Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

News from Washington

  • As shutdown looms, congressional leaders ready stopgap bill to extend government funding to March

    2 months, 5 days ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders are preparing a stopgap bill to keep the federal government running into March and avoid a partial shutdown next week. The temporary measure will run to March 1 for some federal agencies whose approved funds are ...

  • UNLV committed to racial diversity, despite court ruling on affirmative action

    8 months, 23 days ago

    (AP) A ruling today by the U.S. Supreme Court ending affirmative action, a decades-old norm intended to bolster the number of minority students accepted into universities, won’t change admission practice at UNLV, officials said. That’s because they don’t consider race when ...

  • Supreme Court rules against Navajo Nation in Colorado River water rights case

    9 months ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled against the Navajo Nation on Thursday in a dispute involving water from the drought-stricken Colorado River. States that draw water from the river — Arizona, Nevada and Colorado — and water districts in California ...

  • Nevada US senator, in visit to Las Vegas solar panel retailer, touts clean energy incentives

    11 months, 9 days ago

    (AP) The way U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen sees it, Las Vegas has the potential to be more than just the entertainment capital of the world. Yes, Las Vegas attracts tens of millions of visitors each year with its dozens of luxury ...

  • Bureau of Reclamation analyzes options but withholds decision on Western water shortage

    11 months, 11 days ago

    (AP) The federal government is weighing steps to address Colorado River water shortages, with one official bluntly stating that “failure is not an option.” The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released a draft environmental analysis Tuesday examining measures that may be required ...

  • Court inclined toward government view in water rights case

    12 months, 4 days ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seems inclined to side with the federal government and a group of states in a dispute with the Navajo Nation over water from the drought-stricken Colorado River. The high court was hearing arguments Monday in ...

  • Air travel across U.S. thrown into chaos after computer outage

    1 year, 2 months ago

    (AP) NEW YORK — Thousands of flights across the U.S. were canceled or delayed Wednesday after a system that offers safety information to pilots failed, and the government launched an investigation into the breakdown, which grounded some planes for hours. The ...

  • Senate backs big land transfer for Nevada military complex

    1 year, 3 months ago

    (AP) RENO — The U.S. Senate has voted for a massive expansion of a northern Nevada naval air training complex that will transfer of a huge swath of public land to the military. The Senate on Thursday approved as part of ...

  • Nevada justices mulling open primary, ranked-choice measure

    1 year, 9 months ago

    (AP) The Nevada Supreme Court is considering whether an initiative will advance to the ballot in November to ask voters if they want to create open primaries and ranked-choice voting in general elections. Justices took no immediate action after hearing arguments ...

  • Protesting outside justices' homes is morally questionable, and ineffective

    1 year, 10 months ago

    (AP) Over the past 10 days, it seems every major news outlet in the country has weighed in on whether or not protesting outside of the homes of Supreme Court justices is legal. Yet very few of these analyses have discussed ...

  • Pro-choice advocates rally for rights at Las Vegas courthouse

    1 year, 10 months ago

    (AP) Shanzeh Aslam thought she had met her prince charming nine years ago. Because she had limited health insurance and didn’t want to take hormonal birth control, she got pregnant. Then her partner became abusive. She was able to terminate that ...

  • Biden hosting budget talks in Delaware with Schumer, Manchin

    2 years, 4 months ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden was hosting two pivotal senators for meetings in Delaware on Sunday in hopes of resolving lingering disputes over Democrats' long-stalled effort to craft an expansive social and environment measure. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ...

  • Deal on Biden's $2T plan edges closer; Harris is 'confident'

    2 years, 4 months ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — A deal within reach, President Joe Biden and Congress' top Democrats edged close to sealing their giant domestic legislation, though the informal deadline appeared to slip as they worked to scale back the measure and determine how to ...

  • Top Democrat sees tough pathway for $3.5T social, climate plans

    2 years, 7 months ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — Hours after clinching an initial budget victory, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer conceded Wednesday that Democrats face a tough pathway to delivering a package surging $3.5 trillion into family, health and environment programs to President Joe Biden's desk. ...

  • Officer dead, suspect killed in violence outside Pentagon

    2 years, 7 months ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — A Pentagon police officer died after being stabbed Tuesday during a burst of violence at a transit center outside the building, and a suspect was shot by law enforcement and died at the scene, officials said.The Pentagon, the ...

  • Supreme Court won't take Maryland bump stock ban case

    2 years, 10 months ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is declining to take up a challenge to Maryland’s ban on bump stocks and other devices that make guns fire faster. The high court on Monday turned away a challenge to the ban, which took ...

  • US general: Afghan forces could face 'bad possible outcomes'

    2 years, 10 months ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — Afghan government forces face an uncertain future and, in a worst-case scenario, some "bad possible outcomes" against Taliban insurgents as the withdrawal of American and coalition troops accelerates in the coming weeks, the top U.S. military officer said ...

  • GOP lawmakers urge Biden to meet with them on virus relief

    3 years, 1 month ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — Ten Republican senators on Sunday proposed spending about one-third of what President Joe Biden is seeking in coronavirus aid and urged him to negotiate rather than try to ram through his $1.9 trillion package solely on Democratic votes. ...

  • Biden, Democrats hit gas on push for $15 minimum wage

    3 years, 1 month ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — The Democratic push to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour has emerged as an early flashpoint in the fight for a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, testing President Joe Biden's ability to bridge Washington's partisan ...

  • U.S. Supreme Court won't hear Nevada church's COVID-19 case

    3 years, 1 month ago

    (AP) RENO — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused a rural Nevada church’s request to enter a legal battle over the government’s authority to limit the size of religious gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic — after the church won an ...

  • Agreement likely Sunday on nearly $1 trillion virus aid bill

    3 years, 2 months ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — Top Washington negotiators, propelled by a late-night agreement on the last major obstacle to a COVID-19 economic relief package, said a Sunday agreement is all but inevitable to deliver long-overdue pandemic aid of almost $1 trillion. "I am ...

  • Trump downplays Russia in first comments on cyberattack

    3 years, 3 months ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — Contradicting his secretary of state and other top officials, President Donald Trump on Saturday suggested without evidence that China — not Russia — may be behind the grave cyberattack against the United States and tried to minimized its ...

  • Not terribly surprising: There's no winner in the presidential race

    3 years, 4 months ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — America woke up Wednesday morning without a winner of the presidential election. That's OK. Critical battleground states including Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania remained without declared winners, leaving both President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden short of the ...

  • Senate votes to advance Barrett; confirmation expected Monday

    3 years, 4 months ago

    (AP) WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans voted overwhelmingly Sunday to advance Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett toward final confirmation despite Democratic objections, just over a week before the presidential election. Barrett's confirmation on Monday was hardly in doubt, with majority Republicans ...

  • The Needle goes away as probability experts assess 2020 race

    3 years, 4 months ago

    (AP) NEW YORK — The one thing most likely to conjure nightmares of the 2016 election night for opponents of President Donald Trump is the Needle. A graphic on The New York Times' website, the Needle measured in real time the ...

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