Political News

By James Pollard, The Texas Tribune Jan. 24, 2022 Igalious “Ike” Mills grew up working his family’s farm in the Piney Woods town of Nacogdoches. His siblings still keep it running, relying on a lot of the same equipment used by their father and grandfather. Mills, who is Black, spends …

On Saturday, leaders of the Arizona Democratic Party voted to censure Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema after she, along with West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin blocked changes to the filibuster that would have cleared the way for voting rights legislation. In a statement released, ADP said that last fall, its state …

Candice Norwood Originally published by The 19th President Joe Biden could potentially double the number of Black women ever confirmed to federal appellate courts, a key stepping stone to the U.S. Supreme Court. As of Wednesday, with the selection of Arianna J. Freeman for the 3rd Circuit, the president has …

U.S. Federal Reserve officials signaled last week that the central bank could start raising interest rates in March as U.S. annual inflation surged to an almost 40-year high in December. “Inflation is too high, and working people around the country are concerned about how far their paychecks will go,” Fed …

Shefali Luthra Originally published by The 19th The Supreme Court declined a request to hasten the appeals process for a lawsuit that could block Texas’ six-week abortion ban. The decision means that the Texas abortion ban, known as Senate Bill 8, will stay in effect indefinitely. The request came from …

A federal judge in Texas ruled Friday that the Biden Administration cannot enforce its vaccine mandate for federal employees, issuing an injunction that halts the requirement nationwide. Judge Jeffrey Brown found the president had no legal authority to require feds to get vaccinated, saying that while he has broad power over federal …

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol is asking Ivanka Trump, daughter of former President Donald Trump, to co-operate with its probe voluntarily. The committee sent a letter this week requesting a meeting with Ivanka Trump, who served as an adviser to her father, in …

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has proposed the Office of Election Crimes and Security, an election police force of sorts, to investigate election fraud. The state would be the first in the country to implement a police force to investigate voting irregularities. “To ensure that elections are conducted in accordance with the …

Fulton Country, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis has requested a special grand jury in her investigation into former President Donald Trump‘s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. The DA told the AP last month she was making progress in her investigation and leaning toward this decision to request a …

Senate Republicans once again blocked a pair of voting rights bills in a Wednesday evening procedural vote, holding firm in their opposition to a top priority of President Joe Biden and prompting Democrats to take up filibuster reform – even without full party support. In an expected loss, Democrats failed to …

The exodus of House Democrats leaving their seats ahead of a challenging midterm election season continued Tuesday, with Rhode Island Rep. Jim Langevin and California Rep. Jerry McNerney both announcing plans not to seek re-election within minutes of each other. The decisions by Langevin and McNerney bring the number of …

As the omicron variant surges and hospitals are pushed to capacity, the White House announced a new program Wednesday to give 400 million nonsurgical N95 masks to Americans free of charge. According to a White House official, Americans will be able to receive the masks at tens of thousands of …

Barbara Rodriguez, Amanda Becker Originally published by The 19th The abortion rights group NARAL said Tuesday it will no longer back candidates who don’t support Democratic efforts to pass federal voting rights legislation, just hours after the similarly aligned Emily’s List said it will pull its endorsement of U.S. Sen. …

President Joe Biden held a nearly 2-hour press conference at the White House on Wednesday, one day before the anniversary of his first year in office, to tout his administration’s job numbers, pandemic relief policies and massive infrastructure legislation. “It’s been a year of challenges,” Biden said, acknowledging that he …

By Lomi Kriel, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica Jan. 17, 2022 The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday sent the legal challenge to Texas’ restrictive abortion law to the state’s Supreme Court, a move that is expected to significantly delay the case and that abortion opponents had hoped …