“Flo-Jo” won’t get out of my head. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the trials that led up to it, have been a ritual of replayed taped events, and the occasional, live event watched at sleep-deprivation hours. Each female athlete’s performance, their achievements on the track and in life, has me mesmerized. ... Read More

The state of Arkansas cannot enforce a planned ban on face masks pending further court action, a county circuit judge has ruled. Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed the law in April banning government entities from imposing mask requirements. The ban was challenged by two lawsuits, including one from an east Arkansas school district ... Read More

Not only does discrimination in voting still exist, but it has grown steadily worse in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which voided many protections provided by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a House panel said Friday. The panel in question was ... Read More

The Mexican government this week filed a lawsuit accusing U.S. gunmakers of helping to fuel violence by drug cartels and other criminals who encounter few impediments to acquiring the firearms.  The lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts says companies like Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. could prevent some of ... Read More

WASHINGTON – The Department of Education has extended the pandemic-related pause on student loan repayment, interest and collections until Jan. 31, 2022. Officials said they believe the additional time and the definitive end date will allow borrowers to plan for the resumption of payments and reduce the risk of delinquency and defaults after restart.  ... Read More

WASHINGTON- Education Secretary Miguel Cardono warned Thursday, Americans should not allow adult politics — particularly the politicizing of the wearing of face masks — to prevent students from returning to school safely and without future disruptions.  “You know what I’m worried about?” Cardona asked at a White House briefing. “I’m worried ... Read More

Employers added 943,000 jobs in July and drove the unemployment rate down by 5.4%, with leisure and hospitality, local government, education and business services leading in the hiring, the Labor Department said Friday. In remarks delivered at the White House, President Joe Biden said the report is a clear sign that the economy will ... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law a bill that honors the Capitol Police, Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department and other law enforcement agencies with Congressional Gold Medals for protecting lawmakers from the pro-Trump insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. “Not even during the Civil War did ... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Several House Democrats have called on House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to apologize to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or resign after audio surfaced of him saying at a weekend fundraiser that it would be “hard not to hit her” with a gavel if he’s sworn in as speaker after ... Read More

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The quickly approaching fall semester has America’s colleges under pressure to decide how far they should go to guard their campuses against COVID-19 while navigating legal and political questions and rising infection rates. Hundreds of colleges nationwide have told students in recent months they must be fully vaccinated against ... Read More

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The question of whether lawsuits blaming big oil companies for loss of vulnerable Louisiana coastal wetlands will be tried in state courts, as local parish governments want, or in federal courts, as the oil companies want, has been revived by a federal appeals panel. Thursday’s ruling at the 5... Read More

Disney, Walmart and Tyson Foods are some of the most high-profile corporate entities to announce mandatory COVID-19 vaccination mandates for their employees, but not all are on board with the requirement. On Friday, Disney and Walmart announced new policies that would require more of their respective workforces to be vaccinated against COVID-19. ... Read More

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday he would convene another special legislative session beginning on Saturday, Aug. 7. Attached to the announcement was a full list of prioritized agenda items for the session. Although much of the list is composed of items left over from Texas’ first special session — one thwarted [&... Read More

Richard Trumka, the powerful president of the AFL-CIO who rose from the coal mines of Pennsylvania to preside over one of the largest labor organizations in the world, died Thursday. He was 72. In a note to staff, Liz Shuler, secretary treasurer for the 12.5 million-member labor union, said Trumka “was doing what he ... Read More

WASHINGTON — The bipartisan infrastructure package set to be voted on in the U.S. Senate, perhaps as early as Saturday, would add $256 billion to the federal deficit, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Thursday The budget office estimated that enacting Senate Amendment 2137 to H.R. 3684, as the package is officially known, would ... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed an executive order Thursday laying out fuel-efficiency goals that seek to ensure half the cars and trucks sold in the United States by 2030 are zero-emission electric vehicles. He pledged large federal investments to help automakers build the factories and other infrastructure necessary for large-scale production of electric ... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A recent report says that more than a third of Californians are living below or near the poverty line, according to the latest available data. Without social safety net programs, the report further says, that figure would have been much higher.  California, the most populated state in the country, ... Read More

GREENVILLE, Calif. (AP) — California’s largest wildfire has leveled much of the downtown and some surrounding homes in a small Northern California mountain community. The Dixie Fire tore through the Greenville on Wednesday evening, destroying businesses and homes as the sky was cast in an orange glow. A photographer on assignment for ... Read More

A recently released documentary is showing how the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribes are pushing for equitable and renewable energy sources for the many people living without electricity in the Black Mesa territory of northern Arizona.  “Local Leadership, Global Change: Navajo Nation & Hopi Tribe,” produced by the Institute for Energy ... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week by 14,000 to 385,000, more evidence that the economy and the job market are rebounding briskly from the coronavirus recession. The Labor Department reported Thursday that unemployment claims — a proxy for layoffs — dropped last week from a revised 399,000 […] Read More

WASHINGTON — A Senate committee went public Wednesday with the kind of information about China’s use of U.S. technology that normally would stay behind the closed doors where clandestine issues are discussed. Select Committee on Intelligence leaders revealed that China’s unauthorized use of technology is costing Americans $300 billion to $600 billion ... Read More

President Joe Biden is expected to announce Thursday that his administration is setting a new national goal for the sale of electric vehicles — wanting half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030 to be powered by electricity. The executive order Biden will sign during a ceremony on the South ... Read More

Two weeks ago, Reps. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill.,Tom Cole, R-Okla., G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., and Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., created a new Social Determinants Caucus, which will coordinate federal investments in health and social drivers of health such as food, housing and transportation. “The reason you start a caucus is to advance ... Read More

The California Farm Confinement Proposition, known as Prop 12, is set to become effective next year and could mean that pork suppliers lose access to California’s large market. The law will implement space requirements for chickens, calves, and hogs, such as retrofitting buildings, and will also implement new slaughterhouse guidelines, such as ... Read More

WASHINGTON — Nearly a dozen U.S. Senators — all of them Democrats — made the short walk from the Capitol to the green near the Robert Taft Memorial on Tuesday to join scores of state legislators in calling for passage of the For the People Act, a sweeping elections and ethics bill aimed at ... Read More

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone issued a temporary restraining order on Tuesday impeding Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order directing state troopers to detain drivers suspected of transporting migrants due to COVID-19 concerns. Abbott issued the order last week, allowing Texas Department of Safety troopers to stop any vehicle upon “... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats is throwing its considerable influence behind a bill that aims to help unemployed Americans return to work by ensuring they do not lose income when they take a new job. The Strengthening Unemployment Programs to Provide Opportunities for Recovery and Training for New Workers ... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon police force on Wednesday identified the officer who was fatally stabbed at a transit center outside the Pentagon. The Pentagon Force Protection Agency said Officer George Gonzalez was a New York native and Army veteran who served in Iraq. He’d been on the police force for three ... Read More

GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization called Wednesday for a moratorium on administering booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines as a way to help ensure that doses are available in countries where few people have received their first shots.  WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the appeal mostly to ... Read More

Over the last decade evidence has shown that whole genome sequencing saves lives, but a new study from researchers in California shows how genome sequencing for newborns in intensive care units can also save money. “We now know there are more than 6,000 genetic diseases, but that number changes every day. What we’... Read More