U.S. News

A Christian florist in Washington state is ending an eight-year legal battle to protect her religious beliefs and “artistic freedoms” from compulsion to participate in a same-sex wedding.

The Oklahoma National Guard’s commanding general Wednesday defended his directive countermanding federal requirements that all U.S. military personnel be vaccinated against the coronavirus, telling troops in a private town hall event that he was following orders from the state’s Republican governor and meant no disrespect to his superiors at the Pentagon.

Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Thursday in New York accusing two Iranian hackers of successfully hacking into a state computer election system, stealing voter registration data and using it to carry out a cyber-intimidation campaign that targeted GOP members of Congress, Trump campaign officials and Democrat voters in the November 2020 election.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested Monday for the courts to give them until 2076 to review and fully release the documents pertaining to the approval of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated on Thursday that President Biden’s Build Back Better Act will increase the nation’s deficit by $367 billion.

Florida Senate Republicans on Wednesday succeeded in passing a bill to limit COVID-19 vaccine mandates for public and private employers in the state, the Hill reports. Senate Bill 1 has now been sent to Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it into law.

Death row inmate Julius Jones faces execution today unless Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt follows parole board recommendations to grant clemency and commute his sentence to life imprisonment, AP reports. The Oklahoma Pardons and Parole board has twice voted for clemency, saying there are doubts about the evidence that led to Jones’ conviction for the 1999 shooting of Oklahoma businessman Paul Howell.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is suspending enforcement of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for large private businesses after a federal appeals court upheld a stay on it last week.

Vials labeled as smallpox were discovered at a Pennsylvania lab, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) is considering revoking authority the former Trump administration delegated for the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to prevent violations of religious liberty – prompting concerns about conscience protections under Secretary Xavier Becerra.

More than two weeks have passed since the Supreme Court‘s extraordinarily rushed arguments over Texas’ unique abortion law without any word from the justices.

Most Americans say that religious groups providing community services should qualify for government funding alongside their secular counterparts, according to the 2021 Religious Freedom Index survey released Wednesday.

An estimated 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in a recent, 12-month period, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday.

Los Angeles leaders on Wednesday approved one of the nation’s strictest vaccine mandates — a sweeping measure that would require the shots for everyone entering bars, restaurants, nail salons, gyms or even a Lakers game.

Two incumbent Democrats who trail Republican challengers in close races in Virginia’s House of Delegates announced Tuesday that they will seek recounts, leaving control of the House in limbo.

The watchdog group Judicial Watch has sent letters to election officials in 14 counties across five states notifying them of apparent violations of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act.

The US Supreme Court last week agreed to hear an appeal brought by Christian group Camp Constitution against a lower court ruling that allowed state authorities in Boston to refuse to display a flag with a Christian cross over its city hall, Reuters reports.

Pro-life organizations in America have called for a National Day of Repentance over abortion on December 1, the day on which the US Supreme Court hears opening arguments in a legal challenge to Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks, CNS reports.

President Biden signed his $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package into law on Monday, opening up federal funds for railroads, bridges, mass transit, broadband and utilities.

About 500 Wisconsin National Guard troops are on standby outside Kenosha in the event of trouble following a verdict in the high-profile Kyle Rittenhouse homicide trial.