Author: rpnadmin

Pope Francis as a model for the next leader Will Catholic Church look to Pope Francis as a model for the next leader? 03:50 Former President Joe Biden, who maintained a close working and personal relationship with Pope Francis dating back to the late pontiff’s visit to the United States in 2015, is expected to attend the papal funeral on Saturday in Vatican City, according to multiple people with knowledge of his plans. Though final details are still not yet set, Biden does intend to attend, the people said.Francis began his papacy in 2013 during the Obama administration, but former President…

Leonard Zeskind, a dogged tracker of right-wing hate groups, who foresaw before almost anyone else that anti-immigrant ideologies would move to the mainstream of American politics, died on April 15 at his home in Kansas City, Mo. He was 75.The cause was complications of pancreatic cancer, Carol Smith, his wife, said.Long before Donald J. Trump’s nativist rhetoric in 2023 accusing immigrants of “poisoning the blood” of the United States, Mr. Zeskind, a single-minded researcher, spent decades studying white nationalism, documenting how its leading voices had shifted their vitriol from Black Americans to nonwhite immigrants.His 2009 book, “Blood and Politics: The…

Need help mastering a job search? Some tips on attracting a private-sector gig?For employees who still have jobs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the agency’s human resources division is offering “career support” sessions, according to a recent email obtained by The New York Times.“This session is designed to meet you where you are,” the Housing and Urban Development notification said, hinting at the protracted uncertainty that has loomed over most federal employees since President Trump returned to the Oval Office.The agency did notrespond to questions about how many employees would be offered this workshop or whether those…

President Trump on Thursday directed the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, the fund-raising platform that powers virtually every Democratic candidate and cause. The move steps up Republicans’ effort to cripple their opponents’ political infrastructure.It was the third time in three weeks that Mr. Trump has directed the government to target a perceived political enemy. He has drastically expanded the use of his powers to try to damage domestic opponents, eroding a post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence far more than he ever did in his first term.Mr. Trump called for an investigation by Attorney General Pam Bondi into ActBlue, which…

For 65 years, the U.S. Naval Academy’s annual foreign affairs conference has been a marquee event on campus, bringing in students from around the world for a week of lectures and discussions with high-ranking diplomats and officials.But this year, the event was abruptly canceled, just weeks before it was set to start.The conference had two strikes against it — its theme and timing. Organized around the idea of “The Constellation of Humanitarian Assistance: Persevering Through Conflict,” it was set for April 7 through 11, just as the Trump administration finished dismantling almost all of the federal government’s foreign aid programs.According…

President Trump was dealt a setback in his plans for American public education, as three federal judges issued separate rulings on Thursday pausing his ability to withhold funds from schools with diversity and equity initiatives.The rulings block the administration, at least for now, from carrying out efforts to cut off billions of dollars that pay for teachers, counselors and academic programs in schools that serve low-income children. Two of the judges who issued the decisions were appointed by Mr. Trump. A third was appointed by President Barack Obama.The cases were brought by teachers’ unions and the N.A.A.C.P., among others.In one…

Rob Holland, a well-known aerobatic pilot, died on Thursday when his custom-built carbon fiber plane crashed at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, where he had been preparing to fly in an air show this weekend, according to a statement on his Facebook page.The Federal Aviation Administration said that the plane, an MXS model built by the MX Aircraft Company, crashed while trying to land at Langley at around 11:50 a.m. The F.A.A. and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the cause of the accident.The federal agencies did not identify the pilot, who was the only person in the…

A federal judge blocked part of an expansive executive order signed last month seeking to overhaul election laws, writing on Thursday that President Trump did not have the authority to require documentary proof of citizenship for all voters.“Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the states — not the president — with the authority to regulate federal elections,” wrote Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the Federal District Court in Washington. She pointed to federal voting legislation being considered in Congress, adding that the president could not “short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.”But the judge did not block another key part of the…

A charity meant to help people stay off public assistance was the signature project of Florida’s popular first lady, Casey DeSantis. But over three years, it had managed to raise only about $2 million to help struggling families in Florida.Then last fall, a $10 million windfall suddenly arrived from an unlikely source: a Medicaid contractor embroiled in a case of overbilling.Within weeks, the money was gone — not to churches or other groups helping the needy. Instead, the Hope Florida Foundation quietly funneled it to two nonprofit political committees that helped Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies defeat a November…

The highest-ranking Democrat in the Florida Senate announced in dramatic fashion on Thursday that he was leaving the party, the latest setback for Democrats whose influence in the state has rapidly diminished.State Senator Jason W.B. Pizzo, whose district includes parts of Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in South Florida, said in a speech on the Senate floor that he was changing his voter registration to “no party affiliation,” the most common registration in Florida for independent voters.“The Democratic Party in Florida is dead,” Mr. Pizzo told his fellow lawmakers. “There are good people that can resuscitate it. But they don’t want…