National Politics

By Eric Bradner, CNN Some Texas school districts and students are seeking ways around Republican Gov. Greg Abbott‘s ban on mask mandates as the state grapples with a spike of coronavirus cases. One of those cases is Abbott himself: The second-term governor, who has played to his party’s base and blocked health mandates intended to

By Whitney Wild, CNN The US Capitol Police official who was in charge of intelligence operations on January 6 before briefly becoming acting chief has returned to her previous role despite criticism over security breakdowns during the insurrection. Yogananda Pittman is back in her position as assistant chief of protective and intelligence operations, where she

By Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins, CNN Visiting Brussels earlier this summer, President Joe Biden was single-minded in his message to American allies. “America is back,” he declared in the lobby of the European Union’s headquarters, repeating a mantra he had uttered at nearly every stop of his first trip abroad, during which leaders welcomed

By Jennifer Hansler, Ellie Kaufman, Nicole Gaouette, Oren Liebermann and Kylie Atwood, CNN As reports of harassment and beatings at Taliban checkpoints continued to surface Wednesday, the US Embassy in Kabul warned it could not ensure safe passage for Americans to the airport to escape Afghanistan, despite the Pentagon underscoring alleged Taliban assurances that it

By Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN Slightly more than half of US workers favor Covid-19 vaccine mandates in their workplaces, new polling finds, although far fewer have seen such requirements implemented by their employers. A 55% majority of Americans who are employed full-time, part-time or are self-employed say they’d support their employer requiring all employees to be

By Nikki Carvajal and Maegan Vazquez, CNN President Joe Biden on Wednesday suggested for the first time that he’s willing to keep US forces in Afghanistan until all American citizens who want to leave are out of the country, but stopped short of making the same commitment to the United States’ Afghan partners. In an

By Kara Scannell New York prosecutors charged Kenneth Kurson, the former editor of the New York Observer newspaper who was pardoned by President Donald Trump, with two state felonies for eavesdropping on his then-wife by installing spyware on her computer. The charges, announced Wednesday by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, come seven months after Kurson,

By Devan Cole and Liz Stark, CNN A widely used pesticide that could cause potential health issues in children will no longer be used on food in the US, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday, reversing a Trump-era decision not to ban the controversial chemical. “Today EPA is taking an overdue step to protect public

By Marshall Cohen and Hannah Rabinowitz The sentencing for one of the January 6 US Capitol rioters was abruptly postponed Wednesday after new videos emerged of the man allegedly fighting with police, an unexpected twist in the case because prosecutors hadn’t previously accused him of committing violence that day. Robert Reeder of Maryland was charged

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at the life of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. Personal Birth date: January 19, 1982 Birth place: South Bend, Indiana Birth name: Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg Father: Joseph A. Buttigieg, an English professor Mother: Anne Montgomery, a

By Kate Sullivan and Jason Hoffman, CNN White House officials on Wednesday insisted the US could begin offering Covid-19 booster shots to fully vaccinated Americans in the fall while also continuing its efforts to help vaccinate the rest of the world, stressing the importance of doing both simultaneously to end the global pandemic. “Look, I

By Christina Carrega A new Missouri state law that blocks state and local law enforcement from enforcing federal gun laws has already impeded criminal investigations, the Justice Department said in a court filing Wednesday supporting a legal effort to overturn the law. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, signed the “Second Amendment Preservation Act” in

By Jeremy Diamond and Tami Luhby, CNN President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that he is directing all nursing homes to require their staff be vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to continue receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding. Biden said he is directing the Department of Health and Human Services to draw up new regulations making

By Zachary Cohen, CNN New satellite images obtained by CNN show Russia may be preparing another test of its nuclear-powered cruise missile, known as “Skyfall”– a controversial weapon that is designed to defeat US defense systems. The photos, which were captured on August 16 by the commercial satellite imaging company Capella Space, offer “strong indications

By Fredreka Schouten and Dianne Gallagher, CNN Georgia’s state elections board on Wednesday named a three-person review panel to examine election operations in the state’s most populous county — under a provision of a new state election law that voting rights activists have warned could lead to a partisan takeover of a Democratic stronghold in