HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A state judge in Montana has temporarily blocked policies that prevented transgender people from changing the sex designation on their birth certificates and driver’s licenses. District Judge Mike Menahan issued his order Monday, blocking the rule while the case moves through the courts. Menahan said it was not necessary at this […]

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors will remain temporarily blocked, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, after justices unanimously agreed with a lower court judge who found the law likely violates the state’s constitutional right to privacy. The case against the Montana law now goes to trial […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named Andrew Ferguson as the next chair of the Federal Trade Commission. He will replace Lina Khan, who became a lightning rod for Wall Street and Silicon Valley by blocking billions of dollars’ worth of corporate acquisitions and suing Amazon and Meta while alleging anticompetitive behavior. It […]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Bahamas’ police commissioner has resigned after a sergeant and two officers were recently indicted in the U.S. in what federal authorities describe as a case of massive drug trafficking. The Bahamas’ prime minister, Philip Brave Davis, announced on Wednesday that Clayton Fernander was stepping down, noting that he […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal authorities on Tuesday urged telecommunication companies to boost network security following a sprawling Chinese hacking campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. The guidance issued by the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is intended to help […]

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials on Tuesday sued the Biden administration for access to information on the citizenship status of more than 2,000 registered voters they had questioned in the weeks leading up to the 2024 election. The complaint details a back and forth with the federal government after state election officials checked […]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Republicans filed a lawsuit Monday to try to force a rerun of a state House race where the incumbent Democrat won by 14 votes — but in which investigators concluded that election workers probably destroyed 20 valid absentee ballots after failing to count them. It’s a race that could determine the […]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The outgoing head of Ohio’s troubled teachers retirement system said that she is leaving the fund in strong fiscal condition, despite the turmoil at the top that her successor will inherit. In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Acting Executive Director and CFO Lynn Hoover said that the $94 billion […]

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday overturned a lower court ruling that state Attorney General Ken Paxton testify in a whistleblower lawsuit at the heart of impeachment charges brought against him in 2023. The court on Friday said Paxton’s office does not dispute any issue in the lawsuit by four former Paxton employees and agreed […]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Around the country, advocates for Christian education have been finding legal ways to tap taxpayer money used more typically for public schools. One new approach in Ohio is benefiting schools tied to a burgeoning conservative political group and facing objections from defenders of the separation of church and state. In President-elect […]

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine’s elections chief, a former civil liberties advocate who sparred with President-elect Donald Trump over ballot access, is acting like a play-by-play sports announcer as she describes the state’s process of determining a congressional winner through ranked choice voting. Shenna Bellows is spending the week streaming the effort live on YouTube […]

— WASHINGTON (AP) — Several federal and state agencies are investigating how racist mass texts were sent to Black people across the country in the wake of the presidential election this week. The text messages invoking slavery were sent to Black men, women and children, prompting inquiries by the FBI and other law enforcement departments. […]