Latest Politics Headlines
All the headlines from our Politics Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Republican Farm Bill Sows Bipartisan Discontent
May 15 2018 // Farm legislation usually has enough incentives to satisfy everyone across the partisan divide in Congress. Not this year. The Republican version set for a House vote on Friday contains so many unpalatable provisions that...
Agent’s California Senate Bid Driven by Need for Better Representation
May 14 2018 // Tom Pratt, an insurance agent who specializes in procuring fine art coverage in a rural Northern California community, has worked in the insurance industry for more than 20 years. By day he is an insurance agent. In his...
Tulsa County Democratic Party Chair to Run for Insurance Commissioner
Apr 24 2018 // The chair of the Tulsa County Democratic Party has entered the race to become Oklahoma’s next insurance commissioner. Kimberly Fobbs currently is the only Democrat who has filed to run for the insurance...
Illinois Senate Again Passes Workers’ Comp Reform Measure
Apr 19 2018 // The Illinois Senate has approved restrictions on insurance companies writing workers’ compensation policies. The plan that passed 34-21 on April 17 is identical to one Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed last year. The...
Trump Administration Proposes Curbs on Opioid Manufacturers
Apr 19 2018 // The U.S. government on Tuesday proposed tightening rules governing the amount of prescription opioid painkillers that drugmakers can manufacture in a given year, in hopes of reining in the deadly opioid epidemic. The Drug...
Republican Farm Bill Calls for Changes to Food Stamps, Renewal of Crop Insurance
Apr 13 2018 // Republicans on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee on Thursday called for changes to the government’s food assistance program for the poor, in a package of long-awaited proposals for the next U.S. Farm Bill that...
Judge Dismisses State Farm Car Crash Suit Against Mississippi U.S. Senate Appointee
Apr 10 2018 // A lawsuit against U.S. Senate appointee Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi has been permanently dismissed. The Daily Leader reports Mississippi Circuit Judge David Strong dismissed the case with prejudice April 3. That means...
Louisiana Senate Backs Higher Civil Penalties in Hazing Death Lawsuits
Mar 29 2018 // People who file civil lawsuits in Louisiana when someone dies from hazing could be in line for higher penalty payments, under a bill that won easy passage from the state Senate. Senators voted 28-3 Wednesday for Senate...
Revamp of Kentucky Workers’ Comp System Gets OK From State Senate
Mar 26 2018 // Kentucky lawmakers are closing in on making the biggest changes to the workers’ compensation system in decades after the Senate passed the measure on Thursday. The legislation – backed by business groups but...
Trump Administration, McDonald’s Rush to Avoid Employer Liability Trial
Mar 18 2018 // The National Labor Relations Board is ignoring its own guidelines and rushing to settle a major workplace action involving McDonald’s Corp., lawyers for employees involved in the litigation alleged. If the workers...
Democratic Senators Call for Changes in Federal Autonomous Vehicle Bill
Mar 15 2018 // Five Democratic U.S. senators on Wednesday urged changes to a stalled landmark bill aimed at speeding the deployment and testing of self-driving cars. “We are concerned that the bill indefinitely preempts state and...
Rewrite of Senate Banking Bill Tough for Wall Street Banks
Mar 8 2018 // Wall Street banks don’t have much to celebrate in what’s probably the final version of a bill easing financial rules that is headed for a U.S. Senate vote. Late Wednesday, Senate Banking Chairman Mike Crapo, an...
Trump Administration Wants Time to Think About Joining Opioid Lawsuits
Mar 5 2018 // The U.S. Justice Department has asked a federal judge overseeing hundreds of lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors to give it 30 days to decide whether to participate in the litigation. The department made...
NTSB: Truck Hit by GOP Train in Virginia Was on Tracks After Warning
Feb 23 2018 // Witnesses told investigators that a garbage truck struck by a train carrying Republican congressmen through rural Virginia entered the railroad crossing after the safety gates had come down, the National Transportation...
Brown Tapped to Chair Oklahoma Senate Insurance Committee
Feb 21 2018 // Oklahoma state Sen. Bill Brown will serve as the chair of the Senate’s Pensions, Retirement and Insurance Committee for the 2018 legislative session. Other members of the committee are Vice Chair Marty Quinn, Sen....
Trump Administration Encourages More Short-Term, Cheaper Health Plans
Feb 21 2018 // The Trump administration is proposing to expand the availability of short-term insurance plans, offering a cheaper health coverage option for consumers, while taking another step to undercut Obamacare. The Department of...
‘Public Is Tired of Excuses’ for Delays in Anti-Crash Tech: Republican Chairman
Feb 16 2018 // The chair of a congressional committee on Thursday urged U.S. railroads and transit agencies to meet a looming deadline to install an anti-crash technology called positive train control after a series of recent...
Senate Confirms Smith as Head of Oregon Consumer and Business Services
Feb 15 2018 // The Oregon State Senate has confirmed Cameron Smith as director for the Department of Consumer and Business Services. Smith has served as acting director for the department since Gov. Kate Brown nominated him in December...
Senate Report Links Drugmakers’ Donations to Opioid Crisis
Feb 13 2018 // Five opioid manufacturers including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP have paid more than $10 million to advocacy groups and doctors tied to them, many of whom amplified industry messages supporting the use of the...
Trump Administration Plans Autonomous Vehicles Regulatory Summit
Feb 12 2018 // Auto manufacturers, technology companies, road safety advocates and policy makers will attend a March 1 conference over potential government actions that could speed the rollout of autonomous cars, the U.S. Transportation...
