Oil, gas drilling in the Gulf exempted from Endangered Species Act

The Trump administration on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists’ lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran. Critics said the move by the government’s Endangered Species Committee could doom a rare

Archives IG says human error to blame for release of Sherrill’s military records

Washington — In a finding that puts to rest months of partisan suspicion, the inspector general for the National Archives and Records Administration concluded that the improper release of New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s largely unredacted military records during last year’s governor’s race was the result of human error, not political design.  While the disclosure

Judge temporarily blocks construction of Trump’s White House ballroom

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom to replace the White House’s East Wing. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that a legal challenge brought by a preservation group that sued to block President Trump’s construction project was likely to succeed on the merits, because “no statute” the

Judge rules Trump cutting off funding for NPR and PBS is unconstitutional

Washington — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that parts of President Trump’s executive order stripping National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service of federal funding violated the First Amendment by seeking to punish the two news outlets for speech he dislikes. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss permanently blocked the Trump administration from enforcing two provisions

Supreme Court rules against Colorado ban on conversion therapy

Washington — The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled in favor of a Colorado counselor who challenged a state law that bans “conversion therapy” for minors, ruling that lower courts failed to apply “sufficiently rigorous First Amendment scrutiny” in the case.  The high court ruled 8-1 that Colorado’s law, when applied to talk therapy provided by