National Politics - Page 4 of 4 - The Rapid City Post

Families of trans kids worry about what’s next after Supreme Court rules on gender-affirming care

June 18, 2025

A U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors is leaving transgender children and their parents uncertain and anxious about its impact. The court on Wednesday handed President Donald Trump’s administration and Republican-led states a significant victory. The ruling effectively protects them from at least some of the legal challenges against efforts to repeal safeguards for transgender people. The case stems from a Tennessee law banning puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender minors. One mother in New Hampshire worries she may be forced to move if lawmakers come down with stiffer restrictions blocking her child from care.

Trump remakes the White House with new flagpoles

June 18, 2025

President Donald Trump has overseen the installation of a massive new flagpole on the South Lawn of the White House. A second pole is being placed on the North Lawn, close to Pennsylvania Avenue. After watching workers using a crane to install the pole on Wednesday morning, he returned in the afternoon to see the stars and stripes hoisted for the first time. The poles are the most notable exterior modification to the White House since Trump returned to the presidency with grand ideas for remaking the building. He’s already updated the Oval Office with gold accents, more portraits and a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

Senate Republicans hold hearing on Biden’s mental fitness as Democrats boycott

June 18, 2025

Republican senators are looking into former President Joe Biden’s ability to serve in office. The Senate Judiciary Hearing on Wednesday took place over six months after Biden left office. Republicans say that they aim to “shine a light” on what was occurring during Biden’s presidency. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin criticized Republicans for “arm chair diagnosing” when he said the committee should be focusing on serious matters. Most Democrats boycotted the hearing. It was the first in what could be several congressional. hearings about Biden in coming months. The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed several of Biden’s former staff members.

Mike Lindell walks into federal district court for a defamation trial on Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

Jury finds leading proponent of ‘The Big Lie’ defamed former voting equipment employee

June 17, 2025

A jury found Monday that MyPillow founder Mike Lindell defamed a former employee of a prominent voting equipment company by calling him a traitor, telling him and his online media platform to pay $2.3 million in damages. The decision came after a two-week trial against one of the biggest proponents of the myth that the 2020 election was stolen, a lie that still dominates national politics. Other such cases have ended in settlements before they could go before a jury.

Padilla says in Senate ‘it’s time to wake up’ after forced removal from Noem’s event

June 17, 2025

Sen. Alex Padilla is encouraging Americans to peacefully protest against President Donald Trump’s administration in his first extended remarks in the Senate since he was forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles when he tried to speak about immigration raids. Padilla on Tuesday recounted last week’s altercation, in which security forced him out of the room and onto the ground after he tried to ask Noem a question. The California Democrat says he was pushed and pulled and ended up on the floor. Noem’s department says the Secret Service thought Padilla was an attacker. Padilla and Democratic colleagues have framed the episode as intimidation by Trump’s Republican administration.

President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One after speakiing with reporters to depart the White House on his way to attend the G7 Summit in Canada, Sunday, June 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Trump administration demands action from 36 countries to avoid travel ban

June 17, 2025

The Trump administration has given 36 countries, most of them in Africa, a Wednesday deadline to commit to improving vetting or face a ban on their citizens visiting the United States. A weekend diplomatic cable sent by the State Department instructs embassies and consulates in the 36 countries to gauge their host countries’ willingness to improve their citizens’ travel documentation and take steps to address the status of their nationals who are in the United States illegally. The cable was described to The Associated Press. It asks the countries to take action to address the U.S. concerns within 60 days or risk being added to the travel ban, which now includes 12 nations.

FILE - This April 23, 2019 file photo shows the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phil Sears, file)

Florida lawmakers pass charter school expansion on last day of session

June 17, 2025

On the 105th day of what was supposed to be a 60-day legislative session, Florida lawmakers passed a bill to allow charter schools to “co-locate” inside traditional public schools. It’s the latest move by the Republican-controlled legislature to expand school choice in a state that has long been a national model for conservative education policy. The measure expands the “schools of hope” program, which lawmakers created to encourage charter schools to open in areas where traditional public schools have been failing for years.

FILE - Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., speaks during a confirmation hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Congress is holding emergency briefings on security after Minnesota shootings

June 16, 2025

Members of Congress are attending emergency security briefings after the killing of a Minnesota state lawmaker. The shooting at the lawmaker’s home has raised fresh fears about the safety of members of Congress. The suspect in the Minnesota attack had dozens of federal lawmakers listed in his writings, in addition to the state lawmakers and others he allegedly targeted. The shootings come after credible threats to members of Congress have more than doubled in the last decade and after several violent attacks on lawmakers and their families. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said lawmakers are “clearly at the point where we have to adjust the options available to us.”

A judge has halted CoreCivic, on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, from housing immigrants facing possible deportation in a shuttered facility that the private prison operator now calls the Midwest Regional Reception Center, in Leavenworth, Kan., pictured Monday, March 3, 2025, unless it can get a permit from frustrated city officials. (AP Photo/Nick Ingram)

Takeaways from AP’s reporting on shuttered prisons, mass deportation push and no-bid contracts

June 16, 2025

Private prison operators are marketing their shuttered lockups to federal immigration officials as President Donald Trump pushes for mass deportations, with some facilities nabbing lucrative no-bid contracts. When the Republican took office, politically connected private-prison giants CoreCivic Inc., of Tennessee, and The Geo Group Inc., of Florida, had around 20 idle facilities. CoreCivic says it hasn’t seen such demand for its services in its 42-year history. But the push to reopen facilities has encountered resistance in unexpected places like Leavenworth, Kansas, whose name evokes a short hand for serving hard time. The Leavenworth facility was mothballed in 2021 after Democratic President Joe Biden called on the Justice Department to curb the use of private prisons.

Norman Harris, executive director of JMF Corporation that puts on a Juneteenth celebration in Denver, is shown on the light-rail track running through the neighborhood where the event is staged Friday, June 13, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Juneteenth celebrations adapt after corporate sponsors pull support

June 16, 2025

Juneteenth celebrations have been scaled back this year due to funding shortfalls as companies and municipalities across the country reconsider their support for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. More than a dozen companies dropped out of sponsoring one of Denver’s biggest Juneteenth festivals, canceled federal grants and businesses moving away from so-called brand activism have hit the bottom line of parades and other events heading into Thursday’s federal holiday, which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. The shrinking financial support coincides with many companies severing ties with LGBTQ celebrations for Pride this year and President Donald Trump’s efforts to squash DEI programs throughout the federal government.

FILE - Farm workers gather produce on Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Moorpark, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Trump curbs immigration enforcement at farms, meatpacking plants, hotels and restaurants

June 14, 2025

The Trump administration has directed immigration officers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels after President Donald Trump expressed alarm about the impact of aggressive enforcement. The move comes after Stephen Miller, chief architect of Trump’s immigration policies, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would target 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the previous five months. The New York Times reports the directive Thursday told ICE to halt workplace investigations in key industries. A U.S. official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity confirmed the contents of the order.

FILE - Supporters of proposals to expand California's government-funded health care benefits to undocumented immigrants gather at the Capitol for the Immigrants Day of Action, on May 20, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

California Legislature OKs proposal to freeze health care access for some immigrants

June 13, 2025

The California Legislature approves a proposal Friday to freeze enrollment in a state-funded health care program for immigrants without legal status. The budget proposal would help close a $12 billion deficit. The plan is a scaled-back version of a measure from Gov. Gavin Newsom. Under the lawmakers’ proposal, low-income adults without legal status will no longer be eligible to apply for the state’s Medicaid program starting next year. Adults between the ages of 19 and 59 who are enrolled would have to pay a $30 monthly premium starting in July 2027. The plan is not final.

FILE - Clark County Sheriff and Nevada Gov.-elect Joe Lombardo gives a victory speech during a news conference, Nov. 14, 2022, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt, File)

Nevada GOP governor vetoes voter ID bill that he pushed for in a deal with Democrats

June 12, 2025

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo has vetoed a bill that would have required voters in the swing state to show a photo ID at the polls. Thursday’s veto by the Republican governor brings a dramatic end to one of the session’s most unexpected outcomes. The voter ID bill came together and passed in the final days of the session after Lombardo made a deal with the Democratic-controlled Legislature. The vetoed bill would also have added more drop boxes for mail ballots in Nevada’s most populous counties. Lombardo said in his veto message he couldn’t support the bill in the end because mail ballots could still be accepted solely based on signature verification.

Trump administration tells immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela they have to leave

June 12, 2025

The Department of Homeland Security is notifying hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans that their temporary permission to live and work in the United States has been revoked and they should leave the country. The termination notices are being sent by email to about 532,000 people who came to the country under the humanitarian parole program created by the Biden administration. They arrived with financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work in the U.S.

FILE - In this Oct. 18, 2010 file photo, then-Illinois Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

Illinois officials investigate license-plate data shared with police seeking woman who had abortion

June 12, 2025

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias has asked for an investigation into a suburban Chicago police department for allegedly sharing data from automatic license-plate readers with a Texas sheriff seeking a woman who had an abortion. The police department in Mount Prospect, northwest of Chicago, also provided immigration information to outside agencies. Giannoulias was behind a 2023 law that prohibited sharing data from roadside cameras to police for the purposes of tracking abortion patients or undocumented immigrants. Giannoulias has asked the attorney general to investigate and has set up an audit system to ensure future compliance.

Vice President JD Vance listens as he speaks with American Compass founder Oren Cass at the American Compass's The New World Gala in Washington, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Vance made a brief trip to Montana to speak to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, AP sources say

June 11, 2025

Vice President JD Vance has made a brief trip to Montana to meet with media mogul Rupert Murdoch, his son Lachlan and a group of other Fox News executives. That’s according to two people familiar with the trip who confirmed the Tuesday night visit to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about it. Vance met with the group at the Murdoch family ranch. It’s not clear why Vance met with the group. Rupert Murdoch and his media organization have long been friendly with Republicans and have, for the most part, had a friendly relationship with President Donald Trump.

Musk says Tesla’s robotaxi service to ‘tentatively’ launch in Austin on June 22

June 10, 2025

Elon Musk says Tesla is “tentatively” set to begin providing robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, on June 22. In a post on his X social media platform, Musk said the date could change because Tesla is being extra cautious when it comes to safety. Investors, Wall Street analysts and Tesla enthusiasts have been anticipating the rollout of the driverless cabs since Musk said earlier this year that the service would launch in Austin sometime in June. Musk has said he expected to initially run 10 or so taxis, increase that number rapidly and start offering the service in Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Francisco and other cities.

FILE - Multiple Waymo taxis burn near the Metropolitan Detention Center of downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025, following last night's immigration raid protest. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

Los Angeles’ image is scuffed since ICE raids and protests, with World Cup and Olympics on horizon

June 9, 2025

Los Angeles is still reeling from January’s deadly wildfires — and with the World Cup soccer championships and the 2028 Olympics on the horizon — Mayor Karen Bass has been urging residents to come together to revitalize LA’s image. Instead, a less flattering side of Los Angeles has been broadcast to the world in recent days. There have been series of protests against federal raids on workplaces where advocates say people without legal status and without criminal histories have been detained. The demonstrations have mostly taken place in a small swath of downtown in the sprawling city of 4 million people.

Mike Lindell talks to the media on his way into federal district court for a defamation trial on Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

Election conspiracy theorist sticks by false 2020 claims in defamation trial

June 9, 2025

One of the nation’s most prominent election conspiracy theorists, MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, is sticking by his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Lindell testified Monday during a defamation trial over statements he made about a former official for a leading voting equipment company. Lindell denied making any statements he knew to be false about Eric Coomer, the former product strategy and security director for Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems. Lindell accused Coomer of being “a part of the biggest crime this world has ever seen.” Coomer said his career and life have been destroyed by statements Lindell made about him.

FILE - The Treasury Department building is seen, March 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

US imposes sanctions on El Chapo’s fugitive sons, offers $10 million reward for their capture

June 9, 2025

The U.S. imposed sanctions on the two fugitive sons of incarcerated Mexican Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and announced a reward offer of up to $10 million each for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the sons. The Treasury Department announced sanctions on Archivaldo Ivan Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar who are believed to be currently located in Mexico. Guzman’s other sons— Joaquin Guzman Lopez and Ovidio Guzman Lopez —are currently incarcerated in the U.S.

White House breaks ground on Trump projects to pave over Rose Garden grass, add flagpoles to lawns

June 9, 2025

The White House has broken ground on construction projects ordered by President Donald Trump to pave over the Rose Garden lawn and install flagpoles on the north and south lawns. Reporters saw the Rose Garden project had begun Monday as they were taken out to the South Lawn to wait for Trump to return on the Marine One helicopter. The Republican president had overnighted at the Camp David retreat in Maryland. After getting off the chopper, Trump walked over to a bulldozer positioned on the lawn to start digging a foundation for one of two flagpoles.

Bella Bautista, 22, a trans woman from Cartersville, Ga., walks past the U.S. Capitol after attending the World Pride Parade, Saturday, June 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

PHOTO ESSAY: A young trans woman’s journey, and her latest destination: World Pride in Washington

June 8, 2025

WASHINGTON By JACQUELYN MARTINAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — As they get ready in their hotel room, Bella Bautista trades makeup

2026 races loom at Georgia Republican convention as Trump loyalty dominates

June 7, 2025

Many Georgia Republicans are already thinking about races for governor and Senate in 2026. The state party held its yearly convention Friday and Saturday in Dalton. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she’s still thinking about a run for governor and gave a speech that centered on state-level issues. Attorney General Chris Carr, a declared candidate for governor, greeted delegates but didn’t give a speech. Another likely candidate for governor is Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. He emphasized his accomplishments and support for President Donald Trump. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter and state Insurance Commissioner John King both boosted their candidacies to challenge Democratic U.S. Senate incumbent Jon Ossoff.

A sign supporting citizenship for American Samoans is posted outside the Log Cabin Gifts store on the waterfront in Whittier, Alaska, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

A US territory’s colonial history emerges in state disputes over voting and citizenship

June 7, 2025

A criminal case in Alaska involving nearly a dozen people born in American Samoa is highlighting concerns about birthright citizenship and voting by people who are not U.S. citizens, issues that have been prominent in the early months of President Donald Trump’s second term. Alaska is not the only state where confusion over voting by American Samoans has surfaced in recent years. It’s an issue that traces its roots to colonialism in the South Pacific. American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by virtue of having been born on American soil.

Rayceen Pendarvis speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Washington, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

As a generation of gay and lesbian people ages, memories of worse — and better — times swirl

June 7, 2025

As World Pride wraps up this weekend in Washington D.C. the older LGBTQ+ generation can sometimes find a hard time fitting in among the after-parties and DJ sets. Advocates warn of a quiet crisis among retirement-age LGBTQ+ people and a community at risk of becoming marginalized inside their own community. The older LGBTQ+ population can often suffer from chronic loneliness and isolation; they’re less likely to be in contact with their families and less likely to have children to help care for them. And the national debate over transgender protections and drag shows can also break down along generational lines inside the community.

Points of Light president and CEO Jennifer Sirangelo and Neil Bush, chair, speak at the 2025 Points of Light Conference in New Orleans, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Points of Light, founded by former President Bush, aims to double American volunteerism by 2035

June 6, 2025

Points of Light, the nonprofit founded by former President George H.W. Bush, will lead an effort to double the number of people who volunteer with U.S. charitable organizations from 75 million annually to 150 million in 10 years. CEO Jennifer Sirangelo announced the campaign in New Orleans at the foundation’s annual conference, which concludes Friday. The ambitious goal would represent a major change in the way Americans spend their time and interact with nonprofits. It also coincides with deep federal funding cuts to grant programs and with an effort to gut AmeriCorps programs, which sent 200,000 volunteers all over the country.

FILE - The federal courthouse stands in Fargo, N.D., June 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Jack Dura, File)

A judge tells federal agencies they can’t enforce anti-trans bias policies against Catholic groups

June 5, 2025

A federal judge has ruled that two federal agencies cannot punish Catholic employers and health care providers if they refuse, for religious reasons, to provide gender-affirming care to transgender patients or won’t provide health insurance coverage for such care to their workers. The ruling Thursday from North Dakota’s chief federal judge bars the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from enforcing a 2024 health care rule that said health care providers risked losing federal funds if they refused to provide gender-affirming care. The judge also barred the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from telling employers that failing to have their health plans cover gender-affirming care would be discriminatory.

WhyHunger marks 50 years of fighting for food security, a point of ‘pride and shame’

June 5, 2025

WhyHunger is celebrating 50 years of fighting to eradicate hunger at its root. Singer-songwriter Harry Chapin and radio DJ Bill Ayres founded the grassroots support organization in 1975 with the idea they could leverage their music industry connections to fund community groups advancing economic and food security. But the half-century mark reflects the sobering need for continued food assistance. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates more than 47 million people, including nearly 14 million children, lived in food-insecure households in 2023. Jen Chapin, Harry’s daughter and a WhyHunger board member, says it’s “embarrassing” that the nonprofit “is still relevant when hunger is a completely solvable problem.”

Thune Joins America’s Newsroom on Fox News

June 5, 2025

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) today joined America’s Newsroom on Fox News. On pro-growth policies: “[E]verybody’s going

FILE - Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. displays pictures of three civil rights workers, who were slain in Mississippi the summer before, from left Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman, at a news conference Dec. 4, 1964, in New York, where he commended the FBI for its arrests in Mississippi in connection with the slayings. (AP Photo/JL, File)

Judge weighs government’s request to unseal records of FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr.

June 4, 2025

A federal judge is weighing a request from the Trump administration to unseal records of the FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr. — files that the civil rights leader’s relatives want to keep under wraps in the national archives. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., said during a hearing on Wednesday that he wants to see an inventory of the records before deciding whether the government can review them for possible public release. Justice Department attorneys have asked Leon to end a sealing order for the records nearly two years ahead of its expiration date. A department attorney said the administration is only interested in releasing files related to King’s assassination.

FILE - Cut down trees lie near the Cordillera Azul National Park in Peru's Amazon Forest on Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File)

Cuts to USAID severed longstanding American support for Indigenous people around the world

June 4, 2025

The effort to protect the Peruvian Amazon from deforestation related to the cocaine trade was long supported by financial assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The agency spent billions of dollars starting in the 1980s to help farmers in Peru shift from growing coca for cocaine production to legal crops such as coffee and cacao for chocolate. But the Trump administration’s recent sweeping cuts have thrown that tradition of U.S. assistance into doubt. Without American help, Indigenous people in the Amazon are worried. They are bracing for a resurgence of the cocaine market, increased threats to their land and potentially violent challenges to their human rights.

Employee Savannah Gavlik displays THC products at the Dope Daughters dispensary that Texas lawmakers are seeking to ban, Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Texas considers banning products infused with THC derived from hemp, and retailers are worried

June 3, 2025

Texas lawmakers have approved banning gummies, drinks and vapes infused with THC, the compound that gives marijuana its psychoactive properties. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott hasn’t said whether he will sign the bill. If he does, opponents say a ban would threaten a multibillion-dollar industry and the income of thousands of retailers. Texas has some of the nation’s most restrictive marijuana laws. Other states, including California, have imposed restrictions in recent years that include banning underage use and limits on the potency of the products, which are often marketed as legal even in states where marijuana is not.

FILE - Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

What cases are left on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket? Here’s a look

June 2, 2025

A little less than once a week on average since President Donald Trump began his second term, his administration’s lawyers have filed emergency appeals with the Supreme Court. The sequence of events is familiar: A lower court judge blocks a part of the Republican president’s agenda, an appellate panel refuses to put the order on hold while the case continues and the Justice Department turns to the nation’s highest court. The Supreme Court is not being asked to render a final decision but rather to set the rules while the case makes it way through the courts. The administration’s most recent emergency filing arrived May 27, seeking to halt an order by a judge in Boston.

Construction is seen at an Amazon Web Services data center on Aug. 22, 2024, in Boardman, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

States are rolling out red carpets for data centers. But some lawmakers are pushing back

May 30, 2025

The explosive growth of the data centers needed to power America’s fast-rising demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing has spurred states to dangle incentives in hopes of landing an economic bonanza. It’s also eliciting pushback in places where an influx of data centers has caused friction with neighboring communities. Activity in state legislatures — and competition for data centers — has been brisk. Many states are offering financial incentives or tax breaks worth tens of millions of dollars. In some cases, those incentives are winning approval only after a fight or efforts to attach riders that require data centers to pay for their own electricity or meet energy efficiency standards.

FILE - Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, speaks at a hearing on Capitol Hill Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell, File)

Ernst draws groans at Iowa town hall after retort on Medicaid cuts, saying ‘we all are going to die’

May 30, 2025

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst is facing backlash after saying “we all are going to die” while talking about potential changes to Medicaid eligibility at a town hall in north-central Iowa. Despite shouts and groans from the crowd at a high school in Parkersburg, Iowa, Ernst stayed on message as she defended the tax and immigration package making its way through Congress. But as she emphasized the reasons for the $700 billion in reduced Medicaid spending, someone in the crowd yelled that people are going to die without coverage. Ernst said: “People are not … well, we all are going to die,” prompting groans from the audience.

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks to the media in North Charleston, S.C., Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)

Biden says he’s ‘feeling good’ in first remarks after cancer diagnosis announced

May 30, 2025

Former President Joe Biden has delivered the first remarks since he announced he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer, speaking in a steady voice during a somber Memorial Day gathering and later smiling and saying he’s “feeling good.” Biden spoke at an annual gathering marking Memorial Day at Veterans Memorial Park in his home state of Delaware, not far from his home in Wilmington. The event coincided with the 10th anniversary of his son Beau’s death. It also comes amid renewed questions about Biden’s mental and physical health after the recent publication of a book about his fitness for office.

FILE - Former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik stands outside the Federal Court in Washington, June 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Bernard Kerik, who led NYPD on 9/11 before prison and pardon, has died at 69

May 29, 2025

Bernard Kerik, who served as New York City’s police commissioner on 9/11 and later pleaded guilty to tax fraud before being pardoned, has died. He was 69. FBI Director Kash Patel says Kerik’s death Thursday came after an unspecified “private battle with illness.” Kerik was hailed as a hero after the 9/11 attack and eventually nominated to head the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, before a dramatic fall from grace that ended with him behind bars. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to federal tax fraud and false statement charges. He served nearly four years in prison. Trump pardoned Kerik during a 2020 clemency blitz.

Trump holding Pennsylvania rally to promote deal for Japan-based Nippon to ‘partner’ with US Steel

May 29, 2025

President Donald Trump is holding a rally in Pennsylvania on Friday to celebrate a details-to-come deal for Japan-based Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel. He says the plan will keep the iconic American steelmaker under U.S. control. Trump initially vowed to block the Japanese steelmaker’s bid to buy Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel. But he changed course and announced an agreement last week for what he described as “partial ownership” by Nippon. It’s not clear if the deal Trump’s administration helped broker has been finalized or how ownership would be structured.

Wayne Gosnell, center, attorney for John Woeltz, cryptocurrency investor charged for kidnapping and false imprisonment, exits a courtroom, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

NYPD probing detectives who worked security at house where man says he was tortured, AP source says

May 29, 2025

New York City police are investigating two detectives who worked security at an upscale Manhattan townhouse where an Italian man was kidnapped and tortured for weeks by two crypto investors who wanted to steal his Bitcoin. A city official told The Associated Press on Thursday that the two detectives have been placed on modified leave. They said the department is probing whether the officers were approved to do off duty security work. They also confirmed one of the detectives serves on Mayor Eric Adams’ security detail and drove the victim from the airport to the townhouse.

FILE - Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold speaks in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, Feb. 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Man who says far-right content led him to threaten election officials is sentenced to 3 years

May 29, 2025

A man who blamed exposure to far-right extremist content for leading him to threaten Democratic election officials in Colorado and Arizona has been sentenced to three years in prison. A judge said Thursday that the penalty for what he called “keyboard terrorism” needed to be serious enough to deter others. The federal judge said threats against public officials are on the rise and people need to worked out differences through the democratic process, not violence. The convicted man, Teak Ty Brockbank, apologized for his “ugly posts” and says he has turned away from the online fear, hate and anger that derailed his life.

Harrison Ruffin Tyler, preserver of Virginia history and grandson of 10th US president, dies at 96

May 29, 2025

Harrison Ruffin Tyler died on Sunday. He is the last living grandson of U.S. President John Tyler known for preserving his grandfather’s plantation and nearby Union Civil War fort. The cause of Tyler’s death on Sunday was not immediately available. Tyler’s grandfather was a Democrat nicknamed the “Accidental President” after unexpectedly assuming the presidency when President William Henry Harrison died in office. The time between the president’s birth and his grandson’s death spans 235 years.

FILE - People gather in support of transgender youth during a rally at the Utah State Capitol Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

Utah lawmakers said gender-affirming care is harmful to kids. Their own study contradicts that claim

May 28, 2025

Utah Republicans passed a ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth in 2023 and argued it was needed to protect vulnerable kids from treatments that could cause long-term harm. The newly released results of a study commissioned under that very law tell a different story. The Republican-controlled Legislature is facing pressure to reconsider the restrictions. Utah health experts concluded from a study of thousands of transgender people that gender-affirming care generated “positive mental health and psychosocial functioning outcomes.” Some state Republicans said they were open to considering the findings, while others were quick to dismiss the new report.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Kenyan author and dissident who became a giant of modern literature, dies at 87

May 28, 2025

One of the world’s most acclaimed writers, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, has died at 87. A publicist for his U.S. publisher confirmed the death Wednesday. The Kenyan man of letters wrote dozens of fiction and nonfiction books that traced his country’s history from British imperialism to home-ruled tyranny and challenged not only the stories told but the language used to tell them. Whether through novels such as “The Wizard of the Crow” or “Petals of Blood,” or his landmark critique “Decolonizing the Mind,” Ngũgĩ embodied the very heights of the artist’s calling. He was a truth teller, rule breaker and explorer of myth.

FILE — Former Rep. Michael Grimm arrives to his polling site in the Staten Island borough of New York, June 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Trump pardons former NY Rep. Michael Grimm after tax fraud conviction

May 28, 2025

President Donald Trump has pardoned former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who resigned from Congress after a tax fraud conviction. The pardon was disclosed Wednesday by a White House official who requested anonymity before an official announcement. Grimm, a former Marine and FBI agent, pleaded guilty in late 2014 to underreporting wages and revenue at a restaurant he ran in Manhattan. He resigned from Congress the following year and served eight months in prison. Grimm tried to reenter politics in 2018 but lost a primary for his old district.

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