Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — Troops patrol train stations and streets in the nation’s capital. Masked federal law enforcement agents detain District of Columbia residents. Congress passes bills that further squeeze the city’s autonomy. And the one person who could act as a voice for Washington on Capitol Hill has been a rare sight. Even longtime allies say Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s nonvoting delegate in the House, has not risen to the challenge of pushing back against the Trump administration’s intervention into her city. They cite her age, 88, and her diminished demeanor. That has raised questions about the 18-term...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s capital sued to block President Donald Trump’s takeover of its police department in court on Friday, hours after his administration escalated its intervention into the city’s law enforcement by naming a federal official as the new emergency head of the department.Washington’s police department chief said Trump’s move would threaten law and order by upending the command structure. “In my nearly three decades in law enforcement, I have never seen a single government action that would cause a greater threat to law and order than this dangerous directive,” Police Chief Pamela Smith said in a court...

WASHINGTON (AP) — One month ahead of President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia, the District of Columbia is renaming the street in front of the Saudi embassy Jamal Khashoggi Way, trolling Riyadh for its role in the killing of the dissident Saudi activist and journalist in 2018. With members of the D.C. Council in attendance, a Jamal Khashoggi Way sign was unveiled directly in front of the embassy’s main entrance. “We intend to remind the people who are hiding behind these doors ... that we hold them responsible and we will hold them accountable for the murder of our...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of children in America living in poverty jumped dramatically after just one month without the expanded child tax credit payments, according to a new study. Advocates fear the lapse in payments could unravel what they say were landmark achievements in poverty reduction. Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy estimates 3.7 million more children were living in poverty by January — a 41% increase from December, when families received their last check. The federal aid started last July but ended after President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill stalled in the sharply divided Congress.