In The News

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was released from a Baltimore hospital and is back at home, a day after being admitted with a possible infection, the U.S. Supreme Court said. The hospital stay was the latest health scare for an 87-year-old... Read More

President Donald Trump announced he is loosening the National Environmental Policy Act in a bid to speed up permitting of federal infrastructure projects ranging from highway upgrades to the construction of oil and natural gas pipelines. The president announced the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Reps. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., and Bill Posey, R-Fla., have introduced legislation that would create Centers of Excellence on Harmful Algal Bloom research, prevention, response, and mitigation to aid in the fight against harmful outbreaks of red tide and... Read More

The Environmental Protection Agency is on track to complete a review of air quality standards against a backdrop of ozone concentrations dropping nationwide. The EPA, by rule, endeavors to complete regular air quality standard reviews within a five-year time frame,... Read More

The city of Berkeley in Northern California will become the first U.S. city to remove police from traffic stops in an effort to reduce racial profiling and avoid deadly run-ins between law enforcement and Black drivers. On Wednesday morning, the... Read More

Challenges faced by residents of rural and underserved communities regarding barriers to health care were analyzed in a report released by the House Ways and Means Committee. The report, entitled “Left Out: Barriers to Health Equity for Rural and Underserved... Read More

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia agreed to work collaboratively on hastening the switch to all-electric fleet vehicles in an effort to suppress toxic air pollution Tuesday. Their goal, according to a joint memorandum signed by the states’ governors,... Read More

WASHINGTON - U.S. experts on European financial and political policy added their voices to an international call for greater cooperation to combat the COVID-19 pandemic during a congressional hearing Tuesday. They described the struggle to find a vaccine and to... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved the fiscal year 2021 defense spending bill on a vote of 30 to 22.  The legislation funds the Department of Defense, including operations and maintenance, readiness activities, research and development, equipment... Read More

PHILADELPHIA — There was a time when the election was supposed to be the big story of 2020. With all that attention and energy, voter registration numbers would go through the roof. Parties, campaigns and advocacy groups planned to knock... Read More

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized Tuesday for a “possible infection,” according to a spokeswoman. Ginsburg, 87, who’s been hospitalized several times this year over complications with her gallbladder, was first taken to a hospital in Washington, D.C.,... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer or leave the country if their schools held classes entirely online because of the pandemic. The decision was announced at the start of... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., is leading a bipartisan coalition that wants to add a comprehensive solution to PFAS contamination to the Fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment -- originally proposed by Dingell and passed with bipartisan... Read More

WASHINGTON - A summer series partnership between the District of Columbia’s Heurich House Museum and the Bipartisan Policy Center is exploring the immigrant experience in America.  Last week’s discussion, the second in the series, focused specifically on immigrants’ arrivals and... Read More

Angie Benson, a freelance theatrical musician based in northern Virginia, minced no words about her beliefs during a recent conversation with The Well News. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, “the arts are essential,” she said.  “Now more than ever,” she added.... Read More

WASHINGTON - The recent passage of the first significant expansion of the Affordable Care Act provided House Democrats with a high profile opportunity to draw distinctions between how they and their Republican colleagues differ on the health care law. It... Read More

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday unveiled an unusual plan to encourage Chicagoans to participate in the U.S. government’s once-a-decade push to count every U.S. resident: a cowboy on a horse.  The mayor was speaking at a press conference when... Read More

What is contact tracing, and how does it work with COVID-19? The goal of contact tracing is to alert people who may have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus, and prevent them from spreading it to others. Health experts... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — With U.S. virus cases spiking and the death toll mounting, the White House is working to undercut its most trusted coronavirus expert, playing down the danger as President Donald Trump pushes to get the economy moving before... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration escalated its actions against China on Monday by stepping squarely into one of the most sensitive regional issues dividing them and rejecting outright nearly all of Beijing’s significant maritime claims in the South China... Read More

BALTIMORE (AP) — Three immigration courts reopened Monday as the government extended its push to fully restart the clogged system despite rising coronavirus cases in states where many of the small courtrooms are located. In Baltimore, people with hearings to reach final... Read More

BOSTON (AP) — More than 200 universities are backing a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s new restrictions on international students, arguing that the policy jeopardizes students' safety and forces schools to reconsider fall plans they have spent months preparing.... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government incurred the biggest monthly budget deficit in history in June as spending on programs to combat the coronavirus recession exploded while millions of job losses cut into tax revenues. The Treasury Department reported Monday... Read More

WASHINGTON - The vast majority of state legislators in the U.S. are white and male, while first and second-generation immigrants tend to lack representation, according to a new report by New American Leaders, a nonprofit organization working for diversity in... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Republican National Committee and President Donald Trump's re-election campaign announced Monday they've hired an additional 300 staffers to help get out the vote in 20 target states. The new hires bring the field operation of Trump Victory,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., has joined the growing number of lawmakers calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to explain their decision to upend the educational plans of thousands of international students holding F-1 and M-1 visas. Last... Read More

WASHINGTON - After mounting pressure from activists, sponsors, and politicians, Washington’s NFL franchise announced on Monday that it would drop its controversial name, “The Redskins”, and start working on redesigning its logo. “Today, we are announcing we will be retiring... Read More

WASHINGTON - The policy platform recommendations released by the campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden provide little ammunition for President Donald Trump to use to right his struggling campaign. Ever since Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president... Read More

Five states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit this week that accuses the U.S. Education Department of shorting schools in low-income areas on their fair share of coronavirus relief funds. Instead, too much of the money is going... Read More

Nineteen months ago a Democrat who had never run for elected office stunned the political intelligentsia and won a U.S. House seat when barely anyone thought he would succeed. South Carolina's 1st Congressional District, snaking along the southeastern coastline of... Read More