Laws
Top elections official urges quick action on mail-in voting

By Steve Leblanc 3 minutes ago
BOSTON (AP) — With current no-excuse mail-in voting laws set to expire at the end of the month, state lawmakers need to hurry up and take action to extend...

FILE - In this March 25, 2020, file photo semi-automatic handguns are displayed at shop in New Castle, Pa. The number of people stopped from buying guns though the U.S. background check system hit an all-time high of more than 300,000 last year amid a surge of firearm sales, according to new records obtained by the group Everytown for Gun Safety. The FBI numbers provided to The Associated Press show the background checks blocked nearly twice as many gun sales in 2020 as in the year before. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)
Background checks blocked a record high 300,000 gun sales

By Lindsay Whitehurst 2 hrs ago

Editorial Roundup: Ohio

By The Associated Press Jun. 21, 2021 09:00 AM EDT
Cleveland Plain Dealer. June 20, 2021. Editorial: Fairer Ohio redistricting does not include arming one party at taxpayer expense ...

Illinois governor signs voter access plan that moves primary

Jun. 20, 2021 03:23 PM EDT
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois’ primary election will be moved from March to June next year under a voter access expansion recently signed into law by Gov. J.B....

FILE - This photo from Tuesday Dec. 1, 2020, shows a nurse during a protest strike over safe staffing issues at Montefiore Hospital in New Rochelle, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation, Friday June 18, 2021, requiring general hospitals in the state to seek input from nurses and other staff in creating staffing plans that are to include specific guidelines on how many patients each nurse is assigned. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
New York law gives nurses a voice in hospital staffing plans

Jun. 19, 2021 02:36 PM EDT

Beto O'Rourke speaks to Texas Organizing Project volunteers preparing to canvass a neighborhood in West Dallas Wednesday, June 9, 2021. The former congressman and senatorial candidate is driving an effort to gather voter support to stop Texas' SB7 voting legislation. As politicians from Austin to Washington battle over how to run elections, many voters are disconnected from the fight. While both sides have a passionate base of voters intensely dialed in on the issue, a disengaged middle is baffled at the attention. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Voting debate roils Washington but leaves many voters cold

By Nicholas Riccardi Jun. 19, 2021 12:14 AM EDT

Nicole Golden, a spokesperson for Moms Demand Action, speaks to members of the media during a protest in front of the Texas Governor's Mansion, Thursday, June 17, 2021, in Austin, Texas, after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill Wednesday that would allow Texans who are 21 years old or older to carry handguns without a permit. The permit-less carry measure will go into effect Sept. 1. (Ana Ramirez/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Texas joins list of states dropping permit rules for guns

By Lindsay Whitehurst And Jim Vertuno Jun. 17, 2021 03:05 PM EDT

Giuliani gets first shot at excluding materials from raids

By Larry Neumeister Jun. 16, 2021 04:33 PM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — Rudolph Giuliani and his lawyers will get to designate which materials seized from him will be reviewed by a court-appointed expert reviewer to...

New law extends some Massachusetts pandemic-era policies

By Steve Leblanc Jun. 16, 2021 03:49 PM EDT
BOSTON (AP) — Some pandemic-era policies that had expired on Tuesday — such as allowing restaurants to offer take-out cocktails — were quickly extended...

Panel delays funding requests due to law that sets limits

By James Macpherson Jun. 16, 2021 02:07 PM EDT
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A commission that reviews emergency spending requests said Wednesday that it would not approve the allocation of millions of federal...

Alan Hostetter speaks during a pro-Trump election integrity rally he organized at the Orange County Registrar of Voters offices in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Nov. 9, 2020. A former California police chief and five other men have been indicted on conspiracy charges in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents made public Thursday, June 10, 2021. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP)
Capitol rioter used charity to promote violence, feds say

By Michael Kunzelman Jun. 16, 2021 01:50 PM EDT

Colorado Governor Jared Polis makes a point during a news conference on the state's response to the spread of the coronavirus Thursday, May 20, 2021, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado health care, prescription drug bills are now laws

Jun. 16, 2021 01:15 PM EDT

Editorial Roundup: U.S.

By The Associated Press Jun. 16, 2021 12:16 PM EDT
Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: June 15 The Guardian on U.S. President Joe Biden,...

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signs a copy of a bill limiting the duration of local public health orders during a ceremony Tuesday, June 15, 2021 outside the state Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo. Parson signed a couple dozen copies of the legislation and provided them to lawmakers and others who had supported the measure, including representatives of the restaurant industry. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb)
New Missouri law limits length of public health restrictions

By David A. Lieb Jun. 15, 2021 11:02 AM EDT

WVa Bar Foundation Fellows being honored this month

Jun. 15, 2021 04:00 AM EDT
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The West Virginia Bar Foundation will honor the 2020 and 2021 fellows classes this month. The new fellows include...

Chief brand and communications officer of IOC Craig Spence speaks during an online press briefing for the presentation of the version three of Tokyo 2020 Playbook in Tokyo, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. (Behrouz Mehri/Pool Photo via AP)
Athlete warning: Follow the rules at Tokyo Olympics, or else

By Stephen Wade Jun. 14, 2021 09:38 PM EDT

FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2020, file photo, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, attends a hearing of the Pennsylvania State Senate Majority Policy Committee in Gettysburg, Pa. With Pennsylvania's wide-open races for governor and U.S. Senate taking shape, Republican candidates with strong ties to Donald Trump are running and considered strong contenders for the party's nominations, a powerful sign of the former president's enduring popularity in the GOP. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
Pennsylvania Republicans eye referendums to get past vetoes

By Marc Levy Jun. 14, 2021 11:00 AM EDT

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2020 photo, Baltimore Police Academy cadets listen to an instructor during an on the field class session learning to direct traffic, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020, in Baltimore. As rising murder rates gain attention in U.S. cities, Republicans have ramped up misleading attacks by casting Democrats as anti-police. It's a message they believe helped them stave off greater Democratic gains and one with renewed potency particularly in cities that cut police department budgets amid calls to overhaul policing last year. It's not clear whether the GOP strategy, with roots back to President Nixon's law-and-order message, will be a success for a party that has little support in American cities. But Republicans hope to stem their decline in suburbs with by attacking Democrats' on domestic safety. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
GOP ramps up misleading attack on Democrats' policing policy

By Thomas Beaumont Jun. 13, 2021 08:59 AM EDT

FILE - In this June 3, 2021 file photo California Gov. Gavin Newsom listens to questions during a news conference in San Francisco. Most of California's coronavirus rules governing public gatherings will disappear on Tuesday, June 15, 2021, after Newsom signed an executive order Friday afternoon that heralds the end of the pandemic's hold on much of public life for the nation's most populous state. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
California governor signs orders to roll back virus rules

By Adam Beam Jun. 11, 2021 07:04 PM EDT

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2020 file photo, a group gathers as boxes filled with petition signatures are delivered by Unlock Michigan to the Michigan Department of State Bureau of Elections in Lansing, Mich. The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday, June 11, 2021, unanimously ordered the state elections board to certify a veto-proof initiative that would let Republican legislators wipe from the books a law Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used to issue sweeping pandemic orders. (Rod Sanford/Detroit News via AP, File)
State board ordered to OK bill to end emergency powers law

By David Eggert Jun. 11, 2021 01:39 PM EDT