Washington – A power that the U.S. Congress has not wielded since the 1930s may remain unused for a while longer as Democrats turn to the courts — not long-dormant rules — to press home investigations of President Donald Trump and his administration. Democratic leaders are reluctant to use the “inherent contempt” power, under which [...]

Washington – Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says he’s taking a “detour” from a possible independent presidential bid. The billionaire businessman cites health concerns in a message to supporters, and says he’s taking the summer to rest and will revisit his presidential ambitions after Labor Day. Two aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity [...]

Charlotte, NC – A cadet will be removed from the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps for posting racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and “pro-Nazism” messages on social media, an Army official said Wednesday. Martha Gerdes is on a “leave of absence” from the program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte pending her disenrollment from the [...]

New York – New York City is putting more regulations on for-hire vehicles, including extending a moratorium on most new licenses and creating a limit on how much time drivers can cruise in Manhattan’s busiest areas without a passenger. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the new regulations on Wednesday. The city had instituted a one-year [...]

Washington – A Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives committee voted on Wednesday in favor of holding Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress for defying congressional subpoenas related to adding a citizenship question to the U.S. census. By a 24-15 vote, the House Oversight Committee recommended that the full [...]

Jerusalem- The Israeli military says it is taking the rare step of closing the Gaza Strip’s offshore waters to Palestinian fishermen until further notice in response to incendiaries launched into Israel in recent days. COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry body controlling the crossings with the coastal enclave, announced Wednesday that “due to the continuous launching [...]

Tel Aviv – Ford Motor Co on Wednesday opened a research center in Tel Aviv, joining a growing number of major automakers and suppliers setting up shop in the Israeli tech hub as they race to develop self-driving cars. With spiraling development costs for autonomous and connected cars in recent years, Ford and other carmakers [...]

Jerusalem – Israel is dealing with outside threats by striking back and also preemptively, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday hours after Israel apparently fired at an Iran-backed Hezbollah facility on the Syria border. Syrian state media reported that Israel fired several missiles at a town on the Golan Heights border and said its [...]

Columbus, Ohio – A federal judge awarded a Muslim-American radio host $4.1 million in monetary damages Wednesday after he successfully sued a neo-Nazi website operator who falsely accused him of terrorism. SiriusXM Radio show host Dean Obeidallah (oh-bee-DAHL’-ah) filed the civil complaint against The Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin, who hasn’t responded to Obeidallah’s libel [...]

Washington – Nursing facilities have failed to report thousands of serious cases of potential neglect and abuse of Medicare beneficiaries even though the federal government requires such reporting, says a watchdog report due out Wednesday that calls for a new focus on protecting frail patients. Auditors with the Health and Human Services inspector general’s office [...]