Virginia voters approve redistricting plan that could boost Democrats’ seats in Congress
Virginia voters approved a mid-decade redistricting plan Tuesday that could boost Democrats’ chances of winning four additional U.S. House seats in November’s midterm elections that will decide control of the closely divided Congress. The constitutional amendment backed by voters bypasses a bipartisan redistricting commission to allow the use of new...
Sen. Dave McCormick endorses Trump nominee for Fed chair
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick introduced the nominee to chair the Federal Reserve at a contentious Senate Banking Committee hearing on Tuesday, describing him as a personal friend who he said is the “right man for this pivotal moment.” “He will shake up a stagnant institution at a time when change...
Trump, other top Republicans read passages in a marathon Bible event
President Donald Trump and many of his leading Christian supporters and top Republicans are taking part this week in a marathon reading of the Bible in an America 250-themed event billed as encouraging a “return to the spiritual foundation that has shaped our country.” The America Reads the Bible event...
Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida resigns amid ethics investigation
WASHINGTON — Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is resigning from Congress rather than be formally disciplined by the House as part of an ethics investigation into her use of campaign funds. Explaining her decision in an extended social media statement Tuesday, the Florida Democrat decried the internal investigation process as unfair. She...
Virginia voters deciding on redistricting plan that could boost Democrats’ seats in Congress
Virginia voters on Tuesday are deciding whether to ratify an unusual mid-decade redrawing of U.S. House districts that could boost Democrats’ chances of flipping control of the closely divided chamber, as the state becomes the latest front in a national redistricting battle. A proposed constitutional amendment backed by Democratic officials...
Trump and other top Republicans will read passages in a marathon Bible event
President Donald Trump and many of his leading Christian supporters and top Republicans are taking part this week in a marathon reading of the Bible in an America 250-themed event billed as encouraging a “return to the spiritual foundation that has shaped our country.” The America Reads the Bible event...
Traffic and trepidation in the Persian Gulf could keep gasoline prices from dropping quickly
NEW YORK — After U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran’s foreign minister said the Strait of Hormuz was fully open to commercial vessels after almost seven weeks of war, oil prices plunged 10% and the stock market rallied Friday. Motorists, hoping for relief at the pump, wondered how quickly gasoline...
Turning Point USA’s high school push in GOP states meets free speech and religion concerns
OMAHA, Neb.— Republican leaders across the U.S. are encouraging chapters of the conservative political group Turning Point USA in all public high schools in the wake last year’s assassination of co-founder Charlie Kirk, an effort they describe as countering the oppression of conservative voices in education. The group’s endorsement by...
Trump approval plummets among Latino voters — except in Florida, new poll finds
Latino voters across the country — a surprising part of Donald Trump’s coalition in 2024 — are now extremely dissatisfied with the president and his policies, a new poll shows. But that is not so much true in Florida, where Cubans remain a bastion of GOP support. In a nationwide...
Trump’s lawyers are in talks with the IRS to resolve president’s $10B lawsuit
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for President Donald Trump are engaged in talks with the IRS to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit the president filed against his own tax collection agency over the leak of his tax information to news outlets between 2018 and 2020. In a federal court filing Friday, Trump...
House extends surveillance powers until April 30 after late-night revolt sinks GOP plan
WASHINGTON — The House early Friday approved a short-term renewal until April 30 of a controversial surveillance program used by U.S. spy agencies in a post-midnight vote after Republicans revolted and refused President Donald Trump’s push for a longer extension. GOP leaders rushed lawmakers back into session late Thursday with...
Trump draws Marie Antoinette comparisons as he leans into the gilded trappings of the presidency
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump had something urgent to address while flying back to Washington from his luxury Mar-a-Lago estate on a recent Sunday. It wasn’t the Iran war, nor the still-going partial government shutdown over Department of Homeland Security funding. He wanted to talk about a monumental issue of...
Trump bets his tax cuts will please Las Vegas voters on his swing West
LAS VEGAS — President Donald Trump is betting that the tax cuts he signed into law last year will resonate with voters in Las Vegas, where he highlighted his tax breaks for tipped workers in an appeal targeted at this year’s midterm elections. Workers who earn tips and overtime are...
Wanna bet? Washington steps up scrutiny of prediction markets
WASHINGTON — As the United States was preparing a daring mission to rescue an airman whose fighter jet was shot down by Iran, there was money to be made. Users on Polymarket, the world’s largest prediction market, could place bets on when the airman would be rescued. When Rep. Seth...
Progressive Analilia Mejia takes New Jersey U.S. House special election, giving Democrats another win
DENVILLE, N.J. — Democrat Analilia Mejia won a New Jersey special election for the U.S. House on Thursday, defeating Republican Joe Hathaway on a message of standing up to President Donald Trump. Mejia, a former head of the Working Families Alliance who had support from Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders,...
TSA looks to privatize amid continued funding lapse woes
WASHINGTON — The acting administrator of the Transportation Security Administration gave a strong endorsement of President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal 2027 before a House Appropriations subcommittee Thursday, saying proposed privatization and modernization efforts would help ensure the agency has the funds it needs amid congressional funding struggles. “As...
Diocese of Greensburg bishop joins clergy nationwide weighing in on Trump, Pope Leo XIV discourseVideo
Diocese of Greensburg Bishop Larry Kulick said Thursday that Pope Leo XIV is “speaking from his rightful position” in criticism of President Donald Trump and the Iran war. The polarizing debate between the president and the pope has pushed onlookers to opposing sides. But Kulick views Leo’s continued calls for...
Senate Republicans send Trump resolution to lift mining ban near Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Congressional Republicans have sent President Donald Trump a resolution that would lift a federal ban on mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, hoping to clear the way for a South American company to extract precious metals from the region’s pristine forests, lakes and bogs. House Republicans approved the...
House passes a bill to protect Haitian immigrants, in slap back to the Trump administration
WASHINGTON — In a rare bipartisan moment, the House passed legislation Thursday that would extend temporary protections for Haitian immigrants, a long-shot effort fighting back against President Donald Trump’s attempts to end the program. The bill, pushed forward by House Democrats with a group of Republicans over the objections of...
Western Pa. congressional incumbents have upper hand over challengers in campaign cash
Congressional incumbents seeking reelection in Western Pennsylvania have significantly more cash to fuel their campaigns than their challengers, new filings show. U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, has the biggest money advantage, according to the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission, which were due Wednesday. His campaign raised $2.1...
House rejects effort to withdraw U.S. forces from the Iran war as Republicans stick with Trump
WASHINGTON — The House rejected a resolution Thursday requiring President Donald Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the war with Iran unless Congress authorizes military action. It was the latest such vote that fell short of passage as Republicans largely continue to support Trump’s operation. Democrats voiced concern that the...
Did Pete Hegseth cite Scripture or a line from ‘Pulp Fiction’?
After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a prayer during a Pentagon worship service Wednesday, viewers questioned whether the lines came from the Bible — or from the Quentin Tarantino movie “Pulp Fiction.” Hegseth’s prayer has drawn scrutiny and attention on social media. Christopher Hale, editor of the popular Letters from...
Redistricting battle narrows for U.S. House as states seek partisan edge in November elections
The battlefield is narrowing and the timeline is tightening in a congressional redistricting contest among states seeking a partisan advantage ahead of the November midterm elections. The end of Maryland’s legislative session this week marked the demise of Democratic efforts to reshape the state’s U.S. House districts. But Virginia voters...
Justice Jackson chides Supreme Court conservatives over ‘oblivious’ pro-Trump emergency orders
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has delivered a sustained attack on her conservative colleagues’ use of emergency orders to benefit the Trump administration, calling the orders “scratch-paper musings” that can “seem oblivious and thus ring hollow.” The court’s newest justice, Jackson delivered a lengthy assessment of roughly...
U.S. probes suspicious oil trades made before Trump pivots
The top U.S. derivatives regulator is investigating a series of suspiciously well-timed trades in the oil futures market ahead of recent policy pivots by President Donald Trump related to the war in Iran, according to people familiar with the matter. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is leading the probe into...
