Politics Election category, Page 8
Vance blames California Dems for violent immigration protests, calls Sen. Alex Padilla ‘Jose’
LOS ANGELES — Vice President JD Vance on Friday accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of encouraging violent immigration protests as he used his appearance in Los Angeles to rebut criticism from state and local officials that the Trump administration fueled the unrest by sending...
North Carolina Gov. Stein vetoes first bills. They are on concealed carry and immigration
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Democratic Gov. Josh Stein vetoed his first bills Friday, blocking for now Republican legislation that would let adults carry concealed handguns without a permit and make state agencies and local sheriffs more active in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Stein, who took office in January,...
Court blocks Louisiana law requiring schools to post Ten Commandments in classrooms
NEW ORLEANS — A panel of three federal appellate judges has ruled a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in each of the state’s public school classrooms is unconstitutional. The ruling on Friday marked a major win for civil liberties groups who say the mandate violates the...
Senate parliamentarian deals blow to GOP plan to gut consumer protection bureau in tax bill
WASHINGTON — Republicans have suffered a sizable setback on one key aspect of President Donald Trump’s big bill after their plans to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other provisions from the Senate Banking Committee ran into procedural violations with the Senate parliamentarian. Republicans in the Senate proposed zeroing-out...
Poll: Majority of Democrats want new party leadership
Nearly two out of three Democrats think their party needs new leadership, according to a poll released Thursday. The Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that 62% of Democrats surveyed agreed with the statement that “the leadership of the Democratic Party should be replaced with new people,” while 24% disagreed and 14% weren’t...
Federal judge blocks Trump effort to keep Harvard from hosting foreign students
BOSTON — A federal judge Friday blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to keep Harvard University from hosting international students. An order from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs preserves the ability of Harvard to host foreign students while the case is decided. It marks another victory for the Ivy League school...
Judge rules Trump administration can’t require states to help on immigration to get transport money
BOSTON — A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from withholding billions of dollars in transportation funds from states that don’t agree to participate in some immigration enforcement actions. Twenty states sued after they said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to cut off funding to states that refused...
Trump calls for special prosecutor to investigate 2020 election, reviving longstanding grievance
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden, repeating his baseless claim that the contest was marred by widespread fraud. “Biden was grossly incompetent, and the 2020 election was a total FRAUD!” Trump...
New anti-Trump statue appears on National Mall following giant poop emoji statue
Almost eight months after the giant poop emoji statue arrived on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a new statue by the same artists is making headlines — called “Dictator Approved.” The sequel is an 8-foot-tall sculpture showing a gold-painted thumbs-up squashing the crown of the Statue of Liberty, The...
Party like it’s 2018: Democrats look to 1st Trump midterms for 2025 races and 2026 momentum
HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — Abigail Spanberger opened her general election bid for Virginia governor Wednesday using her high school alma mater near Richmond. “I grew up walking the halls of Tucker High School,” the former congresswoman says as she walks past a bank of lockers in her first ad since...
Trump is silent about Juneteenth on a day he previously honored as president
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump honored Juneteenth in each of his first four years as president, even before it became a federal holiday. He even claimed once to have made it “very famous.” But on this year’s Juneteenth holiday on Thursday, the usually talkative president kept silent about a day...
Western Pa. politicians divided over Middle East conflict
Two Pittsburgh-area U.S. House members on Wednesday blasted President Donald Trump for opening the possibility of thrusting the U.S. into war in the Middle East without congressional approval. Social media posts by some of their Republican counterparts, meanwhile, did not mention the ongoing missile strikes between Israel and Iran but...
CBO: Trump tax bill would widen deficits by $2.8T after factoring in economic impacts
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s tax and budget bill would increase deficits by $2.8 trillion over the next decade after including other economic effects, according to a more fulsome analysis of the measure released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office. The report, produced by the nonpartisan CBO and the Joint...
Senate passes crypto regulations, sends to House without addressing Trump’s investments
WASHINGTON — The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would regulate a form of cryptocurrency known as stablecoins, the first of what the industry hopes will be a wave of bills to bolster its legitimacy and reassure consumers. The fast-moving legislation, which passed by a 68-30 vote and will be sent...
Trump says he won’t call Minnesota Gov. Walz after lawmaker shootings because it would ‘waste time’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday ruled out calling Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after the targeted shootings of two state lawmakers, saying that to do so would “waste time.” One lawmaker and her husband were killed, and the second legislator and his wife sustained serious injuries in the shootings...
Senate Republicans seek tougher Medicaid cuts, lower SALT deduction in Trump’s big bill
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Monday proposed deeper Medicaid cuts, including new work requirements for parents of teens, as a way to offset the costs of making President Donald Trump’s tax breaks more permanent in draft legislation unveiled for his “big, beautiful bill.” The proposals from Republicans keep in place...
‘It’s a scary time in politics,’ state Sen. Kim Ward says following Minnesota shootings
Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward spent part of her Saturday afternoon installing more security cameras around her Hempfield home. Another act of political violence inspired the home project. And yet, in today’s turbulent political climate, Ward says no amount of home security will be able to put her...
Minnesota’s election safeguards stopped a voter fraud scheme in its tracks, secretary of state says
MINNEAPOLIS — Two people have been charged with conspiracy to commit voter registration fraud in a case that shows Minnesota’s election safeguards work and prevented anyone from voting illegally, Secretary of State Steve Simon said Friday. The charges announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office allege Ronnie Williams and Lorraine Lee...
Judge blocks State Department from firing workers while injunction is in effect
A federal judge in San Francisco on Friday stopped Secretary of State Marco Rubio from proceeding with plans to downsize the State Department, saying it is prohibited behavior under an injunction she issued last month. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston barred the Republican administration from carrying out much of its...
Low-income Pennsylvanians could lose access to weight-loss drugs as Harrisburg searches for savings
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Low-income Pennsylvanians could lose access to medical coverage for popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy as state lawmakers search for savings in...
Trump says Iran has ‘second chance’ to come to nuclear deal after Israeli strikes devastate Tehran
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday urged Iran to quickly reach an agreement on curbing its nuclear program as Israel vowed to continue its bombardment of the country. Trumped framed the volatile moment in the Middle East as a possible “second chance” for Iran’s leadership to avoid further destruction...
Republican enthusiasm for Musk cools after his feud with Trump, a new AP-NORC poll finds
WASHINGTON — Tech billionaire Elon Musk has lost some of his luster with Republicans since his messy public falling-out with President Donald Trump last week, a new survey finds. Fewer Republicans view Trump’s onetime government efficiency bulldog “very favorably” compared with April, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC...
Ex-congressman Billy Long confirmed as commissioner of the IRS, an agency he once sought to abolish
WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Rep. Billy Long of Missouri was confirmed on Thursday to lead the Internal Revenue Service, giving the beleaguered agency he once sought to abolish a permanent commissioner after months of acting leaders and massive staffing cuts that have threatened to derail next year’s tax filing season....
U.S. House votes to pull $1.1B in funding for NPR, PBS
The U.S. House voted Thursday afternoon to slash nearly $1.1 billion in federal funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports local NPR and PBS stations such as Pittsburgh’s WESA-FM radio and WQED-TV. The Rescissions Act, which also would cancel $8.3 billion in foreign aid spending, passed the Republican-led...
Sens. Fetterman, McCormick team up on bill to bring federal energy office to Pittsburgh
U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick have introduced bipartisan legislation to move a Department of Energy office to Pennsylvania. The bill would move the department’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) from Washington, D.C., to Pittsburgh. In a joint statement, McCormick said it makes sense for the...
