EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin reduces construction timelines for Tijuana River sewage projects affecting San Diego by roughly 12 years through U.S.-Mexico collaboration. ... Read full Story
President Trump on Friday said he was not considering strikes within Venezuela following reports his administration had identified potential military targets within the country. Trump was asked aboard Air Force One while en route to Florida about those reports and whether he had made up his mind about potential strikes. “No. It’s not true,” Trump... ... Read full Story
President Trump showed off his renovations of the White House's Lincoln Bathroom on Friday, calling out the room’s previous art deco style as "inappropriate." “I renovated the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House. It was renovated in the 1940s in an art deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era,” Trump... ... Read full Story
The House of Representatives is being shut for another week as Speaker Mike Johnson keeps pressure on Senate Democrats to end the government shutdown. ... Read full Story
A liberal Maryland Supreme Court justice is in the hot seat over a politically charged Halloween display on his lawn that an expert said casts doubt on his ability to rule impartially. ... Read full Story
Foreign charities funneled nearly $2 billion into U.S. climate and political groups, raising concerns about democracy and election influence from overseas. ... Read full Story
Trump and Xi Jinping avoided discussing Taiwan during their recent meeting, despite escalating military tensions and China's increased pressure on the island. ... Read full Story
The White House cast doubt on media reports suggesting President Donald Trump's administration is poised to strike military targets in Venezuela imminently. ... Read full Story
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed by President Trump, praised two prosecutors removed from the case of a Jan. 6, 2021, rioter, saying they had “upheld the highest standards of professionalism.” “In my view, both Mr. Valdivia and Mr. White did a truly excellent job in this case,” Nichols said during a Thursday... ... Read full Story
The White House said Friday it is resuming public tours of the building in December with an "updated route" after they were paused over the summer ahead of construction of President Trump's ballroom. First lady Melania Trump's office said public tours would restart Dec. 2 with "an updated route offering guests the opportunity to experience... ... Read full Story
Nearly 590,000 bottles of blood pressure drugs have been recalled over concerns that they may contain a potentially carcinogenic chemical that exceeds the “acceptable intake limit.” ... Read full Story
Former Vice President Kamala Harris said the voting age should be decreased to 16, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed back against the notion. ... Read full Story
Questions about the age and fitness for office of certain lawmakers are spurring conversations about whether Congress, as a body, is getting too old. ... Read full Story
Ticket sales for the Kennedy Center have continued to plummet in the months since President Trump took over its operations. Tens of thousands of seats have been left empty at the three main performance venues, according to The Washington Post. About 43 percent of tickets remain unsold according to the Post’s daily analysis of the... ... Read full Story
House Speaker Mike Johnson distanced himself from demands to get rid of the filibuster, warning it could backfire if Democrats took back Senate control. ... Read full Story
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg distances himself from Trump conviction on 34 felony counts while campaigning for re-election as Manhattan's top prosecutor. ... Read full Story
Republican group creates Halloween costumes mocking Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones over recent scandals and controversial statements. ... Read full Story
NASA and Lockheed Martin debuted their first test run of a low-volume supersonic jet that’s expected to allow air passengers to travel faster than the speed of sound. The X-59 aircraft soared Tuesday from Lockheed Martin’s facility in Palmdale, Calif., to NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Kern County, Calif. The plane, after departing, makes... ... Read full Story
The New York Times published a project Friday outlining what its editorial board argued is an alarming shift toward authoritarianism by President Trump during the first 10 months of his second administration. "The clearest sign that a democracy has died is that a leader and his party make it impossible for their opponents to win... ... Read full Story
"Telling stories with affection and noodging, [comedian Sarah] Silverman has always been encouraged by her family, who embraced rather than ostracized her for revealing family secrets on the way to reaping howls of laughter." — Thelma Adams, The Boston Globe, 19 May 2025
Did you know?
In ancient Greece, citizens whose power or influence threatened the stability of the state could be exiled by a practice involving voters writing that person's name down on a potsherd—a fragment of earthenware or pottery. Those receiving enough votes would then be subject to temporary exile from the state. Ostracize comes from the Greek verb ostrakízein (itself from the noun óstrakon meaning "potsherd"), used in 5th century Athens for the action of banishing someone by way of such a vote. Someone ostracized today is not exiled, but instead is excluded from a group by the agreement of the group's members.