Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) want Congress to give the Department of Justice about $9 million to help its new environmental justice division.
The big picture: The DOJ announced last week it would create the Office of Environmental Justice and launch an enforcement strategy to protect communities of color against environmental crimes.
Why it matters: The move, which stays a lower court order that temporarily blocked the law, is a win for Republicans who claim social media companies have waged a campaign to silence conservative ideas and beliefs.
The D.C. Police Department said Wednesday it arrested a 17-year-old girl in connection with the bomb threat at Dunbar High School during Second gentleman Doug Emhoff's visit to the school earlier this year.
Flashback: Emhoff was ushered out of the D.C. public high school back in February due to the bomb threat. The investigation is still ongoing.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Wednesday announced plans to add an additional $57 million to his proposed state budget in anticipation for the influx of out-of-state patients that might travel to the state to access abortion care.
Driving the news: If the Supreme Court overturns its precedents protecting abortion access in the U.S., the number of women traveling from other states to California for abortions is expected to increase from 46,000 to 1.4 million, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Senate Democrats on Wednesday failed to pass legislation that would enshrine abortion rights into federal law, a move that was all but certainly destined to fail from the start.
Why it matters: The effort comes as Democratic lawmakers and abortion rights advocates are upping the ante on calls to pass legislation codifying abortion rights after a leaked Supreme Court draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
One of the many growing wildfires in New Mexico is forcing residents near Los Alamos National Laboratory to prepare for possible evacuations.
Why it matters: Los Alamos National Laboratory is one of the nation's premier nuclear labs and is where the world's first atomic bomb was developed during World War II.
The Senate has voted to confirm Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission, giving Democratic chair Lina Khan a majority at the agency after a long wait.
Why it matters: Khan can now move forward with the aggressive pro-competition agenda she's planned, with three Democratic members sitting on the five-member commission.
A Florida judge on Wednesday struck down a portion of a redistricting map drawn by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his staff.
Driving the news: "I am finding that the enacted map is unconstitutional under the Fair District amendment ... because it diminishes African Americans' ability to elect the representatives of their choice," Leon County Circuit Judge Layne Smith said.
A New York judge said Wednesday that former President Trump's civil contempt sanction as part of the state's investigation into his business will be lifted provided he soon meets certain conditions ordered by the court.
Driving the news: The judge ordered that Trump will be required to pay $110,000 in contempt fees to New York Attorney General Letitia James' office, which is investigating the Trump Organization's financial dealings.
Native American children at the U.S.'s 408 federal Indian boarding schools suffered whippings, sexual abuse, manual labor and severe malnourishment between 1819 and 1969 as part of the American government's campaign to compel their assimilation, according to a report released Wednesday by the Interior Department.
The big picture: Interior Secretary Deb Haaland authorized an investigation into the U.S.'s Indian boarding school system after the discovery of Indigenous children's remains at an old Canadian residential school site renewed attention on Americas' history of genocide against Indigenous peoples. The probe has since identified marked or unmarked burial sites at roughly 53 different schools.
More than 100,000 people died from drug overdoses in the U.S. in 2021, more than in any other year on record, according to provisional data released by the National Center for Health Statistics Wednesday.
Why it matters: The grim milestone, a 15% increase from overdose deaths in 2020, occurred during the coronavirus pandemic, which also killed over 415,000 in the country that year and almost 1 million in total so far.
Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was fatally shot while covering an Israeli military raid in the city of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank on Wednesday morning.
The big picture: Tom Nides, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, confirmed Shireen Abu Akleh was a Palestinian American citizen and called for "a thorough investigation into the circumstances of her death," as Palestinian and Israeli officials gave conflicting accounts of what happened to the veteran reporter.
The leader of a violent Haitian gang has been charged in connection with the kidnapping of an Ohio-based Christian missionary group in Port-au-Prince last October, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.
The big picture: Joly Germine, 29, also known as "Yonyon," is the first person to be charged over the armed abduction of the 16 Americans, including five children, and one Canadian citizen in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, per a DOJ statement that notes most of the missionaries "were held captive for 61 days before escaping."
Businessman Jim Pillen on Tuesday beat out a Trump-backed candidate to win the GOP nomination for Nebraska governor, according to AP.
Why it matters: The result marks the first time this year former President Trump's endorsement has failed to carry a candidate to victory in a GOP primary this cycle. He had endorsed businessman Charles Herbster.
The House passed a nearly $40 billion military and humanitarian aid package for Ukraine late Tuesday.
The big picture: The vote passed 368-57, hours after congressional leaders struck a deal on the aid — which Axios' Alayna Treene notes is billions more than the $33 billion the White House initially requested. All 57 votes opposed to the package were cast by Republicans.
The House approved a resolution Tuesday recognizing congressional staffers' right to collectively bargain and unionize, per AP.
Why it matters: The resolution would enable some 9,000 staffers on Capitol Hill to access the same basic federal legal protections other workers have when organizing, Axios D.C.'s Chelsea Cirruzzo writes.
Rep. Alex Mooney (R) on Tuesday defeated Rep. David McKinley (R) in the first member vs. member primary election this year for a West Virginia House seat, according to AP.
Why it matters: This is one of the dozens of competitive primaries where former President Trump put the strength of his endorsements in GOP primaries — a proxy for his control over the Republican Party — to the test.
The head of the U.S. intelligence community warned Tuesday there's no "viable" prospect for peace negotiations in Ukraine in the near term, predicting a protracted "war of attrition" that's likely to become "more unpredictable and escalatory."
Why it matters: The U.S. is doubling down on helping Ukraine defeat Russia on the battlefield but with little clarity about how the war ends. That means the mammoth $40 billion package of additional security and financial assistance set to pass the House on Tuesday night is unlikely to be the last.
President Biden is blaming three culprits when it comes to controlling inflation: Vladimir Putin, the pandemic and congressional Republicans. The problem is: He doesn’t control any of them.
Why it matters: By conceding he’s mostly powerless to meaningfully reduce inflation, Biden is bracing the country for higher prices. He's also trying to make a case for the Democratic Party — and the remainder of his term — in this fall's pivotal midterm elections.
The Senate Republicans' unified opposition is, for the second time this week, forcing Democrats to recalibrate their strategy for trying to pass their major legislative priorities.
Driving the news: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants to hold a vote to pass a $10 billion coronavirus relief package. Republicans won't allow it without a prior vote on blocking a repeal of the Title 42 immigration ban.
