Author: Robert Jones

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is redirecting nearly $500 million in federal funding toward historically Black colleges and tribal colleges, a one-time investment covered primarily by cuts to other colleges serving large numbers of minority students.The Education Department announced the funding boost days after cutting $350 million from other grants, mostly from programs reserved for colleges that have large numbers of Hispanic students. Agency leaders said those grants were unconstitutional because they’re available only to colleges with certain minority enrollment thresholds.Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the changes will redirect money away from “from ineffective and discriminatory programs toward those…

Nearly 200 shipping companies said Monday they want the world’s largest maritime nations to adopt regulations that include the first-ever global fee on greenhouse gases to reduce their sector’s emissions.The Getting to Zero Coalition, an alliance of companies, governments and intergovernmental organizations, is asking member states of the International Maritime Organization to support adopting regulations to transition to green shipping, including the fee, when they meet in London next month. The statement was shared exclusively with The Associated Press in advance. “Given the significance of the political decision being made, we think it is important that industry voices in favor…

NEW YORK (AP) — Former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey sued the U.S. government Monday to get her job back, saying her firing was for political reasons and was unconstitutional. Her lawsuit in Manhattan federal court blamed the firing on the fact that her father is James Comey, a former F.B.I. director, “or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both.”Comey is seeking to be reinstated and a declaration that her firing was unlawful and a violation of the Constitution’s “Separation of Powers” clause. “Defendants have not provided any explanation whatsoever for terminating Ms. Comey. In truth, there is…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance said Monday while hosting Charlie Kirk’s radio show that he is “desperate” for national unity after the conservative political activist’s killing but that finding common ground with people who celebrated the assassination of his friend is impossible.The Republican vice president filled in as host of “The Charlie Kirk Show” from his ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House. The livestream of the two-hour program was broadcast in the White House press briefing room and featured a series of appearances by White House and administration officials who knew…

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to once again federalize Washington, D.C.’s police force, in what he suggested could come in response to the city’s mayor’s stated refusal to cooperate with immigration enforcement.Trump’s emergency order, which took over the local police force, expired last week. Hours before it elapsed, Mayor Muriel Bowser said that the city would not cooperate with Immigration, Customs and Enforcement in their continued operations in the nation’s capital. Earlier, she had said the city would work with other federal agencies even after the emergency order expired.In an early-morning social media post on Monday,…

NEW YORK (AP) — A potential strike that could have shut down the nation’s largest commuter rail system this week has been averted.Unionized workers for the Long Island Railroad announced they voted overwhelmingly Monday to authorize their labor leaders to call a strike if an agreement on a new contract isn’t reached. But officials representing locomotive engineers, machinists, signalmen and other train workers said they’ve also asked President Donald Trump to intercede by forming an emergency board, a move that delays the potential for a strike at least for a few more months.Union leaders said the earliest a strike could…

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Young climate activists and their attorneys who won a landmark global warming trial against the state of Montana are trying to convince a federal judge to block President Donald Trump’s executive orders promoting fossil fuels.During a two-day hearing starting Tuesday in Missoula, Montana, the activists and their experts plan to describe Trump’s actions to boost drilling and mining and discourage renewable energy as a growing danger to children and the planet. They say the Republican’s stoking of global warming violates their constitutional rights.A victory for the activists would have far broader implications than their 2023 win,…

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Ghana is the latest African country that has received third-country nationals deported by the U.S. or has agreed to receive them, though the legality of the approach is being questioned.Eswatini, Rwanda and South Sudan have also taken in such deportees, and Uganda has agreed to a deal with the U.S. to take certain deported immigrants, though it hasn’t yet received any.Experts have said some countries may accept the deportees to earn goodwill in negotiations with the Trump administration on policies such as trade, migration and aid.Ghanaian authorities said Monday that 14 deportees the country received last…

An image of U.S. President Donald Trump alongside disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein is projected on Windsor castle, after U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrival for a state visit to the country, in Windsor, Berkshire, Britain Sept. 16, 2025. Phil Noble | ReutersFour people were arrested Tuesday night in the United Kingdom in connection with the projection of an image onto Windsor Castle showing President Donald Trump with his then-friend, notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The stunt came as Trump began a state visit to the U.K., and as the president has been dogged by months of controversy…

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Trump administration’s central human resources office acted illegally when it directed the mass firings of probationary workers as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to downsize the federal workforce, a judge has ruled.U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco said Friday in awarding judgment to a coalition of labor unions and nonprofits that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management “unlawfully exceeded its own powers and usurped and exercised powers reserved by Congress to each individual” federal agency to hire and fire its own workers.He said the government “disagrees but does not persuade” in its…