US Justice Department Files Emergency Motion Against Texas Restrictive Abortion Law

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The U.S. Justice Department has filed an emergency motion with a federal judge asking him to block the southwestern state of Texas from enforcing a new law that bans nearly all abortions in the state.   In a 45-page motion filed late Tuesday with a federal district court, the Justice Department argued that the new law, commonly known as Senate Bill 8, was drafted “to prevent women from exercising their constitutional rights” to obtain an abortion.  The emergency motion is the second legal action the Biden administration has taken against Texas over the new law, after filing a lawsuit last week citing the samemore

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California Voters Reject Attempt to Remove Gov Newsom in Recall Election

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Voters in the western U.S. state of California have rejected an effort to remove Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom from office.   Nearly 70% of voters overwhelmingly voted “no” in ending Newsom’s tenure early, with just more than 30% voting “yes,” according to figures released shortly after polls closed in the large state late Tuesday night.   The Associated Press, CNN and NBC News are all projecting the recall effort has failed. Speaking to reporters early Wednesday morning as the results showed him prevailing, Newsom said he was humbled and grateful to the millions and millions of Californians that exercised their fundamental right to vote.” WATCH: California election Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, youmore

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Biden Pushes $3.5 Trillion Climate Change Solution 

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U.S. President Joe Biden says extreme weather caused by climate change is putting America in a “code red” situation. He’s pushing two massive bills in Congress, totaling in the trillions of dollars, to reverse the damage. From Washington, VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell looks at what’s at stake.  Produced by: Jesusemen Oni  …

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Biden Pitches Spending Plan as Key to Fight Climate Change

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President Joe Biden tried to advance his domestic spending plans in Colorado on Tuesday by warning about the dangers of climate change while highlighting how his clean-energy proposals would also create well-paying jobs.The trip to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Flatirons Campus outside Denver capped the president’s two-day swing to the West, and it offered Biden the chance to continue linking the need to pass his spending package to the urgent threat posed by climate change.”Here’s the good news: Something that is caused by humans can be solved by humans,” Biden said. He deemed the need for a clean-energy futuremore

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New Book: Top US Military Leader Moved to Thwart Possible Overseas Attack

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The top U.S. military leader, fearful that former President Donald Trump could “go rogue” in the final weeks of his White House tenure, acted unilaterally to assure China that the U.S. would not launch an attack during Trump’s last days in office, according to a new book.  In two secret phone calls, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, assured his counterpart, Chinese General Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, that the United States would not attack, according to the account in “Peril,” a book about the last days of Trump’s presidency, by longtime Washingtonmore

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California Voters to Decide Fate of Governor Gavin Newsom in Recall Election

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Voters in the western U.S. state of California are heading to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to remove Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom in a recall election.   Newsom was joined by U.S. President Joe Biden late Monday in a final campaign rally in the southern city of Long Beach to urge Democrats to turn out in the polls and reject the recall.       “The eyes of the nation are on California,” President Biden told the crowd, “because the decision you’re going to make isn’t just going to have a huge impact on California, it’s going to reverberate aroundmore

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Biden Comes to California to Help Newsom Fight off Recall

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President Joe Biden is providing last-minute help Monday to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is only the fourth governor in U.S. history and the second in California to face a recall election. The only other time a recall election for a California governor was held, in 2003, voters removed Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and replaced him with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. Voting ends Tuesday in the race that could oust Newsom, a first-term Democrat, and it’s being watched ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, when control of Congress and more than half of governorships are in play. “We can show the rest of the nation that wemore

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Out West, Biden Points to Wildfires to Push for $3.5 Trillion Rebuild

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President Joe Biden on Monday used his first Western swing since taking office to hold out the wildfires burning across the region as an argument for his $3.5 trillion rebuilding plans, calling year-round fires and other extreme weather a climate change reality the nation can no longer ignore. “Even some of my less believing friends are all of a sudden having an altar call,” Biden said of those who have sought to minimize the risks posed by climate change. “They’re seeing the Lord.”  With stops in Idaho and California, Biden sought to boost support for his big rebuilding plans, saying everymore

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In Historic First, Woman of Color Expected to Be Next Mayor of Boston

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The four front-runners in the race for mayor of Boston are all women of color, a remarkable turn of events for a city that has only elected white men to that office since its inception in 1822. On Tuesday, voters will choose the top two candidates from a field of eight, but polling indicates that only four candidates stand a chance at advancing — each of whom is a woman of color. The two winners will face off in the official mayoral election on November 2. Leading the field with 31% of the vote, FILE – Boston mayoral candidate Michelle Wu wavesmore

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Out West, Biden Points to Wildfires to Push for Climate Change Spending 

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President Joe Biden pointed to wildfires burning throughout the West to argue for his $3.5 trillion spending plan, calling year-round fires and other extreme weather a climate change reality the nation can no longer ignore. Biden spoke Monday during a briefing in Boise, Idaho, while visiting the National Interagency Fire Center, which coordinates the government’s response to wildfires.  Millions of acres of land in several Western states have burned this year, he noted. “The reality is we have a global warming problem, a serious global warming problem, and it’s consequential and what’s going to happen is, things are not going to gomore

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Man with Weapons Arrested Near US Capitol 

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U.S. Capitol Police said they arrested a California man early Monday near the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington and that multiple knives, a bayonet and a machete were in his truck. Officers on patrol said that around midnight Sunday they noticed the truck, with a swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on it. Instead of a license plate, police said the truck had a picture of an American flag. It is illegal to carry a bayonet and machete in Washington. The arrested man, Donald Craighead, 44, of Oceanside, California, said he was “on patrol,” police said. Craighead was charged withmore

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Analysis: Is Biden Summoning ‘Strategic Patience’ With North Korea?

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As the stalemate between the United States and North Korea persists, some experts are wondering whether the Biden administration is returning to the Obama-era policy of strategic patience.Ken Gause, director of the Adversary Analytics Program at CNA, thinks the U.S. could “by default” end up in strategic patience, which he described as a “kind of status quo and which is the comfort zone for the United States.”Strategic patience refers to the Obama administration’s lack of action after a deal to freeze and disable the Yongbyon reactor collapsed in 2012.Gause added, “After that fell through, they really didn’t try to go backmore

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Newsom, GOP Rivals Seek Votes in Recall’s Final Weekend

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Democratic allies of California Governor Gavin Newsom continued to express confidence Saturday in his chances of beating back a recall but warned his supporters to keep urging people to vote as they seek a decisive win, while Republicans said the contest is far from settled.  “We don’t need to just win by a little, we need to win by a lot. We need to send a message: Hands off our democracy, hands off our California,” said April Verrett, president of the SEIU Local 2015, as she rallied union members who have been among Newsom’s biggest supporters.  Newsom joined the Oakland rallymore

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Aid Programs Reduced Hunger in US in 2020, but Racial Disparities Worsened 

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A huge increase in federal food aid kept the number of U.S. households considered “food insecure” from rising during 2020, despite the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that more than one in 10 U.S. households was short of food at some point last year, and that racial and regional disparities in hunger increased despite the surge in federal aid.Now, however, with the pandemic surging back throughout the country, the assistance programs that prevented an untold number of American families from facing food shortages last year are beginning tomore

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Students, Beware: That Free Curbside Futon Might Carry Critters 

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With college students back on campus this school year, insect extermination company Terminix ranked the most bedbug-infested cities in the United States.Bedbugs spread by hitching rides on luggage, backpacks and clothing, and can crawl through cracks in the walls, making common spaces of dorm living extremely vulnerable to infestations.”Bedbugs go where people go, so they can be virtually anywhere,” said Rick Cooper, senior director of bedbug services at Terminix.”Bedbugs move from infested structures, whether that be hotels, airports, schools or college campuses,” he said. “They can tag along on someone’s clothes or backpack.”Terminix based its rankings on the number of requestsmore

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White House Asks Trump Military Academy Board Appointees to Resign

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The White House said on Wednesday it had asked 18 Trump administration appointees to resign from military academy boards, saying President Joe Biden would require such officials to be “aligned with the values of this administration.”   The 18 — six each on the Board of Visitors to the Air Force Academy, the Military Academy and the Naval Academy — were asked to resign, the White House said. If they did not resign their positions, they were to be terminated at 6 p.m., the White House said. Those asked to step down include Kellyanne Conway, White House counselor under Donald Trump, and Sean Spicer, a White House spokesperson under themore

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Food, Tradition Help Homesick Students Stay Connected

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At first, Khadija Ghanizada had a tough time adjusting to the United States.  She was 17 when she first came to America on a full scholarship in 2017 to attend Emma Willard School in rural upstate New York, far from any metropolis. That was tough for Ghanizada, who came from Kabul, Afghanistan’s largest city, populated by nearly 5 million people.  She missed the busy street life.”Slowly, day by day, I started to make friends and adjust to American culture, food and the people around me. I watched American teen TV shows to learn about my peers and what they likemore

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‘Varsity Blues’ Trial Promises Fresh Insights in Old Scandal

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The first trial in the “Operation Varsity Blues” college admissions bribery scandal will begin this week, with the potential to shed light on investigators’ tactics and brighten the spotlight on a secretive school selection process many have long complained is rigged to favor the rich.Jury selection is beginning Wednesday in federal court in Boston in the case against two parents — former casino executive Gamal Abdelaziz and former Staples and Gap Inc. executive John Wilson — who are accused of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to help get their kids into the University of Southern California by falsely presentingmore

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Texas Governor Signs New Republican Voting Restrictions into Law

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Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Tuesday an elections overhaul that adds more voting restrictions in the booming state. Democrats had spent months protesting what they say are efforts to weaken minority turnout and preserve the Republican Party’s eroding dominance in the state. Abbott signed the sweeping changes during a ceremony in the East Texas city of Tyler, where the surrounding county went for former President Donald Trump by a more than 2-to-1 margin last year. But it was far closer in Texas overall, with Trump carrying the state by 5 1/2 percentage points, the thinnest margin of victorymore

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US Climate Envoy Kerry Gets Cold Shoulder in China

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Analysts are portraying this week’s visit to China by U.S. presidential envoy John Kerry as a diplomatic embarrassment, with Chinese leaders giving no ground on Kerry’s appeal for cooperation on climate change and offering him only video meetings with senior officials.“The Taliban got a better reception” when a delegation from the Afghan insurgent group met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on July 28, noted Anders Corr, a longtime China observer and publisher of the Journal of Political Risk.The chilly treatment of Kerry reflects how much an increasingly assertive China’s approach to Washington has changed in just amore

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Tulane University Evacuates All Students Amid Power Outages

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Tulane University began evacuating students to Houston early Tuesday and is set to close for two weeks after Hurricane Ida damaged New Orleans’ power grid. Students were required to be off campus by 5 p.m. as buses evacuated those who were on campus. The university said students would remain in Houston, with food and lodging provided by the university, until they could arrange their own flights home. “Classes will resume online only beginning September 13 through Wednesday, October 6, to give the city time to repair and reinstate power and other critical services,” the university said in a statement. More than 1 millionmore

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Texas Six-week Abortion Ban Takes Effect

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A Texas ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy took effect early Wednesday morning after the U.S. Supreme Court did not act on an emergency request by abortion rights groups to block the law enabling the ban. Barring a later ruling by the court, its inaction by midnight on the groups’ request for an injunction will allow the ban litigation continues in the groups’ lawsuit challenging its constitutionality. Abortion rights groups say 85%-90% of abortions in Texas are obtained after six weeks of pregnancy, meaning the law would most likely force many clinics to close. Such a ban has never been permitted in any state since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade,more

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