As the presidential campaign drew closer to the summer’s nominating convention, the liberal wing of the Democratic Party was in despair. Despite their hopes for an alternative figure to emerge, despite their efforts to force an open convention, the listless favorite looked destined to become the presidential nominee. That man was too cautious and too…
Some West Virginians voting in Tuesday’s primary will be allowed to tap on their phones or laptops instead of heading to the polls. Some in Delaware will get to do the same next month. And the trend may spread into November, as the coronavirus pandemic inspires a search for voting methods that don’t expose people…
Officials from Florida to Missouri are hurriedly rewriting their disaster plans, worried that crowding large groups of evacuees in shelters could spread coronavirus during what’s expected to be a busy hurricane and tornado season. Firefighters in Colorado are working social distancing into their strategy for tackling long-duration wildfires. And New York City is spending $55…
OAKLAND — Conservatives from Washington to the West Coast have anointed attorney Harmeet Dhillon as their go-to legal warrior in the culture wars of the Covid-19 pandemic. And they don’t even seem to mind that she’s from San Francisco. During the pandemic, Dhillon has emerged as a conservative thorn in the side of Gov. Gavin…
Senate Democrats led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are pressing the Trump administration to stop targeting Planned Parenthood affiliates that got emergency small business loans designed to keep workers employed during the pandemic. Forty-one members of the Senate Democratic Caucus sent a warning to the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration after it was revealed…
Sam Barnes racked his brain one chilly morning in January 1944, wondering what he might have done wrong. Barnes, a popular African American petty officer working at Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois, had been in the Navy for 15 months and had never been disciplined. Why, he wondered, was he being ordered to…
YPSILANTI, Mich.—At the intersection of Rawsonville and Textile Roads, on a slender stretch of turf that runs the length of a half-deserted strip mall, Kathryn Prater and Kelra Rise are dancing. The longtime friends, white women in their early 40s, haven’t had much to celebrate recently. Rise lost her job as a shipping clerk two…
President Donald Trump is lunching with Senate Republicans in the Capitol and prodding them to launch subpoenas against his enemies. Joe Biden is stuck in Delaware and has yet to hold even a conference call with House or Senate Democrats. At this point in a typical presidential campaign, Biden probably would have already visited with…
Former President Barack Obama since leaving office rarely wades into debates about his successor, but President Donald Trump’s performance during the pandemic compelled him to raise his voice. He was sharp by his standards, though hardly by Trump’s, in a rapidly leaked conference call with former employees in which he credited the incumbent with “an…
The promise of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year creates a difficult political and public health question: Who gets the vaccine first? Health care workers would be among the first to receive any vaccine so they can continue to work the pandemic’s front lines. But deciding which groups come next — the…
The raging public debate over statewide coronavirus lockdowns is running parallel to a series of legal battles in state capitals — and the lockdown skeptics got a big boost this week. The decision by Wisconsin’s Supreme Court on Wednesday to toss Gov. Tony Evers’ statewide shelter-in-place order set off a scramble in cities across the…
SAN FRANCISCO — Saying America is desperately in need of healing and "a sense of hopefulness" during the Covid-19 pandemic, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday formally endorsed Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate who can "bring people together and unite this nation." “I’m so honored to be here with you and supporting your presidency,’’…
China’s behavior during the coronavirus pandemic will help to "sharpen opinion" in the U.K. toward its security ties with Beijing, the chairman of the United Kingdom’s parliamentary defense committee said. The U.K. government is undergoing a "mindset change" with regard to Beijing "not least because of the attitude, the conduct of China throughout Covid-19," said…
America’s governors indicated Sunday they are continuing to walk a fine line in dealing with a global pandemic and economic desperation, as well as pushing back against a backlash over the measures designed to curb the spread of Covid-19. Governors from both parties discussed a range of difficult choices that would have been almost unimaginable…
This article was reported in collaboration with Zachary Warmbrodt, Susannah Luthi, John Hendel, Ryan McCrimmon, Michael Stratford, Brian Faler and Brianna Gurciullo. Congress’ mad dash to shovel nearly $3 trillion into the economy and rescue failing industries met little resistance as the coronavirus crisis overwhelmed communities across the country. But now the hangover has set…
Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York warned Tuesday that he and President Donald Trump "would have a problem" if the White House forged ahead with plans to reopen the state absent Albany’s approval, setting the stage for a potential constitutional clash against the backdrop of a global pandemic. "Look, if he pushed it to that…
President Donald Trump insisted Monday that he alone could declare the United States reopen for business, continuing a contradictory line of messaging toward the nation’s governors as they have taken on greater responsibilities to combat the coronavirus pandemic in the face of federal inaction. “For the purpose of creating conflict and confusion, some in the…
SAN FRANCISCO — In California’s Santa Clara County, which quickly shut things down as coronavirus descended, the county executive is warning that major sporting events may not resume by Thanksgiving. The San Francisco Bay Area was the nation’s first metro area to impose shelter-in-place orders 25 days ago, but the bellwether region for the U.S….