Author: chicagoinquirer

by Michael R. Blood and Tran Nguyen LOS ANGELES — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday his state will hold a Nov. 4 special election to seek voter approval of new congressional map drawn to try to win Democrats five more U.S. House seats in 2026. The move is a direct response to a Republican-led effort in Texas, pushed by President Donald Trump as his party seeks to maintain its slim House majority after the midterm elections. Texas lawmakers are considering a new map that would help them send five more Republicans to Washington. Democrats who so far have halted…

by Michelle L. Price Vladimir Isachenkov WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday could be a decisive moment for both the war in Ukraine and the U.S. leader’s anomalous relationship with his Russian counterpart. Trump has long boasted that he’s gotten along well with Putin and spoken admiringly of him, even praising him as “pretty smart” for invading Ukraine. But in recent months, he’s expressed frustrations with Putin and threatened more sanctions on his country. At the same time, Trump has offered conflicting messages about his expectations for the summit. He has called it…

by Jill Colvin NEW YORK  — As National Guard troops deploy across her city as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to clamp down on crime, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is responding with relative restraint. She’s called Trump’s takeover of the city’s police department and his decision to activate 800 members of the guard “ unsettling and unprecedented ” and gone as far as to cast his efforts as part of an “authoritarian push.” But Bowser has so far avoided the kind of biting rhetoric and personal attacks typical of other high-profile Democratic leaders, despite the unprecedented incursion into her…

by Gebe Chamberlaine CHICAGO (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa saw the value in playing a series in Sunday’s preseason opener even if it didn’t end the way he would have liked. The game itself didn’t end the way Miami or the Chicago Bears would have liked. Tagovailoa had an efficient start to the preseason Sunday and the Dolphins and the Bears finished in a 24-24 tie in Ben Johnson’s Chicago coaching debut. Playing in a preseason opener for the first time since 2021, Tagovailoa completed 5 of 6 for 27 yards in a 15-play drive against Bears backups,…

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Miami Dolphins placed Alexander Mattison on injured reserve Monday after the veteran running back suffered a season-ending neck injury in a preseason game against the Chicago Bears. Mattison left Sunday’s game with a neck injury after being tackled on a 21-yard pass play and landing awkwardly on his head in the fourth quarter. Coach Mike McDaniel said afterward that Mattison had some soreness in his neck and shoulder. Mattison was taken to a hospital and had season-ending neck surgery, ESPN reported. The Dolphins signed Mattison to a one-year deal in March to bolster their running…

by Mark Banchereau DAKAR, Senegal  — It’s the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth — a 54-pound (25-kilogram) meteorite that fetched more than $5 million at a New York auction last month, setting a world record. But in the West African nation of Niger, where the rusty-red rock was unearthed in the Sahara Desert, officials have launched an investigation into what they call possible “illicit international trafficking,” claiming it may have been smuggled out of the country. Here’s what to know about the meteorite and the legal dispute: How it was found Sotheby’s said the rock, named NWA…

WASHINGTON  — President Donald Trump said Monday that he’s deploying the National Guard across Washington and taking over the city’s police department in the hopes of reducing crime, even as the city’s mayor has noted that crime is falling in the nation’s capital. The Republican president, who said he was formally declaring a public safety emergency, compared crime in the American capital with that in other major cities, saying Washington performs poorly on safety relative to the capitals of Iraq, Brazil and Colombia, among others. Trump also said at his news briefing that his administration has started removing homeless encampments…

by David Klepper WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that he’s deploying the National Guard across Washington and taking over the city’s police department in the hopes of reducing crime, even as the city’s mayor has noted that crime is falling in the nation’s capital. The Republican president, who said he was formally declaring a public safety emergency, compared crime in the American capital with that in other major cities, saying Washington performs poorly on safety relative to the capitals of Iraq, Brazil and Colombia, among others. Trump also said at his news briefing that his administration has…

by Bill Barrow and Jesse Bedayn Texas Republicans were set Monday to try again to convene the state Legislature and redraw congressional districts to satisfy President Donald Trump, as California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats urged Republicans to stand down and avoid a partisan brawl spanning multiple statehouses. Texas Democratic lawmakers remain outside of Texas after leaving the state to deny their GOP colleagues the quorum necessary to vote on Trump’s unapologetically aggressive redistricting play. The president’s move also spurred Democratic governors, including Newsom, to pledge retaliatory redistricting efforts in their states — setting up the possibility of an…

by Thomas Beaumont DAVENPORT, Iowa  — Hundreds of people cheered Sen. Ruben Gallego at a town hall meeting in eastern Iowa Saturday as the first-term Arizona Democrat assailed the massive, Republican-backed tax bill signed by President Donald Trump as likely to make “America poorer and sicker.” Gallego’s upbeat event struck the opposite tone from Rep. Mike Flood’s town hall meeting earlier in the week, when an even bigger crowd jeered the Nebraska Republican for most of a 90-minute event in his state to promote the bill. Democrats, searching for months after last year’s election defeat for footing in opposing the…