National

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday took a step forward on a bipartisan bill meant to stop the government from shutting down in just five days, while the House sought to push ahead with a conflicting measure backed only by Republicans. The Senate voted 77-19 to begin debate on a measu…

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — California Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed into law a first-in-the-nation state excise tax on sales of firearms and ammunition, aimed at raising a projected $160 million annually to prevent gun violence in schools and elsewhere. The California excise tax, due to go i…

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Hollywood’s writers union said its members could return to work on Wednesday while they decide whether to approve a three-year deal that provides pay raises, protections around use of artificial intelligence and other gains. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) leadershi…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. President Joe Biden and one of his top aides warned on Monday that a federal government shutdown could cause widespread suffering, including a rapid loss of food benefits for nearly 7 million low-income women and children. Biden told a meeting on Historically Black Colle…

(Reuters) — The anti-affirmative action activist behind the successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge to race-conscious college admissions policies is trying to use a Civil War-era law designed to protect formerly enslaved Black people from racial bias to dismantle American corporate diversity progra…

(Reuters) — Thomas Conway, international president of the United Steelworkers (USW) union that represents 850,000 North American steel, paper, health, education and oil workers, has died at the age of 71, the USW said on Monday. Conway joined the union in 1978 at a Bethlehem Steel plant in northwes…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — President Joe Biden met Pacific island leaders for a second White House summit in just over a year on Monday, part of a charm offensive aimed at curbing inroads by China into a region Washington considers strategically crucial. Before welcoming the island leaders, gathered un…

(Reuters) — A U.S. appeals court on Monday gave the Biden administration until Nov. 8 to hold an expanded sale of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico, the latest development in a legal fight over federal protection of an endangered species of whale. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court…

(Reuters) — he dramatic increase in migrants crossing the U.S. border from Mexico has pushed the city of El Paso, Texas, to “a breaking point,” with more than 2,000 people per day seeking asylum, exceeding shelter capacity and straining resources, its mayor said on Saturday. “The …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. House of Representatives’ Rules Committee on Saturday voted, 9-2, to tee up four appropriations bills for debate on the full House floor, the latest move in Republicans’ last-ditch bid to prevent government shutdowns after a Sept. 30 deadline. The committ…