Pedestrian bridge collapses, crushing cars

A new pedestrian bridge collapsed onto a highway at a Miami-area college Thursday, crushing at least five vehicles under massive slabs and killing several people, authorities said. Several people were seen being loaded into ambulances and authorities launched search and rescue missions.

Justice Department says 1995 corruption ruling is wrong

The Justice Department says in a new filing in former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock's corruption case that a 1995 ruling that's long provided guidance in the prosecution of politicians is wrong. It argues that the ruling in the corruption case of another Illinois politician, Dan Rostenkowski, was wrong to conclude that prosecuting federal lawmakers based on ambiguous rules lawmakers wrote violates separation of powers.

Republicans consider lawsuit as Democrats claim Pennsylvania election win

Republicans are eyeing a recount and a lawsuit over perceived irregularities in a closely watched US election where the Democratic candidate is claiming victory in a Trump stronghold. With the last batch of absentee ballots counted, Mr Lamb, a 33-year-old former prosecutor and first-time candidate, saw his edge over Republican Rick Saccone shrink slightly, to 627 votes out of more than 224,000 cast, according to unofficial results.

Deregulating Wall Street Sets the Stage for More Bailouts

Wednesday evening, the U.S. Senate approved S. 2155, legislation that deregulates Wall Street, on a vote of 67-31. The bill was authored by U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo , chair of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee and contains more than 40 provisions that include deregulation of banks with as much as $250 billion in assets, erasure of reporting requirements meant to combat racial discrimination in lending, permission for certain banks to speculate with depositor funds and many others.

In Pompeo, Trump has the enabler for his multifaceted China policy

Ankit Panda writes that while Rex Tillerson's State Department drifted away from the White House, the new secretary may boost diplomacy's role in enacting Trump's agenda US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's services are no longer required, President Donald Trump has determined. Instead, Trump has chosen Mike Pompeo, currently the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, to succeed Tillerson, the former ExxonMobil executive, as America's top diplomat.

GOP considers recount, lawsuit in special House race in Pa.

Republicans eyed a recount and a lawsuit over perceived irregularities in a closely watched U.S. House race in Pennsylvania where Democrat Conor Lamb clung to a slender lead in the longtime GOP stronghold friendly to President Donald Trump. With the last batch of absentee ballots counted, Lamb, a 33-year-old former prosecutor and first-time candidate, saw his edge over Republican Rick Saccone shrink slightly, to 627 votes out of more than 224,000 cast, according to unofficial results.

Lawmaker who nearly beat Cochran to run for his seat again

A Mississippi state lawmaker who came close to defeating U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran now says he'll run for the retiring senator's open seat. Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel announced Wednesday that he will drop his primary challenge to incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker and instead seek the Magnolia State's other Senate seat.

She sees anti-immigration politicians as hypocrites, so she launched ‘resistance genealogy’

On the morning after Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., broke a record for the longest filibuster in the history of the House of Representatives - an eight-hour defense of immigrants - a Baltimore amateur genealogist named Jennifer Mendelsohn sat in her home office and logged onto Ancestry.com to begin her own form of protest. "Let's see," she said, typing in the name of a Republican congressman whose anti-immigrant comments had been controversial.

House backs school safety bill in Florida shooting response

Students sit in silence as they rally in front of the White House in Washington today. Students walked out of school to protest gun violence in the biggest demonstration yet of the student activism that has emerged in response to last month's massacre of 17 people at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Gov. Haslam joins chorus of concerns over Trump tariffs

Gov. Bill Haslam is joining several other Tennessee officials voicing concerns over President Donald Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The Republican governor told reporters Tuesday he's concerned about additional costs to manufacturers, particularly the state's car industry.

Trump’s picks for secretary of state, CIA hit potential roadblocks in Senate

President Donald Trump's picks for secretary of state and CIA director are running into potential roadblocks among Republicans in the Senate, suggesting a difficult confirmation process at a time when the administration wants to quickly fill the positions. Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said Wednesday he will oppose Trump's decision to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo and to nominate Deputy CIA Director Gina Haspel to lead the nation's spy agency.

Lawmakers look to boost Energy’s cybersecurity role

To protect the energy sector and other critical infrastructure against cyber threats, lawmakers are looking to boost the Department of Energy's cybersecurity role and questioned the future role of its new cybersecurity office. Government needs to "make sure we're doing everything we can to protect our electric grid" and the energy sector as a whole from emerging threats and emergencies as they arise, said Chairman Greg Walden at a March 14 House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing.