AP US Politics News

By PETER SMITH Associated Press FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration and its allies have pushed aggressively for drilling, mining and logging in Alaska. This has intensified long-standing debate over extraction projects in the nation’s largest state, particularly within Alaska Native communities. Some view such projects as key to jobs and economic development.

By PETER SMITH Associated Press BETHEL, Alaska (AP) — Fish camps still dot the banks of the broad Kuskokwim River in southwestern Alaska. Wooden huts and tarped shelters stand beside drying racks draped with bright red strips of salmon, which Alaska Native families have harvested for generations and preserved for the bitter winters ahead. But

By DASHA LITVINOVA, BARRY HATTON and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would meet with Vladimir Putin even if the Russian leader will not meet with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in comments that suggested Washington and Moscow could soon hold a summit. Trump’s comments followed a statement from

By BILL BARROW, ISABELLA VOLMERT and TOM MURPHY Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AP) — As President Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Republican-run states to redraw congressional boundaries, he has dispatched Vice President JD Vance to Indiana and called for a new federal census — moves reflecting his intent to maximize the GOP’s partisan advantages

By LEAH WILLINGHAM and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Harvard University professor Alberto Ascherio’s research is literally frozen. Collected from millions of U.S. soldiers over two decades using millions of dollars from taxpayers, the epidemiology and nutrition scientist has blood samples stored in liquid nitrogen freezers within the university’s T.H. Chan School

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump began imposing higher import taxes on dozens of countries Thursday just as the economic fallout of his monthslong tariff threats has begun to cause visible damage to the U.S. economy. Just after midnight, goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union became

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The man charged with killing the top Democrat in the Minnesota House and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court. Vance Boelter, 58, of Green Isle, Minnesota, was indicted July 15 on six counts of murder, stalking

By DAVID A. LIEB and JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press After leaving Texas for Illinois to prevent a legislative vote on a Republican redistricting plan, state House Democratic leader Gene Wu needed a means to project his voice — and viewpoints — to a national audience. So he tapped his campaign account to buy a

By SAFIYAH RIDDLE Associated Press/Report For America A shooting that injured five soldiers at one of the country’s largest military bases on Wednesday has resurfaced questions about a long-standing army policy that largely prevents service members from carrying personal weapons on military installations. Soldiers in the area who witnessed the shooting at Fort Stewart in

By NADIA LATHAN Associated Press/Report for America AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas House Democrats are camping out in other states to block a new U.S. House map that would give the GOP more winnable seats in the 2026 elections. Any votes in the Texas House require at least 100 of its 150 members to be

By GARY FIELDS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge in Oregon issued an injunction Wednesday temporarily stopping the mass cancellation of National Endowment for the Humanities grants to humanities councils around the country, saying the cancellations were likely unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon, an appointee of President Barack Obama, issued a

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein signed into law on Wednesday a stopgap spending measure while lawmakers remain in a state budget impasse. But he vetoed legislation that would direct state participation in a yet-implemented federal tax credit program to boost school-choice options, suggesting state Republicans

By TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press The Trump administration is moving to shut down two NASA missions that monitor a potent greenhouse gas and plant health, potentially shutting off an important source of data for scientists, policymakers and farmers. President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2026 includes no money for the Orbiting Carbon Observatories,

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press Top Trump administration officials boast that a new state partnership to expand immigrant detention in Indiana will be the next so-called “ Alligator Alcatraz.” However, the agreement is already prompting backlash in the Midwest state, starting with its splashy “Speedway Slammer” moniker. Here’s a closer look at the agreement, the

By ALEXA ST. JOHN Associated Press The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will hire as many as 450 people to shore up the National Weather Service after deep cuts this spring raised concern about dangerous understaffing, the Trump administration confirmed Wednesday. NOAA was granted permission to fill critical positions at its weather arm, including openings

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, a central Florida Republican, has been accused by a beauty pageant titleholder of threatening to release intimate videos and private images of her after she ended their romantic relationship, according to a report filed with law enforcement last month. Mills on Wednesday

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Although President Donald Trump has not directly said he thinks JD Vance should be the heir to his “Make America Great Again” base of support, he acknowledged this week that his vice president is probably the favorite to succeed him “at this point.” But even as he

By JULIE WATSON Associated Press The Trump administration has suspended $584 million in federal grants for the University of California, Los Angeles, nearly double the amount that was previously thought, the school’s chancellor announced Wednesday. UCLA is the first public university whose federal grants have been targeted by the administration over allegations of civil rights

By AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump hailed as a “medical miracle” the mRNA vaccines developed to combat the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Now, his health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is effectively halting the vaccine technology’s advancement. Kennedy announced Tuesday that the federal government is canceling $500 million worth

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — So-called mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic — and now scientists are using that Nobel Prize-winning technology to try to develop vaccines and treatments against a long list of diseases including cancer and cystic fibrosis. But this week, U.S. Health Secretary Robert

By REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that it is removing age limits for new hires at the agency responsible for immigration enforcement, as it aims to expand hiring after a massive infusion of cash from Congress. The department said in a news release that it would

By The Associated Press U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he plans to put a 100% tariff on computer chips. The move will likely increase the cost of electronics, autos, household appliances and other essential goods. Trump highlighted that companies who make computer chips in the U.S. would be spared the import tax. This

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn announced Wednesday that she is entering the open Tennessee governor’s race in 2026, setting up a primary clash with U.S. Rep. John Rose. Blackburn’s announcement makes official what had been expected for some time from the ally of President Donald Trump.

By GARY FIELDS and JACK DURA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Wednesday is the 60th anniversary of the day President Lyndon Johnson made his way to the U.S. Capitol and, with Martin Luther King Jr. standing behind him, signed the Voting Rights Act into law. The act protected the right to vote and ensured the

By TIM SULLIVAN Associated Press The Justice Department identified some three dozen states, cities and counties as so-called sanctuary jurisdictions on Tuesday, two months after the federal government quietly removed a much longer list that included many localities that support the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies. The earlier, typo-riddled list was met with pushback from

By GARY FIELDS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was follow-up legislation to the Civil Rights Act passed a year earlier. In a break from tradition, then-President Lyndon Johnson went to Capitol Hill to sign the bill rather than hold a signing ceremony at the White House. His daughter Luci

By KIM CHANDLER Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Facing a sea of state troopers, Charles Mauldin was near the front line of voting rights marchers who strode across the now-infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. The violence that awaited them shocked the nation and galvanized support for the passage

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Democrat Michael Thurmond on Wednesday announced his 2026 bid for Georgia governor, seeking to add the state’s top office to the long list of positions he has held. Thurmond said in an interview Tuesday that he’s “going to fight for the people of Georgia every day,” but

By DAVID FISCHER and MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge heard arguments Wednesday over whether to stop construction of an immigration detention center — built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” — because it didn’t follow environmental laws. Until the laws are followed, environmental groups and