An event-planning company that received one of the largest federal contracts to provide produce, meat and dairy to hungry families has yet to deliver the much-needed boxes to food banks across the Southwest. The delay has stoked concerns about the Agriculture Department’s new $3 billion “Farmers to Families Food Box Program” — especially surrounding multimillion-dollar…
President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden amped up their ongoing spat over wearing face masks in public on Tuesday with Biden calling the president an “absolute fool” for stoking controversy around the use of masks. The beef began Monday evening, when the president retweeted an image that appeared to mock Biden wearing…
The Justice Department is dropping its investigations into controversial stock trades made by Sens. Kelly Loeffler, Dianne Feinstein and Jim Inhofe in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, their offices confirmed Tuesday. The decision comes after the FBI served Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) a search warrant and seized his cellphone earlier this month, as…
LONDON — Never mind whether Boris Johnson should get rid of Dominic Cummings, the real question is whether he can. To the U.K. prime minister, his top aide — whose lockdown journey from London to Durham has dominated headlines for days — is more than just an effective political adviser. He is the linchpin of…
TALLAHASSEE — A federal judge on Sunday dismantled Florida’s restrictive felon voting rights law in a ruling that could open the door to hundreds of thousands of new voters being added to rolls just ahead of the 2020 presidential election. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle declared key portions of the state’s felon voting law unconstitutional,…
China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic is akin to the Soviet Union’s response to Chernobyl, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Robert O’Brien said Sunday. "The cover-up that they did of the virus is going to go down in history along with Chernobyl," O’Brien told Chuck Todd on NBC’s "Meet the Press," referring to the…
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — President Donald Trump plans to travel to Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday to witness the launch of the first Americans into space in nearly a decade, a White House official said Friday. Two NASA astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, will travel aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on a…
TALLAHASSEE — Republicans are seeking to join a high-stakes voting rights battle in Florida, claiming that Democrat-aligned groups are using the coronavirus outbreak as an excuse to strike down voting laws. The Republican National Committee, the Republican Party of Florida and the National Republican Congressional Committee on Thursday asked a federal judge for permission to…
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…
Texas’ 24th congressional district is precisely the kind of seat Democrats are targeting in November to cement or pad their House majority: A longtime Republican stronghold in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs where shifting demographics have put it in play. But a dispute over whether the party should embrace an Afro-Latina educator with a hardscrabble upbringing…
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham told allies in recent days that Joe Biden’s campaign has begun vetting her for vice president, according to a source familiar with the conversations. Harry Reid, the influential former Senate majority leader, has encouraged Biden, a friend, to consider Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. But as Latino lawmakers and donors…
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…
Donald Trump’s allies don’t much like Richard Burr. But they’d prefer the president keep out of the criminal investigation of the senator. The revelation that Burr was under FBI investigation for potential insider trading rocked Capitol Hill on Thursday. But Trump, who often relishes commenting on the news of the day, was restrained when asked…
The Department of Homeland Security is inching toward implementation of a decades-old law directing it to collect DNA from the undocumented immigrants arrested by its officers. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has started a small pilot project in Dallas to collect DNA samples of undocumented immigrants who are arrested. And Customs and Border Protection started…
SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday proposed a slimmed-down $203 billion state budget that relies on help from Senate Republicans and President Donald Trump to avoid $14 billion in trigger cuts, with the state facing its first deficit in eight years after being blindsided by the coronavirus pandemic. The trigger cuts go back…
A member of the Democratic Party’s most prominent political dynasty is running for office in New Jersey, but in an altogether unfamiliar position — as an outsider. Amy Kennedy, a former teacher who grew up in southern New Jersey and is married to former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), announced her campaign for Congress in New…
Rep. Andy Harris is fed up with being locked down. “They promised 2 million dead at the beginning of this,” Harris fumed to constituents during a recent teletown hall, later adding, “The media has a vested interest in making things sound worse so that you tune in the next day.” The conservative Maryland Republican also…
Even as coronavirus deaths mount and infections make inroads into the White House, President Donald Trump is maintaining his upbeat message about reopening the country and restarting the economy. Trump has branded the moment a “transition to greatness,” casting himself as a “wartime president” and Americans as warriors in an epic battle against a disease…
TRENTON — New Jersey officials swore it would never happen again. Almost a year after a 2018 adenovirus outbreak killed 11 children at a long-term care facility in northern New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation requiring every such facility in the state to develop outbreak response plans to prevent future tragedies. There was just one…
North Carolina Roy Cooper has got a doozy on his hands. He’s a Democratic governor, up for reelection in a Republican-leaning Southern swing state, pushing a go-slow approach to reopening the economy as protests intensify and neighboring states move quicker. But that’s just the start: How the first-term governor handles his state’s reopening will likely…