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Democrats seek support services for survivors of Native American boarding schools
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers are pushing federal agencies to provide support for survivors of and communities affected by American Indian boarding school policies, the decades-long practice of forcibly sending Native American children to faraway boarding schools that rejected their tribal cultures. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas) sent a request […]
A federal investigation seeks to uncover the painful history of Native American boarding schools
WASHINGTON —The Native American children travelled on trains, thousands of miles from their homes, to Pennsylvania’s Carlisle Indian Industrial School in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many had been forcibly taken from their parents and communities. Once there, they had to hand over their belongings, put on uniforms, cut off their braids, adopt new […]
Endangered species to get a reprieve under Biden administration plans
WASHINGTON — The lesser prairie-chicken, a rare dancing grouse once abundant on the Great Plains, could benefit again soon from the protection of the U.S. government. So could the rusty patched bumblebee, a black-headed pollinator that at one time ranged from Georgia to Maine and across the Midwest. The Biden administration is rewriting how it […]
Congress warned of ‘real and urgent’ drought crisis throughout the West
WASHINGTON — A drought crisis unfolding across the West will require short-term relief and massive, long-term federal funding to help states weather the effects of climate change, state water managers and lawmakers said at a U.S. House hearing on Tuesday. Nearly 90% of the West is now experiencing drought conditions, according to the federal U.S. Drought […]
New funding to curb wildfires pushed in Congress, as another fire season looms
WASHINGTON — As wildfires across the United States grow in size, intensity and duration each summer, members of Congress from the West are pushing for massive new investments in ecosystem management and wildfire mitigation. House lawmakers called for more attention to wildfire management and support for wildland firefighters at a hearing Thursday before a House […]
Biden banks on offshore wind to help curb climate change
WASHINGTON — Two wind turbines, each as tall as the Washington Monument, stand sentinel 27 miles off the coast of Virginia, the nation’s first offshore wind installation in federal waters. The pilot project began producing power last October but is just the beginning for an industry poised for massive growth over the next decade. Longtime […]
House Agriculture panel to key in on climate change and farming
WASHINGTON — Democrats are eyeing proposals that would support programs for U.S. farmers — who have suffered catastrophic losses from severe weather events in recent years — to reduce carbon emissions on their land. In his first major policy hearing as House Agriculture Committee chair, U.S. Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) said Thursday that the issue […]
Granholm vows to create new jobs, cleaner solutions as Energy secretary
WASHINGTON — Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm told lawmakers Wednesday she would be “obsessed” with creating new jobs if confirmed as the next secretary of the Energy Department. Granholm, who led Michigan from 2003 to 2011, at her U.S. Senate confirmation hearing talked up the potential for new clean energy jobs— an effort to assuage concerns […]
Native American tribes ‘very close to reaching a breaking point’ in COVID-19 response
WASHINGTON — Native American tribes are facing a dire situation from the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing some of them to a breaking point, American Indian health leaders told members of Congress Wednesday. In many places, tribal leaders are scrambling to respond to disproportional illness and death in their communities. Confirmed COVID-19 cases among American Indians and Alaska […]
Confederate statues would be removed from national parks under spending bill
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum is pushing the federal government to get rid of Confederate statues and memorials in national parks — and she’s gaining some traction this year as opposition to the public display of Confederate symbols grows. The Minnesota Democrat, who leads the House subcommittee that oversees spending for the Interior Department, […]
Top Trump official vows federal agents ‘will not back away’ from protests
WASHINGTON — The President Trump administration’s No. 2 at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday defended federal law enforcement officers’ intervention in anti-police brutality protests in Portland, Ore., and other cities this summer. Characterizing some of the protests as “mob rule,” Acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli told lawmakers that federal agents […]
‘No, ma’am’: Some drugmakers won’t promise to offer COVID-19 vaccine at cost
Leaders of companies working on some of the top candidates for COVID-19 vaccines predict they should have shots available by early 2021, but said they will rely on the federal government to determine how to distribute them. The heads of five biopharmaceutical companies with promising vaccine candidates told members of Congress Tuesday that they think […]