Spotlight

WASHINGTON — The importance of religion and regular church attendance to most Americans continues to decline according to a new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute, “Religion and Congregations in a Time of Social and Political Upheaval.” “Churches are... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to review a dispute over whether Congress can get access to documents surrounding former President Donald Trump’s lease of a government building he turned into a posh Washington, D.C., hotel. The House... Read More

WASHINGTON — It was the nightmare behind a tragedy she never saw coming. Ashley Judd’s voice still quivered noticeably at times as she recounted the events of April 30, 2022, and the weeks and months that followed before a large... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., ended weeks of sparring through the media on Tuesday, meeting face to face for the first time since early February to discuss raising the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling. “We’re... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced a series of personnel moves at the White House Friday, including the fact that Neera Tanden will succeed the departing Susan Rice to serve as assistant to the president and domestic policy advisor. In... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appears to be considering dropping the current term’s most consequential election case now that a ruling by the North Carolina Supreme Court has likely rendered the justices’ opinion moot. The case, Moore v. Harper, tests... Read More

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted the founder and former CEO of a company formed to convert biomass into sustainable aviation fuel, charging he embezzled at least $5.9 million from the enterprise. According to the Justice Department,... Read More

WASHINGTON — With the start of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season just weeks away, a new report from the Government Accountability Office suggests the Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to suffer from chronic staff shortages that are leading to burnout... Read More

NEW YORK — Actor Michael J. Fox is hailing a newly developed spinal fluid test as “one of the most significant breakthroughs in decades” when it comes to understanding Parkinson’s disease. In an op-ed in USA Today and on the... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to reconsider a long held precedent and hear a case that could result in a profound scaling back of the power of federal agencies to regulate everything from health care to how... Read More

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ben Cardin, Maryland’s senior U.S. senator, a Democrat and winner of 36 elections, including primaries and general election contests, announced Monday he will not seek reelection next year. Cardin’s decision will bring to an end an astonishing... Read More

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan bill introduced on Friday seeks to remove the more than two dozen uses of an offensive phrase used to describe those with intellectual disabilities from federal law and replace it with language more in sync with... Read More

WASHINGTON — Three years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the public health emergency declared to combat it will come to an end on Thursday, May 11. Though public health officials say SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, remains... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to determine whether the First Amendment protects social media users from being blocked on the personal pages of government officials. Today’s decision consolidates two cases, one a lawsuit brought against two members... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is continuing the war of words with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., using successive public appearances this week to pan the speaker’s proposed plan to raise the debt ceiling as “the same old trickle-down dressed... Read More

WASHINGTON — Within the span of about one year, U.S. intelligence went from celebrating its capability to prepare Ukraine for a surprise Russian invasion to an embarrassing and damaging leak of classified high-level documents by a low-level IT staffer. Rep.... Read More

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., traveled to Wall Street on Monday to both blame President Joe Biden for the ongoing impasse over raising the nation’s debt ceiling and announce that the chamber’s Republican Conference intends to move its... Read More

HELENA, Mont. — A bill moving through the Republican-led Legislature in Montana would rewrite the rules for a single electoral contest in 2024 — the party’s uphill battle to take down three-term incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. “This bill is... Read More

WASHINGTON — “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” a song penned in a basement apartment in Georgetown in the wee hours of a December night in 1970, and later made famous by John Denver, was named Wednesday to the National Recording... Read More

WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist who also happens to be heir to the legacy of one of America’s most famous political families, is running for president. Kennedy, a Democrat, filed his registration form... Read More

WILLIAMS, Ariz. — In recognition of Earth Day, a 100-year-old steam engine will chug into Grand Canyon National Park powered by french fry oil.  On Saturday, April 22, 2023, The Grand Canyon Railway — which may be the last daily... Read More

WASHINGTON — In 2021, the United States declared child and adolescent mental health a national emergency. COVID-19 was a factor, but a decline in mental health had been documented for at least a decade. In 2018, suicide was the second... Read More

WASHINGTON — To be perfectly honest, 2022 did not seem to be the year of the centrist Democrat, or Republican or anything. Week after week, it seemed, another moderate raised the white flag, tired — exhausted, really — of being... Read More

WASHINGTON — CNN won Tuesday in a defamation lawsuit Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz filed against the television network for its criticism of his commentaries about then-President Donald Trump's impeachment trial. The CNN broadcast could lead viewers to... Read More

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A former aide to Maryland’s governor was shot and killed Monday evening as FBI agents tried to arrest him while he fled fraud charges. Roy McGrath was confronted by law enforcement agents after he escaped to the... Read More

HOUSTON — Christina Hammock Koch will be the first woman and Victor Glover the first African American to venture around the moon, NASA announced on Monday, as it revealed the four-person flight crew for the upcoming lunar orbital flight of... Read More

GEORGETOWN, Del. — A judge in Delaware has ruled that Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation case against the Fox News Network can proceed to trial. In a 130-page opinion released Friday, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis denied motions... Read More

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday passed the energy bill the new Republican leadership said was its top priority, but in the wake of the vote, the Senate’s top Democrat said the legislation is dead on arrival in his chamber.... Read More

WASHINGTON — A pair of House Democrats are urging their colleagues to revamp the federal Pell Grant program, tying it to the nation’s inflation rate in a bid to tame the rising cost of higher education. But even as they... Read More

WASHINGTON — It is one of the most important bills the Congress regularly deliberates, a sweeping, multiyear package that governs the nation’s food and agricultural programs and has to be reauthorized every five years. And in addition to developing and... Read More