1A

Across the country, K-12 teachers are prepping classrooms, reviewing lesson plans, and bracing for another school year that, for some, feels politically and personally charged. The Department of Education is slowly being dismantled by the Trump administration. In some districts, immigration officials have shown up at schools, which likely contributed to a rise in student absences last spring. And...

In this Trump administration it's another day, another deadline, another deal. On Monday, the president issued an ultimatum to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. With this revised deadline, the president now wants peace efforts to make progress within 10 to 12 days. There has been little reaction from the Kremlin. We discuss how the U.S. ultimatum could change the course o...

Last week, more than 100 aid and human rights groups warned that Gaza is at risk of "mass starvation." They signed an appeal demanding Israel allow food shipments into the territory. On Saturday, Israel's military announced airdrops of aid began in Gaza and that humanitarian corridors will be established. Among those starving in the besieged strip are members of the press. Palestinian journalists...

How does the public know what's happening in the federal government, especially when it's information the government doesn't want to share? That's where whistleblowers come in. But in 2025, the Trump administration is cracking down on these brave folks and the journalists telling their stories. In this installment of our politics series, "If You Can Keep It," we discuss weakening whistleblower pro...

New reporting in The Wall Street Journal indicates that the FBI told President Donald Trump in May that his name was mentioned in the Epstein Files. Congressional Republicans have mostly shrugged off the news. Speaker Mike Johnson shuts down the House for the summer. Meanwhile, the European Union and at least 28 governments are criticizing Israel for "drip feeding" Palestinians in Gaza, as starvat...

President Donald Trump has nominated loyal associates to influential positions over and over. But one recent pick for the federal bench has legal experts and many lawmakers particularly up in arms. The Senate voted Tuesday to begin considering former Trump defense attorney Emil Bove for a lifetime appointment as a federal appeals judge for the Third Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Bove, the...

Medicaid is a cornerstone of the American health care system. The program provides insurance to more than 70 million low-income people and people with disabilities. Now, addiction experts and nursing home leaders are sounding the alarm over cuts in President Donald Trump's tax and spending bill. When the cuts occur, Medicaid will lose $1 trillion over the next 10 years and over 11 million American...

President Donald Trump is suing the publisher and owner of the Wall Street Journal and seeking damages of $10 billion for defamation. Last week, the paper published an article describing a letter Trump sent to disgraced, self-styled financier Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003. That letter reportedly included a lewd drawing. The president says — without evidence — that he didn't write t...

Duunnn dunnn... duuuunnnn duun. Odds are you probably know what that line references without having to click the link. And there's a good reason for that. Sharks have been around for nearly 450 million years – a lot longer than humans. And in the relatively short time we've shared the planet with them, they've become a part of some of our most treasured pop culture moments. But that also means the...

This month, two Supreme Court decisions allowed the Trump administration to move forward with significant federal layoffs , including many at the Departments of Education and State. The State Department laid off senior intelligence analysts specializing in Russia and Ukraine, right as the U.S. ramps up its maneuvering to encourage Vladimir Putin to agree to a peace deal. And at the Department of E...

The Senate approves President Trump's rescission package. Donald Trump has spent much of the week admonishing members of his MAGA base for raising the alert about his administration's failure to release information about Jeffrey Epstein. At least 20 people were crushed to death at Gaza Humanitarian Fund aid distribution site in Khan Younis. And Britain lowers its voting age, in the largest expansi...

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In his rescissions request to Congress last month, President Donald Trump asked that the hundreds of millions dollars budgeted for the President's Emergency Plans for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, be cancelled. Senate Republicans have decided that PEPFAR is safe from cuts for now, but those fighting the global epidemic are worried. We talk about what these funding cuts would mean for those actually doin...

One of the biggest cuts included in President Donald Trump's recent tax and spending bill is to Medicaid, the federal program that provides health insurance to low-income Americans and people with disabilities. The Congressional Budget Office estimates it would lose $1 trillion over the next ten years. Republicans say these changes address fraud and waste in the Medicaid program. But some rural ho...

Donald Trump is growing impatient with Russian President Vladimir Putin, publicly lamenting earlier this week the fact that Russia hasn't agreed to a peace deal with Ukraine. Trump also promised new tariffs if a peace deal doesn't come in 50 days. New sanctions are on the table, too. With NATO's secretary general, Mark Rutte, by his side, Trump also announced the U.S. would help Europe send more w...

On July 4, 2026, the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. President Donald Trump kicked off the countdown to the anniversary at a rally in Iowa – right as Congress passed his sweeping domestic policy bill. But how has this country's identity changed in 250 years? And what innovations – in science, technology, and democracy – have led...

Search crews and volunteers continue to scour miles along the Guadalupe River for the dozens of people still missing after deadly Texas flooding last week. President Trump's reciprocal tariffs are put on hold, again. And while the president calls the U.S the "hottest" country in the world, economists and industry experts warn his policies are positioning the country to be less competitive on the g...

President Trump's so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill" which was passed last week will have major implications for most Americans. How much will this cost you? Well, there's the effect this will have on climate change – and the rising costs of electricity Some estimates suggest electricity bills in states like Texas could be $777 more a year by 2035. The Senate version of the legislation repeals the...

Last week saw dangerous weather in Europe, where a brutal heat wave swept across the continent. Now wildfires from that heatwave are scorching several Mediterranean countries. Closer to home, hundreds of heat records were set across the U.S in the month of June, including Baltimore, which saw a record high of 105 degrees. Nearly 130 million people were under extreme heat warnings or heat advisorie...

On Friday, central Texas, near San Antonio, was hit by what officials are calling a "100‑year flood." Heavy downpours caused a deadly 30‑plus-foot surge on the Guadalupe River and catastrophic flash flooding. Nearly 90 people have been killed and dozens remain missing. Search and rescue operations continued Monday as more heavy rain threatens the region. Operators of Camp Mystic, a century-old sum...

On Friday, President Donald Trump celebrated the passage of his signature tax and spending bill into law. At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. It will also reduce Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. That will result in an es...

Who are we as a nation? What's important to us? And who do we want to be? 1A recently spent some time at the Aspen Ideas Festival where Gallup Research unveiled data that indicates most Americans can agree broadly on the answers to those queries, but differ on which ones are the most important. We sit down and get into what values make an American, an American. Want to support 1A? Give to your loc...

Unless you're a physicist, you've probably only encountered quantum mechanics on TV. And even when it was explained, you might've still been a little confused. The field of quantum mechanics was created a century ago. Today, scientists are using it to create methods of communication that can't be hacked, higher quality digital images, and to develop medications. But many of us don't even understan...

Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, OpenAI Head of Product Kevin Weil, and Thinking Machines Lab advisor Bob McGrew are now lieutenant colonels in the U.S. Army Reserves. They're part of a military unit called Detachment 201, also known as the the Executive Innovation Corps. Their US Army says their swearing in is the "start of a bigger mi...

The so-called 'big, beautiful bill' has squeaked by in the Senate and now moves back to the House. The massive piece of legislation is the centerpiece of Trump's agenda, filled with tax breaks and spending cuts that would touch just about every American. We discuss what's on the table now in the GOP mega bill. And how might it affect us if it passes. Want to support 1A? Give to your local public r...