AP-NORC Poll: Most Say Voting Vital Despite Dour US Outlook

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From his home in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, Graeme Dean says there’s plenty that’s disheartening about the state of the country and politics these days. At the center of one of this year’s most competitive U.S. Senate races, he’s on the receiving end of a constant barrage of vitriolic advertising that makes it easy to focus on what’s going wrong.  But the 40-year-old English teacher has no intention of disengaging from the democratic process. In fact, he believes that the first national election since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol is “more significant” than in years past.  “This couldmore

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US Justice Department Seeks End of Review of Documents Seized From Trump Home 

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The U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal appeals court Friday to end a special third-party review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s home in Florida, arguing that a district court should not have appointed a “special master” in the case.  In a petition to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Justice Department prosecutors argued that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon exceeded her authority when she paused a criminal investigation to allow the special master to review more than 11,000 seized records.  “It follows that the district court erred in requiring the government to submit anymore

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Congressional January 6 Panel Wrapping Up Case Against Trump

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The congressional panel investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 of last year is wrapping up its public hearings Thursday, pledging to present new evidence to show the scope of former president Donald Trump’s connection to the violence that day as he tried to upend his 2020 election defeat and stay in power for another four years. The House of Representatives Select Committee’s hearing is expected to be its first without live testimony from new witnesses. But the panel’s chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said the nine-member committee plans to reveal “significant information that we’ve notmore

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Pressure Grows for Congressional Action on US-Saudi Relationship  

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The Biden administration and U.S. lawmakers are pushing this week for longtime ally Saudi Arabia to face consequences for agreeing to reduce oil production. OPEC+, which includes Saudi Arabia, the 12 other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and 10 other oil-exporting nations, announced last week that it would cut its oil production target by 2 million barrels a day, despite U.S. objections. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the decision was unanimous and based on economic considerations. Some members of Congress are calling for an end to arms sales to Saudi Arabia. U.S. President Joemore

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Here’s What to Expect From Final January 6 Panel Hearing

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The congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol is set to hold what will likely be its final public hearing on Thursday, with members pledging new revelations about former President Donald Trump’s role in the events that led up to the attack. The televised hearing, House of Representatives committee members say, will be sweeping and thematic, offering a broad overview of the panel’s findings to date while airing recently unearthed evidence tying Trump and his associates to the far-right groups that plotted the riot. “We’re going to be going through really some of what we’vemore

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US Justice Department to Monitor Midterms, Avoid Appearance of Partisanship

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Carrying on a long-established tradition, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) plans to deploy teams of federal observers around the country on Election Day next month while requiring the FBI to receive high-level approval for politically sensitive investigations that might call into question the integrity of the election. At stake in the Nov. 8 congressional races is not only control of Congress but also the legitimacy of U.S. elections — fallout from former President Donald Trump’s attempt to undo the outcome of the 2020 presidential vote. Many Americans are questioning the credibility of elections. At the same time, new laws passedmore

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Bullet-Proof Glass, Guards: US Election Offices Tighten Security for Nov. 8 Midterms

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When voters in Jefferson County, Colorado, cast their ballots in the Nov. 8 midterm election, they will see security guards stationed outside the busiest polling centers. At an election office in Flagstaff, Arizona, voters will encounter bulletproof glass and need to press a buzzer to enter. In Tallahassee, Florida, election workers will count ballots in a building that has been newly toughened with walls made of the super-strong fiber Kevlar. Spurred by a deluge of threats and intimidating behavior by conspiracy theorists and others upset over former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat, some election officials across the United Statesmore

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Proud Boys Member Pleads Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy in Capitol Riot 

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A North Carolina man pleaded guilty Thursday of plotting with other members of the far-right Proud Boys to violently stop the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election, making him the first member of the extremist group to plead guilty to a seditious conspiracy charge.  Jeremy Joseph Bertino, 43, has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation of the role that Proud Boys leaders played in the mob’s attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, a federal prosecutor said.  Bertino’s cooperation could increase the pressure on other Proud Boys charged in the siege, including former national chairmanmore

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Supreme Court Takes Up Key Voting Rights Case From Alabama

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The Supreme Court is taking up an Alabama redistricting case that could have far-reaching effects on minority voting power across the United States.  The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday in the latest high-court showdown over the federal Voting Rights Act, lawsuits seeking to force Alabama to create a second Black majority congressional district. About 27% of Alabamians are Black, but they form a majority in just one of the state’s seven congressional districts.  The court’s conservatives, in a 5-4 vote in February, blocked a lower court ruling that would have required a second Black majority district in time for themore

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