SACRAMENTO — California voters will decide in November whether 17-year-olds should be allowed to vote in primaries or special elections if they will turn 18 by the date of the general election. The California Assembly approved a proposed Constitutional amendment on Friday by a vote of 54-8. Voters must still...
Doubts Persist for Dem Voters About Female Nominee in 2020
PLYMOUTH, N.H. — In a perfect world, Susan Stepp, a 73-year-old retiree, would be voting vote for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in New Hampshire's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday, she says. But that won't be happening. “I am not sure a woman is the best candidate to go up against Trump,”...
Senate Rejects Witnesses in Trump Trial, Ensuring Acquittal
WASHINGTON — The Senate rejected the idea of summoning witnesses for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial late Friday, all but ensuring his acquittal. But senators considered pushing off final voting on his fate to next week. The vote on allowing new witnesses was defeated 51-49 on a near party-line vote....
High-Profile Housing Bill SB 50 Fails to Pass State Senate
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers have failed to pass the most ambitious proposal yet to combat a growing housing crisis in the nation's most populous state, voting down legislation twice in two days that would have overridden local zoning laws to let developers to build small apartment buildings in neighborhoods reserved...
Early Voting Means 2020 Primary Is Already Here for Millions
SACRAMENTO — The Iowa caucuses are more than a week away, but millions of Americans are already free to vote. Early voting in the crush of Super Tuesday states that hold primaries on March 3 amounts to a parallel campaign for the Democratic nomination. While much of the focus is...
Buttigieg-Warren Clash on Campaign Trail Spills Into Debate
LOS ANGELES — The long-festering feud between Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg erupted Thursday night in a high-stakes debate that tested the strength of the Democratic Party's shrinking pool of presidential contenders just six weeks before primary voting begins. Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has emerged as...
House Sets Vote on $1.4 Trillion Federal Spending Bill
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House is voting Tuesday on a $1.4 trillion government-wide spending package with an unusually large load of unrelated provisions on the must-do legislation. The package, some 2,313 pages long, was unveiled Monday as lawmakers prepared to wrap up reams of unfinished work against a backdrop of...
Israeli Parliament Starts Dissolving Itself for 3rd Election
JERUSALEM — The Israeli parliament began voting to dissolve itself on Wednesday and pave the path to an unprecedented third election within a year. The preliminary vote passed without objections. Barring a nearly unfathomable about-face, three more measures are expected to pass and call a new election for March 2,...
Padilla on Census, Voter Fraud, and His Future
Secretary of State Alex Padilla is a busy man. Not only is he responsible for running a statewide election in less than 90 days, he is also leading California's census count effort. Padilla, in the middle of his second term as secretary of state, recently visited Fresno, chairing a day-long...
Michael Bloomberg Launches Democratic Presidential Bid
NEW YORK — Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the world’s richest men, has formally launched a Democratic bid for president. Ending weeks of speculation, the 77-year-old former Republican announced his candidacy Sunday in a written statement posted on a campaign website describing himself as...