Here are the 15 Republicans who voted to end a filibuster on gun safety legislation
Fifteen Republican senators voted Thursday to end a filibuster on legislation to enhance background checks and provide billions of dollars in new mental health services, giving the bill a good chance of passing Congress and getting signed into law. Congress passed legislation in 2018 to encourage states to share more records with the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System but this bill is much more significant than that piece of legislation, according to senators and aides involved in the gun-safety negotiations. Senate Democrats thought there w
Read MoreUS orchestras including more work from women and minorities
Story at a glance A new report from the Institute for Composer Diversity found that during the 2021-22 season, work from women composers and composers of color made up 23 percent of all programmed pieces. The report found a 400 percent jump in programmed work from women and minority composers since 2015. Although American orchestr
Read MoreKinzinger gets his star turn on Jan. 6 panel
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), one of the most outspoken critics of former President Trump, will get his star turn on the Jan. 6 select committee Thursday when he leads the panel in laying out the case that Trump tried to pressure the Department of Justice (DOJ) into overturning the results of the 2020 election. The six-term Illinois congressman is one of two Republicans on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, serving alongside Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chair of the panel. Both lawmakers broke with Trump in the aftermat
Read MoreThe dangers of Biden’s permissive environment
President Biden proclaimed “America is Back” when he took office in January 2021, but his actions have fallen short, and neither our allies nor our adversaries are buying it. Nicaragua’s recent approval for Russian forces to train within its borders and conduct military drills with its army is the latest example of America’s descent within its own hemisphere. The American public is
Read MoreNAACP, Vote.org teaming up to register, mobilize Black voters in lead-up to midterms
The NAACP announced that it has partnered with nonprofit organization Vote.org in an effort to mobilize and register eligible Black voters ahead of November’s midterm election. Both organizations in a statement on Thursday said the partnership, which will launch later this month, will provide digital voting tools and training to the NAACP's network of over 2 million activists and leaders across the U.S. NAACP leaders will use these voting tools in their communities in an effort to simplify the voting process, lower the barriers to political participation and increase tu
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