National Politics

A heavy metal guitarist with ties to the Oath Keepers pleaded guilty Friday to two crimes related to the US Capitol insurrection, making him the first rioter to do so. Jon Ryan Schaffer pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding and entering a building with a dangerous weapon. He admitted to carrying bear spray

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Russia will expel 10 US diplomats, curb the activity of US non-profit groups in the country and sanction US officials in a series of measures meant to retaliate for President Joe Biden’s sweeping sanctions against the Kremlin Thursday. Lavrov, speaking at a press conference in Moscow

One hundred days after the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, the unprecedented progress and unexpected roadblocks of the investigation are becoming clear. Prosecutors have moved full speed ahead with hundreds of cases against rioters but haven’t made use of the much-discussed sedition laws. They’ve rounded up dozens of extremists and militia members yet

President Joe Biden will sign a declaration on Friday to speed refugee admissions to the US but not raise the refugee cap, as he has committed to doing. Instead, he will sign an emergency determination that will cast a wider net of who can arrive to the US under the refugee ceiling currently in place.

A heavy metal guitarist with ties to the Oath Keepers will plead guilty Friday to two crimes related to the Capitol insurrection, according to court documents, making him the first rioter to plead guilty. Court documents indicate that Jon Ryan Schaffer, from the heavy metal group Iced Earth, will plead guilty to obstruction of an

The White House on Friday announced plans to release $1.7 billion in funding to help the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and states more effectively track and combat coronavirus variants, some of which have proven to be more transmissible than the original strain. The effort comes after months of public health experts sounding

Human smugglers are increasingly utilizing Facebook to advertise services to migrants seeking to cross the US-Mexico border, according to a report released Friday by a tech transparency group. The influx of migrants, especially unaccompanied minors, at the US southern border has overwhelmed the government’s resources in the last month and posed a steep challenge for

They were the first businesses to close and will be some of the last to reopen, yet owners of independent theaters and live music venues have been waiting nearly four months for a $16 billion federal emergency grant program to launch. The funding for what’s known as the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program was approved

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh will be laid to rest tomorrow at St George’s Chapel in Windsor, west of London. Only 30 people will attend the memorial, which will be pared down for pandemic safety. Here’s what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. (You can also get

The science: Scientists are coalescing around the idea that Covid-19 probably spread to people through an animal or animals. That was the conclusion of a preliminary World Health Organization review of the virus’s origins released in March. It laid out four possible origin theories and argued the most likely was some form of animal-to-human transmission

President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate nine diplomats for ambassadorships on Thursday, marking his first selection of overseas envoys since taking office. He also named his picks for senior State Department official roles based at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC. His selection of a slate of predominantly career officials for the top

The Defense Department has confirmed that leaked photos and video of “unidentified aerial phenomena” taken in 2019 are indeed legitimate images of unexplained objects. Photos and videos of triangle-shaped objects blinking and moving through the clouds were taken by Navy personnel, Pentagon spokeswoman Sue Gough said in a statement to CNN. She also confirmed that

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan and the nation’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci got into a heated exchange Thursday over the country’s Covid-19 mitigation measures, which ended with Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters telling Jordan to “shut your mouth.” During a House subcommittee hearing about federal government’s response to the pandemic, Jordan, an Ohio conservative,