AP US Politics News

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD and TRÂN NGUYỄN Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday his state will hold a Nov. 4 special election to seek approval of redrawn districts intended to give Democrats five more U.S. House seats in the fight for control of Congress. The move is a direct

By AMANDA SEITZ and KIMBERLY KINDY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ordered the nation’s health department to stop giving deportation officials access to the personal information — including home addresses — of all 79 million Medicaid enrollees. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services first handed over the personal data on

By The Associated Press Attorney General Pam Bondi has named the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Terry Cole, as Washington’s “emergency police commissioner,” saying she is granting him the powers of the police chief amid the federal takeover. The Metropolitan Police Department “must receive approval from Commissioner Cole” before issuing any orders, Bondi said

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law 90 years ago this week, he said it would provide economic stability to older people while giving the U.S. “an economic structure of vastly greater soundness.” Today, the program provides benefits to almost 69 million

By TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press The sternly worded statements and letters are filled with indignation and outrage: Republican U.S. lawmakers say Canada has done too little to contain wildfires and smoke that have fouled the air in several states this summer. “Instead of enjoying family vacations at Michigan’s beautiful lakes and campgrounds, for the third

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press Since New York began licensing recreational marijuana stores about three years ago, the state has been using a simple tactic to ensure pot shops are kept a legally-mandated distance from local schools: Measure from the door of the dispensary to the door of the school. But officials recently made a

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A network of clinics that provides health care in Maine asked a judge Thursday to restore its Medicaid funding while it fights a Trump administration effort to keep federal money from going to abortion providers. President Donald Trump’s policy and tax bill, known as the “

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — As National Guard troops deploy across her city as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to clamp down on crime, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is responding with relative restraint. She’s called Trump’s takeover of the city’s police department and his decision to activate 800 members of

By JAIMIE DING Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles students and teachers returned to class for the new academic year on Thursday amid worries that schools could become targets in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown after a summer filled with raids. At 93rd Street Elementary School in southern Los Angeles, volunteers with

By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Melania Trump demanded that Hunter Biden retract comments linking her to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and threatened to sue if he does not. Trump takes issue with two comments Biden, son of former President Joe Biden, made in an interview this month with American

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge in San Francisco is weighing whether the Trump administration violated federal law by sending National Guard troops to accompany immigration agents on raids in Southern California. A three-day trial on the matter concluded Wednesday. California has argued the troops violated the Posse

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — Nine people, including a former mayor and city council member and the chief of staff to a state representative, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to felony charges brought forth in a rural Texas county by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton as part of a widening elections

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A failed political candidate was sentenced to 80 years in federal prison Wednesday for his convictions in a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in the aftermath of the 2020 election. A jury convicted former Republican candidate Solomon Peña earlier this year of conspiracy, weapons

By LEA SKENE Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — A judge on Wednesday questioned why it was necessary for the Trump administration to sue Maryland’s entire federal bench over an order that paused the immediate deportation of migrants challenging their removals. U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen didn’t issue a ruling following a hearing in federal court

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Harvard University and the Trump administration are getting close to an agreement that would require the Ivy League university to pay $500 million to regain access to federal funding and to end investigations, according to a person familiar with the matter. The framework is still being

By The Associated Press U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that there will be “very severe consequences” if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not agree to stop his war in Ukraine after their Friday summit in Alaska, though he did not say what those consequences might be. Trump’s comment came after a virtual meeting with

By WILL WEISSERT and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Diplomacy may be soft power, but in President Donald Trump’s administration, it’s also lately a soft landing. National security adviser Mike Waltz was nominated as United Nations ambassador after he mistakenly added a journalist to a Signal chat discussing military plans. Trump tapped

By DAVID FISCHER Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — The fate of a makeshift immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed “ Alligator Alcatraz ” hung in the balance on Wednesday as a federal judge considered whether building on sensitive wetlands violated environmental laws. Last week, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered a 14-day halt

By ANNIE MA and HILLEL ITALIE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — As the new chairman of the Kennedy Center, President Donald Trump added a highly personal stamp to this year’s announcement of the recipients of the annual honors, whom he named as country music star George Strait, “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone, singer Gloria Gaynor, the

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — For decades, its powerful lighthouse illuminated Miami’s Biscayne Bay, and during the height of the Cold War, what was known as the Freedom Tower stood as a beacon of hope for hundreds of thousands of Cubans fleeing communist rule. The 14-story Spanish Revival skyscraper was where, from

By MARK THIESSEN and GENE JOHNSON Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — When U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska on Friday, it will be the latest chapter in the 49th state’s long history with Russia — and with international tensions. Siberian fur traders arrived from across the Bering Sea

CHEHALIS, Wash. (AP) — Washington state Sen. John Braun announced Tuesday that he will run next year for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House seat held by Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. Braun, the Republican minority leader of the Democratic-controlled state Senate, will be vying for a competitive, conservative-leaning district in southwestern Washington that

By JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois law now requires that prospective police officers approve the release of personal background records in response to last summer’s shooting of Sonya Massey, an unarmed Black woman, in her home by a sheriff’s deputy who had responded to her call for help. Gov. JB

By SAFIYAH RIDDLE Associated Press/Report For America As President Donald Trump pushes the bounds of military activity on domestic soil, a debate has emerged over a nearly 150-year old law that regulates when federal troops can intervene in state issues. About 800 National Guard troops filed into Washington, D.C., on Tuesday after President Donald Trump

By ANNIE MA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is ordering a wide-ranging review of the Smithsonian museums and exhibitions ahead of the country’s 250th birthday with a goal of aligning the institution’s content with President Donald Trump’s interpretation of American history. In a letter sent Tuesday to Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Tuesday released human rights reports for countries worldwide, which eliminate mentions of discrimination faced by LGBTQ people, reduce a previous focus on reproductive rights and criticize restrictions on political speech by U.S. allies in Europe that American officials believe target right-wing politicians.