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Janine Brookner in her office in 2018.

Janine Brookner, ousted CIA officer who challenged agency in court, dies at 80

Janine Brookner was not the kind of person, people often said, you would expect to be a spy, but she was among the few women to ascend the ranks of the CIA, until her career was derailed in the 1990s over what turned out to be false accusations of professional misconduct.

‘Are cicadas Republican or Democrat?’ Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush had an answer.

Any day now, millions of cicadas will commence their every-17-year trek from the earth's innards to Washington's lawns, trees and the slurping tongues of hungry dogs.

Pipeline operator says “normal operations” have resumed

The operator of the nation’s largest gasoline pipeline — hit earlier this week by a ransomware attack — announced Saturday it has resumed “normal operations,” delivering fuel to its markets, including a large swath of the East Coast.

Tensions among Democrats grow over Israel as the left defends Palestinians

With violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories, divisions between the leadership of the Democratic Party and the activist wing have burst into public view. While the Biden administration is handling the growing conflict as a highly sensitive diplomatic challenge involving a long-standing ally, the ascendant left views it as a searing racial justice issue that is deeply intertwined with the politics of the United States.

Hacked pipeline is now delivering ‘millions of gallons’ an hour, owner says

The Colonial Pipeline, which delivers nearly half the transportation fuel to the Southeast and New York area, resumed full operations Saturday, eight days after it was shut down by a ransomware attack.
Shawnee Barham offered treats to a group of wild mustangs adopted by her and her husband in Rice, Texas.

Wild horses adopted under a federal program are going to slaughter

The Bureau of Land Management created the $1,000-a-head Adoption Incentive Program in 2019 because it wanted to move a huge surplus of mustangs and burros out of government corrals and find them “good homes.” But records show that instead of going to good homes, truckloads of horses were dumped at slaughter auctions as soon as their adopters got the federal money. A program intended to protect wild horses was instead subsidizing their path to destruction.

Aspirin helps prevent blood clots, but it’s not recommended for healthy people who have not yet developed heart disease because it carries a risk of bleeding.
Heart study: Low- and regular-dose aspirin safe, effective
An unusual study that had thousands of heart disease patients enroll themselves and track their health online as they took low- or regular-strength aspirin concludes that both doses seem equally safe and effective for preventing additional heart problems and strokes.

Body diagrams used for marking areas of trauma on a female body in San Luis Obispo, Calif., on April 30. Sickle cell trait has been cited in dozens of police custody deaths ruled accidental or natural, even though the condition is benign on its own, a New York Times investigation found.
How a genetic trait in Black people can give the police cover
A 2016 case underscores how willing some American pathologists have been to rule in-custody deaths of Black people as accidents or natural occurrences caused by the sickle cell trait, which is almost always benign.

Last Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom reacted as he found a pair of shoes as he joined a cleanup effort in Los Angeles.
Cash windfall helps Newsom shake California recall election
A fading coronavirus crisis and an astounding windfall of tax dollars have reshuffled California’s emerging recall election, allowing Democratic Governor Gavin Newscom to talk about an end to most COVID-19 restrictions and propose billions in new spending as he looks to fend off Republicans who depict him as a foppish failure.

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Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Florida politician to cooperate in Gaetz probe

Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector for Seminole County, agreed to plead guilty to six criminal charges — including sex-trafficking of a child, aggravated identity theft and wire fraud — which come with a mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years and a statutory maximum potentially decades longer.

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona at a press briefing at the White House in March. Cardona has begun dismantling his predecessor’s policies, but advocacy groups are baffled as Justice Department attorneys representing the federal agency hold the line on legal positions that are out of step with Biden’s agenda.

Student loan borrowers perplexed by Biden administration’s continued defense of Trump-era lawsuits

President Biden’s Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has begun dismantling his predecessor’s policies, but advocacy groups are baffled as Justice Department attorneys representing the federal agency hold the line on legal positions that are out of step with Biden’s agenda.

Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, during a hearing on Capitol Hill in June. DeLauro, the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, unveiled a proposal for bringing back the earmark practice.

House Democrats and Republicans seek more than $20 billion in earmarks as once-maligned practice returns

The return of congressional earmarks has sparked a massive dash for cash on Capitol Hill, where more than 300 House Democrats and Republicans have sought nearly $21 billion in federal funding to help their home districts and pet projects — and shore up their reelection prospects.

Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, announced Friday that he had struck a deal with the panel’s top Republican, Representative John Katko, Republican of New York, to create the commission.

House Democrats and Republicans reach deal on commission to investigate Jan. 6 attack on Capitol

The proposed 10-person commission would be charged with studying the events and run-up to Jan. 6, with a focus on why an estimated 10,000 supporters of former president Donald Trump swarmed the Capitol grounds and what factors instigated them to break inside.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on unaccompanied minors at the southern border on Thursday on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Biden seeks new border metrics for success

When it came time this week for the Biden administration to release April enforcement data showing illegal migration at a 20-year high, US Customs and Border Protection slipped the news in an after-hours news release. Nearly four months into President Biden’s term, he and his top officials are looking to break with Trump’s measurement standards.

Sydney Porter received her COVID-19 vaccination from Kristine Gill, with the Seattle Fire Department’s Mobile Vaccination Teams, before the game between the Seattle Mariners and the Baltimore Orioles at T-Mobile Park on May 5 in Seattle. As demand for the vaccine slows, Major League Baseball is heavily promoting inoculations, and stadiums have become a new line of demarcation, where vaccinated sections are highlighted as perks akin to VIP skyboxes.

Forget backstage passes or VIP bracelets. Vaccination cards are the new ticket

As the US nudges against the soft ceiling of those who will willingly take the vaccine, private employers, restaurants, and entertainment venues are looking for ways to make those who are inoculated feel like VIPs, both to protect workers and guests, and to possibly entice those not yet on board.

An out of service gas pump at a gas station in Silver Spring, Md., The gas station that was out of fuel, notified customers on Thursday. Motorists found gas pumps shrouded in plastic bags at tapped-out service stations across more than a dozen US states Thursday while the operator of the nation's largest gasoline pipeline reported making "substantial progress" in resolving the computer hack-induced shutdown responsible for the empty tanks.

Gas crunch from cyberattack intensifies in nation’s capital

Gas shortages at the pumps have spread from the South, all but emptying stations in Washington, D.C., following a ransomware cyberattack that forced a shutdown of the nation’s largest gasoline pipeline. Though the pipeline operator paid a ransom, restoring service was taking time.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) walks out of the committee room during a hearing with the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information System in the Rayburn House Office Building on May 14, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Former Gaetz confidant pleads guilty and agrees to cooperate

A former confidant of Representative Matt Gaetz admitted in court papers on Friday to an array of federal crimes — including sex trafficking of a minor — and agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigations.