In The News

WASHINGTON - Every month an email from the Federal Election Commission arrives in the inbox with a certain insouciant inevitability. "Pending advisory opinion requests," it says. "That's right," you say to yourself. "They're back to not having a quorum on... 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... Read More

WASHINGTON — Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest since March, offering a ray of hope for an economy still battered by the pandemic. Initial jobless claims in regular state programs fell by 249,000 to... Read More

WASHINGTON — When Rosie Torres first knocked on Congress’ doors almost a decade ago, asking for help for her husband and other veterans who became sick following exposure to military burn pits, she gained little traction. What she heard: More... Read More

WASHINGTON — Three months ago, the Committee on House Administration’s ranking member, Rodney Davis, led the GOP opposition to Democrats’ proxy voting rule that allows members to cast votes from their districts during the pandemic. Now the Illinois Republican, stuck... Read More

ALBANY, N.Y. - New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association Thursday. The lawsuit calls to dissolve the country’s largest pro-gun organization alleging years of corruption and leadership’s personal use of millions of dollars... Read More

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee advanced Tuesday in Washington's primary election as he seeks to become the first incumbent elected to a third term in the state in more than 40 years. Inslee was leading decisively in... Read More

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — School districts nationwide puzzling over how to safely educate children during a pandemic have a more immediate challenge — getting 26 million bus-riding students there in the first place. Few challenges are proving to be more... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 1.2 million laid-off Americans applied for state unemployment benefits last week, evidence that the coronavirus keeps forcing companies to slash jobs just as a critical $600 weekly federal jobless payment has expired. The Labor Department’s report... Read More

ATLANTA (AP) — State and local officials are receiving additional tools from the federal government to help defend the nation’s election systems from cyberthreats ahead of the November vote, as intelligence officials continue to warn about foreign efforts to interfere in the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Even as students across the United States are beginning to head back to class, the reopening of schools remains a topic of intense debate. While no one can predict what is ahead for the Fall of 2020, there... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's campaign requested a fourth presidential debate against former Vice President Joe Biden be added in early September, arguing that a number of states will already have begun sending mail-in ballots to voters before the first... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday requiring the federal government to buy "essential" drugs from U.S. companies, a White House trade advisor said. “If we’ve learned anything from the China virus pandemic, it is that we... Read More

Harvard’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research and PBS NewsHour co-hosted a discussion Wednesday afternoon about the coronavirus pandemic and the racial reckoning occurring in America and the impact these two simultaneous events will have on the upcoming... Read More

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an executive order Wednesday granting convicted felons the right to vote after they complete their sentences, ending Iowa’s place as the only remaining state to broadly deny voting rights to... Read More

President Donald Trump slammed voting by mail as a “disaster” Wednesday just a day after urging his supporters to do just that in Florida. Hours after admitting that absentee voting and vote by mail are the same thing, the president... 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... Read More

The Homebound Project, a digital theater initiative created by a volunteer coalition of theater directors, producers, stage and screen actors, has raised over $100 thousand in its efforts to provide funds for No Kid Hungry, a national organization driven to... Read More

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan passed his chairmanship of the National Governors Association to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the association's bi-annual meeting Wednesday. Cuomo will head the new gubernatorial leadership in tandem with Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, the association’s... Read More

MILWAUKEE, Wis.— Former Vice President Joe Biden will not travel to Milwaukee, Wis., later this month to accept the Democratic presidential nomination due to concerns over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Party officials also said Wednesday none of the other planned... Read More

WASHINGTON – Two members of Congress have penned letters requesting a probe into the Pentagon’s decision to grant a multibillion dollar moving contract to American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group Inc. The three-year, $7.2 billion contract would privately outsource the management... Read More

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Republicans on Tuesday nominated Rep. Roger Marshall for the Senate over polarizing conservative Kris Kobach, heeding the party establishment’s advice as it tries to keep a normally safe seat out of play in what could... Read More

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he’d support whatever agreement the Trump administration and congressional Democrats reach on a coronavirus relief package, even if he has “some problems with certain parts of it.” The Kentucky Republican, who... Read More

Kim Wyman’s phone started ringing at the end of February. As the rapid spread of the coronavirus made it clear that the 2020 election cycle would have to accommodate social distancing, reporters and election officials across the country started reaching... Read More

ATLANTA — Shortly after U.S. Rep. John Lewis died, grieving Democrats were faced with two difficult choices: tap a replacement for the late civil rights icon on the ballot within days or slow the process and risk a legal challenge.... 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... Read More

BEIRUT (AP) — A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. More than 60 people were killed and more than 3,000 injured,... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan trio of senators urged their colleagues Tuesday to create a $10 billion fund to extend broadband cable access into underserved rural communities. The Governors' Broadband Development Fund bill was introduced by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and... Read More

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - A consent decree approved by the Ramsey County District Court has struck down two key requirements pertaining to vote-by-mail restrictions in Minnesota. The civil suit, filed by a group of individual voter-plaintiffs and the Minnesota Alliance for... Read More

TOPEKA, Kan. - As Congress continues to wrestle with how much it will give to states and cities in the next coronavirus relief package, the state of Kansas says it has seen a dramatic increase in its tax collections, partly... Read More