The massive Democratic majority in the U.S. House and Senate that was ushered in by a historic blue midterm vote is an ideologically diverse one.

Candidates spent much of the past year differentiating their positions from the mainstream Democratic coalition. The result is a freshman class filled with as many progressive liberals as ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Mark Robinson, the scandal-ravaged former North Carolina lieutenant governor and 2024 Republican gubernatorial candidate, and his wife declared bankruptcy last week, court documents show.

Robinson and Yolanda Hill filed for bankruptcy Nov. 3 under Chapter 13, which creates a payment plan to pay back debts rather than ...Read more

A federal judge in Los Angeles on Tuesday canceled all future hearings and closed a hotly contested legal case that sought to force California to set aside ballots from some 20,000 people the Trump administration said were likely to be noncitizens.

But U.S. District Judge David Carter did not resist taking a final swipe at the Justice ...Read more

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, decisively won a closed-door vote to lead the Republican minority in the House of Representatives in the next Congress after the GOP suffered sweeping losses in the midterm elections.

The right-wing firebrand beat Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, by a healthy 106-73 margin in a secret-ballot election that came after ...Read more

As U.S. House members pushed for a potential vote Wednesday on whether to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his handling of the Iran war and other alleged “high crimes” against the nation, Hegseth prepared for a fight — with President Donald Trump squarely behind him.

“In the 250 years of our American republic, no secretary of...Read more

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday opted for a new face atop their ranks, electing Rep. Jim Jordan as the incoming minority leader for the 120th Congress after Republicans suffered massive losses in last week’s midterm elections.

The Ohio Republican defeated outgoing Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., in a closed-door, secret-...Read more

The 2026 midterm rout that awarded Democrats decisive majorities in the Senate and House has also sparked interest in the future of the U.S. Supreme Court.

With Democrats securing at least a 54-seat majority in the Senate on Jan. 3, 2027, the window is rapidly closing for President Donald Trump to appoint a new Supreme Court justice ...Read more

A British celebrity whose legal team warned that he may harm himself if identified by media outlets as a sexual predator has been identified as comedian and children’s author David Walliams.

Walliams, who denies any wrongdoing, had asked a U.K. court to stop news agencies ITN and Guardian News and Media from reporting on his alleged ...Read more

Arrests for low-level offenses, including vagrancy and drug possession, increased nationwide in 2025, even as violent crime continued to decline, according to a new analysis of federal data.

The analysis, which was released in late October by the criminal justice advocacy organization FWD.us, found that arrests for vagrancy, an offense often ...Read more

SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson announced at a Tuesday news conference that the city will keep police surveillance cameras and move forward with expanding the program, with some extra safeguards.

She announced she has authorized the Seattle Police Department to install and turn on cameras in the stadium district, Central District and ...Read more

A federal judge in Los Angeles on Tuesday canceled all future hearings and closed a hotly contested legal case that sought to force California to set aside ballots from some 20,000 people the Trump administration said were likely to be noncitizens.

But U.S. District Judge David Carter did not resist taking a final swipe at the Justice ...Read more

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday opted for a new face atop their ranks, electing Rep. Jim Jordan as the incoming minority leader for the 120th Congress after Republicans suffered massive losses in last week’s midterm elections.

The Ohio Republican defeated outgoing Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., in a closed-door, secret-...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — University police got their first inkling that something was wrong at North Carolina State’s Sigma Nu fraternity on the evening of Sept. 9. And even then, it was only because the fraternity brothers set off the smoke alarm.

Police hadn’t yet seen the videos on fraternity leaders’ phones that would confirm their worst ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Legislation to legalize marijuana in some form could have a better chance of passing next year, with Democrats set to take control of the North Carolina House of Representatives in January.

Republicans lost their House majority in the Nov. 3 election and are one seat away from losing their majority in the Senate.

That means ...Read more

Five months after President Donald Trump passed him over to endorse Ty Masterson in the Republican gubernatorial primary, former Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer has been nominated to join the Trump administration.

Trump on Monday picked Colyer to serve as ambassador to the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.

The Johnson County surgeon was among 22 ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — When Gov.-elect Aaron Ford takes office in January, he’ll have two key gaming regulatory appointments to make in his first month on the job.

The terms of Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Mike Dreitzer and board member George Assad end Jan. 29, according to information provided by Control Board sources.

Dreitzer and Assad ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday were weighing whether to postpone their leadership elections after what several senators described as a “frank” conversation about their midterm losses last week.

But so far, no official candidate has emerged to challenge John Thune, R-S.D., for the post of minority leader in the new Congress.

...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Republican attorneys general in 13 states, including Kentucky, are using a University of Kentucky lawsuit as an example of cases in which universities should be allowed to restrict what professors can say, pushing back on claims UK and other universities have violated the First Amendment, in a court brief to the United States ...Read more

SEATTLE — Opponents of Washington state Initiative 638 are suing in an attempt to block the ban on transgender girls in girls school sports from taking effect.

Attorneys for Legal Voice, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and Pacific Law Group said they filed a lawsuit against the initiative Monday night on behalf of the state ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Did California help Texas turn blue?

One of the biggest stories of this month’s Democratic sweep in the midterms is that a very red Texas elected a Democratic U.S. Senator and governor.

Pundits cite many theories for the surprising results: Anger over the Iran war, high gas prices, Donald Trump fatigue and data centers.

But ...Read more