U.S. to allow small drones to fly over people and at night
December 30th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Small drones will be allowed to fly over people and at night in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Monday, a significant step toward their use for widespread commercial deliveries. The FAA said its long-awaited rules for the drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, will...
Defying Trump, McConnell delays vote on $2,000 checks, urges Senate to override defense veto
December 29th, 20200 WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday put off a vote on President Donald Trump’s call to boost COVID-19 relief checks and urged the Senate to override his veto of a defense bill, in a rare challenge to his fellow Republican three weeks before he vacates the White House. McConnell acted...
Trump signs COVID-19 stimulus bill, House attempts to increase payments
December 28th, 20200 FLORIDA — President Trump, who has been at his golf course while a stalemate ensued over a $2.3 trillion combined stimulus and spending package, has now signed the bill into law. The law will release $900 billion in stimulus funds as soon as possible, including those $600 stimulus checks Trump earlier wanted increased. Republicans...
Police: Nashville blast suspect died in explosion, motives still unknown
December 28th, 20200 NASHVILLE – The 63-year-old suspect in the bombing that rocked Nashville Christmas morning was killed in the blast that destroyed his motor home and damaged more than 40 businesses, authorities said on Sunday. FBI forensic experts matched DNA samples recovered from the scene to that of Anthony Q. Warner, whose home in...
Now what happens to the $892 billion COVID aid bill? Here are three options
December 25th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump’s surprise opposition to emergency coronavirus aid and annual government funding passed by Congress has left Americans and global financial markets wondering whether Washington will iron out its differences or descend into chaos in the coming days. Trump has not yet said whether he will veto the...
Republicans block $2000 stimulus check efforts by Democrats
December 24th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — On, Thursday, Democrats in the House of Representatives attempted to increase direct payments to Americans included in the stimulus bill from $600 to $2,000 per person. This was a request made by President Trump. Trump’s fellow Republicans blocked that effort. Republicans opposed the higher amount and...
Defying Congress, Trump vetoes defense bill and threatens government shutdown
December 23rd, 20200 WASHINGTON D.C. — President Trump vetoed a bipartisan defense policy bill on Wednesday and raised the prospect that the United States could face a government shutdown during a pandemic, stirring new turmoil in Washington as he headed to Florida for Christmas. Angry at his fellow Republicans in Congress, Trump sought to refashion...
Sanders called $600 COVID payments “totally inadequate”
December 21st, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Congress prepares to vote on a COVID-19 relief package late Monday, which includes direct payments to Americans struggling with the dire economic consequences of a pandemic that has killed more than 315,000 and infected more than 17.5 million. After months of stalemates on negotiations on an urgently...
As pandemic rages across the U.S., Congress scrambles to reach relief deal
December 18th, 20200 WASHINGTON D.C. — As the coronavirus pandemic roared to new record highs across the U.S., it lit a fire in the U.S. Congress, where Republicans and Democrats were scrambling to pass a new round of aid after months of partisan finger-pointing and inaction. Even as they contemplated passing a third stopgap measure to give them a few...
FDA advisory panel overwhelmingly endorses Moderna’s vaccine
December 17th, 20200 Another COVID-19 vaccine appears ready in the pipeline, as an outside panel of advisors to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) overwhelmingly endorsed Moderna’s vaccine on Thursday. The committee of outside experts makes recommendations to the FDA, which it did for Pfizer’s vaccine just last week. The FDA generally goes...
Grand jury indicts six men for Michigan governor kidnap plot
December 17th, 20200 LANSING – Six men facing charges of plotting to kidnap Governor Whitmer were indicted by a grand jury this week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan said. The men — Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta — were arrested and charged in October with conspiring...
NY nurse becomes first American to receive COVID-19 vaccine
December 14th, 20200 NEW YORK - On Monday, New York’s Sandra Lindsay, an intensive care unit nurse, who has treated some of the sickest COVID-19 cases for months, became the first person in the U.S. to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. “It didn’t feel any different from taking any other vaccine,” Lindsay said. “I feel hopeful today,...
U.S. Supreme Court swiftly ends Trump-backed Texas bid to upend election results
December 11th, 20200 WASHINGTON D.C. — On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a long-shot lawsuit filed by Texas and backed by President Trump seeking to throw out voting results in four states, dealing him a crushing setback in his quest to undo his election loss to President-elect Joe Biden. The justices in a brief order said Texas did not have...
Trump, supporters appeal to Supreme Court, as time runs out on efforts to overturn election
December 11th, 20200 LANSING — Attorneys general from four states, including Michigan, responded on Thursday to a case brought to the U.S. Supreme Court by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his colleagues from 17 other states to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election. President Trump, who lost the election to Joe Biden, has asked to intervene...
Supreme Court says American Muslims on No-Fly List for refusing to spy can sue FBI
December 10th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that American Muslims who were placed or kept on the No-Fly List in retaliation for refusing to spy on their communities may sue individual FBI agents for interfering with their freedom to practice their religion. Muhammad Tanvir originally filed the lawsuit in......
FDA scientists say Pfizer vaccine is “highly effective” as outside panel meets Thursday
December 8th, 20200 U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists have endorsed the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine ahead of a committee meeting of outside experts and the FDA's eventual use authorization, the health sciences publication STAT reports. Specifically, reviewers have said the two-dose vaccine is shown to be “highly...
U.S. Congress confronts COVID-19 aid hurdles as funding deadline looms
December 7th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bipartisan effort in Congress to deliver a long-awaited infusion of COVID-19 relief to U.S. families and businesses remained hung up on Monday due to differences over aid to state and local governments and business liability protections. A group of lawmakers from the Democratic-led House of Representatives and...
Trump’s lawyer Giuliani tests positive for COVID-19
December 6th, 20200 President Trump's top ally and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for COVID-19, while he travels the country challenging results of an election Trump lost by most accounts. News of the former New York mayor having contracted the virus came from the outgoing president himself. Trump tweeted that his lawyer had "tested...
U.S. government ordered to reinstate protections for “Dreamers”
December 5th, 20200 In a rebuke to President Trump’s administration on Friday, a judge ordered the U.S. government to reopen to first-time applicants a program that protects from deportation and grants work permits to hundreds of thousands of immigrants who live in the United States unlawfully after arriving as children. The action by U.S. District Judge......
Trump attacks his ally AG Barr over unwillingness to declare voter fraud
December 4th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — A key, longtime ally of outgoing President Trump dropped a bombshell this week, in yet another setback for Trump to convince courts and a majority of the American public that the Nov. 3 elections were rigged against him. U.S. Attorney General William Barr told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the Department of...
COVID’s second wave underscores the threats facing disabled Americans
December 1st, 20200 The second wave of COVID-19 has arrived with a vengeance. But there's hope on the horizon. Pfizer and Moderna just announced their experimental vaccines proved more than 90 percent effective in clinical trials. People in the highest risk categories — namely, healthcare workers and those with chronic illnesses and disabilities —......
Bipartisan U.S. lawmakers seek fast approval of $908 billion COVID-19 relief
December 1st, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers unveiled a $908 billion COVID-19 relief bill aimed at breaking a months-long deadlock between Democrats and Republicans over new emergency assistance for small businesses, unemployed people, airlines and other industries during the pandemic. The measure has not yet...
Republicans turn to Biden transition as Trump’s legal options dwindle
November 29th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senior U.S. Republicans said on Sunday a transition to a Joe Biden presidency looks inevitable as President Trump questioned whether the Supreme Court would even hear any of the challenges his campaign has vowed to pursue. Trump’s comments in a telephone interview with Fox News Channel came as Republican Senator......
