Politics NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 Politics Wed, 15 Jul 2020 12:28:47 +0000 https://www.gpbnews.org Scott Neuman Air Force combat veteran MJ Hegar will face Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn after winning her Democratic primary in Texas, while Maine's Democratic Speaker of the House Sara Gideon has secured the right to challenge her state's vulnerable Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November. Meanwhile, Ronny Jackson, President Trump's former physician, will be the Republican nominee to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry in northern Texas. It was a primary night that also resulted in a humiliating defeat for Jeff Sessions, the former attorney general who was forced out by the president in 2018. He lost to former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, a political neophyte who nonetheless enjoyed Trump's backing (see story here ). In Texas, Hegar got the nod over Black state senator Royce West in a close race for the Democratic nomination in a state that has long been red, but that analysts say is in a state of political flux due to changing demographics. Even so, https://www.gpbnews.org/post/texas-democrat-mj-hegar-face-cornyn-maines-sara-gideon-will-challenge-collins 107198 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 10:51:00 +0000 Texas Democrat MJ Hegar To Face Cornyn; Maine's Sara Gideon Will Challenge Collins editor Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. https://www.gpbnews.org/post/news-brief-trump-addresses-race-us-covid-19-testing-goals-federal-tax-deadline 107170 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 09:34:00 +0000 News Brief: Trump Addresses Race, U.S. COVID-19 Testing Goals, Federal Tax Deadline editor Copyright 2020 WABE 90.1. To see more, visit WABE 90.1 . https://www.gpbnews.org/post/sen-kelly-loeffler-wnba-clash-over-black-lives-matter-movement 107177 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 09:34:00 +0000 Sen. Kelly Loeffler, WNBA Clash Over Black Lives Matter Movement Jeff Brady Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. https://www.gpbnews.org/post/trump-biden-approach-us-job-infrastructure-vastly-different-plans 107178 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 09:34:00 +0000 Trump, Biden Approach U.S. Job Infrastructure In Vastly Different Plans Tamara Keith Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. https://www.gpbnews.org/post/president-trump-issues-divisive-statement-race-rose-garden-address 107179 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 09:34:00 +0000 President Trump Issues Divisive Statement On Race At Rose Garden Address Jackie Northam Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. https://www.gpbnews.org/post/mike-pompeo-release-human-rights-report 107180 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 09:34:00 +0000 Mike Pompeo To Release Human Rights Report Debbie Elliott Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. https://www.gpbnews.org/post/former-attorney-general-jeff-sessions-loses-alabama-runoff-election 107181 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 09:34:00 +0000 Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions Loses Alabama Runoff Election editor Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. https://www.gpbnews.org/post/thomas-jefferson-descendant-reflects-his-ancestors-complicated-legacy 107182 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 09:34:00 +0000 Thomas Jefferson Descendant Reflects On His Ancestor's Complicated Legacy Congressional investigators are launching an inquiry into a handful of companies that landed government contracts related to COVID-19, calling the deals "suspicious" because the companies lacked experience and, in some cases, had political connections to the Trump administration. In a letter obtained by NPR, the chairman of the bipartisan Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis , Rep. James E. Clyburn, D-S.C., asked a roster of administration officials to account for how and why they selected particular companies to provide Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE. Many of the contracts were made without competition at the height of the coronavirus crisis. Seven letters also went out to individual companies asking for information related to those contracts. "The Administration awarded contracts to inexperienced suppliers," Clyburn wrote in a letter addressed to the heads of the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs. "More than 445 https://www.gpbnews.org/post/congress-investigating-contracts-tied-mask-and-ppe-shortages 107176 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 09:07:00 +0000 Congress Is Investigating Contracts Tied To Mask And PPE Shortages Jeff Brady In Atlanta today, President Trump will announce big changes to the regulations that govern one of the nation's most significant environmental laws. The aim is to speed up approval for major projects like pipelines and highways, but critics say it could sideline the concerns of poor and minority communities impacted by those projects, and discount their impact on climate change. The 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, was signed into law by President Richard Nixon. It requires federal agencies to consider the environmental effects of proposed projects before they are approved. It also gives the public and interest groups the ability to comment on those evaluations. The administration's new regulations are expected to reduce the types and number of projects that will be subject to review under the NEPA. An earlier version of the proposed rules truncated those reviews in an effort to streamline processes that can take years to complete. It also dropped a requirement https://www.gpbnews.org/post/trump-overhauls-key-environmental-law-speed-pipelines-and-other-projects 107183 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 09:00:00 +0000 Trump Overhauls Key Environmental Law To Speed Up Pipelines And Other Projects Scott Neuman Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said Tuesday that she would lift a hold on more than 1,100 senior military promotions after the Department of Defense assured her that it did not block the promotion of Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman — a key witness in the impeachment inquiry of President Trump. Duckworth, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and combat veteran, put the hold on promotions earlier this month, demanding written confirmation from Defense Secretary Mike Esper that the former National Security Council aide had been recommended for advancement to full colonel. "Donald Trump's unprecedented efforts to further politicize our military by retaliating against Lt. Col. Vindman — for doing his patriotic duty of telling the truth under oath — are unconscionable," the senator said in a statement announcing that she would lift the hold. "I'm glad the Department of Defense was finally able to set the record straight that Vindman had earned and was set to receive a promotion to https://www.gpbnews.org/post/senator-lifts-hold-military-promotions-after-assurances-impeachment-witness 107168 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 05:34:00 +0000 Senator Lifts Hold On Military Promotions After Assurances On Impeachment Witness Stephen Koranda Just weeks before his first primary to defend his congressional seat, U.S. Rep. Steve Watkins is facing multiple charges stemming from him registering to vote using the address of a UPS storefront. The charges were filed Tuesday, before the freshman Republican appeared in a debate with two GOP challengers. Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay filed multiple felony counts against Watkins: interference with law enforcement; providing false information; voting without being qualified; and unlawful advance voting. He was also charged with a misdemeanor for failing to tell the Department of Motor Vehicles about a change of address. The charges stem from a ballot Watkins cast in a local election last year. In December, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that Watkins used a UPS store address on his voter registration. The congressman listed his official residence as a UPS Store in Topeka on a change-of-address form for voter registration in August 2019. Then, he signed an application https://www.gpbnews.org/post/kansas-rep-steve-watkins-charged-felonies-over-voter-registration-ups-store 107167 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 01:44:00 +0000 Kansas Rep. Steve Watkins Charged With Felonies Over Voter Registration At UPS Store Elena Moore Updated at 4:45 a.m. ET on Wednesday Jeff Sessions has lost a bid to regain his old Alabama U.S. Senate after falling from grace as President Trump's attorney general. Sessions had been hoping for redemption after enduring months of relentless ridicule from Trump that eventually led to his resignation as the country's top lawyer. But it was not to be. Instead, Sessions conceded defeat to former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, a political neophyte, who handily beat him in the state's runoff election for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. "I leave elected office with my integrity intact," Sessions told reporters. "I hold my head high." Tuberville, 65, who was endorsed by the president in the GOP matchup — edged ahead of Sessions in Alabama's state primary in March but failed to secure a majority of the vote, setting up Tuesday's runoff. Tuberville will now face Democratic incumbent Sen. Doug Jones in November. As the race was called late Tuesday, Trump was https://www.gpbnews.org/post/jeff-sessions-loses-comeback-bid-alabama-senate-seat 107166 as https://www.gpbnews.org Wed, 15 Jul 2020 01:18:00 +0000 Jeff Sessions Loses Comeback Bid For Alabama Senate Seat Hansi Lo Wang Updated at 7:57 p.m. ET To help figure out the U.S. citizenship status of every adult living in the country, the Trump administration has been accumulating driver's license information from states including South Dakota, NPR has learned. South Dakota Public Safety Secretary Craig Price — who was appointed to President Trump's commission on law enforcement this year — signed an agreement in April to share information from driver's licenses and state ID cards with the U.S. Census Bureau, according to a copy of the memorandum of understanding the state's Department of Public Safety provided to NPR. In the past year since the Trump administration failed in its attempt to add the now-blocked citizenship question to 2020 census forms, the Census Bureau has been gathering state and federal records under directives from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross , who oversees the bureau, and an executive order Trump issued in July 2019 . In addition to allowing states to redistrict using the number of https://www.gpbnews.org/post/south-dakota-sharing-drivers-license-info-help-find-out-whos-citizen 107161 as https://www.gpbnews.org Tue, 14 Jul 2020 22:30:36 +0000 South Dakota Is Sharing Driver's License Info To Help Find Out Who's A Citizen David Welna Relations between the more than 25,000 U.S. military forces on Okinawa and that Japanese island's 1.5 million residents have long been strained over pollution, crime and overcrowding associated with the 31 U.S. military bases there. Now a new outbreak of COVID-19 cases among American service members stationed on Japan's southernmost territory is fraying things further. As of Tuesday, 100 new cases of COVID-19 have been detected in the past week at five U.S. bases on Okinawa, according to Japan's independent Kyodo News agency. Beyond those bases, where only three cases had earlier been confirmed, Okinawa has had a relatively low impact from the disease, reporting 148 infections and seven deaths. At a weekend news conference, Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki called the surge of coronavirus cases among U.S. military personnel "extremely regrettable," according to the Reuters news agency. "I can't help but have strong doubts about the U.S. military's measures to prevent infections," Reuters https://www.gpbnews.org/post/coronavirus-surge-us-military-okinawa-adds-soured-relations-there 107162 as https://www.gpbnews.org Tue, 14 Jul 2020 22:09:00 +0000 Coronavirus Surge For U.S. Military On Okinawa Adds To Soured Relations There Nina Totenberg Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is back in the hospital, this time to treat a possible infection. She spiked a fever Monday night, according to a press release from the Supreme Court, and on Tuesday underwent an endoscopic procedure to clean out a bile duct stent that was inserted in August. The procedure was done at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore after Ginsburg was first evaluated at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. According to a press release from the court's press officer, the justice is "resting comfortably and will stay in the hospital for a few days to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment." It marks the second time Ginsburg has been hospitalized recently. In May, the justice underwent nonsurgical treatment for a benign gallbladder condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and she participated in oral arguments from her hospital bed. Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. https://www.gpbnews.org/post/ruth-bader-ginsburg-hospitalized-again 107159 as https://www.gpbnews.org Tue, 14 Jul 2020 21:50:39 +0000 Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospitalized Again Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit AILSA CHANG, HOST: President Trump made some incendiary comments today about race and policing. They came during a TV interview with CBS News. He was asked why African Americans are dying at the hands of police officers, and Trump angrily dismissed the question. He said more white people are killed by police. And then he spoke at a news event which was focused on China. That's one of his top foreign policy priorities. NPR's John Ruwitch has spent a lot of time reporting about China. Hey, John. JOHN RUWITCH, BYLINE: Good afternoon. CHANG: Good afternoon. But first, we're going to go and talk to your colleague, NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Hey, Franco. FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Hey. CHANG: Hey. So the president has been under pressure, obviously, to respond to all the emotion and outrage across the country after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis. Tell us what President Trump said today. ORDOÑEZ: Well, he was asked about https://www.gpbnews.org/post/president-trump-holds-news-conference-sanctions-over-chinas-actions-hong-kong 107163 as https://www.gpbnews.org Tue, 14 Jul 2020 21:43:00 +0000 President Trump Holds News Conference On Sanctions Over China's Actions In Hong Kong Domenico Montanaro Updated at 5:45 p.m. ET President Trump dismissed outrage over police killings, saying Tuesday that "more white people" are killed by police than Black people. "So are white people!" Trump said when asked in an interview with CBS News about why so many African Americans have been killed at the hands of police. "So are white people! What a terrible question to ask." Trump added that "more white people, by the way" are killed by police than Black people. More white people may be killed by police annually, but Black Americans are killed at a far higher rate. According to a database of police shootings since 2015 compiled by the Washington Post , 1,301 Black people have been killed by the police in the past five and a half years; 2,495 white people were killed. But, importantly, African Americans, who make up a far smaller portion of the total population than whites, are killed at a rate more than twice that of whites. In another comment also sure to inflame racial tension, Trump said that https://www.gpbnews.org/post/trump-says-more-white-people-killed-police-violence-blacks 107157 as https://www.gpbnews.org Tue, 14 Jul 2020 20:58:48 +0000 Trump Downplays Police Violence, Deaths Of Black Americans Rachel Treisman Updated at 6:34 p.m. ET In a swift reversal, the Trump administration has agreed to rescind a directive that would have barred international college students from the U.S. if their colleges offered classes entirely online in the fall semester. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement rule change , released last week, would have prohibited foreign students from entering or remaining in the country to take fully online course loads. A number of colleges and universities had already announced plans to offer online-only classes because of the coronavirus pandemic. The agency's July 6 announcement was met with immediate backlash. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued the U.S. government in federal court two days later, calling the directive "arbitrary and capricious" and seeking to have it reversed and declared unlawful. Many colleges, universities, municipalities and tech companies expressed their support for the legal challenge in their own court https://www.gpbnews.org/post/ice-agrees-rescind-policy-barring-foreign-students-online-study-us 107144 as https://www.gpbnews.org Tue, 14 Jul 2020 20:47:00 +0000 ICE Agrees To Rescind Policy Barring Foreign Students From Online Study In The U.S. Cory Turner Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST: President Trump says he wants America's schools to reopen and quickly. He's undercut guidance from the CDC, calling it impractical. He's even threatened to cut funding for schools that don't reopen. And supporting this push is Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Here she is speaking last week at a meeting of the Coronavirus Task Force. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) BETSY DEVOS: Ultimately, it's not a matter of if schools should reopen. It's simply a matter of how. They must fully open, and they must be fully operational. MCCAMMON: For more on DeVos' role in this pandemic, we're joined by NPR's Cory Turner, who's been covering her since she became secretary. Hi, Cory. CORY TURNER, BYLINE: Hello. MCCAMMON: So, Cory, let's recap. How did DeVos initially respond to this pandemic? TURNER: Yeah. So back in March, she seemed largely supportive of state and local school leaders' decision to close schools. To help, she waived https://www.gpbnews.org/post/look-betsy-devos-role-during-coronavirus-pandemic 107145 as https://www.gpbnews.org Tue, 14 Jul 2020 20:03:00 +0000 A Look At Betsy DeVos' Role During The Coronavirus Pandemic