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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration took action Thursday to restore federal protections for hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, undoing a Trump-era rule that was considered one of that administration’s hallmark environmental rollbacks. At issue is a regulation sometimes referred to as “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, that defines the types of waterways qualifying for federal protection under the Clean Water Act. The regulation has long been a point of contention among environmental groups, farmers, homebuilders, lawmakers and the courts. The announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army reinstates a rule in...

The first man Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, was “irrational and crazy,” Rittenhouse’s attorney told jurors at his murder trial. Joseph Rosenbaum had been on medication for bipolar disorder and depression, and he was trying to take Rittenhouse’s rifle, attorney Mark Richards said, suggesting there could have been more bloodshed if Rittenhouse hadn’t acted. “I’m glad he shot him because if Joseph Rosenbaum got that gun I don’t for a minute believe he wouldn’t have used it against somebody else,” Richards said during closing arguments in the 18-year-old Illinois man’s trial for killing Rosenbaum and...

Christina Karaoli Taylor, Multicultural Competency Trainer, CKT Cultural Strategies: “I challenge you [journalists] to stop thinking in terms of objective journalism. We’ll discuss why that’s not really feasible anymore.”Ron Treviño, CBS Houston News Anchor: “I don’t really care if people trust us or not, we still have to do our job. Whether they trust us is the least of my concerns -- whether they trust me or not.”Grady Tripp, Tegna Chief Diversity Officer: “At this point, if you’re not listening to a podcast, or looking at a video, or reading any of the information that’s out as far as equality...

@MZanona NEW: Liz Cheney tells me she'd support both censuring Gosar AND stripping him of committees. She also said McCarthy’s inaction on Gosar — especially as Rs call to punish GOPers who supported infrastructure — is "indefensible, morally and ethically, and it's crazy politically.”

Even worse, the poll shows that registered voters prefer Republicans over Democrats in congressional races by 10 points. If the midterm elections were held today, the result would be a GOP landslide. Given how extremist and authoritarian the Republican Party has become...that is deep cause for concern.

Billions of dollars for roads, bridges, water projects and broadband will soon flow to Utah and other Western states now that President Joe Biden signed the sweeping infrastructure bill Monday. Biden called the plan a “monumental step forward” to rebuilding the backbone of the country without raising taxes. “America’s moving again, and your life is going to change for the better,” he said before putting his pen to the legislation. “This law is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America.” Few Republicans in the Mountain West supported the $1.2 trillion package, including $550 billion in new spending, to shore up the...

Historian and author Jon Meacham said Monday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that the infrastructure bill signed into law today by President Joe Biden “will rank” in history with former President Dwight Eisenhower’s Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 that created America’s interstate highway system. Anchor Ari Melber said, “What you see in the sweep of history, it’s hard to get a sense of it as we go in real-time, but when we look at the numbers, how rare or infrequent it is you get this national investment. I’m curious your thoughts on where this fits in long term.”

Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), are expressing support for censuring their fellow Republican Rep. Paul Gosar (Ariz.) for posting a photoshopped anime video this week depicting himself killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Cheney and Kinzinger have frequently criticized their own party over its continued ties to former President Trump, but it is nevertheless extraordinarily rare for lawmakers to back censure efforts against members of their own party. A group of House Democrats, led by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), formally introduced a resolution on Friday to censure Gosar over the video, which the Arizona Republican defended as a...

Former President Trump argued that then-Vice President Pence was ‘well-protected’ during the Jan. 6 riot and defended angry chants against the vice president from rioters, including those calling for him to be hanged, according to a new audio excerpt released by ABC News on Friday. The excerpt, shared by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl with Axios, is from an interview Karl conducted with Trump on March 18. The interview is part of a 90-minute interview conducted at Mar-a-Lago and will be included as part of Karl’s forthcoming book, “Betrayal,” according to Axios. In the audio clip, Karl asked...

Former President Trump — in a taped interview with Jonathan Karl of ABC News that was shared with Axios — defended, quite extensively, supporters who threatened to "hang" former Vice President Mike Pence. Why it matters: Well, it is unprecedented for a former president to openly say it was OK to threaten the life of his vice president.

Conservative critics falsely claimed that President Joe Biden referred to legendary pitcher Satchel Paige as a “negro” during a Veterans Day speech — barely more than a week after pulling the same bit on Biden and Pope Francis. Variations on the same claim spread like wildfire among verified conservative Twitter users Thursday: that the president had referred to the late Hall of Famer as “the great negro at the time,” some even including a clip that plainly reveals the falsehood of the attack: *** What actually happened is that the president was wishing Amb. Donald Blinken a happy birthday during...

WPEC CBS12 News reporter Jay O’Brien pressed the Florida governor on calling the administration “the Brandon administration” in reference to the popular anti-Biden phrase “Let’s Go, Brandon” at an election integrity press conference on Nov. 3 in Tampa Bay. “Do you feel that that is the proper level of exchange between a governor and a president?” O’Brien asked. “Well, let me ask you how he’s treated us. Well, look, I think it’s a joke but honestly, one of the reasons why that has taken on is because a lot of your folks in the national media, they get very sensitive...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Political appointees in the Trump administration relied on faulty science to justify stripping habitat protections for the imperiled northern spotted owl, U.S. wildlife officials said Tuesday as they struck down a rule that would have opened millions of acres of forest in Oregon, Washington and California to potential logging. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reversed a decision made five days before Trump left office to drastically shrink so-called critical habitat for the spotted owl. The small, reclusive bird has been in decline for decades as old-growth forests disappear. The Associated Press obtained details on Tuesday’s...

George Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he wrote his new book "Integrity Counts" to "set the record straight" about what happened — and didn't happen — during the contentious 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the Peach State narrowly to Joe Biden, but the former president and his allies have persisted in their unfounded claims of mass voter fraud, which Mr. Trump blamed for his loss in Georgia. He repeatedly lambasted Raffensperger, who is a Republican, for defending the fairness and integrity of the election. Georgia prosecutors have opened a criminal inquiry into the ex-president's attempts to influence the...

Former President Trump baselessly claimed on a podcast last week that the tragic incident on the set of “Rust” involving actor Alec Baldwin and cinematographer Halyna Hutchins might have been intentional. Baldwin fatally shot Hutchins in October when he fired a prop gun containing a live round. Authorities are investigating the matter, but no charges have been filed so far. The 63-year-old actor has said he is “fully cooperating” with the investigation. Trump, who admitted he does not know the actor, told conservative podcast host Chris Stigall he believed it was strange that Baldwin would point a gun at a...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene - the controversial, far-right Georgia congresswoman who lost her committee assignments earlier this year for endorsing political violence - just wrote a 17-tweet long Twitter thread that outlined several areas of "common ground" between her and the Nation of Islam. "One of the benefits as a Member of Congress is visiting different types government facilities to provide oversight," she wrote on Twitter. "On my recent visit to the DC Jail one of the things I picked up was some religious material." SNIP Greene said that prisoners are offered "religious material," choosing between "Christain [sic] and Islam,"...

Texas Attorney General candidate George P. Bush (R) warned on Sunday that a Democrat would be elected to the role if incumbent Ken Paxton (R) won the Republican nomination again. “This time around he will not win, because he’s facing corruption and bribery charges. Imagine having a Democrat AG with a Democrat president and what that means for Texas politics,” Bush, the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), said during “Lone Star Politics,” a Sunday political show, according to The Dallas Morning News

To gun-control campaigners the head of America’s most powerful firearms lobby group is a monster with the blood of thousands on his hands. To prosecutors from the New York attorney-general’s office he is a criminal who diverted millions of dollars from his non-profit organisation for his personal gain including lavish spending on Italian suits, private jets and fine dining. But to those who know him personally, a new book says, Wayne LaPierre, head of the National Rifle Association (NRA), is a self-pitying, socially awkward, easily manipulated pawn with “the backbone of a chocolate éclair”. While defending the weapons that bring...

Former President Trump on Sunday doubled down on his criticism of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Senate Republicans who voted in favor of passing a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. “All Republicans who voted for Democrat longevity should be ashamed of themselves, in particular Mitch McConnell, for granting a two month stay which allowed the Democrats time to work things out at our Country’s, and the Republican Party’s, expense!” Trump said in a statement. The former president called Republican lawmakers who voted in favor of the bill “RINOs” — a widely used term he favors that means...

Former president Donald Trump will attend Game 4 of the World Series between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros on Saturday night at Truist Park, according to a report by Bob Nightengale of USA Today. According to Braves CEO Terry McGuirk, Trump had surprised Major League Baseball officials by calling and telling them that he wanted to come to the game. Trump will not watch the game with MLB or Braves officials, and will instead watch from his own suite. McGuirk stated that the New York billionaire-turned 45th President of the United States was very much welcome at the ballpark....