Author: rpnadmin

Economy / January 20, 2026 The agency is planning to delete a document that provides up-to-date guidance on the protections workers have in this complex and rapidly changing area of law. Ad Policy Andrea Lucas, now chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, testifies at her confirmation hearing in front of the Senate HELP Committee, in June 2025.(Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the only federal agency that protects private-sector workers’ rights to be free from discrimination, is on the verge of erasing a guidance document outlining all forms of illegal harassment,…

Lindsey Halligan speaks as President Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2025. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption toggle caption Evan Vucci/AP Lindsey Halligan, a former senior White House aide with no prior experience as a prosecutor, is now out of the post that President Trump appointed her to in eastern Virginia. Her embattled status as an interim federal prosecutor led to the dismissal of controversial Justice Department cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump named Halligan to the Virginia post on Sept. 21, 2025 — one day after…

Politics / January 20, 2026 In the metro and in public spaces, its hard to miss all the advertisements hawking the lethal wares of military contractors, tech companies, and the like. Ad Policy An advertisement for the US Border Patrol on a MetroBus at the Fort Totten Metro station in Washington, DC, 2025. (Al Drago / Bloomberg) In the month and a half I spent in DC this autumn, advertisements for defense contractors proved unavoidable. Everywhere I looked in the capital, there were promises to make America’s globe-spanning killing machine more lethal. The city’s Metro is so saturated with these…

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. (pictured right), and ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., confer during a hearing Wednesday on whether to hold former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Win McNamee/Getty Images The House Oversight Committee voted on Wednesday to hold former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in criminal contempt of Congress after the couple defied a congressional subpoena. The testimony demand was filed in connection with the panel’s investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein…

Politics / January 21, 2026 Nothing says “I care about working people” like a speech to an audience of billionaires at an exclusive Swiss ski resort. Ad Policy Donald Trump attends the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 21, 2026.(Harun Ozalp / Anadolu via Getty Images) As President Donald Trump seeks to force the attendees of the World Economic Forum in Davos to submit to his fever dreams of imperial expansion, he also faces a more stubborn, far less operatic challenge to his grip on domestic power. The American public has turned on his presidency, chiefly…

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 President Trump plans to focus on affordability today in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. But his foreign policy — specifically, Trump’s desire to acquire Greenland — and his threats of tariffs on eight European countries if he doesn’t get his way are overshadowing the summit. When the president takes the stage, world leaders will be paying close attention to signs of where…

Politics / January 20, 2026 The neofascist tech oligarch was cast out of Trump’s inner circle, but his money and influence are still omnipresent. Ad Policy Elon Musk addresses a MAGA rally in Washington on the eve of President Donald Trump’s inauguration last year. (Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images) Last June, the relationship between President Donald Trump and his top political benefactor, Elon Musk, seemed to be in shambles. Wrapping up his 180-day tenure as a “special government employee,” Musk had stepped down from the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which had secured for the world’s richest…

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is seen in Park Ridge, Ill., Sept. 19, 2025. Erin Hooley/AP hide caption toggle caption Erin Hooley/AP Just 10 years ago, the annual budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, was less than $6 billion — notably smaller than other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. But ICE’s budget has skyrocketed during President Trump’s second term, becoming the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency, with $85 billion now at its disposal. The windfall is thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, enacted last July. After hovering around the $10 billion mark…

Today is the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration. From ICE deportations to the dismantling of DEI to the criminalization of pregnancy to environmental rollbacks, the administration has narrowed whom it protects and who, through degradations to citizenship, it has determined is expendable.In this country, gender often determines who bears risks, absorbs costs, and is rendered responsible for the failures of markets and the state. This administration’s policies are, accordingly, especially harrowing for women as well as those who won’t or can’t conform to its gender regime.When people think of “women’s issues,” they tend to think of abortion, childcare, or…

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is seen Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in Minneapolis. Adam Gray/AP hide caption toggle caption Adam Gray/AP The Justice Department has issued grand jury subpoenas to multiple government officials in Minnesota, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, expanding the agency’s probe alleging that Minnesota officials conspired to impede law enforcement amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her have also been subpoenaed. NPR has not yet confirmed reports that other state and local leaders have also been issued subpoenas. Frey’s subpoena requires him to…