Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear knew his odds of success were stacked against him when he vetoed GOP bills dealing with abortion, Medicaid and diversity initiatives.

Once floated as the heir to Donald Trump’s GOP, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is used to getting his way in Tallahassee.

Opposition to the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer is growing across the country.

Delaware lawmakers are putting aside protests from big investors and approving fast-tracked legislation that backers say will protect its status as the world's corporate capital.

An appeals court has allowed the Trump administration to stop approving new refugees for entry into the U.S. as a lawsuit plays out over the president’s executive order halting the nation’s refugee admissions system.

Wisconsin’s upcoming Supreme Court is just entering its final stretch and it’s already breaking records as the most expensive judicial election in the nation’s history.

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to halt a ruling ordering the rehiring of thousands of federal workers let go in mass firings across several agencies.

President Donald Trump has signed into law legislation funding the government through the end of September.

A group backed by Elon Musk is running ads targeting Republican lawmakers in several states over their support of a federal drug pricing program.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has rescinded two Biden-era memos that had state agencies consider social and environmental justice factors when making decisions concerning critical national infrastructure work.

Most of the 80,000 federal workers responsible for researching diseases, inspecting food and administering Medicare and Medicaid under the auspices of the Health and Human Services Department were emailed an offer to leave their job for as much as a $25,000 payment.

Three tribal nations and five Native American students say in a lawsuit that the Trump administration has failed its legal obligations to tribes when it cut jobs at Bureau of Indian Education schools.

President Donald Trump is ordering changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that would disqualify workers of nonprofit groups deemed to have engaged in “improper” activities.

The Small Business Administration said it will relocate six of its regional offices in so-called “sanctuary cities,” part of a broader Trump administration effort to crack down on cities that it deems have immigrant-friendly policies.

The Central Intelligence Agency is laying off some recently hired officers as President Donald Trump's efforts to downsize and reshape the federal government reverberate through the intelligence community.

A federal judge has ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump acted illegally when he fired a member of an independent labor agency, and the judge ordered that she be allowed to remain on the job.

The directive comes as some state agencies have downsized their office spaces after the pandemic forced many employees to work remotely.

An appeals court has removed the head of a federal watchdog agency in the latest twist in a legal fight over Republican President Donald Trump’s authority to fire the special counsel.

When Fargo voters approved a unique local election system in 2018, their goal was to choose candidates with broader support to lead North Dakota’s largest city.

Mississippi’s first Black lawmaker of the 20th century died Tuesday.

The Supreme Court has made it harder for environmental regulators to limit water pollution, ruling for San Francisco in a case about the discharge of raw sewage that sometimes occurs during heavy rains.

Essays and early short stories by “To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper Lee will be published this fall.

A bill that would strip gender identity protections from Iowa’s civil rights code has received final legislative approval and now goes to the governor.

A federal judge has criticized the Justice Department’s evolving position that a presidential pardon for a Kentucky man who stormed the U.S. Capitol also covers his conviction for illegally possessing guns at his home.

The Supreme Court seems likely to side with an Ohio woman who claims she suffered sex discrimination in her employment because she is straight.

The Supreme Court has found that people who score early court wins in civil rights cases won’t necessarily be able to recover their legal fees.

The Trump administration is investigating delays and cost overruns in California’s high-speed rail project.

Abortion rights groups fear punishment for women who have abortions and governments tracking pregnancies.

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell has announced that he won’t seek reelection next year, ending a decadeslong tenure as a power broker who championed conservative causes but ultimately ceded ground to the fierce GOP populism of President Donald Trump.

Protesters against President Donald Trump and his policies organized demonstrations in all 50 states for the second time in two weeks.

Past efforts to allow more religion in public schools have been hamstrung by legal challenges. But those on the religious right feel empowered by recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

The executive director of a federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances says it is “impossible” for the U.S. territory to pay the $8.5 billion bondholders are demanding in a bankruptcy case involving the island’s power company.

States are absorbing substantial increases in health care costs for the poor, as they realize that the people remaining on Medicaid rolls after the COVID-19 pandemic are sicker than anticipated and costlier to care for.

House Republicans have missed another deadline to produce a massive budget package of tax cuts and slashed spending.

Nurses caring for military veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs comprise the largest group of federal employees.

Demonstrators have gathered in cities across the U.S. to protest the Trump administration’s early actions.

The U.S. Air Force has removed training courses for service members that included historical videos of its storied Black Tuskegee Airmen and Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs — female World War II pilots.

North Dakota’s highest court has ruled that the state’s overturned abortion ban will not be enforced during an appeal of a judge’s ruling that struck down the law in September.

Democrats in the Minnesota House who have boycotted daily sessions are using tactics that lawmakers elsewhere have tried dozens of times in seeking to thwart their opponents.

Robert F.

Donald Trump spent Saturday evening in Washington celebrating with family, supporters and political allies ahead of his second inauguration.

The national debt is slated to rise by $23.9 trillion over the next decade, a sum that does not include trillions of dollars in additional tax cuts being championed by President-elect Donald Trump.

In January 1981, Jimmy Carter nodded politely toward Ronald Reagan at the Republican's inauguration.

The 89th Texas Legislature is kicking off with a $194.6 billion budget for 2026-27, marking a slight decrease from previous years.

Here’s a rundown of how legislation moves through the Capitol, the ways lawmakers operate and who the power players are.

Vice President-elect JD Vance says people responsible for the violence during the Capitol riot “obviously” should not be pardoned.

The 89th Texas Legislature kicks off on January 14 with 181 lawmakers and over 2,400 bills ready to shape the future of the Lone Star State.

Puerto Rico’s new natural resources secretary has shelved an investigation into allegations of illegal construction in a protected area on the island’s southwest coast.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is pressing Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, to answer additional questions about his past actions and statements before next Tuesday’s confirmation hearing.

Vice President Kamala Harris plans to close out her term with an around-the-world trip.

Some lawmakers emotionally recalled the violence.

The FBI is releasing new information about a suspect who planted pipe bombs four years ago outside the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees near the Capitol.

Jenniffer González Colón has been sworn in as Puerto Rico’s new governor as the island held for a normally ebullient ceremony overshadowed by widespread anger over a blackout that hit the U.S. territory days ago.

Capitol buildings are almost always an imposing presence.

The motion escalates a tense standoff between Paxton and a bipartisan Texas House committee, which had subpoenaed Roberson to testify at the Capitol on Friday.

Congress has until midnight Friday to come up with a way to fund the government, or federal agencies will shutter.

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense is expected to face his first public questioning from U.S. senators on Jan. 14.

Congressional leaders have unveiled legislation that will keep the federal government funded through March 14 and provide more than $100 billion in emergency aid to help states and local communities recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton and other natural disasters.

The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot even though the bureau did prepare for the possibility of violence on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a watchdog report.

North Dakota regulators have approved permits for underground carbon dioxide storage for a massive pipeline proposed for the Midwest.

A person accused of accosting U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace in a Capitol Office building has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge.

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Wisconsin parents who wanted to challenge a school district’s guidance for supporting transgender students.

Elon Musk was the sole funder of a super PAC that focused on advertising likening Donald Trump’s stance on abortion to that of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Democrat Adam Gray has won election to a U.S. House seat representing California’s Central Valley, defeating Republican Rep. John Duarte in the final House contest to be determined this year.

President-elect Donald Trump has dialed in to what was described as a “love fest” with Senate Republicans.

New Jersey interim Sen. George Helmy, a Democrat appointed when Bob Menendez resigned after a federal corruption conviction, is stepping down this weekend.

A federal judge who was nominated by Donald Trump says it would be “beyond frustrating and disappointing” if the president-elect hands out mass pardons to rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol after the 2020 election.

House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled support for a Republican effort to ban Democrat Sarah McBride — the first transgender person to be elected to Congress — from using women’s restrooms in the Capitol once she’s sworn into office next year.

A federal judge in Texas has blocked a new rule from the Biden administration that would have expanded access to overtime pay to millions more salaried workers across the U.S. In a Friday ruling, U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan sided with the state of Texas and a group of business organizations that argued the Labor Department exceeded its authority when it finalized a rule earlier this year to significantly expand federal overtime eligibility for salaried workers.

Utility regulators in North Dakota have approved part of a carbon dioxide pipeline that would span five Midwestern states.

Georgia House Republicans will keep their leadership team for the next two years.

The barrage of ads focused on trans kids playing youth sports motivated the Republican base as Democrats struggled to respond.

Some of the Donald Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago are celebrating the president-elect's electoral victory.

The closest West Virginia voters could come to having their say at the ballot box on whether abortion should be legal in the post-Roe v. Wade era might be in this year’s governor’s race.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a law aimed at preventing gas prices from spiking at the pump.

Police say that former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were assaulted on a Manhattan street as they went for an evening walk.

New court papers in Donald Trump’s federal 2020 election interference case pull back the curtain on his conversations with family members, former Vice President Mike Pence and other close advisers in the weeks leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Congressional leaders have a deal on a short-term spending bill that will fund federal agencies for about three months.

Police on Friday arrested a 15-year old boy on charges related to threats on social media that prompted an increased police presence at multiple schools in the nation's capital.

Rodríguez Ramos faces an uphill battle, as Democrats are the minority party with 64 seats in the 150-member Texas House.

Arizona’s Civil War-era ban on nearly all abortions is officially repealed.

In an effort to prevent another riot like the one on Jan. 6, 2021, the Homeland Security secretary has designated the congressional count and certification of the presidential election as a national special security event.

The U.S. is divided when it comes to state and federal marijuana policy, but recent political developments could move the country toward greater acceptance of cannabis.

Donald Trump is persisting in saying he won the 2020 election and he's taking no responsibility for what unfolded at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The race for control of Congress is as close as ever.

Three gun shops that sold dozens of firearms to a man who trafficked the weapons in and around Washington, D.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has upheld the state’s rejection of signature petitions in favor putting an abortion rights initiative on the November ballot.

A trial is scheduled to start in June 2025 for a California man charged with trying to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home in a suburb of Washington, D.

With the ongoing civil trial against the parents of the accused Santa Fe gunman, questions about safe firearm storage laws in Texas have resurfaced. In 2018, Dimitrios Pagourtzis fatally shot eight students and two teachers, sparking a debate on parental responsibility and gun safety. Texas law mandates that firearms must be stored securely to prevent access by children. Learn more about the legal requirements and what steps you can take to ensure your firearms are safely stored.

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos is expected to plead guilty to multiple counts in his federal fraud case, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that an informational pamphlet for voters can refer to a fetus as an “unborn human being.”.

A proposed amendment to New York's constitution meant to protect abortion access is a crucial part of Democrats' plans to drive voter turnout in the state this fall and potentially flip vital congressional districts.

Voters in Arizona will get to decide in November whether to add the right to an abortion up to about 24 weeks to the state constitution.

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has sued a group of advertisers, alleging that a “massive advertiser boycott” deprived the company of billions of dollars in revenue and violated antitrust laws.

The South Dakota Supreme Court has reversed a judge's dismissal of a lawsuit seeking to remove an abortion rights initiative from the November ballot.

Five months after holding its presidential primaries, Washington state is looking further down the ticket to select candidates to compete for federal and state offices in November.

A court filing shows that the signatures collected by volunteers for an Arkansas abortion-rights measure would fall short of the number needed to qualify for the ballot if they're the only ones counted.

Puerto Rico’s governor has signed a law that prohibits discrimination against people wearing Afros, twists, braids and other hairstyles in the racially diverse U.S. territory.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has ordered the state to initially count signatures that were collected by volunteers in favor of putting an abortion rights measure on the ballot.

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos has lost a bid to get rid of part of the criminal case against him as he heads toward trial on charges that include defrauding campaign donors.