Political News

Diane Rado, Florida Phoenix Former Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat who had hoped to become the first woman governor of Florida but didn’t win in the 2022 gubernatorial primary race, has been elected as the new chair of the Florida Democratic Party. Florida Democrats on Saturday posted a celebratory …

Ariana Figueroa, Michigan Advance As the Biden administration prepares to defend its student debt cancellation program before the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 28, data shows that Black borrowers have the most to lose should a majority conservative court strike down the policy. Black borrowers hold a disproportionate share of …

With Democrats hoping to confirm dozens more federal judges following President Joe Biden’s milestone of appointing 100 new members of the judiciary, progressives on Friday said the party has no choice but to eliminate a tradition they say has been exploited by Republicans to block the president’s nominees. Advocacy group …

Ashley Murray, Florida Phoenix On the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration announced an additional $2 billion in weapons and a host of new sanctions targeting Russia’s key industries and government officials. The Friday announcement came on the heels of President Joe Biden’s historic and …

In moves that alarmed advocates for transgender youth, the Tennessee and Mississippi GOP-dominated legislatures this week sent bills banning gender-affirming care for minors to their Republican governors’ desks. Even though organizations including the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and American Psychiatric …

Michael Moline, Florida Phoenix Gov. Ron DeSantis has unveiled an anti-immigration agenda that would deny jobs, education, and possibly health care for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who call Florida home. If the governor gets his way with the state Legislature — as is likely — all private employers …

Casey Quinlan, Michigan Advance President Joe Biden devoted 19 sentences of his State of the Union speech to “junk fees,” which includes credit card late fees, service fees for concert tickets and airplane seating preferences that he said strain families’ budgets. Biden did not mention the numerous and opaque fees …

By Topher Sanders and Dan Schwartz Norfolk Southern allows a monitoring team to instruct crews to ignore alerts from train track sensors designed to flag potential mechanical problems. ProPublica learned of the policy after reviewing the rules of the company, which is engulfed in controversy after one of its trains …

Brian Lopez, The Texas Tribune The superintendent of a small school district in West Central Texas resigned this week after parents learned that his gun was found in a bathroom stall by a third grade student, an incident that comes as Texas lawmakers and top officials discuss school safety in …

Michael Moline, Florida Phoenix Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has asked a federal trial court to allow the state to enforce a seven-year-old law denying taxpayer support for health facilities that provide abortions, even if the money wouldn’t pay directly for abortion services. Back in 2016, U.S. District Judge Robert …

James Brooks, Alaska Beacon The Alaska House of Representatives voted almost unanimously Wednesday to reprimand Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, for speculating the state could financially benefit if child abuse victims died of their abuse. Eastman’s remarks, which he said were intended to criticize some arguments in favor of abortion rights, …

Kelcie Moseley-Morris, Michigan Advance Democratic governors from 20 states across the U.S., led by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, have formed a Reproductive Freedom Alliance to safeguard and improve abortion and reproductive health care access “in the face of an unprecedented assault by states hostile to abortion rights,” according to a …

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a rare rebuke of Arizona’s criminal justice system as the majority ruled in favor of a death row inmate who has called for a resentencing, saying the state ignored legal precedents during his trial. In a 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts and …

Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI), currently serving his seventh term in the U. S. House of Representatives, announced he has been selected to lead the Rhode Island Foundation as its President and CEO and will be leaving elected office effective June 1, 2023. A member of House Democratic Leadership and a …

Graham Moomaw, Virginia Mercury State Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, defeated Republican pastor Leon Benjamin in Tuesday’s special election for a Richmond-centered seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, a victory that will make her Virginia’s first Black congresswoman. McClellan, a corporate attorney who has championed progressive causes like abortion access …