The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points, bringing the federal funds rate to its lowest level in more than three years. The reduction lowers the federal funds rate — what banks charge each other for short-term loans — to between 3.5% and 3.75%, down from its prior range
The Trump administration is proposing to ask visitors from several dozen nations that enjoy visa-free travel to the U.S. to submit additional personal information before entering the country, including five years of their social media history, the Department of Homeland Security said in a notice this week. Citizens of 42 countries enrolled in the visa
Bekki Holzkamm has been trying to hire a lab technician at a hospital in rural North Dakota since late summer. Not one U.S. citizen has applied. West River Health Services in Hettinger, a town of about 1,000 residents in the southwestern part of the state, has four options, and none is good. The hospital could
Washington — A federal judge in California blocked the Trump administration from deploying members of the California National Guard in Los Angeles and directed it to return control of the Guard to Gov. Gavin Newsom. The decision Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer is the second in which he has ruled against the Trump
Washington — The House is poised to vote Wednesday on a $900 billion defense policy bill as both chambers race to pass it before the end of the year. Lawmakers on Sunday evening unveiled the 3,086-page compromise bill, which authorizes $8 billion more than what the Trump administration requested. “This year’s National Defense Authorization Act
Washington — A federal judge in New York has granted a request from the Justice Department to unseal more files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a brief four-page ruling on Wednesday, Judge Richard Berman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered the unsealing of grand jury
Much of national Democrats’ attention in next year’s midterms is centered on working to flip control of the U.S. House and win consequential races for governor. But some in the party have zeroed in on less talked-about elections, in presidential battlegrounds and ruby-red states around the country, that could prove less costly and have a