worst of the... Read More

WASHINGTON — Representatives from federal financial agencies defended their record on hiring women and minorities Tuesday while members of a congressional subcommittee accused them of an uninspired effort. “I’m not sensing that we’re making a lot of progress here,” said Rep. Sylvia Garcia, a Texas Democrat.... Read More

RICHMOND -- Rap star Kanye West was booted off Virginia’s ballot this week by a judge who accused him of using deceptive tactics to qualify as a candidate for president. Last week, Virginia’s Board of Elections determined West qualified to be on the state’s ballot for... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress directed tough questions at the U.S. Treasury secretary Tuesday about fraud and abuse in the Trump administration’s coronavirus relief program. They said billions of dollars intended to protect jobs and family homes were being diverted to small businesses that either did... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s recent statement during a press conference that he would nominate an African American woman to the Supreme Court if he is elected is narrowing the list to three likely nominees. Although he declined to give out the names, the... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Congress and the courts are closing in on strategies to secure the nation’s vote in November without sacrificing the health of voters confronting risks of coronavirus. Much of the discussion focuses on benefits and perils of absentee voting during the Nov. 3 federal election.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Some of America’s technology giants are trying to get a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing them of promoting the use of children to mine cobalt for their lithium-ion batteries. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Dell and Tesla said in their motion to dismiss this... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats hammered the U.S. postmaster Monday with allegations that he is conspiring to sabotage on-time mail deliveries while he defiantly denied he is trying to influence the 2020 federal election. Instead, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he was trying to cut costs to... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. postmaster tried to convince a sometimes skeptical Senate committee Friday that recent interruptions in mail service represented only an effort to cut costs amid a tight budget. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee called the hearing to deal with reports mail... Read More

The New York Daily News put itself on the cutting edge of journalism again last week as it faces down a threat from coronavirus. The newspaper, which has boasted one of the nation’s largest number of readers, closed its newsroom. In fact, the owners also closed... Read More

Only men can be drafted into the U.S. military, a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled last week. The ruling was based on a lawsuit filed by the advocacy group National Coalition for Men and two men who alleged sex discrimination. They argued that a... Read More

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans are preparing for the possibility they and President Donald Trump will have an opportunity to turn the Supreme Court sharply to the conservative right soon. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recent announcement that she is undergoing treatment for a recurrence of cancer is... Read More

WASHINGTON - A District of Columbia judge’s ruling this week is the latest court judgment that absolves insurers from obligations to cover the losses of businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. A group of restaurants sued their insurer after the company declined to reimburse them under their... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Democrats, at a congressional hearing Thursday on reopening public schools, accused President Donald Trump of mishandling the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. They said schools might not have been forced to close early in the Spring and resort to distance learning if... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates renewed suspicions of favoritism in Senate testimony Wednesday about the dropped charges against the Trump administration’s first national security advisor.  She called the dismissal of charges against Michael Flynn for allegedly lying to the FBI “highly irregular.”... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Security systems for mail-in ballots need additional funding and information technology assistance to be ready for the upcoming November election, security experts told Congress Tuesday. They warned that foreign adversaries and other hackers will try to influence the election unless they can be blocked... Read More

WASHINGTON - A federal judge’s recent ruling gave prosecutors nationwide a new tool for pursuing money launderers by redefining bitcoin as a form of currency. The ruling was based on the prosecution of a man who tried to evade criminal charges after he allegedly transferred more... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The chief executives of the biggest computer and Internet companies faced tough questioning in Congress Wednesday on whether they have too much control over the U.S. market. Some lawmakers want to break up their dominance under federal antitrust laws. Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google... Read More

WASHINGTON - Democrats attacked the president’s plan to exclude illegal immigrants from the 2020 Census during a congressional hearing Wednesday while Republicans said they wanted to prevent foreign influence. The House Oversight Committee held what it called an “emergency hearing” to respond to a July 21... Read More

WASHINGTON - Recent police action against protesters fell under criticism during two congressional hearings Tuesday. Some accusations of wrongdoing were directed at U.S. Attorney General William Barr, who Democratic lawmakers accused of abusing his authority by authorizing excessive force against Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Portland,... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is accused in a new lawsuit in Washington, D.C., of trying to squelch media rights of a nonprofit organization that receives grants from the U.S. government. The Washington-based Open Technology Fund says the Trump administration is trying to intimidate it, perhaps... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate tried to figure out a response Wednesday to a trade war with China that is taking on new urgency during the coronavirus pandemic. Republican and Democratic senators identified Chinese computer hackers and patent thieves as threats to the U.S. economy that... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Scammers who cheat desperate consumers out of money during the coronavirus pandemic prompted calls for federal legislation to crack down on them during a Senate hearing Tuesday. The proposals would set new standards for data privacy, penalize price-gougers and toughen penalties for retailers who... Read More

A federal appeals court placed part of the federal funding for sanctuary cities in jeopardy with a ruling last week that endorses a policy of punishing cities and states that refuse to cooperate in deporting illegal immigrants. The ruling advances a Trump administration threat beginning in... Read More

WASHINGTON - Small business representatives made a plea to Congress Thursday for assistance in getting Americans back to work after millions of workers lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. They said that without financial assistance and retraining of the workforce many jobs could be permanently... Read More

WASHINGTON - Democrats and Republicans agreed Wednesday during a congressional hearing that the U.S. government needs a more proactive strategy for protecting against cyberattacks but disagreed how to accomplish it. Democrats want a new agency to address cyberthreats while Republicans suggest working more aggressively through existing... Read More

WASHINGTON - U.S. experts on European financial and political policy added their voices to an international call for greater cooperation to combat the COVID-19 pandemic during a congressional hearing Tuesday. They described the struggle to find a vaccine and to recover from the economic devastation of... Read More

Five states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit this week that accuses the U.S. Education Department of shorting schools in low-income areas on their fair share of coronavirus relief funds. Instead, too much of the money is going to private and wealthy school districts... Read More

WASHINGTON - Business leaders, during a congressional hearing Thursday, advocated for greater access to financial services for minority and women-owned businesses. They said government bailout money and low-interest loans for businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic are going first to established corporations that lack large representation by... Read More

WASHINGTON - Foreign policy experts at a congressional hearing Tuesday described the Russian government as increasingly troubled under the rule of Vladimir Putin and a growing threat to the United States. They said recent reports that the Russian military paid Taliban fighters to kill American soldiers... Read More

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan won a judgment this week against gun rights advocates who wanted to overturn the state’s ban on bump stocks and other attachments. Bump stocks speed up the firing rate on semi-automatic weapons, turning them into the equivalent of machine guns. The gun... Read More

WASHINGTON - A psychologist and psychiatrist on Tuesday suggested Congress provide stronger federal intervention to prevent a mental health crisis during the coronavirus pandemic. They said suicides and substance abuse are on the upswing as Americans struggle with quarantines, social distancing and deaths of relatives. “We... Read More

A political protester and an Australian television reporter led criticisms during a congressional hearing Monday against U.S. Park Police who aggressively cleared Lafayette Square park near the White House June 1. Police forced Black Lives Matter protesters to back away from the area while President Donald... Read More

WASHINGTON - Judges and lawmakers at a congressional hearing Thursday left little doubt that Internet video and teleconferencing will become permanent parts of court proceedings soon. They described the emergency procedures instituted to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to transform the courts with... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Current and former Justice Department attorneys on Wednesday accused the U.S. Attorney General of allowing Trump administration policies to influence criminal investigations and prosecutions. They also said during a House Judiciary Committee hearing that Justice Department administrators threatened attorneys who complained about the political... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate tried Tuesday to respond to warnings from infectious disease experts that coronavirus is only an example of other pandemics that are coming soon. The World Health Organization has warned that a global population topping 7.8 billion plus global warming are creating... Read More

WASHINGTON - Economists and educators asked a congressional committee Monday for a federal bailout to help ethnic minorities who they say are hit unequally hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. They agreed widely that African Americans and Latinos are losing their jobs or falling behind in education... Read More

WASHINGTON - Social media security officials acknowledged to Congress Thursday that they face ongoing threats by foreign governments to influence American society despite their best preventive efforts. They testified to the House Intelligence Committee as it seeks assurances there will be no repeat of the 2016... Read More

WASHINGTON -- School administrators cautioned Congress Monday about underfunding education as the COVID-19 epidemic takes a big bite out of government appropriations. They said many schoolchildren already are falling behind in their studies while they face a likelihood of fewer teachers and bigger classes in the... Read More

A self-described street pastor is suing Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser over her decision to commission a street mural that says “Black Lives Matter” in large letters on a street near the White House. The lawsuit filed by Rich Penkoski says the mayor is violating the... Read More

WASHINGTON - A Senate committee voted Thursday to reopen the investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election with plans to question the investigators. The Republican-led move responds to allegations by President Trump that his top officials were targeted for the first investigation by his political... Read More

African American civil rights leaders spoke out in support Wednesday of a bill pending in Congress that would set national standards for police behavior. It also would ban chokeholds, reduce legal immunity for police misconduct and create a national database of abusive officers. “It never should... Read More

WASHINGTON - Federal law enforcement officials pledged a vigorous crackdown Tuesday during a Senate hearing on fraudsters who are trying to make easy money off vulnerable people during the coronavirus pandemic. They accused con artists of selling fake vaccines and cures over the Internet, price gouging... Read More

WASHINGTON - A plea bargain with federal prosecutors is allowing four activists to avoid jail time after they occupied the Venezuelan Embassy in April and May. The four were part of a group that stayed in the embassy in Washington, D.C. for a month to demonstrate... Read More

WASHINGTON - Congress moved closer Thursday to approving economic sanctions against China for its interference with Hong Kong’s independence. Most Democrats and Republicans on a Senate committee joined in saying the United States must take action to condemn China’s plan to crack down on Hong Kong’s... Read More

WASHINGTON - A congressional subcommittee on Wednesday threw itself into the growing controversy over absentee voting as a safeguard against coronavirus. Democrats and Republicans agreed voters should not need to risk their lives at polling places by exposing themselves to carriers of the deadly disease. They... Read More

WASHINGTON - The further move this week by cities to reopen as coronavirus infections subside is raising concerns about a resurgence of the disease, particularly in jails. The worries were heightened by protests this week against police brutality that drew large numbers of people into small... Read More

WASHINGTON - Representatives of the U.S. maritime industry asked Congress for an emergency bailout Friday as they described how coronavirus is hurting ports and shippers. They are expecting their revenue to drop by as much as one-quarter below normal levels by mid-2020. Rep. Peter DeFazio, an... Read More

WASHINGTON - Medical and social welfare witnesses told a congressional committee Wednesday that ethnic minorities need an increased effort to protect them from the devastation of coronavirus. They are dying or losing their jobs in some locations at almost twice the rate of the white population,... Read More

A group of Virginia voters is suing their state over a plan for wider use of absentee ballots during the primary election next month as coronavirus restrictions continue. Their lawsuit is one of more than a dozen pending nationwide that seek orders for more absentee ballots... Read More

Three Mid-Atlantic attorneys general are threatening to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to enforce water quality standards to protect the Chesapeake Bay. They accuse the EPA of ignoring its court-ordered duty to prevent polluters in New York and Pennsylvania from dumping sewage and agricultural... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate made a first step Thursday toward new legislation intended specifically to protect elderly people from the ravages of coronavirus. The Senate Special Committee on Aging listened to medical experts’ opinions on measures needed to help the elderly, who represent nearly 80%... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is attempting to get a lawsuit dismissed that seeks to add the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. A Justice Department motion to dismiss filed last week says the deadline expired for states to ratify the amendment to protect women’s... Read More

WASHINGTON - A whistleblower on the Trump administration’s response to coronavirus warned Congress Thursday that threats from the disease are greater than most government officials are willing to admit. The pandemic will “get worse and be prolonged” without a better plan for fast action on national... Read More

WASHINGTON - Industry and legal experts told the U.S. Senate Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic is creating liabilities that are not adequately addressed by existing laws and regulations. As a result, business owners are running up against hundreds of lawsuits that are slowing the nation’s economic... Read More

Universities nationwide are being sued by parents and students who say the schools are falling short of their duties during the coronavirus shutdown. The universities have switched to online education until the national emergency subsides. The students and their parents say they didn’t pay tens of... Read More

WASHINGTON - Restaurants are filing a surge of lawsuits against insurance companies as they seek coverage for business interruptions during the coronavirus shutdown. The insurance companies say their business interruption policies grant them exemptions for viruses that cause no physical damage. In other words, the insurers... Read More

WASHINGTON – Guidelines announced last week for reopening U.S. federal courts are likely to leave the nation’s biggest cities as late-comers.  The guidelines from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts depend heavily on conditions of the epidemic in each jurisdiction.  While the spread of coronavirus... Read More

WASHINGTON - Higher education advocacy groups are suing the U.S. Education Department for continuing to garnish the wages of persons who default on student loan payments during the coronavirus epidemic. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced March 25 her department would suspend the wage garnishments while a... Read More

WASHINGTON - Some federal prosecutors are opposing the trend of granting inmates supervised release from jail to prevent the spread of coronavirus. In U.S. District Court filings, federal prosecutors argue most of the inmates asking for home confinement instead of jail have failed to prove they... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission is asking the Supreme Court to review media ownership rules to allow broadcast stations to own newspapers. The FCC, along with the Justice Department, says the current regulations that prevent media companies from owning a newspaper and a broadcast station... Read More

WASHINGTON - Law firms and their clients who are joining the growing list of plaintiffs against the Chinese government over the coronavirus outbreak are running up against a foreign policy that could rule out any successful lawsuits. About a half-dozen class action lawsuits have been filed... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration must reinstate nutrition standards for school meals that the Agriculture Department eliminated in 2018, a federal court in Maryland ruled this week. The plaintiffs were the Center for Science in the Public Interest as well as Healthy School Food Maryland. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. attorney general issued a guidance this week that authorizes the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Prisons and other Justice Department agencies to intercept communications from threatening drones or destroy them without prior consent. The policy is intended in part to prevent... Read More

Ocean City, Maryland, can continue to enforce its ban on topless women at its popular beach, a federal judge ruled last week. There’s a fundamental difference between topless women and topless men that is supported by case law and tradition, Judge James Bredar wrote in his... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Legislation approved by Congress recently to distribute emergency coronavirus funding nationwide is renewing calls for District of Columbia statehood. Each state will receive at least $1.25 billion from the emergency fund lawmakers approved two weeks ago. The District of Columbia is receiving $500 million,... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court declined this week to review a lower court ruling that allows the Washington, D.C. transit system to ban religious ads. As a result, transit agencies now have the discretion to prohibit religious, political and issue-oriented messages that previously were found... Read More

WASHINGTON - Free speech advocates are expressing concern that criminal proceedings being held by closed circuit video during the coronavirus pandemic threaten to cut off the people’s right to know what’s happening in federal and state courts. A federal judiciary policy announced last week allows judges,... Read More

WASHINGTON‌ ‌-‌ ‌Attorneys‌ ‌general‌ ‌nationwide‌ ‌are‌ ‌joining‌ ‌in‌ ‌urging‌ ‌companies‌ ‌that‌ ‌sell‌ ‌ online to‌ ‌stop‌ ‌price-gougers‌ ‌trying‌ ‌to‌ ‌take‌ ‌advantage‌ ‌of‌ ‌consumers‌ ‌during‌ ‌the‌ ‌coronavirus‌ ‌pandemic. They‌ ‌are‌ ‌selling‌ ‌hand‌ ‌sanitizers,‌ ‌aerosol‌ ‌spray‌ ‌disinfectants,‌ ‌surgical‌ ‌masks‌ ‌and‌ ‌other‌ ‌devices designed‌ ‌to‌ ‌prevent‌ ‌the‌ ‌spread‌ ‌of‌ ‌germs‌ ‌at‌ ‌sometimes‌... Read More

WASHINGTON -The Justice Department is asking Congress to authorize courts to detain criminal suspects indefinitely without trials until the coronavirus subsides. The request would give chief federal judges the power to alter procedures for arrests, investigations and how the cases are processed through the courts. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - A federal judge put a lawsuit by Congress against President Donald Trump on hold Friday until other legal action against the White House is resolved. The lawsuit filed by congressional Democrats seeks six years of Trump’s federal tax records. The subpoena they want enforced... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump showed favoritism when he granted clemency last month to 11 high profile convicted felons, according to lawmakers and witnesses at a congressional hearing Thursday. They testified while a House Judiciary subcommittee is considering proposals that would revise the procedures for the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted 96-1 on Thursday to approve $8.3 billion in funding to fight the coronavirus, sending the measure to the White House, where President Trump is expected to sign it. The House overwhelmingly approved the same measure Wednesday with a bipartisan vote of... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House and Senate considered proposals Tuesday that would expand production of nuclear energy at a time global warming is leaving few alternatives. Lawmakers, scheduled to vote as soon as this week on one of the bills, made clear they don’t want to... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Foreign policy experts told a Senate subcommittee Tuesday that North Korea has returned to its hardline militarization and human rights abuses despite earlier pledges to President Donald Trump of more moderate politics. The Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee held a hearing as it considers proposals... Read More

WASHINGTON - A Washington-based advocacy group for government ethics is asking the Justice Department to investigate the U.S. attorney general for his statements about the criminal conviction of an associate of President Donald Trump. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington says Attorney General William Barr... Read More

WASHINGTON - Federal and state officials are hurrying to figure out a long-term quarantine procedure for passengers arriving at U.S. airports who potentially carry the deadly coronavirus without violating their rights. As the epidemic grows, they are considering quarantine within homes where the arriving passengers are... Read More

WASHINGTON - Security guards for Turkey’s president must face civil prosecution in Washington, D.C. after they beat protesters on Embassy Row three years ago, a federal judge ruled last week. Attorneys for the government of Turkey argued the security personnel should receive immunity against lawsuits by... Read More

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats assailed the Trump administration’s 2017 corporate tax cut during a hearing Tuesday. They said the drop from 35 percent to 21 percent is adding to the national deficit while leaving less tax revenue for programs to help the underprivileged. The House Ways... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House split along party lines Monday during a hearing that could help add the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution within weeks. Both the House and Senate are considering resolutions that would remove the deadline for states to ratify the amendment that guarantees... Read More

WASHINGTON - Defense contractors urged Congress Wednesday to increase spending on new military technology as the Trump administration prepares to release its proposed defense budget for fiscal 2021 next week. They described current U.S. military efforts at developing innovative technologies as falling short of needs to... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The attorneys general of Virginia, Illinois and Nevada are suing in federal court for an order that would add the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. On January 27 Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the proposed Constitutional amendment that would expand... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Drug control experts urged Congress Tuesday to take quick action to prevent drugs created by clandestine chemists that mimic the effects of opioids from entering legal and illegal marketplaces. They suggested that Congress turn a temporary order on the chemicals into a permanent prohibition... Read More

WASHINGTON - Google’s former chief executive officer told Congress Wednesday the United States would lose its lead in artificial intelligence technology to China in less than a decade unless the federal government creates incentives for new research and development. “In other words, unless trends change, we... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Fourteen states have joined a lawsuit that seeks to block the Trump administration from reducing food benefits for about 700,000 people nationwide. The cuts represent a rule change the U.S. Department of Agriculture finalized shortly before Christmas for its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),... Read More

WASHINGTON - Advocates for the homeless described for a congressional committee Tuesday how urban gentrification is pushing up home prices and pushing out residents who are ready, willing and able to work. The worst of the hardship is falling on families, according to witnesses before the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Top executives from companies that make voting machines tried to ease lawmaker’s concerns that hackers could influence the nation’s elections during a congressional hearing Thursday. Their concern was heightened this week by an Iranian missile strike at a U.S. military installation in Iraq. The... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Environmentalists and a South Carolina mayor warned Congress recently that climate change will take an increasing toll on the lives and finances of Americans if the federal government does not act soon. They discussed how greenhouse gas emissions are damaging the real estate and... Read More

WASHINGTON - Environmentalists won an appeals court ruling in Washington, D.C. last week protecting ocean marine national monuments. Marine national monuments refer to offshore underwater areas intended to protect coral reefs or wildlife. There are five of them in U.S. territorial waters. The U.S. Court of... Read More

WASHINGTON - The families of 143 U.S. soldiers and government contractors sued a group of multinational corporations last week in Washington, D.C. accusing them of indirectly funding the Taliban insurgents who killed and injured their relatives. In the complaint, filed in Washington, the plaintiff families claim... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. Senate committee sought answers again Tuesday on how to stop a nationwide crisis of opioid addictions while acknowledging their previous efforts have largely failed. A record 61,300 people died from drug overdoses in 2017 in the U.S., up from 54,800 a year... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A congressional committee took a last look at a Democratic proposal to repeal a cap on state and local taxes before a vote expected in the U.S. House this week. The cap is a $10,000 limit on state and local income tax deductions Republicans... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Democratic members of Congress accused U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Thursday of neglecting her duty to protect students from for-profit colleges that defrauded them, promising degrees or job placements they were unable to deliver. In response, the Obama administration’s Education Department instituted a... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The FBI was justified in investigating the Trump 2016 presidential campaign’s alleged ties to the Russian government but the investigation was deeply flawed, the Justice Department’s inspector general told Congress Wednesday. Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his 417-page... Read More

WASHINGTON - Civil rights leaders and members of Congress urged that tougher policies be adopted to oppose human rights abuses in China and Hong Kong during a congressional hearing earlier this week. They accused China of mass incarceration of political prisoners, interrogations of private citizens who... Read More

WASHINGTON - A high-ranking Defense Department official acknowledged during a Senate hearing Thursday that the U.S. government is considering sending more troops to the Middle East to counter an Iranian military buildup. “We’re concerned about the threat stream we’re seeing,” said John C. Rood, undersecretary of... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Top U.S. State Department officials warned Tuesday about aggression from Russia as Congress considers legislation to counter the country’s military and political threats. The officials spoke during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as it reviewed Russia’s compliance with the New START... Read More

WASHINGTON - Four states are appealing a federal judge’s September dismissal of their lawsuit challenging federal authority to limit state and local tax deductions. In a filing before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, attorneys for the states argue the cap unconstitutionally interferes with their... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A Food and Drug Administration official told a U.S. Senate committee this week that new regulations to control vaping are likely coming soon, but couldn’t say when. His testimony drew rebukes and words of frustration from members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and... Read More

WASHINGTON - A top Homeland Security Department official described recent “major shifts” in terrorist threats to the United States during a Senate hearing last week. Some threats come from residents of Syria and Iraq displaced by military struggles while others come from emerging technologies for which... Read More

Business leaders in California appealed to Congress Friday to expand financial assistance to immigrants trying to start their own businesses. They said small government investments can create big payoffs when immigrants start successful businesses that pay taxes and employ other persons. The U.S. Small Business Administration... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Trump organization is considering selling its lease on the downtown Washington Trump International Hotel to resolve legal and political disputes over its ownership and profits. Controversy surrounding the hotel is part of an ongoing tide of criticism against the Donald Trump as he... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court cast itself back into the emotional gun rights controversy when it put a lawsuit over a New York City ban on the transportation of  firearms on its schedule for its current session. The New York law bans most transportation of guns... Read More

WASHINGTON - A provision in the Justice Department’s annual funding bill is likely to alter the criminal liability risks for sellers and handlers of cannabis products. Ten states have authorized limited sales of the psychoactive drug for recreation, despite the fact marijuana possession remains a felony... Read More

Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser claimed at a congressional hearing last week that provisions of the U.S. Constitution give residents of her city a right to statehood. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform held the hearing to discuss pending legislation that would make all but... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Congress considered options at a hearing last week on how to guarantee easier access to voter registration during a continuing struggle over states’ rights. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to review the consequences of the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County... Read More

WASHINGTON - A federal judge reinstated the White House press pass of Playboy magazine reporter Brian Karem Tuesday after it was taken away by the Trump administration’s press secretary. Karem lost his press pass in July after a loud altercation in the Rose Garden with former... Read More

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors accused a high-powered Washington, D.C. lawyer in court this week of engaging in illegal foreign lobbying by helping to craft a report critical of the Ukraine’s former prime minister. Gregory Craig, White House counsel during the Obama administration, says his law firm's... Read More

A ruling last week by Maryland’s highest court is likely to help redefine the criminal law of marijuana possession as states nationwide search for new legal standards. A unanimous Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that police who smell marijuana can use the odor to justify a... Read More

A Washington, D.C. federal appeals court judge was removed from an upcoming high-profile environmental case last week after a dispute with a second judge over what was supposed to be a harmless invitation. It started with a simple advisory email from one judge telling others about... Read More

The attorneys general from 13 states filed a lawsuit this week to block a new Trump administration rule that makes it harder for immigrants receiving public assistance to get green cards for permanent residency. The lawsuit is pending in federal court in the state of Washington.... Read More

Twelve states are suing the Trump administration over its decision to deeply roll back potential penalties against automakers that violate federal fuel efficiency standards. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposes a 61 percent reduction in penalties for violations of motor vehicle average fuel economy standards... Read More

WASHINGTON - Credit reporting giant Equifax Inc. signed a settlement Monday in which it agreed to pay as much as $700 million to resolve government and consumer complaints resulting from a data breach that exposed the personal financial information of most of the U.S. adult population.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Some of Washington’s prominent legal organizations and lawmakers are scrambling to address the nation’s illegal immigration crisis while courts confront a hopeless backlog of cases. They are proposing new procedures to manage the flood of illegal immigrants being held in detention centers while seeking... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Russian government paid a middleman company more than $1.4 million to broadcast propaganda for the past two years on Washington, D.C., area radio station WZHF 1390, according to recently-released foreign agent registration records. The registration by Florida-based RM Broadcasting LLC was ordered by... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Democrats are trying to block a Trump administration effort to expand uranium mining in the United States. The House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources is considering a new bill that would severely restrict uranium mining. Democrats proposed the bill, called the Uranium... Read More

WASHINGTON - Federal employees will get their day in court after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that their lawsuit over an Office of Personnel Management data breach can be reinstated. A trial court dismissed the lawsuit accusing OPM of negligence for allowing... Read More

A federal appeals court in Portland, Oregon heard arguments this week in a lawsuit that accuses the Trump administration of endangering the future of children by its environmental policies that do little to avoid climate change. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 21 children who... Read More

WASHINGTON - A national civil rights group is asking a federal judge in Colorado to sanction U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE for “atrocious litigation conduct.” The federal agency is requiring the nonprofit organization to do a computer keyword search to find information... Read More

WASHINGTON - Twenty-five state attorneys general are giving a boost to a bill introduced in Congress this month that seeks to rein in excessive interest rates on payday loans. The attorneys general filed a comment letter with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opposing the agency’s proposed... Read More

A Georgetown University undergraduate is suing the university after his father pleaded guilty to paying a bribe to help his son’s academic career in another example of the national college admissions scandal. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia accuses the... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A Washington, D.C. radio station must register as a foreign agent because of its persistent broadcasts of Russian news and information that critics describe as propaganda, a federal judge ruled last week. This week, the Justice Department hailed the ruling for demonstrating how the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Democratic members of Congress said Wednesday that environmental policies of the Trump administration are threatening the nation’s outdoor recreation industry. During two House Natural Resources Committee hearings, a Trump administration official defended the Interior Department’s record, but environmentalists warned of severe consequences. Some of... Read More

WASHINGTON - The United States needs a new military branch called the Space Force for national defense and to protect commercial satellites, expert witnesses told a Senate panel Tuesday. President Donald Trump proposed the Space Force last year as a new and separate branch of the military.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress expressed outrage Wednesday during hearings on Capitol Hill at the rising cost and government inaction in cleaning up the nation’s nuclear waste. Some lawmakers were reacting to a Government Accountability Office report released this week that shows the cleanup costs have... Read More

Ford Motor Co. is being investigated by the Justice Department over its emissions certification process, the company said in a government securities filing Friday. Ford said in the quarterly report that the criminal investigation focuses on its “road load estimations,” which refers to its method for... Read More

Democratic members of Congress threatened a contempt citation Wednesday against a Trump administration official who refused to testify this week on an immigration question for the 2020 Census. John Gore, an assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, was subpoenaed to appear before... Read More

A federal court ruling last week set a precedent for property rights to cannabis products in the quickly growing marijuana industry. U.S. District Judge William Martinez, an Obama appointee who presides in Colorado, ruled that cannabinoid formulations can be considered the unique handiwork of their developers... Read More

Members of a U.S. House committee advocated for stricter oil and natural gas drilling regulations during a hearing Monday in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Democrats on the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources said lax regulations are creating too much air pollution and depriving residents... Read More

Former White House counsel Gregory Craig was arrested Thursday in Washington, D.C. on charges that he lied to federal investigators about his role in a foreign lobbying campaign on behalf of the Ukrainian government. Craig worked for the Washington law firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher &... Read More

WASHINGTON - Residents of Appalachian states warned about severe health and environmental consequences from renewed mountaintop coal mining during a congressional hearing Tuesday. Lawmakers called the hearing to address concerns raised by Trump administration policies to loosen environmental restrictions on coal mining. An occupational health expert... Read More

WASHINGTON - Democrats in Congress used a hearing Tuesday to criticize President Donald Trump and social media companies for encouraging white nationalism and hate crimes. They cited FBI statistics showing hate crimes have increased since Trump took office in 2016. “The president’s rhetoric fans the flames,”... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Two congressional committees met Wednesday on Capitol Hill to figure out the resources they should dedicate to confronting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. During a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing, Pentagon officials explained emerging threats from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons while... Read More

A federal judge this week struck down a Trump administration plan that could have required Medicaid recipients to work or volunteer as a condition of receiving subsidized health care. At least 15 states were planning their own work for health care programs. U.S. District Judge James... Read More

WASHINGTON - Defense department officials warned a Senate panel Wednesday that the United States risks losing its military advantage in space to growing threats from China and Russia. They are trying to convince Congress to authorize a new branch of the military that would be called... Read More

The international Court of Arbitration for Sport last week reinstated a victory for German alpine skier Stefan Luitz that he won in December during the World Cup skiing competition. He was stripped of his medal by the International Ski Federation for inhaling from an oxygen tank... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that certain immigrants with previous criminal records can be detained without a right to bail. The 5-4 ruling is a significant victory for the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies but one that is outraging civil rights advocates. The... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress expressed frustration Wednesday at the years and billions of dollars needed to clean up a class of toxic chemicals polluting some of the nation’s drinking water. The House Oversight and Reform subcommittee on the environment held the hearing to examine the... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats sharply criticized President Donald Trump Thursday during a hearing on Capitol Hill for pulling out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. They are trying to figure out how to act without the president’s approval to bring the United States into... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Tough talk about the troubled Venezuelan government during a congressional hearing Tuesday raised more questions about whether U.S. military intervention is possible soon. A House Foreign Affairs subcommittee called the hearing to determine how the U.S. government should respond to an economic and humanitarian... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Senators at a congressional hearing Thursday thanked the Defense Department’s cyber security force for protecting the 2018 midterm elections but warned that foreign hacking threats are likely to only get worse. Americans sometimes unrealistically convince themselves they have the world’s best defenses against cyber-attacks,... Read More

The lack of legal banking services for marijuana-related businesses is creating unnecessary economic barriers and encouraging crime, the owner of a Washington, D.C. marijuana business told Congress this week. A House Financial Services subcommittee called the hearing to determine whether federal law that bans banking services... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Political advisor Roger Stone is setting up a First Amendment free speech challenge during his pre-trial proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He told a federal judge Friday that she had no constitutional right to silence him with a... Read More

A decision last week by a federal judge in a Maryland lawsuit is expected to influence an appeal by other states that seek to protect their health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act. The state of Maryland filed a lawsuit in September to protect its... Read More

The U.S. General Services Administration demonstrated “serious shortcomings” in reviewing conflicts of interest in the lease on Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington, a report this week says. The report by... Read More

The indictment Friday of political advisor Roger J. Stone alleges a pattern of lies that casts serious doubt on the credibility of President Donald Trump. It accuses Stone of falsely telling Congress that he did not inform... Read More