AP

By SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday welcomed nearly 130 deep-pocketed donors, allies and representatives of major companies for a dinner at the White House to reward them for their pledged contributions to a massive new ballroom. The ballroom, whose price tag is now estimated at $250 million,

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and said he was weighing carrying out land operations on the country. The acknowledgement of covert action in Venezuela by the U.S. spy agency comes after the U.S. military in

By MATT BROWN, GARY FIELDS and NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A neutering by the Supreme Court of the Voting Rights Act’s last remaining major provision would potentially trigger a political avalanche — an event that starts narrow but gathers momentum as it spreads across the national map. In this case, the benefit

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Election Commission is trying to figure out how a contract for new machines for voting for $28 million ended up costing the agency $4 million more. The investigation into buying the 3,200 ballot scanners in 2024 has led to the firing of the

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of reporters turned in access badges and exited the Pentagon on Wednesday rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work, pushing journalists who cover the American military further from the seat of its power. The nation’s leadership called the new rules “common sense”

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press The public release of a Young Republican group chat that included racist language, jokes about rape and flippant commentary on gas chambers prompted bipartisan calls for those involved to be removed from or resign their positions. The Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s political organization for Republicans between 18 and

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Brown University is rejecting a Trump administration proposal that would provide favorable access to funding in exchange for a wide range of commitments, saying the deal would curtail academic freedom and undermine the university’s independence. Brown is the latest university to turn down the proposal, which

By CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally assured him that his country would stop buying Russian oil. The change, which has not been confirmed by the Indian government, would boost Trump’s efforts to pressure Moscow to negotiate an end to the war

WASHINGTON (AP) — Journalists begin leaving Pentagon after refusing to sign Trump administration agreements on rules of access.

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit from young climate activists seeking to block President Donald Trump’s executive orders promoting fossil fuels and discouraging renewable energy. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen said the plaintiffs showed overwhelming evidence climate change affects them and that it will

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer Former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young says that he was often responsible for “the dirty work” during his time fighting for civil rights with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. It seems an unsavory phrase. Grunt work is more like it — efforts that may not produce