In The News

PHILADELPHIA — Buena Regional High School wrestler Andrew Johnson had 90 seconds to decide: Forfeit your match or cut your dreadlocks. His response to his coach was immediate: “I’m going to cry, but cut it.” Minutes before, his coach, George... Read More

LOS ANGELES — On the mantel in a South Los Angeles home, the lovingly arranged keepsakes reflect a family’s pride. Damion Lester Jr. smiles broadly in his senior class portrait, decked out in the blue cap and gown of nearby... Read More

ISLA VISTA, Calif. — The morning swell off the Santa Barbara coast is running high as the crew boat churns away from the pier west of Haskell’s Beach toward Platform Holly. Nearly a dozen lawyers and engineers, dressed in fire-retardant... Read More

WASHINGTON — Moderate House Democrats are going on the offensive. For weeks, the swing-district Democrats most responsible for the party’s House majority have fretted that progressive lightning rods like New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are distracting the party with proposals that... Read More

The problem of housing affordability, long a concern in popular big cities, has moved to rural America. Nearly one-fourth of the nation’s most rural counties have seen a sizeable increase this decade in the number of households spending at least... Read More

A recent study by Third Way, an independent and centrist think tank based in Washington, DC, focuses on the potential economic and personal benefits that would be attained if policies were enacted to push the rate of postsecondary completion up... Read More

Sales of newly built single-family homes surged in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 667,000, the Commerce Department reported Friday. That 4.9 percent increase is the highest level this category of home sales has reached since March 2018.... 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... Read More

When Vice President Mike Pence announced earlier this week that the United States plans to put astronauts back on the moon within five years, he appealed to America’s competitive spirit by declaring a new space race against U.S. adversaries China... Read More

BALTIMORE — The HBO series examining the now-famous murder case against Adnan Syed left legions of fans in suspense this week at the hint of unknown DNA evidence. The 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee became a national obsession with... Read More

CHICAGO — Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he will try to get “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett to pay Chicago back for the costs of the investigation into his claim that he was the victim of a hate crime attack, saying paying... Read More

WASHINGTON — One of President Donald Trump’s health care initiatives intended as a cheaper alternative to Obamacare suffered a crucial defeat in Washington after a judge ruled the policy violates the Affordable Care Act. U.S. District Judge John Bates in... Read More

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has set up debate next week to make it easier for Republicans to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominees. The Kentucky Republican came to the floor Thursday afternoon to complain about the difficulty Republicans... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House oversight committee has launched a probe of Texas’ botched attempt to purge its voter rolls. “We are disturbed by reports that your office has taken steps to remove thousands of eligible American voters from the... Read More

The Democratic National Committee announced Thursday that Miami, Florida with be the host city for the first Democratic presidential primary debate. The debate, which is being broadcast by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo on back-to-back nights, is being held on June... Read More

Responding to widespread criticism of the FAA in the wake of two deadly crashes of Boeing's 737 Max outside the U.S., the inspector general of the Department of Transportation told a Senate panel on Wednesday that the agency plans to... Read More

The issues raised Wednesday during a meeting of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation and Space went to the very heart of a conflict that has plagued aviation and the entities created to regulate it since the days of Charles... Read More

WASHINGTON — Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan’s prospects to head the Pentagon are increasingly at risk as President Donald Trump holds off on picking him and an investigation continues into whether he’s showed favoritism toward Boeing Co., his former employer.... Read More

WASHINGTON — Most Republicans think the full Mueller report should be released to the public, a new poll has found. It’s a sharp departure from the position GOP lawmakers have established as they call for some parts of the report... Read More

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Wednesday said Democrats would propose an amendment to a $13.45 billion disaster aid package that would block the Justice Department from carrying out President Donald Trump’s push for a court ruling... Read More

WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Wednesday passed another one of their top party priorities, a bill called the Paycheck Fairness Act that is designed to help close the gender pay gap. HR 7 passed on a vote of 242-187, with... 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... Read More

Nine members of the New Democrat Coalition, led by vice chairs Representatives Terri Sewell, D-Ala., and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., sent a letter to President Donald Trump Wednesday, urging him to abandon his threat to impose sweeping new tariffs on auto... Read More

The Blue Dog Coalition on Wednesday threw its support behind two bipartisan bills that aim to lower prescription drug costs and increase transparency in the drug pricing system. The coalition is a House caucus of moderate and fiscally responsible Democrats.... Read More

Less than 24 hours after Senate Republicans shunned the so-called Green New Deal, House Democrats on Wednesday introduced a new bill, the Climate Action Now Act, aiming to hold the Trump administration to the United States' original commitments under the... Read More

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate health committee on Tuesday backed new federal regulations to remove roadblocks patients can face in obtaining copies of their electronic medical records. “These proposed rules remove barriers and should make it easier for... Read More

A federal grand jury has indicted a Palo Alto, Calif., couple on charges they hired William “Rick” Singer, the confessed ringleader of a college admissions cheating scam, to rig their son’s college entrance exam, according to court records filed Tuesday.... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump during a private lunch with Republican senators on Tuesday leveled criticism at Puerto Rico’s use of past disaster aid, further complicating the Senate’s struggle to pass a $14 billion relief bill. Trump used charts to... Read More

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The first all-female spacewalk — featuring a graduate from N.C. State University — has been canceled by NASA for an odd reason. They couldn’t find a space suit the right size in the closets of the International... Read More

SEATTLE — Before dawn on March 24, 1989, Dan Lawn stepped off of a small boat and onto the boarding ladder dangling from the side of the grounded Exxon Valdez oil tanker. As he made the crossover, he peered down... Read More