Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
A florist who refused to create floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after a Washington state court ruled Thursday that she violated the state’s civil rights law. The case presents the high court with an opportunity to decide whether conservative religious believers can use the First Amendment as…
Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar improperly spent thousands of dollars in campaign funds on noncampaign expenses in 2016 and 2017 while serving in the state legislature, Minnesota’s campaign finance and public disclosure board ruled Thursday. The state board ordered Omar to personally reimburse her campaign for just under $3,500 the campaign spent on out-of-state travel…
New York today is part of the movement to choose presidents by popular vote, but 40 years ago a nationally known liberal from the state took to the Senate floor to argue the advantages of the current system. The Electoral College, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan asserted in his July 1979 speech, forces consensus and allows…
The Mexican government is showing signs of increased illegal immigration enforcement and cooperation with their U.S. counterparts following President Donald Trump’s tariff threats. Around 200 Mexican law enforcement officials blocked a U.S.-bound caravan Wednesday. The caravan, made up of about 1,000 Central American migrants, was heading north on a highway near the town of Metapa. Mexican police…
Thirty years after the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Chinese government continues to commit human rights abuses. Officials burn Bibles, force hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims into re-education camps, and sterilize women who violate the one-child policy. A crowd gathered Tuesday on the West Lawn of the Capitol for an event organized by the Victims…
GOP Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska chided Democrats for pressing judicial nominees about their membership in the Knights of Columbus Wednesday, joking that some lawmakers have treated the Knights like the fanatical religious cult in “The Da Vinci Code.” Sasse made the remarks during a nomination hearing for U.S. District Judge Peter Phipps, President Donald…
The Trump administration has ended the government’s contract with a bioscience company that provided human fetal tissue from elective abortions for testing purposes. The Food and Drug Administration no longer will obtain the fetal tissue from California-based Advanced Bioscience Resources Inc., the Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday. The statement announcing the change…
The surge of illegal immigrants coming across the southern border in May increased by about one-third from a month before. The Central American migration boom that has been overwhelming Border Patrol agents for almost a year, but they took 144,278 illegal border crossers were apprehended according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “This latest number…
Thirty years ago, a series of student-led demonstrations in Beijing were put to an end, violently, by China’s military. After months of peaceful protests in 1989, the Chinese Communist Party unleashed the might of its military on the unarmed civilians: this included the use of machine guns and tanks. Unofficial death tolls are often estimated…
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Monday he has no idea why rumors about his retirement have circulated in recent months. Speaking with private equity tycoon David Rubenstein before the Supreme Court Historical Society, Thomas seemed to say that speculation as to his possible departure is meritless. Some court-watchers have wondered if Thomas, 70, might like to…
Acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Mark Morgan said his agency is not ruling out the possibility of arresting and deporting migrant families that have been ordered to leave the U.S. “The mindset is no one is exempted. You’re either in violation of the law or not, and we take it from there,”…
A teen in the Netherlands died Sunday at her home after requesting to be legally euthanized following years of depression following sexual abuses and rape when she was younger. Initial reports claimed Noa Pothoven died via legal euthanasia, but it is now being reported doctors ultimately denied her request. The 17-year-old said that her suffering…
A North Carolina woman with three grandchildren in the state’s school voucher program says she isn’t too proud to beg the governor not to reduce funding and phase it out, as he proposes. “I would just really hope to beg him not to make this cut to this program,” Lisa Davis told The Daily Signal….
The House has passed legislation 237-187 that would grant citizenship to an estimated 2.5 million undocumented immigrants, in a largely party-line vote. “America’s Dreamers represent the constant reinvigoration of our country. Today, the House will pass the American Dream [and] Promise Act—an historic step for immigrants and communities across America,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,…
The Trump administration moved Tuesday to impose new restrictions on travel from the United States to Cuba, halting cruise ships from going to the island nation in keeping with a memorandum from the president two years ago. The new rules, coming from the departments of Treasury and Commerce, will end some travel allowed under the…
A former deputy sheriff who hid rather than enter a Florida school and confront a gunman who killed 17 was arrested and charged Tuesday with neglecting children and committing perjury. Scot Peterson, normally assigned by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to help secure the school in Parkland, Florida, came under stinging public rebuke for leaving…
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Monday ruled against House Democrats who tried to block the Trump administration from reallocating Defense Department funds for a border wall. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden said the House of Representatives does not have standing to bring the challenge, calling it a political fight between two branches. “While…
A $19.1 billion disaster aid bill that faced significant opposition from conservative Republicans passed the House on Monday evening by a lopsided vote of 354-58. Only Republicans voted against the measure, which includes funding in the aftermath of hurricanes, wildfires, and other storms as well as money to help Puerto Rico rebuild from hurricane damage…
Eighteen months have passed since a gunman entered First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs and took 26 lives. In honor and remembrance of those who perished in the Texas church, First Baptist just opened a new building, and the congregation hopes it will serve as a reminder of the lives lost that day. “Hope is…
The Border Patrol is seeing an increase in migrants from African countries who are blending in with the large numbers crossing the southern border illegally through Central America. Agents assigned to at the Del Rio, Texas, sector apprehended 116 individuals last week from African countries as they crossed the border from Mexico. Those caught around…