In The News

CHICAGO -- A long running effort by local environmentalists to block construction of the proposed Obama Presidential Center in Chicago’s Jackson Park ended on Friday when Justice Amy Coney Barrett declined to intervene in the case. The environmentalists, who collectively... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The National Corn Growers Association, Renewable Fuels Association, and Growth Energy asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision to disallow year-round sales of a 15% ethanol fuel blend. In a petition filed with the... Read More

WASHINGTON -- An employee of the Architect of the Capitol’s office who took a job working with Amazon while on administrative leave during the pandemic may have to repay the office $20,197, the AOC Office of the Inspector General said... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a firestorm of criticism, President Joe Biden plans to speak Friday about the chaotic evacuation of Americans and allies from Afghanistan as the U.S. struggles with obstacles ranging from armed Taliban checkpoints to paperwork problems. While... Read More

DENVER (AP) — Anxiety in the United States over COVID-19 is at its highest level since winter, a new poll shows, as the delta variant rages, more states and school districts adopt mask and vaccination requirements and the nation's hospitals... Read More

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Millions of students in Florida, Texas and Arizona are now required to wear masks in class as school boards in mostly Democratic areas have defied their Republican governors and made face coverings mandatory. The three... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., is the lead sponsor of the Native American Voting Rights Act of 2021, landmark legislation intended to ensure equal access to the electoral process for Native Americans, Alaska Natives and voters living on... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Trade Commission submitted an amended complaint Thursday against Facebook Inc. in federal court in a case that threatens the social media giant’s multibillion dollar annual business operations. The FTC accuses Facebook of antitrust violations that give... Read More

Republicans in the Illinois General Assembly say newly released census numbers reveal the legislative maps that Democrats pushed to complete in the spring are unconstitutional. The Census Bureau released the data Thursday, Aug. 12, months later than usual, due to... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has passed both the $1.5 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and the framework of the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill made up largely of potential investments in social programs and climate policy. While these massive budgetary items... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck outside the Library of Congress surrendered to the police Thursday afternoon, after hours of negotiations and evacuations of several government buildings in the area. The man,... Read More

The once-a-decade battle over redistricting is set to be a showdown over the suburbs, as new census data showed rapid growth around some of the nation's largest cities and shrinking population in many rural counties.  From Texas to Florida, some... Read More

GULF SHORES, Ala. (AP) — Tourists and servers alike dance atop tables and in the aisles at one restaurant on the "Redneck Riviera," a beloved stretch of towns along the northern Gulf Coast where beaches, bars and stores are packed.... Read More

U.S. Census Bureau computer servers were exploited last year during a cybersecurity attack, but it didn't involve the 2020 census, and hackers' attempts to keep access to the system were unsuccessful, according to a watchdog report released Wednesday. The attack... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says even with the Taliban in power in Afghanistan, he sees a greater threat from outposts of al-Qaida and its affiliated groups in other countries, and that it was no longer "rational" to continue... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week for a fourth straight time to a pandemic low, the latest sign that America's job market is rebounding from the pandemic recession as employers boost hiring to... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Three former Netflix software engineers and two close associates have been charged with generating over $3 million in profits by trading on confidential information about Netflix's subscriber growth, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday. According to a... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Education will invoke its civil rights enforcement authority to prevent states from imposing universal bans on wearing face masks in classrooms, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on Wednesday. The decision represents a dramatic escalation of... Read More

A recent paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reviews decades of efforts by scientists to get arsenic out of rice.  Arsenic, in inorganic form, is a pollutant which can stem from industrial processes and pesticides,... Read More

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Defense Department officials on Wednesday afternoon acknowledged the kind of surprise about the fall of Afghanistan mentioned in a new inspector general’s report. “No, I did not see a collapse of an army of that size in... Read More

Costs associated with the United States' “Global War on Terror” have mounted significantly in the nearly 20 years following the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks. The underlying mission of the Global War on Terror in 2001 was to fortify... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Americans who got the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines will be able to obtain booster shots eight months after the date of their second doses, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. Because of the timing element, those who were... Read More

While suburban congressional districts are swelling with new residents, lawmakers in large swaths of rural America and some Rust Belt cities are in need of more people to represent.  In rural Illinois, Republican Rep. Mary Miller's district is short 73,000... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Two California voters are suing to block a recall vote against Gov. Gavin Newsom that they say violates the U.S. Constitution. The planned Sept. 14 vote comes amid a backlash against some Democrats, such as New York... Read More

A recent report from the National Council on Compensation Insurance finds that there are now 3 million fewer Americans in the labor force than there were before the pandemic.  “At the pandemics onset, there were 18 million people on temporary... Read More

MADISON, Wis. -- Congressional and legislative district maps that have been used in electoral contests for the past decade should not be used as the starting point for drawing new boundaries using 2020 census data, Wisconsin Democrats say in a... Read More

TOOELE, Utah (AP) — The sound of the helicopter propeller thundered across the horizon as it dipped down toward mustangs dotting the golden brown plain. The horses burst into a gallop at the machine's approach, their high-pitched whinnies rising into... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Taliban have agreed to allow "safe passage" from Afghanistan for civilians struggling to join a U.S.-directed airlift from the capital, President Joe Biden's national security adviser said, although a timetable for completing the evacuation of Americans,... Read More

Seven diversity organizations have joined the call for Congress to revive a tax certificate program intended to encourage minority and women ownership of broadcast stations. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., and Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., introduced the bill to reestablish the... Read More

A recently released report on the status of illegal online wildlife trafficking has revealed thousands of endangered or illegal animals, parts and trophies are being digitally advertised in the U.S. The report, dubbed Digital Markets: Wildlife Trafficking Hidden in Plain... Read More