Politics Election category, Page 209

Washington — In a move applauded by President Trump’s conservative religious base, his administration Friday finalized a rule that overturns Obama-era protections for transgender people against sex discrimination in health care. The Department of Health and Human Services said it will enforce sex discrimination protections “according to the plain meaning...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — When Republicans descend on Jacksonville, Fla., to officially renominate President Trump for a second term, it will be a well-choreographed affair awash in red, white and blue and unfold amid the backdrop of a military town, a bastion of conservatism and a must-win battleground state. But the...

WASHINGTON — First lady Melania Trump delayed her move to Washington after President Trump became president to gain leverage in renegotiating her prenuptial agreement, according to a new book. The White House denounced the book after it became public Friday. Mary Jordan, author of the book “The Art of Her...

President Trump said Friday he wants “a new and updated” Republican Party platform after the Republican National Committee voted this week to carry over the 2016 document. But Trump may be stuck with the old platform, which is peppered with jeremiads about the “current administration” that were originally written about...

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court appears skeptical of arguments it should order the dismissal of the criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn despite a Justice Department bid to abandon the prosecution. Two of the three judges on the panel repeatedly signaled during arguments Friday...

MINNEAPOLIS — Key Republican lawmakers in Minnesota said Friday that they’ll block most of an ambitious effort by Democrats to remake policing in the state where George Floyd died and that they plan to approve only a limited set of police accountability measures. Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka and the...

PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey dismissed mounting concerns Thursday about the state’s alarming rise in coronavirus cases, and focused on hospitals’ capacity to care for patients rather than slowing the spread of the virus. “That’s what’s most important when there is a rise in cases,” Ducey told reporters. “Because...

SEATTLE — Following days of violent confrontations with protesters, police in Seattle have largely withdrawn from part of a neighborhood where protesters have created a festival-like scene that has President Donald Trump fuming. Trump taunted Gov. Jay Inslee and Mayor Jenny Durkan about the situation on Twitter and said the...

Former Philadelphia Deputy Mayor Nina Ahmad declared victory Thursday over her closest competitor, Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb, in a six-way Democratic primary race for Pennsylvania auditor general. As of Thursday afternoon, Ahmad led Lamb by more than 80,000 votes with all but one voting district in Pennsylvania reporting, according to...

ATLANTA — Jon Ossoff, a young Georgia media executive known for breaking fundraising records during a 2017 special election loss for a U.S. House seat, beat back a field of Democratic primary opponents to win a spot taking on Republican Sen. David Perdue in November. Ossoff received about 50.5% of...

SAN DIEGO — The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed sweeping restrictions on asylum, seeking to align a legal framework with the president’s efforts to limit immigration to the United States. The moves are only the latest in a series of measures that Trump has taken to limit asylum — this...

Pennsylvania State House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, on Wednesday announced he will resign from the General Assembly effective Monday. Turzai, an abortion opponent, strong proponent of state support for charter and religious schools and the state’s energy industry, did not say what the future holds for him beyond the...

Vice President Mike Pence will be in Buffalo Township on Friday, visiting an Oberg Industries facility. The visit will be the first stop on a nationwide “Great American Comeback Tour” by America First Policies, a conservative organization that promotes the policy agenda of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Pence will be...

As anyone who has ever heard him speak knows, President Donald Trump loves to relive 2016. He recycles old attack lines once aimed at Hillary Clinton. He recounts the drama of election night, complete with impersonations of stunned news anchors putting state after state (Pennsylvania! Wisconsin!) in the Republican’s column....

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration opposes a Democratic proposal to extend a $600 per week federal unemployment benefit approved in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said Tuesday. The $600 payment, which is in addition to normal unemployment benefits, “was the right thing to do,” Scalia said,...

WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr said that the U.S. Secret Service told Donald Trump to go to a secure part of the White House as large protests unfolded outside, contradicting the president’s account of what happened. “Things were so bad that the Secret Service recommended that the president go...

President Donald Trump is seeking to tie Joe Biden to activists’ calls to “defund the police” in an attempt to paint his likely 2020 opponent as weak on crime and vilify Democrats pushing for police reform, even though Biden hasn’t embraced the slogan. Two weeks of protests over the death...

WASHINGTON — Democrats are proposing to overhaul legal protections for police, create a national database of excessive-force episodes and ban police choke holds in legislation coming Monday in response to the deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement, according to a draft outline obtained by The Associated...

WASHINGTON — A stronger than expected jobs report could further scramble an already uncertain picture for passing a fifth and possibly final coronavirus aid bill. The positive statistics are feeding the wait-and-see approach of the White House and its GOP allies in Congress. Republicans say the numbers vindicate their decision...

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden has formally clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, setting him up for a bruising challenge to President Donald Trump that will play out against the unprecedented backdrop of a pandemic, economic collapse and civil unrest. “It was an honor to compete alongside one of the most talented...

WASHINGTON — After primaries and caucuses in 42 states and the District of Columbia, Joe Biden has won the last few delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination for president as states worked to tally a surge of mail ballots. Indiana, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island were among the seven states,...

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly said Friday he agrees with former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ criticism of the president’s hostility toward protests against police brutality. Kelly said he sides with Mattis’ view that Trump shouldn’t have threatened the use of active-duty troops to quell protests...

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration Thursday, alleging officials violated the civil rights of protesters who were forcefully removed from a park near the White House by police using chemical agents before President Donald Trump walked to a nearby church to take a photo. The...