Politics

This Monday, Feb. 22, 2021 photo shows Latoya Gipson's house on Perry County Road 1 in Uniontown, Ala. Disadvantaged communities in America are disproportionately affected by pollution from industry or waste disposal, but their complaints have few outlets and often reach a dead end. Hundreds of discrimination claims sent to the Environmental Protection Agency's civil rights office since the mid-90s have only once resulted in a formal finding of discrimination.

Biden administration promises focus on environmental justice

February 28, 2021, 1:43pm Nation & World

When President Joe Biden made environmental protection a key element of his campaign, he promised to overhaul the federal office that investigates complaints from people in minority communities who believe they have been unfairly harmed by industrial pollution or waste disposal. Read story

FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2020, file photo Maricopa County elections officials count ballots at the Maricopa County Recorder's Office in Phoenix. Eight years after carving the heart out of a landmark voting rights law, the Supreme Court is looking at putting new limits on efforts to combat racial discrimination in voting. The justices are taking up a case about Arizona restrictions on ballot collection and another policy that penalizes voters who cast ballots in the wrong precinct.

Supreme Court could put new limits on voting rights lawsuits

February 28, 2021, 1:40pm Politics

WASHINGTON — Eight years after carving the heart out of a landmark voting rights law, the Supreme Court is looking at putting new limits on efforts to combat racial discrimination in voting. Read story

Web pages used to show information for collecting unemployment insurance in Virginia, right, and reporting fraud and identity theft in Pennsylvania, are displayed on the respective state web pages, Friday, Feb. 26, 2021, in Zelienople, Pa. Massive fraud in the nation's unemployment system is raising alarms even as President Joe Biden and Congress prepare to pour hundreds of billions more into expanded benefits for those left jobless by the coronavirus pandemic.

Fraud overwhelms pandemic-related unemployment programs

February 28, 2021, 1:10pm Nation & World

COLUMBUS, Ohio — With the floodgates set to open on another round of unemployment aid, states are being hammered with a new wave of fraud as they scramble to update security systems and block scammers who already have siphoned billions of dollars from pandemic-related jobless programs. Read story

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021 file photo, Alaska state Sen. Lora Reinbold, an Eagle River Republican, holds a copy of the Alaska Constitution during a committee hearing in Juneau, Alaska. Reinbold has been a vocal critic, along with other lawmakers, of Gov. Mike Dunleavy's disaster declarations while the Legislature was not in session. She has used her committee to amplify voices of those who question the effectiveness of masks and the usefulness of the government's emergency response. In a scathing letter that included references to her Facebook posts, Dunleavy accused Reinbold of misrepresenting the state's COVID-19 response and deceiving the public.

Some GOP state lawmakers help spread COVID-19 misinformation

February 28, 2021, 1:09pm Nation & World

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Many Republican lawmakers have criticized governors’ emergency restrictions since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. Now that most legislatures are back in session, a new type of pushback is taking root: misinformation. Read story

FILE - In this April 16, 2020, file photo work continues on a bridge on the Interstate Highway 75 project in Troy, Mich. Looking beyond the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, President Joe Biden and lawmakers are laying the groundwork for another of his top legislative priorities -- a long-sought boost to the nation's roads, bridges and other infrastructure that could meet GOP resistance to a hefty price tag.

Biden team readies wider economic package after virus relief

February 28, 2021, 1:07pm Politics

WASHINGTON — Looking beyond the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, President Joe Biden and lawmakers are laying the groundwork for another top legislative priority — a long-sought boost to the nation's roads, bridges and other infrastructure that could run into Republican resistance to a hefty price tag. Read story

Some local GOP leaders firing up base

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 file photo, Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol in Washington. A faction of local, county and state Republican officials across the country is pushing lies, misinformation and conspiracy theories online that echo those that helped inspire the violent Capitol insurrection, forcing the GOP into an internal reckoning.

February 28, 2021, 6:30am Politics

A faction of local, county and state Republican officials is pushing lies, misinformation and conspiracy theories that echo those that helped inspire the violent U.S. Capitol siege, online messaging that is spreading quickly through GOP ranks fueled by algorithms that boost extreme content. Read story

Democratic-led House makes conservation push with lands bill

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., walks to a news conference as the Democratic-led House is poised to pass a bill that enshrines protections in the nation's labor and civil rights laws for LGBTQ people, a top priority of President Joe Biden, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/J.

February 28, 2021, 6:00am Politics

WASHINGTON — The House passed legislation Friday that would create about 1.5 million acres of new wilderness and incorporate nearly 1,200 miles of waterways into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System as Democrats move to protect more public lands — with President Joe Biden’s blessing. Read story

AP sources: Feds pinpoint suspect in officer’s riot death

An honor guard carries an urn with the cremated remains of U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick down the steps of the U.S. Capitol, Feb. 3 in Washington.

February 27, 2021, 7:18pm Politics

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators probing the death of a U.S. Capitol Police officer killed in the Jan. 6 riot have zeroed in on a suspect seen on video appearing to spray a chemical substance on the officer before he later collapsed and died, two people familiar with the matter told… Read story