In The News

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Louisiana has stopped asking the federal government for its full allotment of COVID-19 vaccine. About three-quarters of Kansas counties have turned down new shipments of the vaccine at least once over the past month. And in... Read More

President Joe Biden's nominees to the governing board of the U.S. Postal Service pledged Thursday to rebuild trust with the American public through prompt deliveries, as they outlined a vison for the agency in their first formal statements to lawmakers.The... Read More

WASHINGTON — Some temporary tax changes are in effect as a result of President Biden’s ‘American Rescue Plan.’ The Earned Income Tax Credit is a tax benefit aimed at helping low- and moderate-income earners, but ARPA expands both the eligibility... 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,... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan bill with support in both chambers of Congress aims to bolster the nation’s leadership in scientific and technological innovation through greater investment in research that will translate into new industries and create new high-tech jobs. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - Republican Sen. Tim Scott, of South Carolina, will deliver the GOP’s response to President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress next Wednesday. In announcing Scott’s selection, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell described the South Carolinian... Read More

LANSING, Mich. - Michigan's first-ever, independent citizens redistricting commission got off to a rocky start earlier this month after its decision to hire an alleged Democratic activist as an advisor inspired a strong backlash from the state’s Republican party. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., says the U.S. should discard the Trump-era Israel-Palestine policies as a first step to break the status quo. The new report argues that the U.S.... Read More

At a virtual summit on climate change attended by 40 world leaders on Thursday, President Joseph Biden announced that the U.S. would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by half over the next decade. Biden’s plan promises to lower greenhouse gas... Read More

Eighteen members of Congress on Wednesday announced the formation of a new Congressional Caucus whose intent is to ensure that the priorities and concerns of cities and counties across America are heard on Capitol Hill. The bipartisan Congressional Caucus of... Read More

WASHINGTON — West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is used to being an energy advocate. Sure, he represents coal country, but he has fashioned himself as an “all of the above” energy... 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... Read More

WASHINGTON - As Congress continues to worry about the nation’s cybersecurity, a key high-ranking military witness during a Senate hearing Wednesday said he was “concerned about the pace” of building an adequate cybersecurity workforce.  When Congress tasked the Department of... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — After more than a decade in which the Supreme Court moved gradually toward more leniency for minors convicted of murder, the justices on Thursday moved the other way.The high court ruled 6-3 along liberal-conservative lines against a... Read More

NEW YORK (AP) — How long does protection from COVID-19 vaccines last?Experts don't know yet because they're still studying vaccinated people to see when protection might wear off. How well the vaccines work against emerging variants will also determine if,... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bolstered with new momentum, Congress is ready to try again to change the nation's policing laws, heeding President Joe Biden's admonition that the guilty verdict in George Floyd's death is "not enough" for a nation confronting a... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will open a global climate summit with a pledge to cut at least in half the climate-wrecking coal and petroleum fumes that the U.S. pumps out, a commitment he hopes will spur China and... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Protecting the Right to Organize Act is a landmark labor rights bill that could transform the way the United States classifies workers. The PRO Act is intended to modernize the National Labor Relations Act but is controversial,... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House Rules Committee will take up the issue of food insecurity next week with the first of an anticipated series of hearings on what Committee Chair James McGovern is calling “the hunger crisis in this country.” The... Read More

WASHINGTON - A group of senators is urging President Joe Biden to support an international push to make the basic formula for the COVID-19 vaccine available to less affluent countries that are experiencing vaccine shortages. “Simply put, we must make... Read More

WASHINGTON — Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced a new division of the Missing and Murdered Unit will operate within the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services. The new unit will direct federal resources in unsolved investigations... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Transportation Department is appointing a chief science officer for the first time in over four decades as part of a comprehensive effort to fulfill the White House's commitment to addressing climate change. In a related move,... Read More

The U.S. has condemned the sentencing of protesters in Hong Kong, which it says was a violation of their rights under international agreements and an indefensible attempt to silence dissent by the Chinese government.  Last week, Chinese authorities sentenced seven... 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... Read More

WASHINGTON - The dominance of Google and Facebook as “gatekeepers” for online information and massive market power, particularly in digital advertising, has left U.S. journalism in a “state of crisis” and “Americans have had enough,”  said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I.,... Read More

WASHINGTON — When America Hernandez first took her job as an energy policy correspondent just over a year ago, hydrogen was considered a futuristic, but somewhat niche subject. “Boy did that change quickly!” she told participants at the Wilson Center’s... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at least in half by 2030 as he convenes a virtual climate summit with 40 world leaders, according to three people with knowledge of the White... Read More

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union reached a tentative climate deal that is intended to make the 27-nation bloc climate-neutral by 2050, with member states and parliament agreeing on new carbon emissions targets on the eve of a virtual summit... Read More

WASHINGTON - The New Democrat Coalition has endorsed a slate of legislation intended to prevent future acts of domestic terrorism. The measures, drafted in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, honor the actions of the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission cannot be second-guessed on a 2014 decision on an administrative complaint because it relied in part on "prosecutorial discretion" in rendering that decision, a federal appeals court has ruled. The holding by the U.S.... Read More