WASHINGTON — The path to averting a partial government shutdown by Friday night just became a little easier to see after a key procedural vote in the Senate showed broad bipartisan support for a temporary spending bill.

The Senate voted 72-23 on Tuesday to end debate on the motion to proceed to the continuing resolution, after top Democrats ...Read more

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump may get immunity after all in a defamation case brought against him by writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused him of rape.

A Federal appeals panel on Tuesday reversed a lower court ruling that found Trump was not acting in his presidential capacity in June 2019, when he called Carroll a liar after she...Read more

Voters in five states will have the chance to weigh in on abortion policy changes this November following the rejection of a Kansas ballot measure that sought to end a state right to abortion.

The national debate in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June is playing out in elections across the country, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell threw his support Tuesday behind a bipartisan bill that would raise the bar for challenging presidential election results, boosting chances it will clear Congress this year.

The Senate bill, McConnell said, makes “modest” fixes to the process of counting electors and has a better ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The path to averting a partial government shutdown by Friday night just became a little easier to see, after Senate Democrats said they'd drop a contentious environmental policy rider that had drawn critiques from the right and left.

Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., agreed Tuesday to remove his energy infrastructure permitting ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Efforts to pass more restrictive abortion legislation in the S.C. State House is likely doomed after the state House on Tuesday rejected a proposal that would ban abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy but would allow a narrow exception for abortions in cases of sexual assault up to about 12 weeks.

The House voted 95-11...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration outlined a national strategy Tuesday of executive actions and legislative priorities it says will combat hunger and address diet-related conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and various cancers that plague millions of Americans.

The strategy arrives the day before President Joe Biden is scheduled to...Read more

Model, cookbook author and pregnant mother of two Chrissy Teigen said two weeks ago that she had come to realize a terminated pregnancy she called a miscarriage in 2020 was, in fact, an abortion.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on his podcast Tuesday that she’s wrong.

Speaking at a Sept. 15 summit in Los Angeles, Teigen reportedly told ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration was sued over claims that its sweeping new program to forgive some federal student loans will harm borrowers in at least six states, where laws require tax payments on canceled loans because they’re treated as income.

Pacific Legal Foundation, a California-based libertarian group, alleges in a suit ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned there will be "legal action" against the Temecula City Council if it passes an abortion ban in the city in an attempt to override state law.

Bonta's office sent a letter to the council Friday, stating that local legislation that goes against state law is considered "void."

"The ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 13 abortion protection and reproductive health bills Tuesday, codifying the final pieces of California’s campaign to counter the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The newly signed laws aim to increase the number of abortion providers, provide financial ...Read more

WASHINGTON — For once, what Sen. Joe Manchin III wanted didn’t matter.

Manchin, D-W.Va., who has essentially wielded veto power over Democrats’ agenda as a key swing vote in a split Senate, conceded defeat Tuesday as it became increasingly clear that colleagues from both parties would reject his bid to speed up government approval of new ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Elections finance law complaints against an Asian day spa operator from South Florida who allegedly funneled contributions from Chinese elites, likely including foreign nationals, to a campaign committee backing then-President Donald Trump have quietly been dismissed.

The dismissal by the Federal Election Commission came despite ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The arrest of a prominent Catholic activist on charges he assaulted a Planned Parenthood volunteer outside a Philadelphia clinic has sparked a standoff between the antiabortion movement and the federal government, and battle lines are being drawn over the wider significance of the case.

Federal prosecutors have charged Mark ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin III’s controversial bill that would make it easier to build new power plants, dams, pipelines, transmission lines, wind turbines and solar farms could get a vote in the Senate as early as Tuesday afternoon.

Groups including the Sunrise Movement and Greenpeace USA are livid, warning that the West Virginia ...Read more

WASHINGTON — After passing legislation that could pump almost $250 billion into cutting-edge scientific research and semiconductor manufacturing, lawmakers are turning their attention to protecting the fruits of that spending from theft by America’s rivals, particularly China.

The Senate Intelligence Committee last week released a report ...Read more

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home with his wife on Monday to avoid being served a subpoena in a legal battle over funding for abortions, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.

A process server was attempting to serve Paxton with a subpoena for a hearing scheduled for Tuesday in Austin. Several abortion rights ...Read more

Two very different Brazils could emerge after voters go the polls to elect a president on Oct. 2, 2022.

In one scenario, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s current president, will manage to stay in power – by either winning the vote or illegally ignoring it – and continue to push the country down an authoritarian road.

Alternately...Read more

Unrest continues to erupt across Iran following the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, who died after being arrested and reportedly beaten by Iran’s morality police.

The Iranian force took Mahsa (Zhina) Amini into detention on Sept. 16, 2022, for not wearing her hijab according to the rules.

As of Sept. 26, at ...Read more

Google and Apple have removed hundreds of apps from their app stores at the request of governments around the world, creating regional disparities in access to mobile apps at a time when many economies are becoming increasingly dependent on them.

The mobile phone giants have removed over 200 Chinese apps, including widely downloaded ...Read more