AP US Politics News

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

DETROIT (AP) — Solomon Kinloch makes runoff for Detroit mayor, will face Mary Sheffield in November contest.

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

DETROIT (AP) — Council President Mary Sheffield advances to November election for Detroit mayor, opponent not yet decided.

By DAVID A. LIEB and JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press A battle between Texas Republicans and California Democrats to bolster their party’s advantage in the U.S. House has led politicians in other states to consider ways they, too, could leverage partisan power to rack up more victories in the 2026 congressional elections. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott

By The Associated Press A standoff in Texas over redrawn U.S. House maps escalated as dozens of Democratic lawmakers fled the state to block a vote on a redrawn congressional map sought by President Donald Trump to shore up Republicans’ 2026 midterm prospects. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Jeffrey Epstein ‘s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, wants to keep grand jury records secret in the sex trafficking case that sent her to prison, her lawyers said Tuesday as prosecutors continued urging a court to release some of those records in the criminal case-turned-political fireball. Maxwell

By JACK BROOK and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from reallocating $4 billion meant to help communities protect against natural disasters. U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns in Boston granted a preliminary injunction sought by 20 Democrat-led states while their lawsuit over the funding

By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday asked the state’s highest court to remove the Democratic House leader from office, escalating efforts to end the holdout that is blocking redrawn U.S. House maps sought by President Donald Trump. Bypassing lower courts, Abbott filed a rare emergency

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the toll tariffs are taking on the auto industry and the potential effects of his tax and spending bill on Medicaid. It’s the latest in a string of meetings between

BOSTON (AP) — US judge blocks Trump administration from reallocating $4 billion meant to help communities protect against disasters.

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — News that Attorney General Pam Bondi is advancing a criminal investigation into the Obama-era origins of the Trump-Russia investigation means that one of the most studied, and politically polarizing, chapters of modern American history will be under the microscope yet again. Here’s a look at what’s known

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press It might be hard to find someone to have your back in politics if you get caught lying about your life story, become one of a handful of people ever expelled from Congress and then are thrown into federal prison. But George Santos is no ordinary former politician. In a

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s day began typically enough, with a television interview and a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Then it took an unexpected and unusual turn when he appeared on the roof of the White House’s West Wing. Late Tuesday morning, Trump emerged from a door

By SEUNG MIN KIM and MEG KINNARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday established a task force on the 2028 Olympic Games being held in Los Angeles that he said would ensure the event is “safe, seamless and historically successful.” The 2028 Games will be the first Olympics to be hosted