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As opioid overdose deaths keep rising, report urges lawmakers to develop new approaches
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers should view America’s staggering opioid crisis, including the rise of illicit fentanyl, through an “ecosystems” approach, argues a massive RAND Corporation report published Thursday. That means they .should examine the gaps and interconnections among emergency response, data collection, education, treatment, housing and law enforcement, the report advises The 600-page volume — which […]
Pentagon to halt use of firefighting foam that contains PFAS as cleanup costs mount
WASHINGTON — Battered by years of criticism from U.S. lawmakers and environmental advocates, the Department of Defense will stop purchasing PFAS-containing firefighting foam later this year and phase it out entirely in 2024. The replacement for Aqueous Film Forming Foam has yet to be determined, and advocates are frustrated it’s taken so long to halt […]
U.S. Senate panel probes how crypto mining increases energy consumption
WASHINGTON — The so-called mining for digital assets, or cryptocurrency, consumes as much electricity as some entire nations, and U.S. senators explored the issue last week in what they said was their first-ever hearing focused on the energy implications of digital currency. Crypto mining in both Nebraska and Pennsylvania was discussed in particular by the […]
GOP bill mandating federal Parents Bill of Rights passed by U.S. House committee
WASHINGTON — A national “Parents Bill of Rights” is headed for a full U.S. House vote after the House Committee on Education and the Workforce early Thursday approved the measure designed to empower parents to inspect books and other teaching materials in schools. Lawmakers on the committee debated the GOP-backed bill that would federally mandate […]
Biden in State of the Union address draws boos and shouts from a combative GOP
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden began his State of the Union address Tuesday — his first to a divided Congress — with an appeal to bipartisan priorities, but later criticized parts of the GOP agenda and got a sense of Republicans’ appetite for conflict during one combative stretch. Biden opened the 72-minute speech with an […]
Ukrainians by the thousands arrive in states, but with a time limit
WASHINGTON — As the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches this month, Ukrainians who were welcomed to the United States under a special program offering an escape from war are watching another timeline. The temporary Uniting for Ukraine program, sometimes called U4U, offers a two-year stay in the U.S., given that individuals […]
U.S. House Oversight chair’s agenda: Hunter Biden, COVID origins, classified documents
WASHINGTON — House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer on Monday previewed his priorities for this Congress, which he says will include a heavy focus on the handling of classified documents, the origins of the COVID-19 virus, and what he described as possible “influence peddling” by Hunter Biden. The Kentucky Republican addressed reporters and […]
Classified material found in the Indiana home of former VP Mike Pence
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Mike Pence is the latest top public official to have been discovered possessing classified material in his personal home, according to a letter his lawyer sent to the National Archives. A dozen documents with classified markings were discovered in Pence’s residence in Carmel, Indiana, in mid-January. The former vice president […]
U.S. House GOP takes aim at fake pills containing deadly fentanyl sold on social media
WASHINGTON — On a June 2020 morning, Amy Neville entered her son’s bedroom to wake him for an orthodontist appointment. Fourteen-year-old Alex didn’t wake up. He died of fentanyl poisoning after taking a counterfeit pill he bought from someone he met on Snapchat, Neville told GOP lawmakers Wednesday during a roundtable discussion of the role […]
U.S. House GOP backs rules plan without disclosing deals made with hard-right members
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House adopted rules for the 118th Congress on Monday, though several of the concessions Speaker Kevin McCarthy made with more conservative members of the Republican Party to secure the gavel weren’t included in the document, or publicly circulated ahead of the vote. The 55-page rules package the House voted nearly party-line […]
U.S. House GOP backs McCarthy as speaker after tense and chaotic late-night session
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House elected Kevin McCarthy speaker early Saturday after most of the chamber’s Republicans finally gathered behind him, ending a four-day stalemate that led to the most rounds of voting for a speaker since before the Civil War. The California Republican was able to clinch the gavel on the 15th ballot by […]
McCarthy flips GOP holdouts as his campaign for U.S. House speaker gathers speed
WASHINGTON — Kevin McCarthy’s campaign to become speaker of the U.S. House will stretch into at least Friday night, as the California Republican inched ahead in his struggle to unite his divided party around his candidacy and an overhaul of rules under which the chamber will operate. “We’ll come back tonight, and I believe at […]