First Run News

Governor Baker, angered by a report that painted the department as rife with dysfunction, dispatched a defense of the agency to its workers.  Among the decisions are whether to allow pot bars and weed delivery.   President Trump’s history of alleged sexual misconduct re-emerged Monday amid the national reckoning over inappropriate behavior.

Governor Baker, angered by a report that painted the department as rife with dysfunction, dispatched a defense of the agency to its workers.  Among the decisions are whether to allow pot bars and weed delivery.   President Trump’s history of alleged sexual misconduct re-emerged Monday amid the national reckoning over inappropriate behavior.

Governor Baker, angered by a report that painted the department as rife with dysfunction, dispatched a defense of the agency to its workers.  Among the decisions are whether to allow pot bars and weed delivery.   President Trump’s history of alleged sexual misconduct re-emerged Monday amid the national reckoning over inappropriate behavior.

Sen.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Prominent black leaders from Alabama and across the country are descending on the Yellowhammer State to help push Democrat Doug Jones over the finish line in the Senate race against Republican candidate Roy Moore.  Jones and his campaign spent Sunday working with top black Democratic surrogates around the state in a unified effort to drum up support. This included an afternoon campaign stop in Birmingham with Alabama Democratic Rep. Terry Sewell and New Jersey Sen.

Partisan tensions are mounting on the Senate Judiciary Committee, with both parties accusing the other of stonewalling.

Media outlets have remained under fire for several days amid a debate over journalism in an age when provided ammunition to the president, who has since the 2016 campaign railed against “fake news” and what he views as biased reporting.  “Fake News CNN made a vicious and purposeful mistake yesterday.

Congress punted its funding fight for another two weeks, setting up a contentious spending showdown just days before Christmas.  Lawmakers passed a stopgap bill on Thursday to avoid a shutdown and keep the government’s lights on through Dec. 22. But members acknowledge that the real budget brawl — and the threat of a shutdown — will come later this month. The funding fight will likely center on two major issues.

I had thought about reaching for my father’s hand for weeks. He was slowly dying in a nursing home, and no one who visited him — from my mother, his wife of 42 years, to my three siblings — held his hand. How do you reach for something that, for so many decades, hinted at violence and, worse, dismissal? In the flickering gray from the old black-and-white movies we watched together, I finally did it. I touched my father’s hand, which I hadn’t held since I was a young boy. His curled fingers opened, unhinging some long-sealed door within me, then lightly closed around mine.

KABUL, Afghanistan — “You’re ugly, Maryam, everyone says so, but I guess you’re a virgin so when you’re ready to have sex, let me know and I will be glad to …” Her male co-worker, writing on her Facebook account, finished the sentence obscenely. It was 10 a.m. on a normal day in the life of an Afghan working woman.