In The News

Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand signaled her openness to expanding the Supreme Court beyond nine seats if her party retakes the Senate and the White House in next year’s elections. Gillibrand, a second-term senator from New York, appeared on left-wing podcast PodSaveAmerica on Tuesday, where she was asked about either placing term limits on Supreme Court justices or adding ...

A federal employees’ union lawsuit against the Trump administration over the shutdown is tied up in court because federal attorneys at the Justice Department have been ordered not to work. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and other labor groups have sued President Donald Trump, claiming that forcing thousands of government employees to work without receiving regular paychecks violates ...

A University of Georgia graduate student does not understand why saying “some white people may have to die” is receiving backlash. Philosophy grad student and teaching assistant Irami Osei-Frimpong originally made the comment on the “Overheard at UGA” Facebook page Jan. 16, Campus Reform reported. “Some white people may have to die for Black communities to be made whole in ...

The majority whip of the House of Representatives raised the possibility of giving into President Donald Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion in border security, but with the caveat that it not go toward construction of a wall. “We see ourselves fulfilling that request” with a “smart wall,” Democratic South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn said to reporters Wednesday, according to Reuters. Clyburn suggested ...

A potentially deadly superbug infected U.S. patients from multiple states after they had surgery in Mexico, underscoring a worrying trend in the rapidly growing medical tourism sector. Twelve patients, who are from states including Arkansas, Oregon and West Virginia, contracted the multidrug-resistant bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa after being treated at clinics in Tijuana, Mexico, according to U.S. health officials cited by The ...

Portland, Oregon is suffering a public health emergency as increasing numbers of residents become infected with measles. Health officials confirmed Tuesday that 23 people have contracted the virus and one person has been hospitalized, The Washington Post reported. They are investigating two more suspected cases, according to WaPo. Authorities declared a public health emergency Friday in nearby Clark County. Measles is an infectious ...

A drone flying near the Newark Liberty International Airport caused the Federal Aviation Administration to halt air traffic for about 30 minutes at the New Jersey airport Tuesday. The FAA halted incoming flights after crews on two flights to Newark, New Jersey, reported seeing a drone flying at 3,500 feet over Teterboro Airport at 5 p.m. The halt on incoming flights ...

A judge quashed a law Tuesday barring women from having abortions upon the presence of a fetal heartbeat, ruling that the law is unconstitutional. Judge Michael Huppert prohibited the state from enforcing its “Fetal Heartbeat Bill,” banning abortions upon the detection of a fetal heartbeat. A heartbeat typically manifests roughly six weeks into a pregnancy. The law provided exceptions for rape, ...

The House Oversight Committee will question Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in March about a citizenship question he supported adding back to the 2020 census, the committee announced Tuesday. The announcement from the committee, which is headed by Democratic Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, comes less than a week after a federal judge ordered the removal of the question Jan. 15. U.S. District Judge ...

The Trump administration will ask the Supreme Court to decide whether the government can append a citizenship question to the 2020 census questionnaire, the Department of Justice said Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman forbade the government from incorporating the citizenship question on Jan. 15 in a sweeping decision that ran almost 300 pages. At the administration’s bidding, the Court ...

Kamala Harris is running for president on a platform of raising taxes on the wealthy, implementing a Socialist healthcare system and reforming state cash bail systems in favor of poor inmates, The Washington Post reports. The U.S. senator from California will compete with other Democrats for the chance to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020. Harris announced the start of ...

Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris raised approximately $1.5 million in one day following her announcement that she will be seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2020. In the 24 hours after Harris announced her presidential bid, she received an influx of primarily small donations from more than 37,000 individuals, Harris’s campaign told The Wall Street Journal. During the ...

Immigration attorney Linda Vega said she’s surprised by Democrats’ rejection of President Donald Trump’s immigration compromise and called the deal a “great offer,” on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday. “Currently [DACA] applicants are not able to reapply for any benefits. They’re at a standstill,” Vega said. “If they’re in court proceedings they’re being deported. This plan, this three-year offer by the ...

The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear its first gun rights case in almost a decade. The justices will decide whether a New York City ordinance which strictly regulates the possession and transportation of handguns outside the home is constitutional. Tuesday’s grant marks the first time that the Supreme Court has engaged with the Second Amendment since it issued a ...

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear appeals on lower court rulings that prevent the government from shutting down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA.) The Trump administration had asked the court to consider the case, but the justices have pushed off any DACA cases until the next term which begins on October 1. DACA gives legal relief ...