Breaking News

US, South Korean militaries wrap up drill early, a day after North Korea’s missile barrage

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The U.S. and South Korean militaries wrapped up their annual drill six days earlier than initially scheduled on Friday in a conciliatory gesture toward North Korea, though the North said the step isn't enough to persuade it to return to talks. U.S. President Donald Trump had earlier abruptly ordered the Pentagon to "substantially reduce" the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise just before it began Monday. Trump cited what he described as a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea's refusal to support him over the war in Iran. South ...

Vance campaigns at the Ohio steel plant where his grandfather worked

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) — Vice President JD Vance returned to his hometown on Friday to campaign for Republican candidates at the steel plant where his grandfather worked and portray the Democratic Party his Papaw once supported as unrecognizable today. Vance has highlighted his Rust Belt roots while trying to boost GOP candidates ahead of the November midterm elections. He has focused on promoting the Trump administration's economic policies and efforts to try to expand U.S. manufacturing. As he took the stage at the Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works facility, known as Armco Steel ...

ICE wants our emails

When a government agency comes to an internet service provider demanding information about Americans because of what they have said on social media, the provider should discard the demand, close the door or hang up the phone. The government is not entitled to rummage through the political opinions, associations, criticisms and angry rhetoric of anyone merely because a government official finds those opinions offensive, threatening to an agency's reputation or inconvenient to its mission. Recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has dramatically expanded its monitoring of social ...

Those who build and the politicians who take

There's an old saying: Those who can, do; those who can't, teach. A similar idea underscores the debate over wealth taxes in California and elsewhere: Those who can, build companies. Those who can't, devise ways for the government to take shares in what others have built. This new version might sound unfair until you listen to Rep. Ro Khanna's (D-Calif.) pitch for an allegedly onetime, 5% wealth tax on California billionaires, tied to November's vote on Proposition 40. Space constraints prevent us from surveying all that's wrong with wealth taxes here. But as a reminder, they raise ...

Columbus joins lawsuit against Trump administration

The city of Columbus has joined a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration policy conditioning anti-terrorism funding on changes to local election administration. The Trump administration wants to impose new proof of citizenship requirements, broader post-election audits, and a shift to hand-marked paper ballots. Those changes align with provisions in the Save America Act and the Make Elections Great Again Act — White House priorities that have so far stalled out in Congress. If states and local governments don’t comply with the administration’s demands, the Department of ...

RoundUp

Federal agents seize devices from ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell in sexual misconduct probe, AP source says WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agents have seized electronic devices from former Rep. Eric Swalwell and searched his Washington home as part of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by the ex-Democratic congressman from California. That's according to a person familiar with the matter. Swalwell's devices were seized at the San Francisco airport on Saturday and federal agents searched his home a day later. A message seeking comment was left Thursday with an attorney for ...