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The Interior Department on Monday finalized plans to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, a pivotal — but hardly the final — step in a decades-long battle over the ecologically sensitive region thought to hold huge oil deposits.

The big picture: Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign said he would look to prevent drilling if elected. "His plan released last year made clear that he will permanently protect ANWR and other areas impacted by President Trump's attacks on federal lands and waters," the campaign said.

But The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, points out that the decision makes it "difficult to unwind the decision should Democrats recapture the White House in November."

The final "record of decision" paves the way for selling drilling leases in the refuge's 1.6 million acre coastal plan, a step enabled by the GOP's 2017 legislation that ended longstanding restrictions.

What's next: Actual oil-and-gas production is expected to be years from commencing, perhaps a decade, but earlier steps in the development process would begin sooner if leasing proceeds.

The late 2017 law called for lease sales to begin within four years. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt declined to offer specific timing but told reporters that a sale could occur this year. "I am confident that we can certainly move forward quite promptly," he said.

The other side: Environmentalists and Democrats have long opposed drilling in ANWR, calling it a risk to polar bears, caribou and other wildlife. Groups quickly pledged legal battles to thwart development.

"The Trump administration’s so-called review process for their shameless sell-off of the Arctic Refuge has been a sham from the start. We’ll see them in court," said the Sierra Club's Lena Moffitt in a statement.

The administration is looking to "liquidate our nation’s last great wilderness, putting at risk the indigenous peoples and iconic wildlife that depend on it," said Adam Kolton of the Alaska Wilderness League.

Bernhardt, while declining to outright predict what the courts might do, told reporters on a call this morning that "I would not be going forward if I was not very comfortable" with how the agency crafted the plans.

The intrigue: Another question is the degree of industry interest in the region. 

Some of the world's largest companies have ruled out seeking leases there, and several major banks have said they would not finance development.

However, it's likely to be of interest to independent producers with operations in the state.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comment from the Biden campaign.

Trump administration finalizes drilling plan for Alaska Arctic refuge

It's a pivotal — but hardly the final — step in a decades-long battle over the ecologically sensitive region.

Polar bears in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo: Sylvain Cordier/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Energy

Oil production

Oil companies

Ominous forecasts about the impact of climate change serve as the backdrop for the world — led by U.S. lawmakers and companies — to debate big action on the problem, which could upend energy systems and our way of life.

Energy & Environment

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

World

Axios World

The man who has ruled Belarus for 26 years growled today that protesters demanding new elections would have to kill him first, while his would-be successor announced she was prepared to take charge.

Why it matters: Aleksandr Lukashenko has never before appeared so weak — but he still has a fearsome security apparatus behind him, and a global power watching from the east.

Driving the news: Streets across the country were flooded with protesters over the weekend, while workers at Belarus’ state-owned enterprises and state TV network — two pillars of Lukashenko’s support — have now joined strikes.

“Come, sit down, we’ll work on the constitution,” Lukashenko told factory workers today. “Yes, I'm no saint. You know I can be tough, but you know that if there was no toughness, there wouldn’t be a country.”

When they drowned him out, shouting for new elections, he turned icy: “We held elections. Until you kill me, there will be no other elections.”

Meanwhile opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania after the vote, released a YouTube video saying she now was prepared to step in, release all detained protesters, and hold “real, honest, and transparent elections.”

What to watch: Lukashenko has utterly failed to reassert control in the eight days since he claimed a preposterous 80% of the presidential vote. What happens next may thus depend on another strongman: Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Lukashenko has appealed for Putin’s help, though their relationship had recently grown frosty as he resisted Putin’s push for a Russia-Belarus political union and arrested Russian mercenaries in a bizarre pre-election incident.

Between the lines: “The Kremlin is not wedded to Lukashenko: it has had enough of him,” writes Carnegie Moscow’s Dmitri Trenin.

“It cannot, however, allow Belarus to follow the path of Ukraine and become another anti-Russian, NATO-leaning bulwark on its borders.”

With Lukashenko’s legitimacy now “gone forever,” Trenin contends, Russia’s best option is to convince him to step aside and “manage a transfer of power” that secures its interests.

What to watch: “At present, this is a wholly anti-Lukashenko movement, with no anti-Russian dimension, nor even an explicitly pro-Western one,” notes Russia analyst Mark Galeotti.

Direct Russian action, particularly on behalf of Lukashenko, could change that. 

What Putin needs most are loyalty and stability from a country that sits on Russia's border and in its sphere of influence. His priority may thus be to secure his influence in a post-Lukashenko Belarus.

What to watch: “My pessimistic point of view is that Russia will get involved," Lena Smirnova, a Belarusian who relocated to Baltimore in 2012, told Axios. "That Lukashenko will go, but it won’t be beneficial for Belarus. This is the worst-case scenario.”

Smirnova was part of a small but enthusiastic group of protesters gathered outside the Belarusian Embassy in Washington on Sunday.

Protesting outside the embassy. Photo: Camila Sgrignoli Januario

She expressed confidence that Lukashenko's days were numbered but concern about what would come next.

“We hope that he will go but we will maintain independence," she said. "That someone else will come and we will have democratic elections without Lukashenko, and we will move forward with the Western world."

Smirnova said her fellow Belarusians should be aware that “when he goes, it will be hard. It will be worse probably, in the short term, because the economy will struggle for a while until it rebuilds again."

Alesya Semukha-Greenberg, a fellow Minsk native who has lived in the U.S. since 1995, said the peace and economic stability of the Lukashenko years had once satisfied Belarusians, "but a time of peace in prison has its limits.”

“I have a lot of friends and relatives in Minsk, and I’ve been asking them, ‘why now?’" she said.

First, she was told, came Lukashenko's indifference and ineffectiveness in the face of the pandemic. Then came the "disrespectful and unbearable" election charade. "People felt their dignity was totally ignored," she said.

“The brutality of the police just brought more people on the street," Semukha-Greenberg continued. "It was just like a gang on the streets of Minsk.”

She hopes the European Union will pressure Lukashenko to "end the bloodshed" and step aside, allowing Belarus to "go through the struggle of building the democracy."

The bottom line: "It’s not going to be easy, but it's the only way," she said. "26 years of this prison is long enough.”

Belarus protests: Shaken strongman Lukashenko turns to Putin

Lukashenko has never looked weaker than he did today.

Out in force in Minsk. Photo: Sergei Gapon/AFP via Getty Images

Belarus

Russia

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

Taylor Trump Ad

Miles Taylor, the former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff under President Trump, endorsed Joe Biden for president in a video funded by Republican Voters Against Trump.

Why it matters: Taylor's blistering criticism of Trump adds to the chorus of former top administration officials who have spoken out against the president after leaving office — most notably former national security adviser John Bolton and former Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Driving the news: Taylor alleged that Trump sought to stop the Federal Emergency Management Agency from sending wildfire relief funds to California because "he was so rageful that people in the state of California didn't support him, and that politically it wasn't a base for him."

Taylor also claimed that Trump wanted to restart the "zero tolerance" policy that led to family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018, and wanted to go even further by having a "deliberate policy of ripping children away from their parents" in order to deter illegal immigration.

What he's saying: "What we saw week in and week out, and for me after two and a half years in that administration, was terrifying. We would go in to try to talk to him about a pressing national security issue: A cyberattack, terrorism threat. He wasn't interested in those things."

"The president wanted to exploit the Department of Homeland Security for his own political purposes and to fuel his own agenda."

"A lot of times the things he wanted to do not only were impossible but in many cases illegal. He didn't want us to tell him it was illegal anymore because he knew, and these were his words, he knew that he had 'magical authorities.' He was one of the most unfocused and undisciplined senior executives I've ever encountered."

"I came away completely convinced based on firsthand experience that the president was ill-equipped, wouldn't become equipped to do his job effectively and what's worse, was actively doing damage to our security."

The bottom line: "Even though I'm not a Democrat, even though I disagree on key issues, I'm confident that Joe Biden will protect the country, and I'm confident he won't make the same mistakes as this president," Taylor said.

The other side: In an interview with CNN on Monday, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner called Taylor a "nice kid" but suggested that he was ineffective in his job.

"It makes a lot of sense to me that he's endorsing Joe Biden because when he was working at the Department of Homeland Security, no wall was built and the border was wide open. That's why the president changed up the team there," Kushner said.

Go deeper: The top Republicans who aren't voting for Trump in 2020

Trump's former Homeland Security chief of staff endorses Joe Biden

"What we saw week in and week out, and for me after two and a half years in that administration, was terrifying."

Politics

Donald Trump

2020 election

Media Trends

Axios Media Trends

Nearly all of the major network news giants are launching new voter initiatives ahead of the 2020 election. 

Why it matters: Media companies have a long history of using their wide reach to promote voting efforts in the U.S. But ahead of this year's historic election, they are doubling down on those efforts to ensure that changes to voting procedures due to the pandemic don't dissuade voters from taking part.

Driving the news: Rock the Vote has created an election center for WarnerMedia that allows employees and audiences to register to vote, check their voter registration status, and find out how to vote in their state, executives tell Axios. 

The center will also allow users to access registration and absentee ballot request deadlines, receive COVID-19 election updates and reminders, learn about volunteer opportunities, and get information about the documents needed before heading to the polls and casting a ballot.

What they're saying: “We recognize the vital importance of participating in the process of Democracy in the United States, so together with Rock the Vote, we want to empower and enable our employees and audiences to exercise their rights,” said Dennis Williams, senior VP of corporate social responsibility at WarnerMedia.

"WarnerMedia has a powerful platform to reach and provide millions of eligible voters with the information and tools they need to cast an informed ballot in 2020," said Rock the Vote President Carolyn DeWitt.

The big picture: ViacomCBS's flagship youth brand MTV has long championed voter initiatives from the TV network side, including helping to launch Rock the Vote in 1990.  

This year, ViacomCBS has announced several voter initiatives, anchored mostly by MTV. It kicked off its biggest effort, "+1theVote," last November. 

Earlier this summer, ViacomCBS brands Comedy Central and MTV launched "Power the Polls," a national campaign to recruit younger, more diverse poll workers for the 2020 general election.  

MTV and Logo also announced a partnership with Trans Lifeline to support transgender voters in changing their government IDs ahead of the 2020 election. 

Other networks also announced new voter initiatives Monday. 

NBCUniversal announced the launch of "Plan Your Vote," an interactive tool that provides a state-by-state guide to voting this year. The tool was built and is powered by the NBC News Data Graphics team, with data and information supplied by the NBC News Decision Desk and politics team. NBC News is also launching a robust marketing campaign to encourage Americans to plan their vote. 

ABC's flagship morning show "Good Morning America" published a state-by-state voter registration deadline guide on its website Monday. In July, ABC News launched an election map for ABCNews.com/ABC News app visitors to make their own state-by-state predictions. ABC News Digital will launch a new voter guide on how to vote this year, including a roundup of changes to voter rules and laws, next week. 

The Spanish-language TV networks have also been pushing new campaigns to help motivate and educate their audiences on voting. 

Telemundo, owned by NBCUniversal, announced in July a nationwide civic engagement campaign to inform and encourage the U.S. Hispanic community to participate in the upcoming elections. Telemundo and its TV stations will host national and local phone banks in partnership with national organizations to get out the vote, in addition to running PSAs and virtual community events about voting.

Univision in July launched "Vota Conmigo" ("Vote With Me"), a multi-platform campaign aimed at motivating eligible Hispanic citizens to register and vote. It will focus on digital voter registration tools and regional vote-by-mail options through a series of PSAs, virtual phone banks, town halls and special programming on Univision’s TV and radio networks and digital properties.

Be smart: Noticeably absent from the list of networks that have rolled out voter initiatives is Fox News. In October 2019, Fox rolled out a new election tagline, "Democracy 2020 – It’s in your Hands," which focuses on Americans and the choice they will be making in November, according to AdWeek. 

Media giants launch voting efforts ahead of the election

Media companies have a long history of using their wide reach to promote voting.

Illustration of voter checkbook crushed by stars and stripes

Media

Voting

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Former CIA officer Alexander Yuk Ching Ma has been arrested and charged with allegedly sharing classified information with China, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Our thought bubble, via Axios China reporter Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian: No one should underestimate China’s intelligence services. In the past decade, the efforts of Chinese intelligence to identify as many individual CIA personnel as possible have paid off, resulting in the decommissioning of dozens of CIA assets in China.

Details: Ma, a naturalized U.S. citizen who worked for the CIA from 1982 to 1989 and maintained a "Top Secret" clearance, allegedly conspired with his relative and Chinese intelligence officials "to communicate classified national defense information over the course of a decade," according to the Justice Department.

Court documents allege that Ma sought employment with the FBI "in order to once again gain access to classified U.S. government information which he could in turn provide to his [People's Republic of China] handlers."

In spring 2019, Ma confirmed his espionage activities to an undercover FBI employee that he believed was a member of Chinese intelligence, stating that he wanted "the motherland" to succeed.

What they're saying: “The trail of Chinese espionage is long and, sadly, strewn with former American intelligence officers who betrayed their colleagues, their country and its liberal democratic values to support an authoritarian communist regime,” said Justice Department official John Demers. 

"This betrayal is never worth it. Whether immediately, or many years after they thought they got away with it, we will find these traitors and we will bring them to justice."

"To the Chinese intelligence services, these individuals are expendable. To us, they are sad but urgent reminders of the need to stay vigilant.”

The state of play: Amid broader geopolitical tensions over issues ranging from the coronavirus to Beijing's crackdown on Hong Kong, the U.S. and China have also been engaged in a recent tit-for-tat over espionage.

President Trump shuttered the Chinese consulate in Houston over allegations that China has been using it to spy.

Beijing responded by ordering the U.S. consulate in the western Chinese city of Chengdu to close.

Go deeper: How China became a global power of espionage

Former CIA officer arrested and charged with espionage for China

No one should underestimate China’s intelligence services.

Illustration of an FBI agent looking through blinds on binoculars with the chinese flag overlaid on them

China

Pro Rata

Axios Pro Rata

Within the next week, House Democrats plan to vote on $25 billion in new funding for the U.S. Postal Service and hold an "urgent" Oversight and Reform Committee hearing at which Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is expected to testify.

Axios Re:Cap digs into the future of USPS and how it will impact this November's election with Oversight and Reform Committee chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.).

Rep. Carolyn Maloney on fixing the U.S. Postal Service

Maloney chairs the House committee that will question Louis DeJoy next week.

United States Postal Service (USPS)

Axios Re:Cap

Podcasts

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will shift to remote learning after clusters of five or more coronavirus cases spread in three residence halls and within a fraternity, just one week after class began.

The big picture: Universities determined to reopen this fall boasted preventative measures that include smaller class sizes, cleaning protocols and even testing options, but problems still persist.

Reports of parties and informal gatherings, which are out of a university's control when they occur off-campus, are fueling the lack of social distancing practices among students, 

"After only one week of campus operations, with growing numbers of clusters and insufficient control over the off-campus behavior of students (and others), it is time for an off-ramp. We have tried to make this work, but it is not working," UNC's Dean of Public Health Barbara Rimer said in a blog post Monday.

Details: Students were told in an email from UNC that they can cancel contracts with Carolina Housing with no penalty, and that residents with "hardships," like those without reliable internet access, international students or student athletes, can stay if they choose.

Driving the news: Students are now calling out their universities in college media outlets for not preparing for the inevitable and failing to address the potentially-devastating communal spread of COVID-19 in their college towns.

"We all saw this coming," The Daily Tar Heel, the school's paper, wrote in an editorial.

"University leadership should have expected students, many of whom are now living on their own for the first time, to be reckless."

By the numbers: The university’s positivity rate for COVID-19 rose from 2.8% to 13.6% last week, per the Tar Heel. As of Monday, UNC has 177 students in isolation and 349 students in quarantine both on and off campus. 

Coronavirus forces UNC to abandon in-person classes after one week

"We have tried to make this work, but it is not working."

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Photo: Ted Richardson/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

Health Care

Coronavirus

Education

The U.S. faces a range of health care flashpoints — unaffordable drugs, opioids, vaping — as we debate whether to adopt universal care. For now, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, but Republicans want to issue it a final death blow.

Health

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has agreed to a request from top Democrats to testify at an "urgent" hearing before the House Oversight Committee next Monday about changes to the U.S. Postal Service.

Why it matters: Democrats have been raising alarms about widespread disruptions to the Postal Service, which some allege President Trump is attempting to undermine ahead of an election that will see a record number of mail-in ballots. DeJoy is a wealthy businessman and longtime Republican fundraiser.

The big picture: Trump has railed against the reliability of "universal" mail-in voting and claimed, without evidence, that it will lead to a "rigged" election.

He denied on Monday that his administration is attempting to slow down the mail or that he's "tampering" with the election, arguing that DeJoy is simply trying to reform an agency that is “one of the disasters of the world.”

"I'm just making it good. We have a very, very good business guy running it, and I want to make — I jokingly say, but it's true — I want to make the Post Office great again, okay?" Trump said on Fox News.

The other side: Speaker Nancy Pelosi has responded to what she has called "sabotage" of the USPS by demanding a hearing with DeJoy and calling the House back to session to vote on legislation next Saturday.

Some Democratic lawmakers, including moderate Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), have even said that DeJoy should be arrested if he does not appear for the hearing.

Worth noting: Robert Duncan, the chairman of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, has also agreed to testify before the committee.

The Board of Governors "directs the exercise of the powers of the Postal Service, directs and controls its expenditures, reviews its practices, conducts long-range planning, approves officer compensation and sets policies on all postal matters," according to the committee.

What they're saying: "I'm pleased that the Postmaster General will testify voluntarily before the Oversight Committee on Monday about the sweeping operational and organizational changes he has been making to the Postal Service," House Oversight chair Carolyn Maloney said in a statement.

"I also look forward to receiving his production of documents and other information by this Friday in response to the detailed request I made last week with Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Chairperson Lofgren, and Senate Ranking Members Peters and Klobuchar."

"The American people want their mail, medicines, and mail-in ballots delivered in a timely way, and they certainly do not want drastic changes and delays in the midst of a global pandemic just months before the election."

Postmaster general agrees to testify amid USPS outcry

DeJoy is a longtime Republican fundraiser.

DeJoy escorted through Congress. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

The House of Representatives will be called back from August recess on Saturday to consider legislation related to the U.S. Postal Service, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) confirmed on Monday.

Why it matters: Democratic lawmakers say they have been inundated with complaints about policy changes by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that are disrupting the USPS ahead of an election that will see a record number of mail-in ballots. DeJoy is a former fundraiser for President Trump, who defended him this weekend. 

The backdrop: In a "Dear Democratic Colleague" letter on Sunday evening, Pelosi said: "Alarmingly, across the nation, we see the devastating effects of the President’s campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters."  

Democrats say constituents are furious about news of the removal of high-speed sorting machines, unbolting of corner mailboxes, and a Postal Service warning to state that ballots may not be delivered in time to be counted. 

Democrats plan to keep the issue highly visible, even before the unusual interruption of their time at home in the run-up to the election."

"To save the Postal Service," Pelosi wrote, "I am also calling upon Members to participate in a Day of Action on Tuesday by appearing at a Post Office in their districts for a press event."

Details: The expected starting point for legislative action will be a measure introduced by House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), the "Delivering for America Act," which "would prohibit the Postal Service from dialing back levels of service it had in place" on Jan. 1 until the pandemic ends.

Maloney has also called on DeJoy to testify about changes he's made at an "urgent" House Oversight Committee hearing on Aug. 14.

The other side: Meanwhile, Senate Minority Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) issued a statement Sunday evening demanding that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reconvene the Senate.

McConnell said at an event Monday that he has no plans to do so, and that the USPS "is going to be just fine," according to AP.

McConnell also distanced himself from Trump's complaints, saying: "We’re going to make sure that the ability to function going into the election is not adversely affected. And I don’t share the president’s concerns."

Trump said this weekend that DeJoy "wants to make the post office great again."

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union": "I'll give you that guarantee right now. The president of the United States is not going to interfere with anybody casting their vote in a legitimate way, whether it's the post office or anything else."

House expected to vote on USPS legislation on Saturday

Pelosi said she is calling the House back from recess to "save the Postal Service."

Photo: https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/81620-0

House Democrats

Dealmakers always pay attention to presidential elections, but in 2020 they're no longer claiming that the outcome won't significantly affect transactions.

Between the lines: This isn't to say that one candidate is better or worse for dealmakers, or for particular industries. It's to say that the winner won't be a passive bystander, particularly as the wall between regulated and non-regulated industries has decayed.

Worth noting: In the past, readers have gotten very upset when I've mentioned politics, insisting that it's separate from "business." That was even true when the candidate was private equity veteran Mitt Romney.

Just take the escalating U.S. Postal Service fight. Most coverage has focused on ballots, but it also has a more immediate impact on the ever-increasing number of direct-to-consumer companies, including everything from digital pharmacies to online consignment shops. If USPS is no longer a reliable constant, then the economics and viability of these companies change.

Or the ongoing TikTok dispute, which is really a proxy for all tech companies that either originate in China or receive investment from China. The White House is now explicitly and unapologetically picking winners and losers.

Or disputes over how to classify gig economy workers, which at some point soon will leapfrog from state courts to D.C.

Then add in all of the more obvious issues that could reshape and revalue entire industries.

For example, look at tax policy (corporate tax rate rollbacks or carried interest?), health care policy (Medicare for All or drug price caps?), energy policy (fracking bans?), and antitrust policy (new laws or increased enforcement?).

Not to mention policies related to COVID-19, including everything from contact tracing to vaccine procurement/deployment to what is likely to be a continuing series of stimulus and bailout plans.

The bottom line: Every election feels like the most consequential of our lifetimes. For dealmakers, it's finally true.

Dealmakers aren't pretending 2020 won't be a consequential election

Neither Biden or Trump will be a passive bystander for business.

Illustration of images of an elephant and a donkey overlapping.

Business

Deals

Joe Biden

The oil industry is facing an immense amount of uncertainty, even for a sector that bobs along in the currents of global markets and geopolitics despite its enormous power.

The big picture: As Democrats hold their convention this week, seeking a boost for Joe Biden heading into the heart of the 2020 campaign, the election is unfolding against another huge source of uncertainty for the industry: the coronavirus pandemic.

The state of play: Biden's platform calls for major new restrictions and regulations on oil-and-gas development, as well as steps to greatly speed deployment of electric vehicles and renewables.

It's a stark departure from Trump administration practices. And Biden is also hoping to use diplomacy and trade policy to pressure other countries to move faster on climate.

Biden's platform would also go much further than anything proposed — let alone implemented — during the Obama years that saw rapid growth of domestic production.

The oil industry faces deepening uncertainty

It's a lot even for a sector that rides the currents of global markets and geopolitics.

Monday's top stories

Trump administration finalizes drilling plan for Alaska Arctic refuge

Belarus protests: Shaken strongman Lukashenko turns to Putin

Trump's former Homeland Security chief of staff endorses Joe Biden

Media giants launch voting efforts ahead of the election

Former CIA officer arrested and charged with espionage for China

Rep. Carolyn Maloney on fixing the U.S. Postal Service

Coronavirus forces UNC to abandon in-person classes after one week

Postmaster general agrees to testify amid USPS outcry

House expected to vote on USPS legislation on Saturday

Dealmakers aren't pretending 2020 won't be a consequential election

The oil industry faces deepening uncertainty

Where college football stands around the country

The Fed is back in focus amid Congress' stimulus impasse

Report: Black women promoted at far lower rates than white men

The great tech decoupling is here

The conventions' quantum leap

Kamala Harris inspires new race conversation

Dental care is rebounding, for now

Death Valley hits 130 degrees as temperature records fall across California

Kamala Harris responds to "birther" smears