Political
Need information regarding current political news? Here we'll keep you updated on the latest political news, locally and nationally.
3 council members renew oaths of office in Ephrata
EPHRATA — Three Ephrata City Council Members were sworn in Wednesday evening after winning their respective races.…
Texas bans most abortions, with high court mum on appeal
The nation's most far-reaching curb on abortions since they were legalized a half-century ago took effect Wednesday in Texas, with the Supreme Court silent on an emergency appeal to put the law on hold.
Illinois Democrats OK new legislative maps over criticism
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Democrats were poised to set new legislative boundaries over objections from Republicans and some community groups that the process was unnecessarily rushed and maps were drawn behind closed…
COVID recession pushed Social Security insolvency up a year
WASHINGTON (AP) — The sharp shock of the coronavirus recession pushed Social Security a year closer to insolvency but left Medicare’s exhaustion date unchanged, the government reported Tuesday in a counterintuitive…
High court divides 5-4 to leave Texas abortion law in place
WASHINGTON (AP) — A deeply divided Supreme Court is allowing a Texas law that bans most abortions to remain in force, for now stripping most women of the right to an abortion in the nation’s second-largest state.
Bali bomb case starts in Guantanamo 18 years after capture
NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (AP) — Three prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center had
Years later, California voters still wait on water projects
SITES, Calif. (AP) — In 2014, in the middle of a severe drought that would test California's complex water storage system like never before, voters told the state to borrow $7.5 billion and use part of it to build …
Officials withhold school board salaries over mask mandates
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida state education officials on Monday began to make good on threats to withhold funding from local school districts that defied Gov. Ron DeSantis' ban on mask mandates, despite a circ…
Appeals court ruling nearly triggers Idaho abortion law
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A federal appeals court’s decision allowing a Texas fetal heartbeat law to take effect Wednesday isn’t enough to trigger Idaho’s similar fetal heartbeat law, but backers say it’s a near miss tha…
Black women seeing guns as protection from rising crime
TAYLOR, Mich. (AP) — Valerie Rupert raised her right arm, slightly shaking and unsure as she aimed at the paper target representing a burglar, a robber or even a rapist.
Analysis: War is over but not Biden's Afghanistan challenges
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the final stream of U.S. cargo planes soaring over the peaks of the Hindu Kush, President Joe Biden fulfilled a campaign promise to
Merkel steps down with legacy dominated by tackling crises
BERLIN (AP) — Angela Merkel will leave office as one of modern Germany's longest-serving leaders and a global diplomatic heavyweight, with a legacy defined by her management of a succession of crises that shook a f…
State: Newark skirted no-bid laws in $5M ice rink renovation
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey's largest city violated state guidelines when it financed a $5.4 million contract to renovate a public ice skating rink when the cost should have been borne by the entity performing t…
State mask bans face federal civil rights inquiries
The Education Department on Monday opened civil rights investigations into five Republican-led states that have banned or limited mask requirements in schools, saying the policies could amount to discrimination aga…
EXPLAINER: Hit by Ida, New Orleans faces weeks without power
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hurricane Ida knocked out all eight transmission lines that deliver power to New Orleans, leaving the entire city without electricity as the
Backers of Seattle homelessness plan appeal ballot rejection
SEATTLE (AP) — Backers of a measure that would change Seattle’s approach to homelessness are appealing a judge’s decision that blocked it from the November ballot.