Politics

The Senate voted to confirm Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission — the first woman to lead the agency on a permanent basis — to serve for another five-year term. The Senate on Tuesday voted 68-31 to confirm Rosenworcel’s new term as commissioner, after she gained key Republican supporters in the chamber including

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a stalwart defender of Donald Trump, will step down from his seat in Congress to become CEO of the ex-president’s Trump Media & Technology Group in 2022. Nunes, currently a ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee who once unsuccessfully sued Twitter alleging defamation over parody accounts purporting to be his

John Stankey, CEO of AT&T, said an effort by Democratic leaders in Congress to characterize the proposed merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery as an anticompetitive threat to the media industry was “unfounded.” “What is articulated in those letters is really unfounded,” said Stankey, speaking Monday at UBS’s Global TMT Conference, referring to a communication from

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking, among other details, information on the identity of certain investors in the company that plans to merge with Donald Trump’s recently established social network and media outfit as part of a “preliminary” investigation, according to financial filings. The disclosure of the SEC probe comes after the October

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s civilian leader has been sentenced to four years in jail for inciting dissent against the military and for breaching anti-COVID rules. Suu Kyi, who headed the civilian government during the country’s brief democratic interlude, was deposed on Feb. 1, 2021, by a coup that was organized by the military with

Bob Dole, the former Senate majority leader and the Republican presidential candidate in 1996, died in his sleep on Sunday morning. He was 98 years old. Dole’s death was announced by the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, an organization that supports military veteran caregivers founded by former U.S. senator and Dole’s wife Elizabeth Dole. No location of death

Public health officials have confirmed what appears to be the second case of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in the U.S. On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Minnesota health officials confirmed that a male resident of the state, who is fully vaccinated, had mild symptoms due to the Omicron variant, and

Germany is bringing in tough new restrictions on unvaccinated people in a bid to control the rapid spread of COVID-19. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that unvaccinated people would be barred from several public places such as non-essential shops and events. The only exemption would be if they have recently recovered from COVID-19. “Culture and leisure

Stacey Abrams is running for governor of Georgia, after making history in the 2018 election, which she lost to Republican Brian Kemp. Abrams made the announcement with a campaign video on Wednesday, highlighting the work she’s done in Georgia during the pandemic. In the 2018 election, she was the first Black woman from a major

Dr. Oz is officially running for U.S. Senate. The television personality and cardiothoracic surgeon, best known for his talk series “The Dr. Oz Show,” on Tuesday announced his candidacy via his website, which has been rebranded for his campaign. He is joining the high-stakes race for Pennsylvania’s open Republican Senate seat, as Sen. Pat Toomey

Matthew McConaughey has decided against throwing his hat into the ring to be elected the next governor of Texas. The actor made the announcement on Sunday through a video posted to his official Twitter account. “Over the past two years, I’ve been working on the answer to the question of how I can be most

As two cases of the new Omricon variant of the COVID-19 virus have been detected in the U.K., the country has mandated a return to mask wearing and PCR tests. Addressing a nationally televised press conference on Saturday afternoon, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that face coverings will become mandatory again in shops and on

A jury has found Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan guilty of murdering Ahmaud Arbery in February 2020. All three white men were involved in the murder of Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, on February 23, 2020, in Brunswick, Ga. Arbery was running through the neighborhood of Satilla Shores when the McMichaels, who

A man who smuggled copies of smash hit South Korean Netflix series “Squid Game” into North Korea has been sentenced to death, after authorities caught high school students watching the show, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA). U.S.-headquartered independent news agency RFA reported, quoting sources, that the series was smuggled in from China on USB

After Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges for his involvement in the Kenosha, Wis. shootings last year, members of Hollywood spoke out, calling the verdict “hollowing” and saying that “the system defeated true justice, once again.” During the summer 2020 protests in Kenosha over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, Rittenhouse shot

After a two-week trial and 26 hours of deliberations over four days, a jury found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty of all charges in the Kenosha shootings. The 12-person jury began deliberating on Tuesday before reaching a verdict on Friday. The 18-year-old Rittenhouse was found not guilty on felony charges of first-degree reckless homicide and use

President Joe Biden has announced that companies with 100 or more employees must have every worker fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 4, 2022. Employees who are not vaccinated must provide a negative COVID test at least once a week. After being first revealed back in September, the new vaccination rules will affect more than

Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin has won over Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe in Virginia’s gubernatorial election, as reported by AP and The New York Times. Polls closed in the state on Tuesday night. As the current results stand, Youngkin has drawn 50.9% of the vote with over 95% of polling stations reporting. McAuliffe has drawn 48.4%

The CDC has officially approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children from the ages of 5 to 11. In the announcement on Tuesday, the CDC encouraged health providers to begin vaccinating the approximately 28 million children in the age group as soon as possible. The FDA already approved the vaccine last week, but the CDC recommends who

“They say that rock ‘n’ roll is here to stay… but where?” asked Max Arloft, the music critic played by Jeff Goldblum in “Between the Lines,” Joan Micklin Silver’s 1977 film about an alternative newspaper in Boston. “Certainly not at my place, it’s too small.” Rock is making its bid for yet another revival, as

YouTube removed more than 120,000 videos with sexually explicit content featuring kids or content that sexually exploits minors in the first half of this year, according to the internet-video giant — noting that the majority of the content it removes is pulled before it gets even 10 views. That’s according to written testimony submitted by

President Biden on Tuesday officially designated Jessica Rosenworcel, who has been acting FCC chair since January, to be the permanent head of the telecommunications agency. Rosenworcel, if she’s confirmed, would be the first woman to serve as FCC chair. In addition, Biden nominated Gigi Sohn, a longtime public advocate for open and affordable telecom services

A bombshell report from Variety’s sister publication Rolling Stone alleges that organizers of the Jan. 6 protests, which escalated to violence when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, met numerous times with White House staff and members of Congress to strategize in the days prior. At least three organizers of the Stop the Steal rally

Donald Trump, the twice-impeached former U.S. president who has repeatedly spread falsehoods about the 2020 election, announced that he’s launching a social media network called (really) Truth Social. Trump also claims to be prepping the launch of a subscription-streaming service stocked with “non-woke” entertainment programming. In an Oct. 20 press release, an entity called the

Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has died of COVID-19 complications. His family confirmed his death on Monday in a public Facebook post, noting that he was fully vaccinated. Powell was 84. The statement, signed by The Powell Family, reads: “General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint

Bill Clinton has been hospitalized for a “non-COVID related” infection, according to a spokesperson for the former president. Angel Ureña posted on Twitter Thursday night that Clinton was admitted to the University of California Irvine Medical Center on Tuesday, and is now “on the mend.” “On Tuesday evening, President Clinton was admitted to UCI Medical

Tiffany Haddish will be among the first celebrities to get involved in the 2022 campaign for Los Angeles mayor, as she appears this weekend at an event for Karen Bass. Haddish, who is producing and starring in a biopic on Olympian Florence Griffith Joyner, will give welcoming remarks at a community kickoff event at L.A.

A federal judge has ordered Texas to suspend the state’s new law banning most abortions, according to the Associated Press. On Wednesday, Judge Robert Pitman of Austin, Texas explained why he believes the law is an “offensive deprivation” of constitutional rights in a 113-page opinion. “From the moment S.B. 8 went into effect, women have

“Mr. President, if Black Lives Matter, please prove it! Do Black lives only matter during an election cycle?” Those incendiary words were written by Willie “Prophet” Stiggers, the co-founder/co-chair of the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC), and sent to President Joe Biden today (Oct. 6) at the close of a letter pushing the agenda of

Celebrities took to the streets of Los Angeles — and to social media — to support the March for Reproductive Rights on Saturday. The Women’s March coordinated more than 500 gatherings nationwide to voice support for reproductive rights and speak out against Texas’ recent law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy ⁠— before most