Jimmy Carter turns 99 at home with Rosalynn and other family

ATLANTA — Jimmy Carter has always been a man of discipline and habit. But the former president broke routine Sunday, putting off his practice of quietly watching church services online to instead celebrate his 99th birthday with his wife, Rosalynn, and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Plains. The gathering took place in the same one-story structure...

Read More

Gaming out Matt Gaetz’s bid to oust Kevin McCarthy

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has a big decision to make. In the run-up to preventing a government shutdown, any questions about what the Democrats would do in the event of a vote to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker were easily batted aside as too theoretical to entertain. “We haven’t given any thought to how to handle a hypothetical motion to vacate, because we are...

Read More

Police chief who led raid of small Kansas newspaper has been suspended

The police chief who led a highly criticized raid of a small Kansas newspaper has been suspended, the mayor confirmed to The Associated Press on Saturday. Marion Mayor Dave Mayfield in a text said he suspended Chief Gideon Cody on Thursday. He declined to discuss his decision further and did not say whether Cody was still being paid. Voice messages and emails from the AP...

Read More

Four votes, three possible senators: A wild California campaign year lies ahead

Californians have been represented by Sen. Dianne Feinstein for more than three decades. A suddenly scrambled Senate race could give them three senators in the space of a year. Feinstein’s death has triggered a bewildering cascade of electoral consequences, infusing uncertainty into an epochal Senate contest that was already poised to dominate California’s election cycle. Congress...

Read More

'It is a surrender': Why McCarthy reversed with his survival uncertain

When he walked into the Capitol on Saturday, Speaker Kevin McCarthy knew exactly what he'd do to stave off a shutdown: Call up a bill that abandoned the border policy and spending cuts he’d preached for weeks. McCarthy's move marked an abrupt shift after spending most of the year trying to placate all corners of his party — including a dozen-plus hardliners who have made...

Read More

Judge blocks 2 provisions in North Carolina's new abortion law

RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal judge on Saturday blocked two portions of North Carolina's new abortion law from taking effect while a lawsuit continues. But nearly all of the restrictions approved by the legislature this year, including a near-ban after 12 weeks of pregnancy, aren't being specifically challenged and remain intact. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles issued an...

Read More

Federal court temporarily blocks race-based grant program

A federal appeals court on Saturday temporarily blocked a grant program for Black women-owned businesses. American Alliance for Equal Rights, a nonprofit backed by conservative legal activist Edward Blum, sued the Atlanta-based Fearless Fund in August, alleging that the venture capital fund’s grant program violated the 1866 Civil Rights Act’s “guarantee of race neutrality”...

Read More