Author: rpnadmin

The U.S. Supreme Court has turned aside Virginia Democrats’ long-shot attempt to overturn state courts and force the use of their preferred congressional district map in November’s elections. The justices rejected Attorney General Jay Jones’ request without comment, and no justices signaled any dissent. That outcome was expected, but is still devastating for Democrats who’d been counting on Virginia to deliver them as many as four extra U.S. House seats in the election. Virginia’s Supreme Court had ruled that Democrats who controlled the legislature violated the Constitution with a referendum trying to overturn the old maps. Referendums must pass the…

DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Friday commuted the sentence of election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters following pressure from President Donald Trump, the latest instance of the president using his powers to reward those who echoed his baseless claims of mass fraud as the cause of his 2020 loss. Trump has championed the case of Peters, a 70-year-old former county clerk who was sentenced to nine years behind bars after being convicted in a scheme to make a copy of her county’s election computer system. She gets released June 1. In April, a Colorado appeals court ordered Peters to…

U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro vowed to clamp down on juvenile curfew enforcement, telling parents that they could face charges if their children violate curfew. “Law-abiding taxpayers should no longer have to pay for parental neglect. Parents: Do your job. Or we will do ours,” she said at a Friday news conference. The get-tough move aims to curb the district’s “teen takeovers” — flash-mob-like gatherings coordinated over social media that often turn into serious altercations requiring police action. It has grown both increasingly popular and problematic in places like the Navy Yard, resulting in the arrest of multiple minors…

A number of empty Waymo robotaxis drove into Atlanta neighborhoods and circled around cul-de-sacs while waiting for passengers. The problem has been ongoing, with robotaxis circling as a holding pattern for long periods. A resident in one affected neighborhood along Atlanta’s Battleview Drive told WANF on Thursday, “I think yesterday morning, we had 50 cars that came through between 6 and 7 [a.m.].” Other residents told Atlanta’s WSB-TV that the Waymo robotaxis began appearing a couple of months ago. People were able to put signs in the street as a way to block the robotaxis. A resident said that as…

The National Rifle Association sued soon after Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed legislation that bans the sale of “assault firearms” and “high-capacity” magazines. The new law prohibits the sale of many popular semiautomatic rifles, pistols and shotguns and magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. “The NRA will not sit idly by while progressive politicians strip the rights of law-abiding citizens, and our world-class legal team is locked, loaded and ready to shoot down this outrageous gun-control law,” said John Commerford, executive director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action. He called the new law a “blatant violation…

NEW YORK — North America’s largest commuter rail system is facing a potential shutdown as a deadline nears to reach a deal with unionized workers to avert a strike. The Long Island Railroad that serves New York City’s eastern suburbs has been negotiating for months on a new contract with labor officials representing locomotive engineers, machinists, signalmen and other train workers. A strike was temporarily averted in September when President Donald Trump’s administration agreed to help. Those efforts ended without a deal, giving both sides 60 days – ending 12:01 a.m. Saturday – to again try to resolve their differences…

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the abortion pill to remain available by telehealth, meaning it can be prescribed remotely and delivered by mail — even into states where abortion is restricted. A lower court had ruled two weeks ago that the Food and Drug Administration likely erred in its 2023 decision allowing mifepristone, a key ingredient in the pill, to be prescribed during virtual doctor’s visits and delivered by mail. The justices put that ruling on hold, allowing access to the pill by mail to continue while the case develops further. Their action defuses what could have been a…

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A North Texas man who experts for both prosecutors and defense attorneys have said is intellectually disabled faced execution Thursday evening for the death of a retired college professor after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay that had put it on hold. If Edward Busby receives a lethal injection as scheduled, he would be the 600th person executed in Texas since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982. Busby’s execution had been in doubt after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week had issued a stay to further review his claims…

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved Thursday to roll back limits that require coal-fired power plants to prevent the release of toxic heavy metals into streams and rivers through polluted groundwater, saying a three-year-old rule is unduly costly for the energy industry at a time when energy demand is spiking. It is the latest step that President Donald Trump’s administration has taken to pull back regulations on coal mining and coal-fired power and empower fossil fuels as a primary energy source to feed the rapid growth of artificial intelligence data centers. In its proposed rule, the EPA…

The Justice Department on Thursday accused Yale University of illegally considering race in admissions to its medical school – the second institution to face discrimination allegations by the federal agency this month. In a letter to a lawyer for Yale, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said a DOJ investigation found that Black and Hispanic students have a much higher chance of admission to the medical school than white or Asian students, despite having lower grade-point averages and lower test scores. “Yale has continued its race-based admissions program despite the Supreme Court and the public’s clear mandate for…