West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice announced Thursday that he is running for Democrat Joe Manchin’s U.S. Senate seat in 2024, setting up what could be a hard-fought campaign between two of the state’s most prominent politicians. Justice, an ultrawealthy businessman who is barred from running for a third consecutive...
GOP Uses State Capitol Protests to Redefine ‘Insurrection’
Silenced by her Republican colleagues, Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr looked up from the House floor to supporters in the gallery shouting “Let her speak!” and thrust her microphone into the air — amplifying the sentiment the Democratic transgender lawmaker was forbidden from expressing. It was a brief moment of defiance and...
Elected School Superintendent Could Lose Job Over DeSantis Criticism
Florida officials are threatening to revoke the teaching license of a school superintendent who criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis, accusing the educator of violating several statutes and DeSantis directives and allowing his “personal political views” to guide his leadership. Such a revocation by the state Department of Education could allow DeSantis...
Guardsman in Leak Case Wanted to Kill a ‘Ton of People’: US
The Massachusetts Air National guardsman accused of leaking highly classified military documents kept an arsenal of guns and said on social media that he would like to kill a “ton of people,” prosecutors said in arguing Thursday that 21-year-old Jack Teixeira should remain in jail for his trial. But the judge at...
California Passes 1st-in-Nation Emission Rules for Trains
California approved Thursday a first-in-the-nation, ambitious rule limiting rail pollution to aggressively cut greenhouse gas emissions in the state's latest move to establish itself as a global leader in the fight against climate change. The rule will ban locomotive engines more than 23 years old by 2030 and increase the...
Russian Missile Attack in Ukraine Kills 17 People, Including 3 Children
Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine early Friday, killing at least 17 people, most of them when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in the center of the country, officials said. Three children were among the dead. The missile attacks included the first one against...
Pence Testifies Before Election Probe Grand Jury
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Mike Pence testified Thursday before a federal grand jury investigating efforts by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to a person familiar with the matter. Pence's appearance before a grand jury in Washington scrutinizing the president he once...
Daytime TV Ringmaster Jerry Springer Dies
Jerry Springer, the onetime mayor and news anchor whose namesake TV show featured a three-ring circus of dysfunctional families willing to bare all on weekday afternoons including brawls, obscenities and blurred images of nudity, died Thursday at 79. At its peak, “The Jerry Springer Show” was a ratings powerhouse and a U.S. cultural...
Ex-Valley Congressman Not Defamed by Story About Dairy Farm ‘Secret’, Judge Rules
A federal judge in Iowa has ruled against former U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, who filed lawsuits claiming he was defamed by articles published by Esquire magazine about his family's Iowa dairy farm. U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams ruled Tuesday in favor of reporter Ryan Lizza and Esquire publisher Hearst Magazines in a...
California Dems Propose Tax Hike for Big Businesses, Cuts for Smaller Ones
Democrats in the California Senate on Wednesday said they want to raise taxes on some of the largest corporations so they can cut taxes for nearly every other business. But the proposal was met with swift opposition from the business community and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom — highlighting the likely...