Six months after the U.S. removed Nicolás Maduro from power, human rights organizations told Congress on Wednesday that Venezuela’s repressive regime remains largely intact, with many officials implicated in alleged crimes against humanity still occupying senior government posts and hundreds of political prisoners remaining behind bars.

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WASHINGTON ― Michigan U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin on Wednesday endorsed former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam in the hotly contested Democratic primary battle for her former U.S. House seat in mid-Michigan, saying he's best positioned to flip control of the seat from Republicans this fall.

Maasdam of Genoa Township is vying for the party's nomination ...Read more

​WASHINGTON — A bipartisan pair of House members are introducing legislation aimed at treating millions of Americans of a deadly-but-curable liver disease, the culmination of a yearslong push from public health advocates.

The bill, sponsored by Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., would create a national ...Read more

A bipartisan bill to make daylight saving time year-round and permanent has passed the House of Representatives but faces a still-murky future in the Senate.

The so-called Daylight Protection Act, which would end the twice-a-year ritual of moving clocks forward and back, won overwhelming 308-117 approval with majorities from both parties ...Read more

It’s been 11 years since Donald Trump burst onto the national political scene and began his takeover of the Republican Party. But his influence in Minnesota has rarely been tested.

Trump has never weighed in on a competitive primary for statewide office in Minnesota, choosing instead to make an endorsement when the dust had settled.

No ...Read more

At 7:40 a.m. Wednesday, federal judges in the Western District of Washington swore in former King County Superior Court judge and federal prosecutor Roger Rogoff as their pick for U.S. attorney.

Fifty-four minutes later, President Donald Trump fired him.

Rogoff, who recently resigned as director of the state office of independent ...Read more

WASHINGTON — House Republicans unveiled a fiscal 2027 budget resolution Wednesday that would lay the groundwork for a reconciliation package of up to $95 billion, mostly to finance the Iran war.

The resolution text would instruct four House committees to draft legislation by Sept. 11 designed to provide up to $73 billion in defense funding, ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — President Donald Trump endorsed Mike Lindell’s campaign for Minnesota governor on Wednesday, giving the MyPillow founder new momentum ahead of a three-way GOP primary election next month.

Trump’s endorsement instantly upended the dynamic of the Republican race, which had been viewed as a toss-up between Lindell, Minnesota ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The National Republican Congressional Committee on Wednesday named seven new House hopefuls to its program for top candidates seeking to flip seats this fall.

The additions to the MAGA Majority program, as Republicans have rebranded what had long been known as its Young Guns effort, include four candidates who recently won ...Read more

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva widened his lead ahead of Brazil’s October election as challenger Flávio Bolsonaro struggled to overcome tensions within his powerful conservative family, according to a new poll.

Lula leads Bolsonaro by 8 points, 45% to 37%, in a runoff scenario, according to the Genial/Quaest survey published Wednesday....Read more

Gadi Eisenkot, a former head of Israel’s armed forces, has emerged as the main challenger to Benjamin Netanyahu in upcoming elections that could end the premiership of the country’s longest-serving leader.

Polls indicate that Eisenkot’s new party Yashar — Hebrew for straightforward or honest — will get slightly more seats than ...Read more

The U.S. attorney general is often called the people’s lawyer because he or she serves the public interest by guarding the legal rights of taxpayers, residents, victims of crimes, and the environment.

But the attorney general is not supposed to be the White House consigliere, abusing the rule of law, carrying out political vendettas, and ...Read more

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday evening that would have the country adopt daylight saving time year-round.

The bill, the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025, passed 308-117 and will move to the Senate for consideration. It was proposed by Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Florida, in January 2025, according to previous Star-Telegram ...Read more

Congressional lawmakers questioned University of Illinois College of Medicine interim Dean Enrico Benedetti in a multihour hearing Tuesday about antisemitism on campus and the role of diversity, equity and inclusion in the classroom, nearly a year after a congressional committee first launched an investigation into the school.

Benedetti, a ...Read more

Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett pitched increased security funding for the Supreme Court next year at a pair of rare congressional hearings for sitting justices Tuesday that covered issues ranging from emergency cases to judicial ethics.

Kagan and Barrett focused most of their testimony on increased security concerns at the court ...Read more

Republican U.S. House candidate Robert Lulgjuraj has suspended his campaign for a suburban Detroit swing seat, he announced Tuesday.

The decision comes some three weeks after President Donald Trump endorsed one of his opponents, Army veteran Mike Bouchard of Rochester Hills, in the GOP primary to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. John James, who is ...Read more

As the long-shot motion for a new trial remains pending, imprisoned Chicago R&B superstar R. Kelly has formally asked President Donald Trump to commute his 30-year sentence for an array of sexual misconduct convictions.

The request for clemency was made public this week by the Office of the Pardon Attorney, the Department of Justice agency that...Read more

Since South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s death on June 11, 2026, much of the commentary has focused on his evolution from Donald Trump critic to Trump ally.

But focusing on that transformation misses the broader pattern that defined his political career. For more than three decades, Graham repeatedly positioned himself where ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the “Born Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act,” an anti-abortion bill that critics say is meant to intimidate health care providers.

The bill is the most consequential piece of legislation passed in Missouri this year and was fiercely debated in the final days of the legislative session. The ...Read more

When Leslie Moreno-Roacho’s son Zaiden became the first child in New Mexico to receive a state-funded Baby Bond, she told a local television reporter the deposit was “a ticket to opportunities. The opportunities I never had.”

On July 4, millions of American families were handed the same kind of ticket. Most had no idea how to use it.

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