DC BUREAU
Our Washington, D.C., bureau reports on congressional delegations and key Supreme Court and administrative decisions that affect our state.
STAFF
As the Washington Bureau Chief of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, Jane directs national coverage, managing staff and freelance reporters in the nation’s capital and assigning and editing state-specific daily and enterprise stories. Jane is a veteran of more than three decades in journalism.
Jacob covers federal policy and helps direct national coverage as deputy Washington bureau chief for States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues. His coverage areas include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.
Ashley Murray covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Her coverage areas include domestic policy and appropriations.
Jennifer covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Her coverage areas include congressional policy, politics and legal challenges with a focus on health care, unemployment, housing and aid to families.
Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign finance.
Shauneen covers the nation’s capital for States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. An alumna of the University of Maryland, she previously covered breaking news for Axios.
STORIES
NY prosecutor ties Trump hush money payments to campaign as criminal trial kicks off
WASHINGTON — Oral arguments in former President Donald Trump’s historic case in New York began Monday in a Manhattan courtroom where jurors will be tasked with deciding whether deceptive hush money payments to hide an affair amount to a criminal conviction. The first-ever criminal trial of an ex-U.S. president centers on Trump’s alleged falsified business […]
Aid to Ukraine, Israel overwhelmingly approved by U.S. House in bipartisan vote
WASHINGTON — Military and humanitarian aid could be on its way to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan within weeks after the U.S. House took a series of overwhelmingly bipartisan votes Saturday to approve $95 billion in emergency assistance — and the Senate appeared poised to agree. The approval in a rare weekend session ended months of […]
BLM to finalize rule allowing federal leases targeted at protection of natural areas
The Bureau of Land Management will publish a final rule soon allowing the nation’s public lands to be leased for environmental protection, a Thursday news release from the Interior Department said. The rule, which both proponents and detractors say marks a shift in the agency’s focus toward conservation, directs land managers at the agency to […]
Senate rejects two impeachment articles against DHS Secretary Mayorkas
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Wednesday dismissed two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The Democrat-controlled chamber voted, 51-49 along party lines, to adjourn the impeachment trial after finding that the impeachment articles accusing Mayorkas of not complying with federal immigration law and breaching the public trust did not rise to […]
U.S. House GOP rolls out aid for Ukraine, Israel; votes planned on TikTok, border security
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans unveiled three bills Wednesday that would provide $95 billion overall in assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, instead of voting on a similar bipartisan Senate-approved package that’s been waiting around for months. The Ukraine bill would provide $60.84 billion, the Israel bill would appropriate $26.38 billion and the Indo-Pacific bill […]
Trump’s repeated escapes from political damage to be tested in NYC trial
Donald Trump on Monday in a New York City courtroom will make history as the first former U.S. president to stand trial in criminal proceedings. And it raises new issues for the presumptive Republican nominee for president in November, even as he builds a political brand that so far has seemed immune from accusations of […]
U.S. Senate Republicans push for Mayorkas impeachment trial
WASHINGTON — More than 40 U.S. Senate Republicans lobbied Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday to hold a full impeachment trial for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Schumer and other Democrats have indicated they’d be open to immediately voting to dismiss the House-passed articles of impeachment rather than holding a trial in the Senate. The […]
New rule to close ‘gun show loophole’ finalized by Biden administration
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Thursday finalized a new rule that would require anyone selling a gun to obtain a federal license and conduct background checks. The rule aims to close what’s known as the “gun show loophole.” Gun merchants who sell online, by mail or at flea markets and gun shows until now […]
Trump backpedals on support for national ban, says states will decide abortion rights
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced a shift in his views on abortion laws Monday, releasing a video advocating for state legislatures to make those decisions, not Congress — and was immediately met with strong criticism from an influential anti-abortion group that said it should remain a national debate. “My view is now […]
Israel-Hamas war sets progressive and young voters on collision course with White House
Joe Biden has a problem. Seven months ahead of the presidential election, some progressives, young voters and Muslim American voters are showing serious reservations about the Democrat’s reelection campaign as his administration backs Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “For some of those people — maybe a critical number — what’s happening in […]
An 1873 law banned the mailing of boxing photos. Could it block abortion pills too?
WASHINGTON — An anti-obscenity law enacted in 1873 that hasn’t been enforced in decades shot to the forefront of the nation’s abortion debate in the past week thanks to two U.S. Supreme Court justices, amid expectations a future Republican president would use the law to order a nationwide ban on medication abortion. The Comstock Act, […]
Democrats’ quest to hang on to Senate majority centers on Arizona, Montana, Ohio, and Nevada
WASHINGTON — Political consultants and Beltway pollsters are setting up camp in purple states to join a towering battle for control of a narrowly split U.S. Senate, but come November, only the voters will make that choice. The road to the majority in the upper chamber of Congress mostly runs through Arizona, Montana and Ohio, […]