Political News

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 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

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

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

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is set to meet President Joe Biden's latest vaccine goal of administering 200 million coronavirus shots in his first 100 days in office, as the White House steps up its efforts to inoculate the rest... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said the conviction of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd "can be a giant step forward" for the nation in the fight against systemic racism. But he declared... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Civil liberties groups are asking the Supreme Court to give the public access to opinions of the secretive court that reviews bulk email collection, warrantless internet searches and other government surveillance programs.The groups say in an appeal... Read More

A dozen top megadonors — at least eight of whom are billionaires — have pumped a combined $3.4 billion dollars into federal elections since 2009, according to new research by Issue One, a nonpartisan group working to curtail the influence... Read More

With at least 4 million long-term unemployed American workers more than a year into the pandemic, witnesses before a US Senate hearing Tuesday called for the expansion of a post-secondary education grant to cover short-term, high quality programs.  Throughout the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The White House on Tuesday formally threw its support behind the D.C. Statehood bill, saying it would provide the residents of the District with "long overdue full representation in Congress." "Establishing the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth as... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Democrats are expected to adopt a new rule Tuesday that will temporarily enable Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to speed votes on noncontroversial bills and bypass the partisan maneuvering that has repeatedly drawn out votes this Congress. In... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Tuesday that he was both “very disturbed” and “very disappointed” to learn of an effort by “a pretty significant number” of Republicans in the chamber to form a new caucus based “on... Read More

Whether or not cannabis is harmful to human health is a continuing question for researchers, as some studies say smoking can have therapeutic effects, while others say long-term cannabis smokers experience anxiety at higher doses.  “There hasn’t been clear science... Read More

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) — 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

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

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

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