WASHINGTON (AP) — As demonstrators swarmed the U.S. Capitol, Congress has been forced to abruptly halt deliberations over Republican challenges to Joe Biden’s presidential victory. Republicans in a joint session of Congress were mounting their first formal challenge to Biden’s election win. Outside, meanwhile, demonstrators are protesting the joint session, which is to confirm Biden’s…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has selected Merrick Garland, a federal appeals court judge, as his attorney general, two people familiar with the selection process said Wednesday. Garland, a federal appeals court judge, in 2016 was snubbed by Republicans for a seat on the Supreme Court, Biden is expected to announce Garland’s appointment on…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence has been President Donald Trump’s most loyal soldier, dutifully backing the unpredictable leader through one chaotic situation after another. Now Pence is facing the most precarious position of his tenure when he presides over Wednesday’s congressional tally of Electoral College votes. It’s the last front in Trump’s attempts…
Protesters who gathered outside the Virginia home of Republican Sen. Josh Hawley Monday evening were peaceful and they left when police explained they were violating local picketing laws, police said Tuesday. The Missouri senator claimed on Twitter that the group had been engaged in “leftwing violence.” Officers were called to the Vienna home after…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has several mobile testing teams that are dispatched to various locations around the state each week to provide COVID-19 testing. Anyone can be tested, regardless of symptoms or immigration status. There is no cost to the individual for testing, but they should bring their insurance card if they…
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a new national lockdown for England until at least mid-February to combat a fast-spreading new version of the coronavirus. Johnson said people must stay at home again, as they were ordered to do so in the first wave of the pandemic in March, this time…
Former Sen. John Danforth says the effort by Sen. Josh Hawley and others to challenge Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory is a “radical” and “highly destructive attack.” The written statement from the 84-year-old three-term Republican senator was especially stinging since Danforth has long been a supporter of Hawley. Danforth publicly backed Hawley’s successful runs for…
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 2020 at more record highs Thursday, closing out one of the most tumultuous years in recent memory. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and ended the year up 16%, or roughly 18% including dividends. 2020 saw a breathtaking nosedive in markets in the spring as the…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has shut the door on President Donald Trump’s push for $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks. The Republican leader says Congress has provided enough pandemic aid and he’s blocked another attempt by Democrats to force a vote. McConnell is unwilling to budge, despite political pressure from Trump and even…
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart apologized Wednesday for a tweet that called Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley a sore loser for contesting President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the U.S. presidential election. The now deleted tweet, “Go ahead. Get your 2 hour debate. #soreloser,” was mistakenly sent by a member of Walmart’s social media team who…