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Biden’s budget aims to fight climate change, promote conservation, aid Native Americans
President Joe Biden’s first budget request laid out on last week reflects the administration’s commitments to advancing conservation and combating climate change, proposing new money across federal agencies to address those issues. Like most domestic programs in Biden’s overall $1.5 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2022, the recommendations for increased spending on conservation and climate […]
Biden taps expert in Native American law from Minnesota as top lawyer at Interior
President Joe Biden nominated Native American law expert Robert Anderson, an enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, to be solicitor of the Interior Department Wednesday. The move underscored how the administration is putting a priority on placing Native Americans in charge of the agenda at Interior. Last month, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, […]
Biden administration mum so far on returning gray wolves to endangered species list
A controversial decision in the last months of the Trump administration to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list led to a massive overhunt in Wisconsin this year that Ojibwe tribal representatives said disrespected their wishes. But there’s no indication yet that the Biden administration will attempt to roll back that move, despite an […]
Biden reinstates bird protections gutted under Trump
The Interior Department on Monday revoked a Trump administration policy that would have undercut a century-old law protecting migratory birds. The move strengthens federal regulators’ authority to enforce the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a 1918 law that allows the government to prosecute polluters whose actions are responsible for the deaths of about 1,100 protected bird […]
Biden makes key energy, environment appointments
President-elect Joe Biden will nominate U.S. Rep. Debra A. Haaland to lead the Interior Department, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to head the Energy Department and North Carolina’s top environmental regulator, Michael Regan, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, his presidential transition team said Thursday night. The selections were announced as part of the incoming Biden […]
‘I just don’t trust the system any more’: Voters on edge as election nears
WASHINGTON — Widespread anxiety and confusion around voting, compounded by the pandemic that has spread to millions of Americans, including President Donald Trump. A vastly underfunded and decentralized electoral system that could take days and possibly weeks to certify results. Attempts to suppress voting, interfere with elections and cast doubt on the integrity of mail-in […]
‘You just have to act’: Thousands outraged by police brutality rally at March on Washington
WASHINGTON – On the 57th anniversary of the original March on Washington and in the throes of a pandemic, thousands of demonstrators on Friday joined Democratic lawmakers on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to demand Congress act on police brutality and voter suppression. The event, organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, […]
Congressman launches bid to overhaul federal pesticide rules
U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse is leading the first attempt in decades to overhaul national pesticide regulations. The Colorado Democrat is sponsoring a bill in the House that would ban three common chemicals, revamp the process for approving new products and allow cities to adopt stricter standards. The Neguse measure would have to go through the […]
Trump’s $400 a week jobless aid could be just $300. It depends on where you live.
Governors, lawmakers and state unemployment agencies on Monday wrestled with confusion created by President Donald Trump’s executive action extending unemployment benefits, and it appeared some states could settle for $300 a week in benefits instead of the $400 that the president touted. State leaders from both political parties remained unsure how much they’d have to […]
Trump moves to extend unemployment benefits, suspend payroll taxes after talks break down
President Donald Trump on Saturday circumvented Congress and took action into his own hands, after weeks of unsuccessful negotiations over another coronavirus relief package on Capitol Hill. He signed three presidential memoranda and an executive order, at his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J. Trump would provide $300 per week in federal unemployment assistance with another $100 […]
Librarians, National Guard recruited for states’ new contact tracing armies
As states seek to loosen wide-ranging restrictions imposed to constrain the novel coronavirus, they’re also looking to deploy a huge new fleet of workers to keep cases under control. Enter the contact tracers. With interpersonal contact certain to increase as states lift COVID-19 restrictions, tracing who infected people had contact with — and then isolating […]