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Democratic state AGs say their staff excluded from Vance anti-fraud meeting

Vice President JD Vance, center, arrives at a roundtable anti-fraud meeting with Republican attorneys general in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus on May 26, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — A handful of Democratic state attorneys general said Tuesday that expert officials from their offices were denied access to a major White House anti-fraud meeting convened by Vice President JD Vance and attended by Republican AGs. Two dozen Democratic attorneys general had earlier declined invitations for their own attendance at the White House anti-fraud roundtable, citing extremely short notice and a lack of an agenda in a letter to Vance, who has helmed the Trump administration’s sweeping anti-fraud effort.   Instead, some sent top officials from their offices to Washington. Democratic attorneys general in California, New York and New Jersey said at a press conference later Tuesday that officials from their states were...
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Trump administration seizes on shooting to make case again for White House ballroom

Demolition work continued where the East Wing once stood at the White House on Dec. 8, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump ordered the 123-year-old East Wing and Jacqueline Kennedy Garden leveled to make way for a new 90,000-square-foot ballroom. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche argued in a court filing that a shooting Saturday in the vicinity of the White House further proves the need for an East Wing ballroom with “a heavy steel, drone proof roof, missile resistant and drone proof columns, bullet, ballistic, and blast proof glass,” among other features. A gunman opened fire at a U.S. Secret Service checkpoint at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue and was killed when agents returned fire. One bystander was also shot and injured, according to the Secret Service.  President Donald Trump was inside the White House during the incident but was unharmed, and no ongoing operations were impacted, according to the agency. ...
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Congressional Black Caucus calls for corporate leaders to speak out for voting rights

A group of protestors hold a banner saying “Black Voters Matter” with a quote from Allen v. Milligan, a 2023 case that required Alabama to draw a second congressional district to give Black voters an opportunity to elect their preferred leaders, on May 4, 2026 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Photo by Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Congressional Black Caucus on Tuesday urged American corporations to condemn efforts to dilute Black voting strength, as Southern states eliminate congressional districts where most residents are Black. The CBC’s attempt to mobilize the business community comes as Black representation in Congress potentially faces its most severe threat since the end of Reconstruction following the Civil War. But some business leaders have taken a friendlier tone with President Donald Trump, who backs the gerrymandering. A U.S. Supreme Court decision in April, in a case called  Louisiana v. Callais , sharply weakened the federal Voting Rights Act, whi...
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Federal judges block Alabama’s use of 2023 congressional map

Protestors march in Selma, Alabama as part of the All Roads Lead to the South rally on May 16, 2026. A three-judge federal panel Tuesday blocked Alabama's use of a congressional map it had previously ruled racially discriminatory. (Andi Rice for Alabama Reflector) A three-judge panel on Tuesday morning blocked Alabama from using a 2023 congressional map the panel ruled racially discriminatory and ordered the state to use a remedial map aimed at giving Black Alabamians a chance to elect their preferred leaders. The order comes almost a month after the U.S. Supreme Court substantially weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in a case known as Louisiana v. Callais, and weeks after Gov. Kay Ivey called a special session in which Republican lawmakers set special primaries for August in the expectation that the state would be allowed to use the 2023 map, which would likely cost Democrats a seat in Alabama’s U.S. House delegation.   The panel was ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court ...
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Early Alabama reading data shows no significant changes for third grade scores

Preliminary state-level data for third-grade Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program reading scores dropped one-tenth of a percentage point this year for students who are on or above the cut score used to promote students to the next grade. Alabama State Schools Superintendent Eric Mackey said the dip isn't cause for concern. (Photo by kali9/Getty Images) Alabama’s third grade reading scores remained essentially the same based on test scores presented to State Board of Education members earlier this month. According to the data, 47,956 (88.3%) third graders who took the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP) test this spring were at or above the 444 reading cut score. This is a slight decrease from the 2025 data that saw 88.4% of third graders at or above the same cut score. The cut score is used to determine if students are on or above grade level or not. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. ...
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Data center battles started in the states. Now it’s Congress under siege.

Community members protest ahead of a special Box Elder County Commission meeting to discuss the Stratos project, a massive data center proposed for an unincorporated area in Box Elder County, Utah, on May 4, 2026. (Photo by Alixel Cabrera/Utah News Dispatch) WASHINGTON — Higher electric rates? Massive data centers looming over neighborhoods? Ugly political fights over what to do about them? The future of data centers and their huge appetite for electricity is quickly escalating as a political flashpoint from coast to coast, moving from cities and states now to the nation’s capital.  Bills are under debate in Congress. The Trump administration has weighed in. Lobbying is intensifying. The Environmental  Protection Agency is proposing changes. But finding consensus on how to proceed in D.C. is tough, with the industry spreading around millions to make its case, some lawmakers pushing a moratorium, and others looking for ways to ease the burden on Americans without halting development....
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Alabama coal ash lawsuit can continue, appeals court rules

An aerial view of the nearly 600-acre coal ash pond at Alabama Power’s James M. Barry Electric Generating Plant. The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a lawsuit by Alabama-based environmental group Mobile Baykeeper challenging Alabama Power’s plans to leave the coal ash in place can proceed, overturning the decision of a lower court that had dismissed the complaint. (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 . A yearslong court battle over the 21.7 million tons of coal ash sitting in one of Alabama’s most ecologically sensitive areas will continue after an appeals court ruling handed down Monday. The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a lawsuit by Alabama-based environmental group Mobile Baykeeper challenging Alabama Power’s plans to leave the coal ash in place can proceed, over...
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