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Grant cancellations 'based solely' on politics: filing

{beacon} Energy & Environment Energy & Environment The Big Story Grant cancellations 'based solely' on politics: filing Federal green grants canceled last year were selected “solely” based on a state’s political affiliation, the Trump administration said in a recent court

Why Trump's new tariffs are less likely to lose a legal battle

President Trump’s new global tariffs based on forced-labor violations have already drawn a lawsuit and criticism from American allies, but experts say the legal basis may make them harder to strike down than previous tariffs. Trump’s previous “liberation day" tariffs under the

Panetta on Iran war: US 'in deep trouble'

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the United States is in “deep trouble” with the Iran war, comparing it to the U.S.’s drawn-out conflict in Vietnam. Panetta, who also led the CIA during the Obama administration, told CNN in an interview that "history tells us that

Carney: Canada ready to respond if new Trump tariffs enacted

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday during a press conference that Canada is prepared to respond to President Trump’s threat of 50 percent tariffs on Canadian goods if intensified negotiations for a comprehensive trade agreement fall through. “We’re ready because

UK House Speaker touts stability amid political churn

U.K. House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle landed in Washington this week, arriving just as the United Kingdom cycled through yet another prime minister. "We're overachieving on prime ministers," he said during an interview at the British ambassador’s residence in

Paramount Skydance agrees to hold off on Warner Bros. merger

Paramount Skydance said Friday that it has agreed to delay the company’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery amid a pending lawsuit from 12 state attorneys general to block the merger. The company and the attorneys general said in a court filing that both sides

Whitmer endorses Stevens in Michigan race

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) made a surprise, last-minute endorsement for Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) over progressive Abdul El-Sayed in the open Michigan Senate race on Friday — highlighting Democratic angst over the possibility of a far-left victory in the Aug. 4

Platner recruiter: Reddit posts 'should've been a red line'

Morris Katz, the Democratic strategist who helped recruit Graham Platner to run for the U.S. Senate in Maine, reflected on the string of controversies that led up to Platner’s decision to exit the race. In a podcast interview with The New York Times’s Ezra Klein released

Trump touts US nuclear reactors hitting new milestone

President Trump said Friday that four new nuclear power plants had hit a key milestone recently, a win for a vital energy source his administration has promoted. Flanked by CEOs and administration officials, Trump said in the Oval Office that four companies had met his

California rejected almost 150K mail-in primary ballots

California rejected nearly 150,000 mail-in ballots during its June primary, the highest total in recent election cycles, as a surge in late-postmarked ballots sparked concerns about changes to U.S. Postal Service processing. According to data from the California secretary of

Republican War Hawks Urge Trump to Finish the Job in Iran

Republicans are urging the president to sidestep negotiations with Tehran and instead pound Iran even harder. Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker told The Hill Thursday that he encouraged the president to continue hitting the country through multiple

Education Department removes antidiscrimination rule

The Education Department said Thursday that it is rescinding a long-standing policy allowing statistical disparities to serve as evidence of discrimination in schools during civil rights investigations. The policy, which took place immediately, eliminated guidance dating back

Trump’s new tariffs hit with lawsuit

President Trump’s new tariffs were hit with a legal challenge Friday from two small businesses that are represented by part of the legal team that toppled Trump’s earlier tariffs at the Supreme Court. The new surcharge, between 10 percent and 12.5 percent on goods imported

Alaska Removes Citizens From Voter Rolls Just Before Midterms

Alaska’s effort to appease President Trump’s claims that noncitizens are voting has ended up punishing U.S. citizens. The Alaska Beacon reported Thursday that the state removed 3,048 people from its active voter list, including many citizens who were accidentally flagged by the

Cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce expands to 9 states

Federal health officials have linked cyclospora outbreaks in four additional states to the same iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico that has sickened thousands of people in the Midwest. The new states are Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. They join Michigan,

US exceeds measles cases in all of 2025 by July 2026

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) tally of 2026 measles cases has officially surpassed the annual total of last year, with more then 2,300 cases reported from across most of the country. As of July 23, the CDC has confirmed 2,318 new measles cases in 2026,

DNC panel picks South Carolina as first primary state

South Carolina is expected to be the first state in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary contest after the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) rules and bylaws committee voted Friday to approve it as the initial battleground. The committee's recommendation will now go to

You can’t ignore Google Zero anymore

The web and Google once had a deal: Google collects data and indexes webpages and in exchange sends oceans of traffic to websites. The deal wasn't perfect and certainly made Google more money than it made the websites, but it worked for a long time. Now, however, the deal seems

RFK Jr. Now Responsible for 35-Year Record High in Measles

Measles cases in the U.S. have surpassed last year’s totals to reach a new 35-year high, and we’re only in July. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that there have been 2,318 measles cases in 2026 so far, more than the 2,289 cases reported in 2025

The White House correspondents' dinner, Take 2

🚀 Plus: Elon Musk says he ‘got carried away’ during stint in politics {beacon} Happy Friday! This is the stretch when Senate staffers longingly stare out their windows at the empty House that has already left for recess. (Editor's note: LeBron James to Philly! How great