Trump’s nuclear remarks test bid to improve Russia ties

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump upped the stakes on Friday in a back-and-forth exchange with President Vladimir Putin over nuclear weapons that tested the Republican's promises to improve relations with Russia. Offering a glimpse of how he might conduct diplomacy after taking office on Jan. 20, Trump reportedly welcomed a nuclear arms race with Russia and China and boasted that the United States would win it.

More states consider working around the Electoral College

In this Dec. 19, 2016 file photo, protesters demonstrate ahead of Pennsylvania's 58th Electoral College at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa. After the election that saw the winner of the popular vote fall short of the U.S. presidency, legislators in states including Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Mexico said they plan to introduce legislation that would require their state's Electoral College voters cast ballots for the presidential candidate who earns the most votes nationwide, regardless of the statewide results.

Protesting Trumpa s a racism,a artists want his daughter Ivanka not to display their work

Some artists whose works are on display at Ivanka Trump's home are asking her to remove them to protest what they called the "racism" of her father, President-elect Donald Trump. Visual artists Jonathan Horowitz and Alex Da Corte joined with curator Alison Gingeras, dealer Bill Powers and several others on the art scene in forming a group they call Halt Action.

Why Are Senators Protecting the Saudis and Denying Justice to 9/11 Victims?

In the aftermath of the worst terror attack in American history, I had to walk into the auditorium of New York City's Police Headquarters to brief the family members of 23 New York City police officers who had gone missing. We would later learn that their courage and heroism cost them their lives.

‘Faithless elector’ challenges Minnesota law

To whom does an elector owe a duty of faithfulness? To his political party, to whom he pledged to vote for its presidential candidate, or to his conscience, which requires him not to? And when the elector votes against his oath, what role, if any, should the state play? Muhammad Abdurrahman, the "faithless elector," wants to protest a Minnesota law that requires members of the Electoral College to follow the statewide vote. So the DFL elector disregarded a pledge he made to vote for the Hillary Clinton/Timothy Kaine ticket and cast his vote for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for president and U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, for vice president.

Guest Column: Energy sabotage costs Colorado jobs.and Democrats blue collar support

Election postmortems often mention how blue-collar Democrats abandoned their party in big numbers, tipping the race toward President-Elect Donald Trump. But only rarely do writers link these politically damaging defections to the party's job-killing energy attitudes, though to me the connection is crystal clear.

4 Washington state electors to be fined $1,000 for vote

Four Washington state electors who cast their vote for someone other than Democrat Hillary Clinton will each be fined $1,000 next week, the secretary of state's office said Thursday. David Ammons , a spokesman for Secretary of State Kim Wyman , told The Associated Press that the electors will have 60 days to pay the fine, and said the office is putting together an appeals process in case of a challenge.

License issued for $1B Montana power storage project

A Montana company has been granted a license to build a $1 billion, 400-megawatt power storage project in the central part of the state that would supplement electricity from wind turbines and other sources, according to documents released Thursday by federal regulators. The 50-year license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission allows Absaroka Energy, of Bozeman, Montana, to construct and operate the project on a 177-acre site near the tiny town of Martinsdale, home to fewer than 100 people.

California Dems ready to fight Trump’s immigration plans

Six weeks after President-elect Donald Trump's election, people still pack California Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de Leon's Los Angeles district office. His constituents of Latino, Korean, and Armenian descent wait in his front office, waiting for a moment to share their fears about Trump with California's most powerful state lawmaker.

Release of emails by Chicago mayor doesn’t end dispute

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's decision to release thousands of pages of private emails does not end a dispute in Illinois about public access to such emails from him and other officials when they deal with government business. Emanuel announced late Wednesday that he had settled a lawsuit by a government watchdog group over emails from his personal accounts, but it allows him and his personal lawyer to decide which emails are public records and which are not.

Black Lives Matter Finally Protests Chicago’s Violence

Demonstrators block access to a store during a protest intending to disrupt Black Friday shopping in Chicago, Illinois, November 25, 2016. REUTERS/Joshua Lott Black Lives Matter, joined by other Chicago community activists, protested Chicago's rising violence outside the mayor's house Wednesday night.

Almond drink? Soy juice? Some lawmakers want to crack down on what can be sold as ‘milk’

A group of more than 20 U.S. legislators sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration demanding it require the makers of soy milk, almond milk and rice milk to drop "milk" from the label of anything that doesn't come directly from an animal. In the latest salvo in a nearly two-decades-old fight over what should and shouldn't be called milk, a group of more than 20 U.S. legislators sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration demanding it require the makers of soy milk, almond milk and rice milk to drop "milk" from the label of anything that doesn't come directly from an animal.

Emanuel’s email highlights: Ken Griffin’s broken bike, a bid for Bezos and Uber oops

Mayor Rahm Emanuel turned over about 2,700 pages of emails Wednesday as part of a settlement with the Better Government Association, which had sued for the mayor's communications about official business on his personal email accounts. A Chicago Tribune suit on similar issues, filed before the BGA suit, remains unsettled.

Trump threatens electronic rights, EFF warns

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is keenly worried that President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress will step up surveillance activities and pass laws to curtail electronic rights. As a result, the EFF is advising the tech sector to use end-to-end encryption for every transaction by default, and to scrub logs.