In The News

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders have always faced rebels in their ranks. But Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene are presenting top House Republicans with a test of how to handle a new breed of Trump-era, social media-savvy firebrands.... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is privately weighing how to handle the upcoming verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, including considering whether President Joe Biden should address the nation and dispatching specially trained community... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — There will be no hands to shake or backs to slap, no way to look a foreign leader in the eye. The small human moments that define statecraft will be reduced to images on a screen.  President... Read More

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, a liberal icon who lost one of the most lopsided presidential elections after bluntly telling voters to expect a tax increase if he won, died Monday. He was 93. The death... Read More

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan delegation of governors is urging Congress to pass legislation that would allow banks and credit unions to provide services to licensed cannabis dispensaries.  The governors of 20 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands circulated a letter... 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... Read More

WASHINGTON - Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was injured while confronting rioters during the Jan. 6 insurrection, suffered a stroke and died from natural causes, the Washington, D.C., medical examiner's office ruled Monday. Investigators initially believed the 42-year-old officer... Read More

The company Big Ass Fans designed a giant, steel overhead fan which runs on ultraviolet light and ionization claiming it, “kills 99.99% of SARS-CoV-2,” but skeptics such as the Environmental Protection Agency say that the ionizing COVID-killing technology, valued up... Read More

WASHINGTON — As the industry continues to rally back from the lifting of pandemic travel restrictions, some passenger airline companies are still struggling to retain full-time employees. February employment figures for airlines were down nearly 1% from January, according to... Read More

WASHINGTON - A non-partisan think tank and registered lobby firm focused on national security and foreign policy issues released a report this week recommending changes to the structure of the World Health Organization, the UN body that coordinates international health... Read More

WASHINGTON - A dozen members of Florida’s congressional delegation, Republicans and Democrats, are urging their colleagues to make Everglades restoration a priority as they consider infrastructure projects to fund this year. In a letter sent to the House Transportation and... Read More

WASHINGTON - Public infrastructure researchers are saying the U.S. needs a new infrastructure vision, pointing to the Texas power grid failure in February as just the latest example of how vulnerable our long ignored and outdated systems have become. 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... Read More

WASHINGTON — On March 17, 2021, Ambassador Katherine Tai was confirmed as U.S Trade Representative by unanimous vote in the Senate. Just a month later, in her first speech as USTR, Tai explained how the benefits of global trade could... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Less than three months after former President Donald Trump left the White House, the race to succeed him atop the Republican Party is already beginning. Trump's former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has launched an aggressive schedule,... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one COVID-19 shot, the government announced Sunday, marking another milestone in the nation's largest-ever vaccination campaign but leaving more work to do to convince skeptical Americans... Read More

ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden called Georgia's new voting law an "atrocity." A leading Black bishop called for a national boycott of companies headquartered in the state. But when Stacey Abrams, the state's well-known voting rights advocate, is asked... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden convenes a virtual climate summit on Thursday, he faces a vexing task: how to put forward a nonbinding but symbolic goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that will have a tangible impact on... Read More

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's experimental helicopter Ingenuity rose into the thin air above the dusty red surface of Mars on Monday, achieving the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet. The triumph was hailed as a... Read More

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett joined hundreds of other capitalists and corporate titans in signing an open letter condeming “discrimnatory” legislation designed to curtail voting rights. The letter, which appeared under the headline “We Stand for Democracy,” appeared as a double-page,... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told a Select Committee on Thursday that it's high time Congress was brought into alignment with the best practices of the private sector when it comes to employee recruitment and retention. Appearing before... Read More

The U.S. may be facing or even in the midst of a cybersecurity “cold war,” said Dr. Mark Hagerott, chancellor of North Dakota University System, at a West Governors’ Association event entitled, “Solving the Cyber Workforce and Skills Shortage.” On... Read More

Thirty-five states are at extreme or high risk of partisan gerrymandering, according to an in-depth report by the nonpartisan RepresentUs organization. The Gerrymandering Threat Index rates all 50 states, and its authors argue their findings underscore the urgent need to... Read More

RICHMOND -- The Commonwealth of Virginia is expanding eligibility to get a COVID-19 vaccine to anyone 16 or older, beginning Sunday. The expansion of eligibility comes as Virginia reaches a new milestone in its vaccination program— approximately half of all... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department has released updated guidance on its pre-award requirements for state and local governments to receive direct coronavirus relief payments under the American Rescue Plan Act. It particular the guidance outlines the “immediate” steps municipalities need... 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... Read More

BEIJING (AP) — A top Chinese diplomat has called U.S. policy on China "too negative," saying it highlights confrontation over cooperation.  Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Yucheng said Friday that cooperation could be critically important as U.S. President Joe... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Capitol Police force needs "cultural change" after the broad failures of the Jan. 6 insurrection, the top watchdog for the department testified Thursday, pointing to inadequate training and outdated weaponry as among several urgent problems... Read More

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) — Rodney Muterspaw figures J.D. Vance has already shown he's got what it takes to be a U.S. senator.  Vance, the "Hillbilly Elegy" author and a fellow Middletown native, broke out of poverty and family chaos and... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was one of the more tantalizing, yet unresolved, questions of the investigation into possible connections between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign: Why was a business associate of campaign chairman Paul Manafort given internal polling... Read More