Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
Not only did the 2016 election bring the country a new president, but Nov. 8 also ushered in the right political environment for a batch of states to pass right-to-work bills. Twenty-six states have right-to-work laws on the books, and labor experts are expecting lawmakers in at least three more—Kentucky, Missouri, and New Hampshire—to pass…
On 112 acres off Springhill Road in Belgrade, Montana, sits a six-bedroom, 10,000-square-foot home called Quiet Waters Ranch. The ranch belongs to the Warriors and Quiet Waters Foundation, a nonprofit located 10 miles south in Bozeman that teaches combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan how to fly fish in the place that’s considered the sport’s…
The White House took to Twitter Wednesday to promote President Barack Obama’s latest monument designations in the Western U.S., but its tweet had a picture of a completely different national park. Obama created the Bears Ears and Gold Butte national monuments, but it’s Wednesday tweet included a picture of the Three Gossips at Arches National…
Recent stories in Politico and The Washington Post paint a picture of unprecedented obstruction by Senate Republicans of President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees. “Trump set to reshape judiciary after GOP blockade,” blared Politico’s Burgess Everett on Dec. 16. Nine days later, it was The Post’s turn. “Trump to inherit more than 100 court vacancies, plans…
Officials in at least two states are preparing to ask the new Trump administration for approval to prohibit use of food stamps to buy junk food and candy—a restriction the Obama administration has opposed. At least 25 states already prohibit welfare recipients from using Electronic Benefit Transfer cards to pay for alcohol, tobacco, gambling, lottery…
Just before joining climate change activist and former Vice President Al Gore for a press conference in New York City, seven state-level attorneys general huddled with a representative of the Union of Concerned Scientists. The political activist, Peter Frumhoff, called for them and other elected officials to move decisively against major corporations and institutions for “denying”…
The Obama administration is using a taxpayer-funded program to award business grants to Salvadoran migrants deported from the United States. Run by the nonprofit Instituto Salvadorno Del Migrante and funded through a $50,000 grant from the taxpayer-backed Inter-American Foundation, the program “facilitates [deportees’] reintegration into their communities and supports their enterprises by offering financial education,…
The Israeli government, and Republicans in Congress, have expressed outrage over the Obama administration’s decision to allow adoption of a United Nations Security Council resolution that condemns Israel’s settlement construction. These critics are portraying the U.S. move to abstain from the vote on Israel’s settlement activity—rather than using its veto power—as a last symbolic blow from…
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., spent a considerable amount of his time as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama pressing civil rights lawsuits. He also assisted local prosecutors in a case that helped wipe out the Ku Klux Klan in the state. “All I’ve seen from Jeff Sessions is that he has followed law,”…
Israeli authorities gave the go-ahead for the construction of hundreds of new settlement sites in East Jerusalem Monday after a United Nations resolution condemned Israel over the issue. The defiant move comes after the U.S. government did not veto the U.N. condemnation of Israeli settlements, a marked change in U.S. policy. The Obama administration affirmed the decision…
Carlos and Calvin Battle grew up in the poorest neighborhood of Washington, D.C., where nearly two-thirds of children are living in poverty. In 2016, only 42 percent of students attending the local public high school graduated. In an attempt to get her sons a better education, their mother, Pam Battle, enrolled Calvin and Carlos in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship…
Who do you believe is the worst leader of all time? The Atlantic asked the question in its latest issue and included two of the most recent Republican presidents on a list of 12 contenders for worst-ever leader: Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Their names appear alongside some who you’d probably expect on such…
The number of speakers who faced opposition or disinvitation this year reached a record high, according to a report from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. FIRE, which has been tracking the number of incidents involving campus speakers since 2000, found that in 2016, at least 42 separate incidents occurred—double the number that occurred…
President Barack Obama is using his executive power to issue a broad swath of environmental protections during his last weeks in office, guarding himself against a successor who has vowed to roll back parts of that agenda. As part of this effort, Obama has made historic use of a 110-year-old law signed by Theodore Roosevelt…
NOVOMYKHAILIVKA, Ukraine—In the woods outside this front-line town in eastern Ukraine, a battle-worn unit of Ukrainian soldiers have hunkered down for the winter. The troops live and fight sometimes only a few hundred yards across no man’s land from their enemies, a combined force of pro-Russian separatists and Russian regulars. Some of the Ukrainian soldiers…
A student in Georgia has sued his school after he claims the public college prohibited him from sharing his Christian faith on campus. Lawyers for Georgia Gwinnett College student Chike Uzuegbunam filed a lawsuit against the school on Monday. Uzuegbunam “believes it is his duty to inform others” of his evangelical Christian beliefs and “for…
Gordon Tomb pays about $40 per month to heat his home in central Pennsylvania. And he wants to keep it that way. “I’ve lived in Pennsylvania for more than 60 years and have never paid so little for my home heating,” Tomb, a senior fellow with the free market Commonwealth Foundation, said in an interview. He…
Labor Secretary Tom Perez is campaigning actively to become the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee, prompting a watchdog group to investigate whether he has violated a law prohibiting federal government employees from engaging in partisan politics while on the job. Two other Cabinet-level department heads in the Obama administration previously were found to…
A bipartisan group of senators is pressing for the creation of a special panel—known as a select committee—to investigate and provide the definitive account of Russian cyberattacks on the U.S. political system. Sens. John McCain. R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., along with incoming Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.,…
A new set of rules in Texas requiring aborted babies to be cremated or buried has prompted a legal battle in the Lone Star State. Pro-abortion groups are attempting to halt the law with a lawsuit, and its implementation has now been delayed by a court order. The abortion burial measure, which would also apply…