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Most HBCU bomb threats may be coming from one juvenile, FBI official tells Congress
By: Ariana Figueroa - March 17, 2022
WASHINGTON — A top FBI official told members of a U.S. House panel on Thursday that the agency believes a single juvenile is behind most of the bomb threats made to more than 30 historically black colleges and universities. Ryan Young, executive assistant director of the Intelligence Branch at the FBI, said that the bomb […]
U.S. Senate backs shift to permanent daylight saving time
By: Ariana Figueroa - March 15, 2022
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate with little debate on Tuesday unanimously supported a permanent change to daylight saving time, several days after Americans once again went through the hated “spring forward” ritual of changing their clocks. If the bill, the Sunshine Protection Act, clears the House, it would mean most states would stay on daylight saving […]
Pressure ramps up to halt Trump-era policy that expels migrants at the border
By: Ariana Figueroa - March 14, 2022
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats and immigration advocates are pushing the White House to end a controversial Trump-era immigration policy enacted during the pandemic that allowed U.S. officials to expel migrants and asylum seekers at the border. “I continue to be disappointed, deeply disappointed, in the administration’s response,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, […]
Congress hates changing the clocks just like everyone else
By: Ariana Figueroa - March 11, 2022
WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats in Congress can agree on sleep, or more precisely, the inconvenience of losing or gaining an hour of it each year thanks to going on and off daylight saving time. “I believe that any justifications for springing forward and falling back are either outdated or are outweighed by the serious […]
U.S. House condemns bomb threats made against HBCUs
By: Ariana Figueroa - March 9, 2022
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Tuesday passed a resolution condemning the weeks-long chain of bomb threats made to historically Black colleges and universities. The resolution, sponsored by North Carolina Democratic Rep. Alma Adams, is in response to the more than 30 bomb threats made at dozens of HBCUs, with an uptick throughout Black History Month in […]
White House allows Ukrainian nationals to stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation
By: Ariana Figueroa - March 5, 2022
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is granting temporary protected status to shield Ukrainian nationals living in the United States from deportation, following pressure from members of Congress. “Russia’s premeditated and unprovoked attack on Ukraine has resulted in an ongoing war, senseless violence, and Ukrainians forced to seek refuge in other countries,” DHS […]
U.S. House panel hears from DHS about problems with ‘remain in Mexico’ immigration policy
By: Ariana Figueroa - March 3, 2022
WASHINGTON — U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials told House members on Wednesday that there are major problems with a Trump-era immigration policy that federal courts are forcing the agency to follow. One of the Department of Homeland Security officials, Blas Nuñez-Neto, said that the court-ordered Migrant Protection Protocols is a flawed policy program and […]
Biden in State of the Union urges ‘unmistakable’ support for democracy in Ukraine
By: Ariana Figueroa and Jennifer Shutt - March 2, 2022
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden used his first State of the Union address on Tuesday night to reassert America as a leading global voice for democracy and condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for starting an unprovoked war in Ukraine. “Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson – when dictators do not pay a price for […]
Before any U.S. troops are sent to Ukraine, some in Congress want a say
By: Ariana Figueroa and Jennifer Shutt - February 23, 2022
WASHINGTON — U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, a Democrat, and Warren Davidson of Ohio, a Republican, are leading a broad, bipartisan coalition of nearly 50 lawmakers urging the president to not send U.S. troops into Ukraine, or declare war, before receiving authorization from Congress. Among them are two Virginia Republicans: U.S. Reps. Ben Cline […]
Biden warns of U.S. energy price spikes if Russia invades Ukraine
By: Jacob Fischler and Ariana Figueroa - February 16, 2022
WASHINGTON — American service members will not deploy to Ukraine in the event of a “distinctly possible” Russian invasion, but strong economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies could reverberate and prompt energy price spikes, President Joe Biden said in a live address from the White House Tuesday. Biden urged Russian President […]
HBCU leaders decry waves of bomb threats as federal investigators probe origin
By: Ariana Figueroa - February 9, 2022
WASHINGTON — Hours before the Southern Poverty Law Center held a virtual panel Tuesday about recent bomb threats made to dozens of historically Black colleges, yet another bomb threat was reported — this one to Spelman College, a historically Black institution in Georgia. “This was a racist attack that aims to not only disrupt the start of Black History Month, […]
Biden says answer to gun violence ‘is not to defund the police’
By: Ariana Figueroa - February 3, 2022
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland traveled Thursday to New York City, where two police officers were killed in a recent shooting, as the administration unveiled a new initiative to combat gun violence. A senior administration official told reporters that the White House is focusing on ghost guns, which are homemade guns that […]