When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in late August 2005, it took Congress just a few days to approve $10.5 billion in federal disaster aid at President George W. Bush’s request. Lawmakers cleared another $51.8 billion less than two weeks later.

There certainly were questions about what the state of Louisiana had — or hadn’t — ...Read more

Donald Trump had barely finished his inauguration speech when the first lawsuit challenging the new administration was filed in court.

Expect legal efforts to thwart the Trump agenda to be a common occurrence.

The maiden lawsuit took aim at the administration’s high-profile effort to take an endoscope to the national bureaucracy in the name ...Read more

The Trump administration has pressed the pause button on the U.S.’s vital biomedical research engine, the National Institutes for Health. Grant reviews, travel and hiring appear to be on indefinite hold.

Without any concrete guidance about the reasoning or length of the freeze, America’s best scientific minds are left to figure out the ...Read more

We strongly agree with Gov. Hochul’s goal to prevent students in grades K-12 from using smartphones in schools. “Every student will be required to disconnect from their devices during school hours, bell to bell,” quoth the governor, adding: “Our kids will finally be freed from the endless disruptions of social media and all the mental ...Read more

The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools have been battling over a new collective bargaining agreement for nine months, a spectacle that has taken the focus off what actually happens in schools every day and placed the spotlight on the adults haggling over money.

Lost in this conversation is the plight of parents and kids, many of...Read more

As the protests that broke out against mass killings in Gaza last year were met with brutal police repression, our team at Women for Weapons Trade Transparency took notice.

Our work — which focuses on open records requests and investigative journalism of the police, military and weapons industry — once again began to take on a deeply ...Read more

TikTok went dark in the United States for a little while, but is now back online here thanks to a stay of execution from President Donald Trump. The newly inaugurated president seems to be working toward some sort of a deal to help TikTok comply with federal rules prohibiting foreign agents from owning and controlling social media platforms in ...Read more

Congress is often criticized for being “out of touch” with the American public. One biting critique is that Congress just doesn’t “look like” the constituents they represent. Its members are overwhelmingly more male, white, educated, and older than the general U.S. population.

And while this holds true for most of Congress, there is ...Read more

On New Year’s Day, Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger reportedly blew himself up in a Tesla Cybertruck in an apparent suicide outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. Despite having a successful career as a Green Beret and being the father of a baby born just last year, Livelsberger reportedly suffered from severe post-traumatic ...Read more

It’s hell on Earth for the City of Angels. Human lives have been lost, along with those of countless other animals. Thousands of homes have been reduced to ash. And hundreds of thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate.

Firefighters are still battling to contain the inferno, but fire hydrants are running dry. Yet, even in the face ...Read more

India is proud of its diaspora. People of Indian extraction tend to earn well over the average wage in most countries, and often fit seamlessly and unobtrusively into local power structures.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a point of cultivating Indians abroad and sometimes gifts foreign leaders a bit of his star power for their own ...Read more

Mexico has experienced Donald Trump’s inauguration as if it were a political earthquake.

Every conversation in the media, business circles and the political world since Tuesday has focused on guessing the potential damage of Trump’s new diktats. “Here comes the wolf!” cried one Mexican newspaper on its cover, with a picture of the U.S. ...Read more

The unprecedented firestorm that has devastated so much of Southern California will eventually wind down, possibly with the help of much-needed rain. But emergency and public works personnel may not have much time to rest: Any rain that follows the fires will bring a heightened risk of mudslides and debris flows that will test the limits of the ...Read more

Over his seven years on the federal bench, James C. Ho has acquired a reputation as one of the most conservative members of a notably conservative court, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

So it's proper to take heed of Ho's position on a temporarily blocked issue that Donald Trump has lately placed on the front burner: Birthright ...Read more

Even before the terrible wildfires in Los Angeles County have been quelled, the dead mourned and evacuees sheltered, California leaders are taking steps to accelerate rebuilding. It’s natural to want to restore what was lost in such a tragedy as quickly as possible. But obscuring the true costs will only exacerbate future climate-fueled ...Read more

Free trade is in trouble. That’s hardly startling news when the U.S. has an avowed protectionist in the White House, but the problem runs deeper than it may at first appear.

Start with the distinction between trade in goods and trade in services. When a U.S. manufacturer sells tractors overseas, that’s goods. When a U.S. software firm ...Read more

Donald Trump has already issued a slew of dramatic proclamations, but it isn’t yet clear how many will come to fruition. In foreign policy, at least, the message is crystal clear, even if the impact isn’t yet.

That message is: Do what I demand or face the consequences. Trump has demonstrated that he intends to threaten his way to his ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Former Vice President Kamala Harris took a wise step toward potentially running for governor in her first action after returning to California.

She visited wildfire victims, volunteers and firefighters in Aldadena and helped distribute free meals to people burned out of their homes.

That doesn't mean she's running for ...Read more

If you buy into stereotypes and myths, the climate in Southern California is splendid and the people are laid back.

Lies.

The conditions are harsh, with crazy winds and parched terrain cooking up one calamity after another, and anyone who isn't on edge is either in denial, sedated or a renter.

Until Jan. 7, when fires began to destroy ...Read more