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Trump’s ‘dummymandering’ leaves US House remap in stalemate after Virginia vote

The U.S. Capitol on the evening of Sept. 30, 2025. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom) The race by each party to redraw U.S. House districts in their favor could be headed for a draw after Tuesday’s big win for Democrats in Virginia, though major shifts are still possible before crucial midterm elections in November. Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment that clears the path for the state’s legislature, controlled by Democrats, to redraw congressional district lines to benefit Democrats in 10 of the commonwealth’s 11 U.S. House districts.  That could net the party four new seats in Virginia, though state court cases challenging the proposal are still to be decided. Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Florida Republican who now leads the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University, said the results showed a dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump and the nation’s capital in general. President Donald Trump ...
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US Senate Dems to force votes on rising costs, immigration crackdown in marathon session

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer talks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that Democrats will use the unlimited number of amendment votes they are allowed on Republicans’ budget resolution to illustrate policy differences on cost-of-living issues and immigration activities.  “We are for reducing costs for the American people, whether it’s housing or whether it’s health care or whether it’s electric costs or whether it’s groceries or whether it’s child care,” he said. “And they are funding a rogue police force that is not even popular with the American people.” Republicans voted Tuesday  to begin debate on their budget resolution, which holds instructions that would allow the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as well as the Judiciary Committee to each write a bill that spends up to $70 billion on immigration enforcement....
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Steve Marshall, 11 GOP AGs defend citizenship lists ordered by Trump as ‘optional’ election help

A voter deposits a mail-in ballot at the drop box outside the Chester County Government Center in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Peter Hall/Pennsylvania Capital-Star) A dozen Republican state attorneys general are moving to defend President Donald Trump’s executive order on mail ballots from legal challenges mounted by Democrats. The GOP officials, led by Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, argued in multiple court filings Monday and Tuesday in response to Democratic lawsuits that the  March 31 order provides states with “optional resources” to help secure their elections and doesn’t endanger voting rights. The states “would like to access this resource so they may verify the accuracy of their own voter-registration lists. This flow of information between federal and state agencies is a common and critical feature of our federal system,” the Republican officials wrote in  a court document . The attorneys general of Alabama, Fl...
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Fed chair nominee says he will be independent of Trump, though Dems see a ‘sock puppet’

Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump's nominee for chair of the Federal Reserve, testifies during his Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 21, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, vowed Tuesday the central bank would remain “strictly independent” if he’s confirmed to the top spot, even as the president has broadcast his demand for the new Fed chair to lower interest rates. Warsh, a former Fed board governor, faced questions during his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, as the clock winds down on the term of current Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who is in Trump’s crosshairs. Trump’s criminal  probe into Powell, over a $2.5 billion renovation project at the Fed’s offices, stands in the way of Warsh’s confirmation on the closely di...
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Alabama reaches $12.2 million settlement with Roblox over parental lawsuits

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announces at a news conference on Tuesday that the state reached a settlement with Roblox, a company the operates an online gaming platform for children, for $12.2 million that will provide for more school resource officers throughout the state. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Attorney General’s Office Tuesday said it reached a $12.2 million agreement with Roblox, a company that operates an online gaming platform, to settle a series of lawsuits that alleged the company failed to implement security measures that could have prevented adults who used the site from taking advantage of children. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement that the state “stepped in where others failed to act.” “We have now established a framework that other states can and should use,” the statement said. ”Platforms that host child consumers must do their part to give parents a fighting chance to shield thei...
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Evictions fell slightly in 2025, but some areas saw upticks, report finds

Landlords filed more than 1.23 million eviction cases in the 10 states and 38 cities tracked by Princeton University's Eviction Lab. (Nevada Current file photo) Eviction filings fell in 2025 for the second straight year in the cities and states tracked in a new report — areas home to roughly a third of the country’s renters — though some of those places saw increases. Landlords filed more than 1.23 million eviction cases in the 10 states and 38 cities where data was collected by Princeton University’s Eviction Lab, a research center. That’s slightly lower than the 1.25 million in 2024.  Across those locations, the average eviction filing rate was 7.9%, which means that landlords filed roughly one eviction case for every 13 renter households in 2025. The areas of Atlanta (25%); Richmond, Virginia (24%); Charleston, South Carolina (17%); and Indianapolis (14%) had filing rates that were at least double the national average, the report said. In Atlanta, landlords filed 144,0...
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Lori Chavez-DeRemer out as secretary of the US Department of Labor

Lori Chavez-DeRemer, at the time a member of the U.S. House from Oregon, speaks to reporters on Oct. 9, 2024. (Photo by Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle) WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will step down from her post, the Trump administration announced Monday, following multiple reports alleging work misconduct including misuse of funds and more. Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican from Oregon who lost her U.S. House reelection bid in 2024, will take a role in the private sector, White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung wrote in a social media post.  “She has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives,” Cheung said.  Keith Sonderling will lead the agency as acting secretary of Labor, he added. Sonderling also worked at the Department of Labor during the first Trump administration, in the Wage and Hour Division.  ...
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