AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott signed a pledge opposing police budget cuts — and a legislative proposal to “protect police funding” in Texas — at a news conference Thursday afternoon at the Austin Police Association’s headquarters alongside members of that law enforcement union. Abbott has called on all Texas candidates in the November election to sign the
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham testified Thursday remotely to a congressional committee about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on her state government’s budget and critical needs for federal aid to states to ensure economic recovery. “States like mine that have taken tough and proactive measures to blunt the spread of
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump on Wednesday afternoon named U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as a potential nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump included Cruz among 20 possible picks for the high court if Trump wins a second term in November and a seat later becomes open. The 20 new names come in addition
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — Vice President Mike Pence and top officials from President Donald Trump’s campaign are slated to attend a Montana fundraiser next week hosted by a couple who have expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to an event invitation obtained by The Associated Press and a review of social media postings. The
Continue Reading
TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — The wake generated by other boats caused five boats to sink on a Texas lake during a boat parade in support of President Donald Trump, according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. The weather on Lake Travis, which is west of Austin, was calm Saturday, but the large number of boats
Continue Reading TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — Several boats taking part in a Trump support parade on Lake Travis in Texas sunk on Saturday, officials said. Kristen Dark, the senior public information officer for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, said officials responded to “many emergency calls for boats in distress” during the parade and confirmed that “several boats
Continue Reading
AUSTIN, Texas — An assistant attorney general in Texas who ran for Congress this year has lost his job after reports surfaced showing social media posts he had made supporting conspiracy theories and touting bigoted views. Nick Moutos regularly described Black Lives Matter protesters as “terrorists” and promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory on Twitter. He
Continue Reading
SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico’s governor is urging residents to take precautions while celebrating Labor Day to avoid spreading the coronavirus. The warning comes as state health officials on Saturday reported 152 new confirmed Covid-19 cases and six additional deaths, including two in Doña Ana County. The latest fatalities involved a man in his
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden declared President Donald Trump “unfit” for the presidency on Friday, delivering an impassioned reaction to a report that Trump — who never served in uniform — allegedly mocked American war dead. The president and his allies have dismissed the report in The Atlantic as false. The allegations,
Continue Reading
KENOSHA, Wisconsin — Former Vice President Joe Biden made one of his most aggressive campaign trips in months, visiting with the family of Jacob Blake and meeting with community leaders in Kenosha on Thursday. Biden, and his wife Jill, visited with Blake’s family Thursday afternoon for about an hour at Milwaukee General Mitchell Airport inside
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security in July withheld an intelligence bulletin warning of a Russian plot to spread misinformation regarding Joe Biden’s mental health, according to internal emails and a draft of the document obtained by ABC News on Wednesday. In the draft of the bulletin obtained by ABC News titled “Russia
Continue Reading WILMINGTON, Delaware — Joe Biden is hammering President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak ahead of a planned trip to Wisconsin, a pivotal swing state that’s become a focal point for political debate over protest-related violence, police treatment of people of color and the actions of vigilante militias. The Democratic nominee said Wednesday that
Continue Reading
NEW YORK, NY — A May 2021 trial date was set Monday for Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, on charges that he cheated donors to a group seeking to fund a Mexico border wall. Bannon, 66, of Washington, D.C., was audible but not visible on a video screen as he appeared for the first
Continue Reading
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania — Joe Biden is mounting a more aggressive offense against President Donald Trump with a rare public appearance Monday declaring that a second term for Trump will mean more violence in America’s streets. “Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?” Biden said in a speech
Continue Reading
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Democratic U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small and Republican challenger Yvette Herrell have released dueling ads — with guns —aimed at appealing to rural voters in their swing, southern New Mexico district. Torres Small unveiled a commercial where she is shown shooting various types of firearms in the desert while proclaiming,
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump’s efforts to build his appeal and define his opponent at the Republican National Convention, using pageantry and the White House as the backdrop, had little apparent impact on the electorate’s impressions of both him and former Vice President Joe Biden, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds. Trump’s week of
Continue Reading
ORANGE, Texas — The destructive storm surge has receded, and the cleanup has begun from Hurricane Laura that roared ashore early Thursday, packing 150 mph winds. The U.S. toll from the Category 4 hurricane rose to 16 deaths Saturday, with more than half of those killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from the unsafe operation of
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — Coronavirus concerns didn’t inhibit a crowd from being staged for President Donald Trump’s finale to the Republican National Convention. It was a scene never before seen at the White House: About 1,500 people packed tightly together Thursday night on the South Lawn so Trump could accept his party’s nomination for re-election in
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump blasted Joe Biden as a hapless career politician who will endanger Americans’ safety as he accepted his party’s renomination Thursday on the South Lawn of the White House. While the coronavirus kills 1,000 Americans each day, Trump defied his own administration’s pandemic guidelines to speak for more than an
Continue Reading
SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico will ease restrictions on some mass gatherings and business activities in response to a gradual decline in average daily Covid-19 cases and deaths statewide, according to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. As of Thursday, state health officials had identified 24,920 positive cases (190 additional) and 755 deaths (9 additional) linked
Continue Reading
BALTIMORE, Maryland — President Donald Trump made a surprise appearance at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry following Vice President Mike Pence’s speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night. The president, first lady, Pence and Pence’s wife stood on stage with their hands over their hearts as country music star Trace Adkins performed “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Continue Reading
SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has scheduled a news conference for Thursday afternoon to discuss a loosening of restrictions involving dining and church attendance as the state’s Covid-19 case numbers have recently shown decline. Although the official announcement was a day away, the governor’s office on Wednesday outlined the
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — First lady Melania Trump portrayed her husband as an authentic, uncompromising leader in a Rose Garden address Tuesday night as President Donald Trump turned to family, farmers and the trappings of the presidency to boost his reelection chances on the second night of the scaled-down Republican National Convention. Mrs. Trump offered a
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump highlighted the pardon of a Nevada man convicted of bank robbery as part of the second day of programming at the Republican National Convention. In a video that aired Tuesday evening, Trump says that the story of Jon Ponder is a “beautiful testament to the power of redemption.” Ponder
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has ordered a leadership shake-up at the Ambrosio Guillen Texas State Veterans Home in northeast El Paso, hours after an El Paso Matters report raised questions about the Covid-19 death of a World War II veteran at the nursing home. “Over the past several months, we
Continue Reading
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Two of the Republican Party’s rising stars, both people of color, offered an optimistic view of President Donald Trump’s leadership on Monday night, closing the opening night of the GOP’s scaled-back convention with a positive message at odds with the dark warnings that dominated much of the night. While other Republicans
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — The former chair of the Republican Party in El Paso will represent the Sun City at the Republican National Convention this week. “It is outstanding for the city of El Paso to have a representative at the national convention to nominate our existing president,” said Adolpho Telles, who is on the
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Former Vice President Joe Biden said in an exclusive interview with ABC News on Friday that as president, he would shut the country down to stop the spread of Covid-19 if the move was recommended to him by scientists. “I would shut it down; I would listen to the scientists,” Biden said Friday, sitting alongside
Continue Reading WILMINGTON, Delaware — Joe Biden vowed to unite an America torn by crisis and contempt Thursday night, accepting the Democratic presidential nomination and achieving a pinnacle in an unfinished quest that has spanned three decades and been marred by personal tragedy, political stumbles and more dynamic rivals. The past hurdles fell away as Biden addressed
Continue Reading
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas on Thursday joined the growing list of states that will pursue President Donald Trump’s plan to offer a stripped-down boost in unemployment benefits to millions of Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Greg Abbott announced that Texas will apply for federal grants allowing the state to increase unemployment checks by $300. An Associated
Continue Reading