Politics Election category, Page 222
Alaska GOP legislators urge easier ivermectin access for covid
ANCHORAGE — Several Republican state lawmakers are urging easier access for Alaskans to ivermectin amid the pandemic, though ivermectin is not authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for preventing or treating covid-19. Senate Majority Leader Shelley Hughes of Palmer said she urged Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the state...
Judge dismisses Fulton County ballot review case in Georgia
ATLANTA — A judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit alleging fraud in Georgia’s most populous county during the 2020 election. The suit sought a review of some 147,000 absentee ballots to see if any were illegitimate. The lawsuit was originally filed in December and alleged evidence of fraudulent ballots and...
White House scolds Abbott for trying to ban Biden’s federal vaccine mandate in TexasVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House scolded Gov. Greg Abbott for trying to bar Texas companies from enforcing a federal covid-19 vaccine mandate, accusing him Tuesday of pandering to GOP primary voters at the expense of public health. “It’s important to remember we’re in the middle of a pandemic,” said White...
Congress raises nation’s debt limit, but thorny December deadlines loom
WASHINGTON — The House raised the nation’s debt ceiling on Tuesday, averting a default for about three months but setting up a tougher political hurdle for Democrats at the end of the year. The bill was packaged with several other measures so there was no stand-alone vote on the unpopular...
Gainey, Moreno debate housing, environment and more in lengthy Pittsburgh mayoral debate
In a wide-ranging debate that lasted nearly three hours, mayoral candidates Ed Gainey, a state representative, and Tony Moreno, a retired Pittsburgh police officer, delved into topics ranging from housing and the economy to the environment and voter identification. If elected, Gainey would become the city’s first Black mayor. Moreno...
BP, Shell leaders to face Congress over alleged climate cover-up
WASHINGTON — Executives from BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc will testify before a House committee investigating allegations that oil giants misled the public about the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming. The hearing planned for later this month by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee...
Florida fines key county $3.5 million for mandating vaccines
TALLAHASSEE — The county government that is home to Florida’s capital was fined $3.5 million on Tuesday by state health officials for requiring its employees to get covid-19 vaccines and for firing 14 workers who failed to get the shots. The Florida Department of Health issued the fine for Leon...
Pa. lawmakers spend millions of tax dollars on private lawyers but often don’t reveal why
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania legislature spent nearly $10 million during the last two years on private lawyers but routinely shielded the...
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issues executive order banning vaccine mandates by private entities
AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday issued an executive order prohibiting any entity in Texas from mandating covid-19 vaccinations for employees or consumers, an expansion of a prior order limited to government entities. Abbott also asked lawmakers to tackle the issue during the current special legislative session, ensuring that...
GOP wants personal voter data to root out fraud, but Pa. already uses a more secure system
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania has spent nearly half a million dollars over the past six years to find and remove outdated registrations...
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson under attack over anti-LGBT viewsVideo
RALEIGH — North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is facing calls to resign from elected officials and LGBTQ advocacy groups over comments he made criticizing sexual education and likening gay and transgender people to “filth.” “There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality,...
Pa. attorney general Josh Shapiro jumps into ’22 governor’s race
Pennsylvania’s high-profile attorney general, Josh Shapiro, will formally announce his candidacy for governor on Wednesday, entering the 2022 race months after making his intentions known and effectively clearing the field of potential rivals for the Democratic nomination. Shapiro, a familiar presence on cable TV news who has spent nearly two...
Congress off the rails? Lawmakers barrel toward fall fights
Year-end pileups of crucial legislation and the brinkmanship that goes with them are normal behavior for Congress. This autumn, lawmakers are barreling toward battles that are striking for the risks they pose to both parties and their leaders. Though few doubt that Congress will again extend the government’s borrowing authority...
No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise refuses to say election wasn’t stolenVideo
WASHINGTON — The House’s second-ranking Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise, repeatedly refused to say on Sunday that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, standing by Donald Trump’s lie that Democrat Joe Biden won the White House because of mass voter fraud. More than 11 months after Americans picked their president and almost...
Biden won’t invoke executive privilege on Trump Jan. 6 docs
The White House said Friday that President Joe Biden will not block the handover of documents sought by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, setting up a showdown with former President Donald Trump, who wants to shield those White House records from investigators. The...
Biden is first president to mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday issued the first-ever presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, lending the most significant boost yet to efforts to refocus the federal holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus toward an appreciation of native peoples. Biden also issued a proclamation of Columbus Day on Monday, which is...
New Hampshire legislator leaves panel leadership over false covid claims
CONCORD, N.H. — Republican state Rep. Ken Weyler on Wednesday stepped down as chairperson of the House Finance and Joint Legislative Fiscal committees after Gov. Chris Sununu said he should be removed because he continued to spread covid-19 misinformation. “Representative Weyler and I spoke about my deep concerns of the...
Report details Trump’s all-out bid to undo election resultsVideo
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s extraordinary effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat brought the Justice Department to the brink of chaos, and prompted top officials there and at the White House to threaten to resign, a Senate Judiciary Committee report found. The report released Thursday by the Democratic-run committee offers...
Trump to invoke executive privilege in Jan. 6 House investigation
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump intends to assert executive privilege in a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, a move that could prevent the testimony of onetime aides, according to a letter sent by lawyers for the former president. The letter went to at least some witnesses...
Mainstream Republicans seek to ‘rescue’ Idaho — from the GOP
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin wants to be the state’s governor after next year’s November elections. But when the man currently holding the job left town this week on official business, she decided not to wait. McGeachin, a far-right Republican known for her opposition to covid-19 restrictions...
Oklahoma schools leader switches parties to run for governor
OKLAHOMA CITY — State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, who has clashed repeatedly with Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and his appointees over the state’s response to covid-19 in schools, said Thursday she will switch parties and run as a Democrat against him next year. A longtime Republican first elected in 2014, Hofmeister...
Senate dodges debt disaster, votes to extend borrowing
WASHINGTON — The Senate dodged a U.S. debt disaster Thursday night, voting to extend the government’s borrowing authority into December and temporarily avert an unprecedented federal default that experts warned would devastate the economy and harm millions of Americans. The vote of 50-48 in support of the bill to raise...
Judge orders Texas to suspend new law banning most abortions
AUSTIN — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Texas to suspend the most restrictive abortion law in the United States, which since September has banned most abortions in the nation’s second-most populous state. The order by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman is the first legal blow to the Texas law...
McConnell offers Democrats short-term debt fix amid standoff
WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday told Democrats he would allow an emergency debt limit extension into December, edging back from a perilous standoff by offering a potential path to avoid a federal default. A procedural vote on legislation that would suspend the debt limit for two...
New Hampshire governor seeks removal of panel chair over false covid claims
CONCORD, N.H. — Gov. Chris Sununu is calling for the removal of a state representative, a fellow Republican, from his position as head of the legislative fiscal committee, saying the lawmaker is continuing to spread covid-19 misinformation. Last month, Rep. Ken Weyler, of Kingston, told state Health Commissioner Lori Shibinette...
