DC BUREAU
Our Washington, D.C., bureau reports on congressional delegations and key Supreme Court and administrative decisions that affect our state.
STAFF
Jane directs national coverage, managing staff and freelance reporters in the nation’s capital and assigning and editing state-specific daily and enterprise stories.
Jacob covers federal policy as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues. His coverage areas include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.
Ashley Murray covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include domestic policy and appropriations.
Jennifer covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include congressional policy, politics and legal challenges with a focus on health care, unemployment, housing and aid to families.
Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign finance.
STORIES
Workers’ COVID-19 lawsuits could be quashed under GOP push in Congress
WASHINGTON — A wrongful death lawsuit filed in connection with a Tyson meat packing facility in Iowa alleged that managers secretly took bets on how many employees would get sick from COVID-19. Tyson fired seven managers at the Waterloo pork processing plant following an independent investigation into the betting allegations and a wave of national publicity. But […]
Biden to nominate Buttigieg for transportation secretary
President-elect Joe Biden said Wednesday he will nominate former presidential primary rival Pete Buttigieg to serve in his Cabinet as secretary of transportation. “What I admire about Pete, is he’s always clear about who he is, what he believes and how he wants to bring people in, not exclude them,” Biden said at an appearance […]
Three Va. Republicans joined failed Texas lawsuit challenging presidential election result
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court on Friday turned aside a Texas lawsuit that sought to derail the presidential election results from four battleground states, despite pressure on the justices from President Donald Trump on social media. “Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections,” according to the […]
Congress set to strip Confederate names from U.S. military bases, flouting Trump veto threat
WASHINGTON—Congress this week is expected to pass a massive defense policy bill that President Donald Trump has threatened to veto because it would remove the names of Confederate generals from military bases across the South. Members of the House and Senate forged a bipartisan agreement to rename the 10 bases in the annual must-pass defense […]
Could Maryland and Virginia health care workers with jobs in D.C. lose out on initial COVID-19 vaccines?
WASHINGTON — The federal government’s plan to allocate COVID-19 vaccines to states based on population is creating a mismatch for the District of Columbia, with its small population but large share of health care workers who commute from Maryland and Virginia. Roughly 75 percent of D.C.’s more than 80,000 health care workers live in Maryland […]
New pandemic relief proposal rolled out by bipartisan group in Congress
WASHINGTON — More than a dozen U.S. House and Senate members are pushing for a bipartisan coronavirus relief package to aid struggling states and local governments and fund programs such as unemployment and rental assistance that are set to expire later this month. In a Tuesday news conference, lawmakers unveiled a four-month, $908 billion proposal […]
Immigration advocates push Biden to not just bring back DACA but expand it
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden is promising to reinstate an Obama-era program that shields deportation for some undocumented people who were brought to the United States by their parents when they were children. But immigration advocates are pushing for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to not just be reaffirmed but expanded, and written […]
Newly elected members of the U.S. House converge on Washington
WASHINGTON — They’ve won their campaigns. Now, newly elected members of the U.S. House of Representatives are spending their first days in the nation’s capital, learning how to perform their new jobs. The orientation session for those incoming House freshmen began on Thursday and stretches into next week, covering their office budgets, how to hire […]
Biden wants mask mandates nationwide: ‘We can save tens of thousands of lives’
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus response plan seeks to put a national mask mandate in place by calling on all governors to require face coverings in their states. It’s a move that public health experts say could dramatically reduce the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths. But putting wider mask laws in place would […]
The Supreme Court could strike down Obamacare. Here’s what’s at stake.
WASHINGTON — The fate of the sweeping 2010 health care law known as Obamacare is again in limbo, with the Supreme Court on Tuesday set to hear arguments over whether that statute should be overturned. States are at the heart of the case and nearly every one has made an argument about why Obamacare should […]
AP declares Joe Biden is the next president
WASHINGTON — Democrat Joe Biden’s native state of Pennsylvania on Saturday secured his victory to become the next president of the United States when The Associated Press reported he had gained enough votes there to win the electoral college. The AP called Pennsylvania for Biden at 11:25 a.m., which gave the former vice president 284 […]
Georgia voters could determine control of the U.S. Senate
WASHINGTON — Control of the U.S. Senate may depend on two runoff races in Georgia, where the outcome won’t be known until early January—opening the door to a fresh round of massive campaign spending in the Peach State. One runoff between GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock is already set. While the […]