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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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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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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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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Afghanistan Exit Pushes Congress to Repeal Presidential War Powers 

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One of the lasting legacies of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks may finally be repealed by U.S. lawmakers seeking to limit presidential war-making powers. The 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (or AUMFs) for the war on terror have been a subject of heated debate on Capitol Hill almost since they were passed. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more. Produced by:  Katherine Gypson   …

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Thousands March for Fair, Easy Access to Vote for All

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Thousands of Americans gathered Saturday in Washington to demand federal legislation to protect voting rights. Saqib Islam reports from the protest, March On for Voting Rights, which also marked the 58th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech on the National Mall.  Camera: Saqib Ul Islam           Producer: Saqib Ul Islam …

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Growing Hostility to Afghan Refugees Shows GOP Divide

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As the U.S. rushes to evacuate Americans and allies from the chaos of Afghanistan, a growing number of Republicans are questioning why the U.S. should take in Afghan citizens who worked side by side with Americans, further exacerbating divides within the party heading into next year’s midterm elections.  Little more than a week ago, as the Taliban’s stunning takeover of Afghanistan still was snapping into focus, former President Donald Trump issued a statement saying that “civilians and others who have been good to our Country … should be allowed to seek refuge.” But in more recent days, he has turned tomore

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Thousands March in US Cities for Voting Rights

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Thousands of protesters rallied in Washington and other U.S. cities on Saturday to demand protections for voting rights, aiming to pressure lawmakers to pass legislation to counter a wave of ballot restrictions in Republican-led states. Held on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic 1963 March on Washington, organizers of the “March On for Voting Rights” say the state-level moves to curb voting access disproportionately affect people of color. In Washington, protesters holding “Black Lives Matter” flags and signs calling for federal legislation marched from McPherson Square toward the final meeting point at the National Mall, where King gave his iconicmore

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Capitol Police Officer Who Shot Trump Supporter Says It Was ‘Last Resort’ 

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The U.S. Capitol Police officer who fatally shot a woman as she tried to force her way into the House of Representatives during the January 6 attack said the shooting was a “last resort” because he believed she posed a threat to members of Congress. “I tried to wait as long as I could,” police Lieutenant Michael Byrd said in an interview with “NBC Nightly News” that aired Thursday, in what were his first public remarks since the violence. FILE – This undated driver’s license photo from the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, provided to AP by the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, showsmore

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US Judge Sanctions Trump-Allied Lawyers

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A U.S. federal judge imposed financial penalties and other sanctions Wednesday against nine lawyers with ties to former U.S. President Donald Trump after ruling that their lawsuit challenging 2020 election results in the state of Michigan was a “historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.”“It is one thing to take on the charge of vindicating rights associated with an allegedly fraudulent election,” U.S. District Court judge Linda Parker wrote. “It is another to take on the charge of deceiving a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed, without regard to whether any laws ormore

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US Congressmen Visit Kabul Airport Amid Evacuation Effort

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Two U.S. congressman made a previously unannounced trip to the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Tuesday for what they said was a visit to assess the ongoing evacuation effort and to pressure U.S. President Joe Biden to extend his August 31 for withdrawing the remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan. “We conducted this visit in secret, speaking about it only after our departure, to minimize the risk and disruption to the people on the ground, and because we were there to gather information, not to grandstand,” said a joint statement from Congressman Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Congressman Peter Meijer, a Michigan Republican. The lawmakers, who served on the House Armedmore

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2 Congress Members Fly to Kabul Amid Evacuation

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Two members of Congress flew unannounced into Kabul airport in the middle of the ongoing chaotic evacuation Tuesday, stunning State Department and U.S. military personnel who had to divert resources to provide security and information to the lawmakers, U.S. officials said. Representatives Seth Moulton, a Democrat, and Peter Meijer, a Republican, flew in and out on charter aircraft and were on the ground at the Kabul airport for several hours. That led officials to complain that they could be taking seats that would have otherwise gone to other Americans or Afghans fleeing the country, but the congressmen said in a jointmore

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Plea Deal Possible for Capitol Rioter Dressed as George Washington

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Prosecutors are discussing a plea deal for a Missouri man who participated in the deadly January 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol dressed as George Washington. Isaac Yoder, a locksmith from Missouri, has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges that include violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.At a hearing Tuesday before a district judge, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Furst said discussions had begun “about a possible resolution without a trial” in Yoder’s case.The FBI said Yoder admitted to investigators in March that he entered the Capitol on January 6.Multiple photographs have been published of Yoder dressed as the firstmore

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House Advances Biden’s Social Safety Net Legislation  

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Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives advanced President Joe Biden’s legislative priorities on Tuesday, approving a $3.5 trillion social safety net budget plan.Lawmakers also agreed to hold a vote by late next month on $1 trillion in infrastructure spending to fix the country’s crumbling roads and bridges and expand broadband service.The 220-212 vote on the sizable spending measures was not the final say on the legislation, but it signaled that Democrats, who hold narrow majorities over Republicans in both the House and Senate, might be able in the coming weeks to forge approval of spending programs that Biden promisedmore

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Hochul Becomes NY’s First Female Governor as Cuomo Exits

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Kathy Hochul became the first female governor of New York at the stroke of midnight Tuesday, taking control of a state government desperate to get back to business after months of distractions over sexual harassment allegations against Andrew Cuomo.The Democrat from western New York was sworn in as governor in a brief, private ceremony in the New York State Capitol overseen by the state’s chief judge, Janet DiFiore.Afterward, she told WGRZ, a Buffalo television station, she felt “the weight of responsibility” on her shoulders.“I’ll tell New Yorkers I’m up to the task. And I’m really proud to be able tomore

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Hochul to Become NY’s First Female Governor as Cuomo Exits

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Kathy Hochul was set to become the first female governor of New York at the stroke of midnight, taking control of a state government desperate to get back to business after months of distractions over sexual harassment allegations against Andrew Cuomo. The Democrat from western New York was to be sworn in as governor in the first minutes of Tuesday in a brief, private ceremony overseen by the state’s chief judge, Janet DiFiore. Her ascent to the top job will be a history-making moment in a capital where women have only recently begun chipping away at what was long a male-dominated political culture. Cuomo wasmore

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