San Diego Union-Tribune Politics

The Trump administration Wednesday unveiled proposed new rules for the census that would order the national count to exclude undocumented immigrants and not ask about race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. The proposals, which would likely face fierce objections and legal challenges, aims to reshape the once-a-decade count of people living in America starting with the 2030 census, with widespread impacts on government spending and political representation. The most significant change would call

By LARRY NEUMEISTER NEW YORK (AP) — A racketeering conspiracy trial of Huawei Technologies began in New York on Wednesday with federal prosecutors accusing the Chinese tech company of a litany of crimes, including stealing technology from American companies, abusing the U.S. financial system and helping Iran snoop on its citizens. Huawei is the world’s biggest supplier of gear for wireless telecom networks, but it is banned from selling equipment to U.S. carriers over fears it poses a security r

By MAE ANDERSON NEW YORK (AP) — The trade war between the U.S. and Canada escalated again this week as the U.S. announced import bans on most alcoholic beverages from Canada, along with other products including whey, molasses and motorcycles. The U.S. had already imposed 50% tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian products — about 5% of the $381.92 billion worth of products that the country sent to the U.S. last year. The import bans announced late Tuesday target some of those products. Exporti

By BILL BARROW and JACQUELYN MARTIN JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (AP) — President Donald Trump had been eagerly awaiting his trip to Texas for his Republican Party’s midterm convention. But he was briefly delayed by the deployment of an inflatable emergency slide on the new Air Force One plane that was a gift from Qatar. Trump arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland aboard Marine One on Wednesday afternoon for the scheduled trip to Dallas but was kept on the helicopter for about 20 minutes as

By Nada Hassanein, Stateline.org In Minnesota, an elementary schooler has gone without surgery to treat a rare, life-threatening neck infection that isn’t responding to antibiotics. Another young child can’t use their hearing aids because the family ran out of batteries and hasn’t come to get replacements. Yet another child’s cochlear implant surgery was delayed by several months. These patients’ families, all immigrants, have been afraid of showing up to the hospital after immigration officers

By BILL BARROW and JAMIE STENGLE DALLAS (AP) — It’s not just Republicans descending on Dallas for the midterm convention — Democrats are there too as they try to convince voters that the reality of Donald Trump’s second presidency doesn’t match the spectacle of his made-for-TV event. “This bizarre Republican midterm convention here can’t paper over the fact that Republicans have done nothing to earn your vote,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender,

By DAVID A. LIEB JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A battle over Missouri’s congressional districts vaulted back to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, two months before a pivotal November election that will determine control of Congress and affect the fate of President Donald Trump’s agenda. A series of conflicting court rulings has left a scar on Missouri — and left voters befuddled and unsure which U.S. House districts they will be voting in and which candidates will appear on their ballots. A fede

By AAMER MADHANI, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that oil prices that have surged because of the Iran war likely won’t come down until after U.S. midterm elections. Oil prices on Wednesday jumped more than 3%, pushing international Brent crude past the $100 threshold for the first time since July as salvos between the U.S. and Iran escalated. “Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to take

By JILL COLVIN, THOMAS BEAUMONT and WILL WEISSERT DALLAS (AP) — Republicans used the opening night of their unusual midterm convention on Wednesday to hammer Democrats as extremists and pledge unwavering devotion to President Donald Trump, proudly placing their party’s undisputed leader at the center of upcoming midterm elections — even if his low approval ratings might ultimately drag them down in November. Many Republicans, including those facing tight races, are skipping the

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and JAMIE STENGLE CANFIELD, Ohio (AP) — An armed man accused of charging toward Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton during a campaign stop at a fair was trying to ask the Democrat questions, a prosecutor said during the man’s arraignment Tuesday. No one has publicly said what 38-year-old Patrick Havas wanted to ask Acton, but authorities have said he never brandished or unholstered the weapons he had on him and they haven’t found any threats in a search of his cellphone. A

By GENE JOHNSON SEATTLE (AP) — The number of ballots rejected for late postmarks has soared in the vote-by-mail states of Washington and Oregon, according to newly released data highlighting concerns about recent changes in U.S. Postal Service operations ahead of this fall’s pivotal midterm election. The struggling agency has been consolidating its operations with an emphasis on regional hubs in an effort to save billions of dollars. Some U.S. senators and election officials for months have been

By DAVID A. LIEB and LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Dueling court orders eight weeks before Election Day left Missouri’s congressional map uncertain Tuesday as legal wrangling over a redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump sparked fresh confusion. A federal judge in Missouri on Tuesday temporarily blocked the state from using its old congressional districts in the November election. But that came just moments after the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a d

By MATTHEW PERRONE WASHINGTON (AP) — The administration of President Donald Trump filled four senior positions at the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday, promoting several officials who had been serving in acting roles to permanently fill the spots, including the agency’s top leaders for drugs and vaccines. The announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, gives the agency some stability following months of controversy and upheaval that led to a series

By GARY FIELDS WASHINGTON (AP) — A member of the Georgia National Guard deployed in Washington, D.C., as part of President Donald Trump’s task force to fight crime has been arrested for pulling a gun on a fellow Guard member in an alleged dispute over regulation haircuts. Zion Mitchell, 21, was arrested earlier this month and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm while committing a crime of violence or dangerous crime — both felonies — in connection with an Aug

By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday in response to the latest attacks on its warships and Tehran hit back at American targets in Jordan, the latest burst of back-and-forth strikes that have lurched the sides back toward open hostilities in a more than 6-month-old war. Following the American strikes, Iran launched missiles toward U.S. targets in Jordan, Iranian state-run media said. Jordan’s military said its air defense

By ERIC TUCKER WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is demanding testimony before a Florida grand jury in an investigation aiming to establish an intelligence community conspiracy against President Donald Trump, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. New subpoenas being issued to former government officials represent an escalation in the year-long investigation as the Justice Department pursues a loosely defined theory that members of the intelligence community who scrutinize

By MEG KINNARD and GARY FIELDS, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Lonnie Bunch is stepping down from the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution following a tumultuous year in which President Donald Trump tried to remake the portrayal of U.S. history by the Smithsonian museums and other cultural entities. Bunch said in a news release Tuesday that he was departing the position he had held since 2019 “with very mixed emotions and heartfelt gratitude.” The Smithsonian said he would leave the pos

By SEUNG MIN KIM WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly a quarter century after a day “etched forever into the memories of Americans,” President Donald Trump honored the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Tuesday by vowing to “never forget.” The event at the Ellipse was spearheaded by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and showcased a massive, 21-foot, nearly 17,000-pound steel beam recovered from the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, which had traveled for months across the country as pa

By ROB GILLIES TORONTO (AP) — The United States is banning the import of some dairy products and motorcycles from Canada along with most alcoholic beverages, the White House said Tuesday, as part of a trade war that shows little sign of cooling off. The ban will take effect Sept. 29 and comes after retaliatory tariffs promised by Canada kicked in earlier Tuesday on $20 billion in U.S. imports. Canada had responded to tariff moves by U.S. President Donald Trump after trade talks between the count

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI, THOMAS BEAUMONT and MARY CLARE JALONICK WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans appeared to have a firm grip on the Senate heading into the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term. But with less than two months until Election Day, control of the chamber is now up for grabs. Democrats have found themselves competing in states that once seemed beyond their reach as Trump’s slipping approval ratings and voters’ dissatisfaction with the economy create a difficult political enviro