Legislation

House approves bill to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving to stem a vaping epidemic among young people, the House has approved a bill to ban the sale of ...
17:52 28 February 2022

House makes lynching a federal crime, 65 years after Till

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sixty-five years after 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi, Congress has approved legis...
20:15 26 February 2022

Dems thwart Senate Republicans on 2 abortion-related bills

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a pair of Republican bills that would ban most late-term abortions...
22:42 25 February 2022

Girl, 11, brings AR-15 to Idaho hearing on gun legislation

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An 11-year-old girl toting a loaded AR-15 assault weapon appeared Monday at a legislative hearing wi...
22:37 24 February 2022

GOP lawmakers walk out after Oregon climate bill advances

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Republican senators slipped out of the Oregon State Capitol on Monday, preventing the state Senate fr...
22:22 24 February 2022

Virginia a key state in Bloomberg’s Super Tuesday strategy

RICHMOND, Va. — If there is a state where Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg could expect a return on investment, it is Virginia.
23:49 15 February 2022

NCAA’s Emmert presses Senate for ‘guardrails’ on athlete pay

WASHINGTON — NCAA President Mark Emmert urged Congress to step in and put restrictions on college athletes' ability to earn money from endorsements, t...
19:31 11 February 2022

Many winter residential evictions banned in pricey Seattle

SEATTLE — Many residential evictions in pricey Seattle have been banned for the city's coldest and wettest months of December, January and February bu...
17:12 11 February 2022

House passes Puerto Rico aid in face of Trump veto threat

WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House on Friday passed a $20 billion-plus aid package for Puerto Rico, where a swarm of earthquakes last month ...
17:50 7 February 2022

Sports betting bill stumbles from starting gate in Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. — In a state where betting on the Kentucky Derby is seen as a rite of passage, efforts to legalize wagering on other sports have barely...
17:41 7 February 2022

Brazil indigenous protest new gov’t moves on their lands

SAO PAULO — Brazil's far-right government drew protests from indigenous groups Wednesday, first by naming a former evangelical missionary to head a de...
0:09 6 February 2022

Companies offer rebuke of Tennessee’s anti-LGBT adoption law

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Almost three dozen big companies and more than 100 small businesses in Tennessee on Wednesday predicted economic backlash from a ne...
21:52 5 February 2022

Trump signs order creating post focused on human trafficking

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump marked the 20th anniversary Friday of federal legislation to help combat human trafficking by dedicating a new Whi...
18:37 31 January 2022

Legal confusion deepens in Poland in new challenge for EU

WARSAW, Poland — Legal confusion has deepened dramatically in Poland, with the government and the country’s high court judges on a collision course ov...
15:07 24 January 2022

New York City Council votes to ban cashless businesses

NEW YORK — New York City lawmakers voted Thursday to require stores and restaurants to accept cash for payment, saying businesses that accept only cre...
22:34 23 January 2022

Polish parliament OKs law allowing gov’t to punish judges

WARSAW, Poland — Poland's lawmakers gave their final approval Thursday to legislation that will allow politicians to fire judges who criticize their d...
19:01 23 January 2022

UK lawmakers remove child-migrants promise from Brexit bill

LONDON — British lawmakers have overturned changes to the government’s flagship Brexit bill made by Parliament’s House of Lords, removing a promise to...
16:47 22 January 2022

Spain declares climate emergency, gets climate plan ready

MADRID — Spain’s new government declared a national climate emergency on Tuesday, taking a formal first step toward enacting ambitious measures to fig...
13:00 21 January 2022

Pro-gun rally by thousands in Virginia ends peacefully

RICHMOND, Va. — Tens of thousands of gun-rights activists from around the country rallied peacefully at the Virginia Capitol on Monday to protest plan...
22:09 20 January 2022

Top Democrat pushing $3.4B emergency measure for Puerto Rico

WASHINGTON — A top House Democrat is introducing a $3.4 billion emergency spending bill to help Puerto Rico deal with a recent spate of earthquakes ro...
18:26 16 January 2022

Protests take toll on Hong Kong tourism

HONG KONG — Visitor numbers to Hong Kong fell by nearly 40% in the second half of last year amid clashes between police and anti-government protesters...
11:11 15 January 2022

California lawmakers eye back-up power for cellphone towers

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When the nation's largest electric utility preemptively shut off power last fall to prevent wildfires in California, customers lo...
20:19 8 January 2022

Trump signs law to reduce robocalls, though they won’t end

NEW YORK — An anti-robocalls measure signed into law Monday by President Donald Trump should help reduce the torrent of unwanted calls promising lower...
4:28 31 December 2022

California takes lead on laws affecting gig economy, privacy

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s long tradition of advancing nation-leading legislation continues into the new year, with laws reining in the gig eco...
16:32 29 December 2022

Montenegro: Pro-Serb lawmakers released from detention

PODGORICA, Montenegro — A Montenegrin court early Saturday released from detention three pro-Serb opposition lawmakers who were jailed following turmo...
11:53 28 December 2022

Age limit now 21 across US for cigarettes, tobacco products

Anyone under 21 can no longer legally buy cigarettes, cigars or any other tobacco products in the U.S.
20:59 27 December 2022

Congress goes on recess without Route 66 preservation funds

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Congress has recessed for the holidays, and it has went another year without passing legislation that would boost funding for Rout...
4:10 24 December 2021

India’s main opposition party stages protest against new law

NEW DELHI — India’s main opposition party staged a silent protest in the capital on Monday against a contentious new citizenship law, a day after Prim...
11:28 23 December 2021

After impeachment, House bestows big trade victory on Trump

WASHINGTON — One day after its historic impeachment votes, the Democratic-led House gave President Donald Trump an overwhelming bipartisan victory Thu...
23:54 19 December 2021

House approves bill suspending cap on some tax deductions

WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House approved legislation Thursday to suspend for two years the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions ...
22:00 19 December 2021