Government
Congress is haggling over border security: Where does it stand?
WASHINGTON — As Congress negotiates the White House’s $106 billion supplemental aid request for Israel, Ukraine and U.S. border security, fights over immigration policy have tied up the request. The White House sent its proposal that includes nearly $14 billion in supplemental border security funding to Congress in late October, but it will likely look […]
Sandra Day O’Connor, who made history as the first woman on the Supreme Court, dies at 93
WASHINGTON — The first woman to serve on the nation’s highest court is dead at 93. Sandra Day O’Connor, a groundbreaking justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, died Friday in Phoenix, Arizona of complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness, according to an announcement from the court. President Ronald Reagan nominated […]
New York Republican George Santos expelled by U.S. House in bipartisan vote
WASHINGTON — New York Republican George Santos on Friday became the sixth lawmaker in history and the first member of the GOP to be expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives. The 311-114 bipartisan vote, which required two-thirds support, followed months of scandal that culminated in a federal criminal indictment and a damning report from […]
Republicans Miller, Morrisey push back on proposed federal protections for LGBTQ foster kids
West Virginia Republicans have spoken out against a proposed rule change for how child welfare agencies must manage the cases of LGBTQ children, which could include required access to gender affirming care. On Thursday, Congresswoman Carol Miller, R-W.Va., joined dozens of other Republicans in Washington, D.C., to introduce the bill that would protect faith-based child […]
WV will need to replace at least 3% of its water lines under newly proposed lead rule
A new federal proposal released Thursday would, if adopted, require West Virginia to replace at least 3% of its water service lines that are suspected to contain lead. The proposal gives all water systems in the country 10 years to find and replace at least 9.2 million lead service lines. It’s the largest update to […]
GOP senators walk out of vote on subpoenas in U.S. Supreme Court ethics inquiry
WASHINGTON — South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Republican colleagues stormed out of a Democratic-led U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Thursday to authorize subpoenas for two high-profile GOP operatives as part of an ethics probe into undisclosed financial ties to U.S. Supreme Court justices. The panel voted 11-0 to subpoena billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow […]
Democrats split on placing conditions on military aid to Israel
WASHINGTON — Democrats in Congress are divided on whether to set guardrails on additional military aid to Israel as that country responds to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks with airstrikes and a ground war in Gaza. It’s not yet clear what those conditions would be or how they would affect congressional support for aid […]
States grapple with racist language in real estate deeds
Lisa Boccetti is horrified by the restrictive covenant that is in the deed to her 1950s ranch house in Raleigh, North Carolina: It states that the land cannot be sold or occupied by Black people. The property “shall not be sold to negroes or to any person or persons of negro blood, and said premises shall […]
Ahead of climate conference, U.S. House panel tussles over curbs on emissions
Republicans on a U.S. House panel argued Wednesday against aggressive moves to meet carbon reduction goals, saying U.S. fossil fuel companies are working to make their products cleaner. Democrats on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Minerals countered that to achieve further reductions, federal policies should be continued […]
Schumer on U.S. Senate floor condemns ‘rank antisemitism’ amid Israel-Hamas war
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the nation’s highest-ranking Jewish official, spoke from the chamber on Wednesday about the rise of antisemitism in the United States since the attack by Hamas militants on Israel and that nation’s airstrikes on Gaza. Schumer, speaking to a mostly empty chamber, an unlikely setting for what he described […]
Attorneys suing state over foster care say DHHR ‘deliberate’ in deleted email scandal
Attorneys who sued the state over its treatment of foster children will continue to pursue sanctions against the state health department over deleted emails. The evidence could have shown the realities of the state’s overwhelmed child welfare system. Plaintiffs attorneys sought the emails as part of an ongoing class-action lawsuit against the West Virginia Department […]
When foster care kids are sex trafficked, some states fail to figure it out
For help, call 1-888-373-7888 or text *233733 for the 24/7 National Human Trafficking Hotline, a national, toll-free hotline. When she was a 10-year-old foster child, T Ortiz often rode a public bus around the San Francisco Bay area, alone. She’d frequent a bus stop by a barber shop. Little by little, the barber, who was […]