U.S. News

  • Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is back at work in the U.S. Capitol, almost six weeks after a fall at a Washington-area hotel and undergoing extended treatment for a concussion. The 81-year-old Kentucky Republican has been recovering at home since he was released from a rehabilitation facility March 25. He fell after attending an event earlier that month, injuring his head and fracturing a rib. On Monday he criticized President Joe Biden for not doing enough to negotiate on the nation’s debt ceiling and thanked his colleagues for their well-wishes. He joked that "this wasn’t the first time that being hard-headed has served me very well.”

    April 17, 2023
  • The Supreme Court is allowing challenges to the structure of two federal agencies to go forward in federal court. The high court ruled unanimously Friday to allow challenges to the structures of the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission to go forward in federal court. In one case, the FTC had brought an enforcement action against Axon Enterprise, the Arizona-based company best known for developing the Taser, arguing that its purchase of its competitor Vievu for approximately $13 million was improper. The other case involved an SEC enforcement action against Michelle Cochran, a certified public accountant. Axon and Cochran responded by suing in federal court and arguing that the structure of the FTC and SEC respectively are unconstitutional.

    April 14, 2023
  • The Supreme Court is allowing a roughly $6 billion legal settlement to go forward that will cancel student loans for hundreds of thousands of borrowers who say they were misled by their schools. The justices didn't comment in rejecting an emergency plea from Everglades College, Lincoln Educational Services Corp. and American National University. The schools had argued they were unfairly included on a list of more than 150 institutions, most of them for-profit, that were linked with alleged misconduct. The justices’ action comes as the high court is weighing what to do with the Biden administration’s plan to wipe away $400 billion in student debt held by more than 40 million people.

    April 13, 2023
  • Federal officials say they have asked the FBI to consider criminal charges against more than 250 unruly airline passengers since late 2021. The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that 17 of those cases have been referred to the FBI in the first three months of this year. That's a slower pace, and it seems tied to a decline in passengers acting up on planes since a judge struck down the requirement for passengers to wear masks. The FAA can levy civil fines for misbehaving on planes, but it has to ask the FBI to file criminal charges in the most serious cases.

    April 13, 2023
  • At least one program of the EPA has had consistent support regardless of the administration or the makeup of Congress. It's called WaterSense and it's aimed at plugging household leaks thought to result in billions and billions of wasted gallons.

    March 24, 2023
  • Among the longtime Native American tribes, consider the Muwekma Ohlone tribe. It once occupied land in what is now in California's Santa Clara and San Francisco counties. The Bureau of Indian Affairs recognizes nearly 600 indigenous tribes, but not the Muwekma Ohlone.

    March 20, 2023
  • The Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service is looking to modernize the way the federal government does business — and giving agencies a status update on its goals through the end of the decade.

    March 06, 2023
  • A really busy and contentious time for Congress kicks off this week when the Biden Administration releases its 2024 budget request. But that's not all.

    March 06, 2023
  • The latest poll of Americans' satisfaction with service they get from the federal government is up. But with a score of 66 out of 100, the American Customer Satisfaction Index is still below pre-pandemic levels.

    February 22, 2023
  • A cybersecurity catastrophe appears to be brewing. Kaniah Konkoly-Thege points to several signs out there that don't bode well for critical data or critical infrastructure.

    February 21, 2023
  • Lots of people flowing past the U.S. southern border really are refugees, who deserve protection. Now the State Department and the Department of Health and Human Services have jointly started up a way to let regular citizens help refugees resettle in the United States.

    February 16, 2023
  • Political appointees often leave an administration after the first two years. The pace of departures from the Biden administration at two years is happening at a quickening pace.

    February 10, 2023
  • The House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress went out of business with the conclusion of the 117th Congress. But the committee's long list of recommendations will continue under a new subcommittee.

    February 07, 2023
  • Congress will be particularly partisan this week. It's the week of the State of the Union Address, with a governor and former Trump administration press spokeswoman giving the response to President Biden.

    February 06, 2023