Nation and World Politics
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TikTok signs deal to form new US unit with investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake
Dec 18, 2025 8:20 pm - TikTok has signed agreements with three major investors — Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX — to form a new TikTok U.S. joint venture, ensuring the popular social video platform can continue operating in the United States.
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HHS to revoke funding from hospitals offering youth gender transition care
Dec 18, 2025 7:43 pm - The Trump administration is moving to broadly curtail gender transition care for young people, proposing Thursday to eject medical providers from major federal health insurance programs if they provide services including hormone therapy or procedures such as mastectomies to children and teenagers.
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Illinois Accountability Commission hears testimony about excessive force by ICE agents
Dec 18, 2025 6:19 pm - A newly formed state commission heard sobering testimony Thursday about federal agents’ use of force, just days after Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino was spotted back in the Chicago region.
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Coast Guard policy on swastikas, nooses will be revised, Noem says
Dec 18, 2025 4:42 pm - The U.S. Coast Guard will remove language from its new workplace harassment policy that downgraded the definition of swastikas and nooses from overt hate symbols to “potentially divisive,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem said Thursday, an abrupt turnaround after the more lenient interpretation took effect this week despite objections from Congress.
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Justice Department sues for access to Illinois voter rolls
Dec 18, 2025 4:16 pm - The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit Thursday against the state of Illinois seeking access to its complete, unredacted voter registration database, including sensitive personal data such as dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
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Trump signs executive order that could reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug
Dec 18, 2025 1:34 pm - President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that could reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug and open new avenues for medical research, a major shift in federal drug policy that inches closer to what many states have done.
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Trump's handpicked board votes to rename Washington performing arts center the Trump-Kennedy Center
Dec 18, 2025 12:45 pm - President Donald Trump’s handpicked board voted Thursday to rename Washington’s leading performing arts center as the Trump-Kennedy Center, the White House said, in a move that was quickly denounced as a “disgrace” by the Democratic leader of the House, who is on the board.
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Trump officials keep blaming housing costs on one group: Immigrants. Economists disagree.
Dec 18, 2025 11:13 am - President Donald Trump promised Wednesday night that he’d bring down persistently high housing costs, which he said were caused by one group in particular: immigrants. But the administration’s sharp focus on immigrants contrasts with economists’ widely held view that the problem comes from housing shortages.
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Senate hopefuls Kelly, Krishnamoorthi, Stratton target Trump, talk affordability at first debateDec 17, 2025 9:38 pm - About 1,000 people tuned into early virtual forum among Democratic candidates vying for outgoing Sen. Dick Durbin’s seat.
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American Academy of Pediatrics loses HHS funding after criticizing RFK Jr.
Dec 17, 2025 7:40 pm - The Department of Health and Human Services has terminated seven grants totaling millions of dollars to the American Academy of Pediatrics, including for initiatives on reducing sudden infant deaths, improving adolescent health, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome and identifying autism early, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.