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Republicans push for border funding to be wrapped into Israel, Ukraine aid package
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate leaders called Tuesday for a bipartisan aid package for Israel’s counteroffensive against Hamas that also includes assistance for Ukraine and Taiwan, with possible border funding sought by Republicans, as President Joe Biden prepared to leave Tuesday evening for a trip to Israel. Meanwhile, an explosion killed hundreds Tuesday at al-Ahli Arab […]
Biden denounces deadly Hamas attack on Israel: ‘There’s no justification for terrorism’
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden wants a returning Congress to take “urgent action” on Israel’s security needs after Hamas militants have injured and killed thousands beginning with Saturday’s brutal attack, including the deaths of 14 Americans. U.S. citizens are also among the hostages taken into Gaza by the armed group, though the administration could not […]
McCarthy may jump into U.S. House speaker race, as crises overseas mount
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans will gather behind closed doors beginning Monday night in an attempt to decide who should become the chamber’s next speaker, a race with a renewed sense of urgency with ally Israel now at war and the House in paralysis. Louisiana’s Steve Scalise and Ohio’s Jim Jordan are the only candidates […]
U.S. Senate panel grapples with how to ensure access to water amid Western drought
Decades of drought in the West has made water quality and quantity a major issue requiring government funding and innovation to fix, members of a U.S. Senate panel said Wednesday. Demand for water in growing municipalities is stretching agricultural and tribal communities, while shrinking availability is leading to higher water prices, witnesses told the Senate […]
Battles over spending, farm bill, Ukraine and yet more loom over a divided Congress
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House and Senate are both back in D.C. on Tuesday following a long summer recess, facing an overwhelming agenda of unfinished work — funding the federal government and reauthorizing major programs set to expire at the end of the month. Congressional leaders and President Joe Biden have only a few weeks […]
New federal water pollution rule draws mixed reaction
A federal rule limiting agencies’ power to regulate water pollution will severely restrict protections for waters and wetlands throughout the country, but could also be subject to challenges from conservative groups that maintain the new rule exerts more federal jurisdiction than the U.S. Supreme Court intended in a May decision. With the rule published Tuesday to redefine […]
Trump absent but still dominates as GOP presidential rivals clash at first debate
Eight Republican presidential candidates gathered onstage Wednesday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for a heated first primary debate heavily influenced by former President Donald Trump, though the party’s front runner refused to attend the two-hour event. Trump instead recorded a competing 46-minute interview with former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson that aired on X, formerly known […]
‘The internet is no longer a luxury’: $667M from USDA for rural broadband
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend another $667 million on rural broadband loans and grants, the department said Monday, marking the fourth round of Biden administration funding under a program that the 2021 infrastructure law invigorated. Nearly three-quarters of the funding, $493 million, will go toward grants, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on a […]
Trump pleads not guilty to charges he sought to subvert 2020 election
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to four felony charges in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., after a federal grand jury handed up an indictment against the former chief executive related to the 2020 election. Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, was released under the conditions that […]
How the fake electors in seven states are central to the Trump Jan. 6 indictment
WASHINGTON — The federal indictment accusing Donald Trump of trying to stay in power after losing the 2020 presidential election includes detailed accusations of Trump and his alleged co-conspirators’ pressure on individual state officials. The central plot to overturn the election, as described in the indictment a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., handed up […]
‘Fueled by lies,’ Trump charged with seeking to overturn 2020 election
WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted Donald Trump on Tuesday, alleging that Trump and co-conspirators attempted to subvert the 2020 election to keep the former president in power through a series of illegal actions that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The former president faces four […]
U.S. ag secretary touts Biden climate agenda as boost for rural America in Oregon visit
PORTLAND, Ore. — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sees the Biden administration’s climate agenda as a boon for rural economies, he said Monday during a visit to Portland’s World Forestry Center. The U.S. Forest Service, which is part of the Agriculture Department, will begin accepting applications for a second round of grants from its Community […]