AP

By SEAN MURPHY and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday toured the devastation from catastrophic flooding in Texas and lauded state and local officials, even amid mounting criticism that they may have failed to warn residents quickly enough that a deadly wall of water was coming their way.

By JEFF AMY Associated Press NEWNAN, Ga. (AP) — A prominent Georgia Republican was running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 300 investors of at least $140 million, federal officials alleged in a complaint filed Thursday. The civil lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said First Liberty Building and Loan, controlled by Brant Frost

By AMY TAXIN Associated Press A confrontation erupted Thursday between protesters and federal officials carrying out a raid on a Southern California farm, with authorities throwing canisters that sprayed what looked like smoke into the air to disperse the crowd. Vehicles from Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection blocked the road in a

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday opened a civil rights investigation into the hiring practices at George Mason University, expanding a national campaign against diversity policies to Virginia’s largest public university. The Education Department said it is responding to a complaint from multiple professors at George Mason

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, AAMER MADHANI and JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a memorial service Thursday for two slain Israeli Embassy staffers as he wrapped up a four-day visit to Washington in which talks with President Donald Trump, White House aides and lawmakers focused on finding a pathway to

By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, the wife of Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, filed for divorce on Thursday, seeking to end 38 years of marriage as her husband campaigns for the U.S. Senate. Angela Paxton had stuck by her husband through a decade of legal

By JOSH BOAK and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is escalating his pressure campaign to get the Federal Reserve chairman to either lower interest rates or quit his post by targeting the expensive renovation at the central bank’s headquarters. The latest step came Thursday when Russ Vought, Trump’s top budget

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Kash Patel pledged at his confirmation hearing that the bureau would not look backward, but the Trump administration’s fresh scrutiny of the Russia investigation has brought back into focus a years-old inquiry that continues to infuriate the Republican president. The Justice Department appeared to acknowledge

By JACK BROOK Associated Press/Report for America NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Democrats used a Louisiana town hall Thursday night to preview one of their main strategies for attempting to retake the U.S. House next year, ripping into the health care changes in the just-passed Republican tax and spending bill. The top House Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries,

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon said Thursday that he will run for reelection next year to seek a fourth term in Congress. In a statement, the 68-year-old denounced the Trump administration and described efforts to stand against growing threats to democracy as “the fight of our lives, and I’m

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Federal judges will weigh a request to bring Alabama back under the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act after ruling the state intentionally diluted the voting strength of Black residents when drawing congressional lines. Black voters and civil rights organizations, who successfully challenged Alabama’s congressional map, are asking a three-judge

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — On a recent afternoon, Mahmoud Khalil sat in his Manhattan apartment, cradling his 10-week-old son as he thought back to the pre-dawn hours spent pacing a frigid immigration jail in Louisiana, awaiting news of the child’s birth in New York. For a moment, the outspoken Palestinian