Politics

Politico reports: Pete Buttigieg met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer last week to discuss a possible Senate bid in Michigan, according to two people familiar with the meeting and granted anonymity to describe private conversations. The former Transportation secretary is still undecided about a Senate run in his adopted home state, according to five people familiar with the situation. …

The Texas Tribune reports: Six years after Texas lawmakers inadvertently triggered the state’s booming consumable hemp market, one chamber of the Legislature is pushing to shut down the industry by barring products that contain THC. Yet even with the backing of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the powerful Texas Senate leader, the proposal to ban THC faces uncertain prospects in the …

Houston’s ABC affiliate reports: Sylvester Turner, the former mayor of Houston who won election last November to fill late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee’s seat in District 18, has died, ABC13 learned Wednesday morning. He was 70. Turner served two terms as mayor of the City of Houston after being elected in 2016. His tenure ended last January. Ten months later, …

USA Today reports: First lady Melania Trump today made her first public comments against the publication of non-consensual sexually explicit images at a roundtable on Capitol Hill on Monday, a day before she joins President Donald Trump for his first joint congressional address of his second presidency. The remarks are in support of the Take it Down Act, which was …

Axios reports: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that voting to approve Rubio’s nomination in January was “a mistake.” “I think a lot of us thought that Marco Rubio was going to stand up to Donald Trump” on issues like Russia’s years-long war in Ukraine, Murphy said. “I thought when Donald Trump decided to …

“This week started with administration officials refusing to acknowledge that Russia started the war in Ukraine. It ends with a tense, shocking conversation in the Oval Office and whispers from the White House that they may try to end all U.S. support for Ukraine. “I know foreign policy is not for the faint of heart, but right now, I am …

The BBC reports: Israel has blocked the entry of all humanitarian aid into Gaza as it demands Hamas agree to a US plan for a ceasefire extension. The first phase of the ceasefire expired on Saturday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Hamas had so far refused to accept a temporary extension under a proposal by Donald Trump’s envoy, …

The Middle East Eye reports: Draft legislation could see “biological sex” written into law in Turkey and the “promotion” of LGBTQ rights criminalised. The Turkish penal code would mandate that a “person who publicly encourages, praises or promotes attitudes and behaviours contrary to the biological sex at birth and public morality shall be sentenced to imprisonment of one year to …

Gothamist reports: A state panel is exploring whether former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s law license should be in jeopardy for his alleged sexual harassment of women. The previously undisclosed probe by the Attorney Grievance Committee in New York’s Third Judicial Department is still in its early stages, but it could eventually result in the suspension or disbarment of Cuomo, a licensed …

The Guardian reports: Hungary’s Budapest Pride should be held in a “closed venue” this year rather than on a city centre avenue as in previous years, the prime minister Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff has said, citing child protection. The plan, announced on Wednesday, appeared to be part of Orbán’s restrictions on the activities of the LGBTQ+ community as the …

The New York Times reports: Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, who rose from relative obscurity to become the Democratic nominee for vice president last year, will not run for his state’s open Senate seat in 2026 and will instead begin the process to seek a third term as governor, his spokesman said Wednesday. “Governor Walz is not running for the …

The New York Times reports: Speaker Mike Johnson revealed on Monday why Representative Elise Stefanik of New York has yet to have her confirmation vote to serve as ambassador to the United Nations: He cannot afford to lose another Republican vote in the House. Mr. Johnson is under pressure this week to hold his fractious conference together to pass a …

The Independent reports: Exit polls published in Germany’s election suggest Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party has come out well in front, as the far-right AfD make large gains. In polling being watched closely across Europe and in the US, the CDU/CSU bloc was on course to win first place with 28.5 per cent of the vote, followed …

The BBC reports: Germans are going to the polls after an intense election campaign dominated by their country’s faltering economy and a succession of deadly attacks that have made migration and security a focal issue.  Friedrich Merz, the 69-year-old conservative leader, is in pole position to become Germany’s next chancellor, in a vote closely watched in Europe and the US. He …

Los Angeles’s ABC affiliate reports: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Friday afternoon said she met with and removed LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley “effective immediately.” “Acting in the best interests of Los Angeles’ public safety, and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department, I have removed Kristin Crowley as Fire Chief,” Bass said in a statement. “We know that …

The Associated Press reports: Condemned South Carolina inmate Brad Sigmon has chosen to die next month by a firing squad. He would be the first U.S. inmate shot to death in an execution in 15 years. Sigmon is scheduled to die March 7. On Friday, he became the first South Carolina inmate to choose the state’s new firing squad over …

The Wrap reports: It turns out, there is still a big audience for the resistance to President Trump. That is clearly the case with “The MeidasTouch,” a podcast that is highly critical of the president, now topping “The Joe Rogan Experience” to become the most-listened to podcast in the last month. That’s according to metrics from Podscribe, which shows “The …

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports: Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann collapsed Wednesday morning while the Mississippi Senate was in session. Before he collapsed, Hosemann was standing at his podium. He was seen leaning forward and then onto the ground before several Senate staffers and senators rushed to his aid and requested emergency services. A Capitol staffer could be seen on the live …

The Associated Press reports: Brazil’s prosecutor-general on Tuesday formally charged former President Jair Bolsonaro with attempting a coup to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat, in a plot that included a plan to poison his successor and current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and kill a Supreme Court judge. Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet alleges that Bolsonaro and 33 …

Politico reports: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is planning his exit as the leader of the U.S. Postal Service, a closing chapter to his contentious four-plus year tenure at the agency. In a letter released by the USPS on Tuesday, DeJoy asked the agency’s board of governors to begin the process in identifying his successor. The statement did not say when …