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New German cars are stored at a logistic center in Essen, Germany, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. Martin Meissner/AP hide caption toggle caption Martin Meissner/AP Tariffs have been costly for the auto industry. Higher taxes on imports like aluminum and steel are pushing up the prices of the materials that go into cars, while tariffs on foreign-made parts and imported vehicles have been as high as 25% since the spring. Even after recent deals struck with Japan and the European Union, tariffs on imports from those countries are still at 15% — far higher than in previous years. But so far,…

Washington — Senate Democrats are trying to force the Justice Department to release the Jeffrey Epstein files using a little-known law that directs executive agencies to turn over information to congressional oversight committees, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday.”Today Senate Democrats take additional action to try and uncover the truth about the Epstein files,” Schumer said on the Senate floor, and he proceeded to describe the nearly century-old law the minority would use to try to compel the release of the “full and complete Epstein files.”The federal law, known as Section 2954 and referred to as the “Rule of…

Like many Americans, I may only be one generation away from birthright citizenship—a concept that defined this country’s promise for so many immigrants. Ad Policy Morris Eisenberg on a motorcycle in Little Rock.(Courtesy of Robert Pinsky) The complaint about us poets is that we make everything too complicated. When the world needs something like a simple protest song or something patriotic, we mutter vaguely about different ways to look at a thing. Immigration, for example. Is it fundamentally the same today as it was for my grandparents, or completely different? Or if somewhere in between, then where, exactly? If certainty…

Three days of investigative hearings on the deadly midair collision over Washington in January began Wednesday, aiming to reveal new insights into what caused the crash between a passenger plane and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people.The National Transportation Safety Board opened the hearings in Washington, with plans to question witnesses and investigators about how the actions of the Federal Aviation Administration and its air traffic controllers and the Army may have contributed to the nation’s deadliest plane crash since November 2001. It’s likely too early for the board to identify the cause of the crash.As the hearing got…

On a recent weekday evening, Ashly Richards helped her 13-year-old son, Case, with homework. He did math problems and some reading, underscoring how much he’s accomplished at his school for children with autism.Richards has heard Trump administration officials suggest that food dyes and pediatric vaccines cause autism and ADHD. That stance, she said, unfairly blames parents.”There’s no evidence to support it,” said Richards, 44, a marketing director in Richmond, Virginia. “As a parent, it’s infuriating.”In their zeal to “Make America Healthy Again,” Trump administration officials are making statements that some advocacy and medical groups say depict patients and the doctors…

Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day. Today’s top stories The United Kingdom has signaled that it will recognize the State of Palestine by September unless Israel commits to peace in the Gaza Strip, stops the annexation of the West Bank and takes other actions. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement yesterday comes after French President Emmanuel Macron stated last week that France has plans to recognize a Palestinian state in September. Both countries add to the…

A tsunami warning issued for Hawaii after one of the world’s strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia’s Far East early Wednesday was downgraded to an advisory late Tuesday, Hawaii time. The 8.8-magnitude temblor sent tsunami waves into Japan and Hawaii and across the Pacific. No substantial damage was reported.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTSC), which lifted the warning, had forecast that the estimated arrival time of the first tsunami waves in Hawaii would be 7:17 p.m. Tuesday local time (1:17 a.m. Wednesday EDT). CBS Honolulu affiliate KGMB-TV reported that the first waves coming ashore were relatively small, though they came at high…

The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday along party lines, 51 to 47, to confirm Susan Monarez as the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. President Trump nominated her for the role in March, praising her as “an incredible mother and dedicated public servant” who “understands the importance of protecting our children, our communities, and our future.”  CDC Director Susan Monarez Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Monarez has been serving as the acting head of the CDC since January, and previously worked as the head of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. She was viewed as somewhat…

Emil Boveis shown sitting in a Manhattan criminal court during Donald Trump’s sentencing in the hush money case in New York, Jan. 10, 2025. Jeehah Moon/Pool Bloomberg/AP hide caption toggle caption Jeehah Moon/Pool Bloomberg/AP WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed former Trump lawyer Emil Bove 50-49 for a lifetime appointment as a federal appeals court judge Tuesday as Republicans dismissed whistleblower complaints about his conduct at the Justice Department. A former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, Bove was on Trump’s legal team during his New York hush money trial and defended Trump in the two federal criminal…

A powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, prompting Japan’s meteorological agency to issue a tsunami alert and the National Weather Service to issue a tsunami warning for the state of Hawaii and parts of Alaska on Wednesday.A tsunami advisory was also issued for parts of Alaska and the entire West Coast, stretching from the California-Mexico border up to the Alaska-British Columbia border.Japan’s meteorological agency said the quake occurred at 8:25 a.m. local time on Wednesday and registered a preliminary magnitude of 8.0, later adjusted by the U.S. Geological Survey to 8.8 and the USGS said the earthquake occurred at…