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At midterm convention, Trump pledges cash to voters if Republicans hold Congress

President Donald Trump speaks on the first day of the 2026 Republican National Convention at the American Airlines Center on Sept. 9, 2026 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump headlined the first night of the first Republican midterm convention Wednesday, seeking to rally his base ahead of the November elections and dangling a “Trump dividend” to voters if his party retains control of both congressional chambers. While the Republican National Committee’s two-day event — dubbed a “Trump-a-palooza” by party Chair Joe Gruters — aimed to bolster support for major candidates, some vulnerable Republicans were notably absent. Still, speaker after speaker, including Republican lawmakers, Cabinet members and people billed by the RNC as “everyday Americans,” filled five hours before Trump took the stage and promised, “Vote Republican and we will leave the world in our dust for generations to come.” “There’ll be nothing like it,” Trump s...
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Trump administration aims to exclude many noncitizens from the census

A Trump administration plan for overhauling the census could mean major changes for how millions in federal funding is allocated to states. (Photo courtesy U.S. Census Bureau) WASHINGTON — The Trump administration wants to overhaul the U.S. census to exclude noncitizens who don’t have a green card from the country’s next population count in 2030, according to a Wednesday notice in the Federal Register.  The document, which will officially be published Thursday, could mean major changes for how millions in federal funding is allocated to states, as well as affect the population numbers for determining the number of U.S. House members in each state. The House is made up of 435 lawmakers apportioned among congressional districts in the 50 states. The move is likely to face legal challenges, as the changes run counter to the U.S.  Constitution’s 14th Amendment that directs representatives in Congress to be appointed based on the “whole number of persons in each State,” excludi...
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The largest US school districts restrict student AI use

Students work in a classroom. The nation's two largest school districts banned AI use for most students this school year. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) The country’s two largest school districts — New York City and Los Angeles — banned most student use of artificial intelligence in classrooms for this school year as anxiety over AI’s effect on learning intensifies. The Los Angeles Unified School District announced last week that it is barring student use of generative AI on school-issued devices for the current school year. Generative AI creates new text, images or other content following a user’s instructions. During the school year, a committee will produce recommendations for use of the technology in future years. New York City Public Schools last week announced a similar but less broad approach. The district put in place a one-year moratorium on generative AI for children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.  High school students will have to compl...
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How Alabama Power became Flock’s longest-standing middleman

Flock and similar cameras can be attached to utility poles or on standalone poles with solar power. Either way, they're often contracted through Alabama Power. (Lee Hedgepeth/Inside Climate News) This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News , a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here . Wired for Profit: Fifth in a series about Alabama Power’s influence over electric rates, renewable energy, pollution and politics in the Yellowhammer State. BIRMINGHAM — Darrell Nance knows he’s being watched. We all are. Nance, a longtime resident of the city and founder of DeFlock Birmingham, can easily point out the cameras to you if you’re interested. It’s not much of a challenge. Every few blocks, it’s inevitable. Another surveillance camera, or two, or three, tucked at the top of a power pole, or two, or three, carefully recording from above. ...
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On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, States Newsroom editor remembers the heroes of Flight 93

The crash of United Flight 93 is marked by a boulder at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stonycreek Township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 26, 2026. (Photo by Tim Lambert/Pennsylvania Capital-Star) On a rural stretch of land in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, an open meadow filled with bright wildflowers, a memorial grove of trees and a giant boulder marks the spot where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001. States Newsroom’s Pennsylvania Capital-Star Editor-in-Chief Tim Lambert recently revisited the national memorial on this field — where he happened to own a piece of land that was part of more than three dozen acres that made up the crash site. “It’s always hard to come back here, but it’s always a chance to remember the sacrifices made by the passengers and crew of Flight 93 on that day,” Lambert said. “I think it’s important 25 years later to remember what they did and why they did it. They decided to act on a day that America was und...
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Trump’s trade war with Canada escalates as new tariffs launch

President Donald Trump has targeted Canadian airline manufacturer Bombardier in his trade war with Canada. In this photo, an Air Canada Express Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft departs Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. (Photo by Getty Images/Yassine Bahammou) WASHINGTON — Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on American goods kicked in Tuesday, escalating a trade war with one of the largest U.S. trading partners that President Donald Trump continued to antagonize over the holiday weekend. Trump posted an AI-generated cartoon image of himself Sunday evening in which he is depicted as a hockey player striking Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is shown down on the ice, with a hockey stick.  “Get up, governor,” a speech bubble from Trump’s mouth reads, apparently referring to Canada as a U.S. state rather than a sovereign country.  Nearly $28 billion in U.S. exports crossing the border to Canada now carry up to 50% tariffs, a dollar-for-dollar match on Trump’s taxes on Canadi...
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Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow Postal Service vote-by-mail rule

Election workers sort ballots at Contra Costa County's election operations facility on May 27, 2026 in Martinez, California. (Photo by Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images) A U.S. Postal Service rule restricting mail-in voting, like the executive order from President Donald Trump that spurred it, is unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said in a Friday order extending a freeze on the policy. The Trump administration quickly appealed the order to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday. Then Sunday, the administration also  asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the preliminary injunction, saying Talwani rushed it without considering the actual text of its final rule. “The district court’s continuing prejudgment of the rule is baseless, and an immediate stay is warranted,” U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in a Sunday application to the court. Sauer described the rule as containing “only modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements fo...
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