Politics

The California state Legislature twisted itself into an extra-salty pretzel this week over a bill that claims to combat child sex trafficking. On Tuesday, Democratic members of the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee initially shelved Senate Bill 14, the child sex trafficking bill in question, which was written and proposed by one of the state Senate’s most conservative members.

For 25 years, some of California’s best-known early childhood services have been funded by an almost ironic source: Taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products.

An IRS plan to test drive a new electronic free-file tax return system next year has got supporters and critics of the idea mobilizing to sway the public and Congress over whether the government should set up a permanent program to help people file their taxes without needing to pay somebody else to figure out what they owe.

Hush-money payments. Classified records. And now, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election that led to the Capitol attack. Already facing criminal cases in New York and Florida, Donald Trump is in increasing legal peril as investigations into his struggle to cling to power after his election loss appear to be coming to a head.

Michigan’s attorney general filed felony charges Tuesday against 16 Republicans who acted as fake electors for then-President Donald Trump in 2020, accusing them of submitting false certificates that confirmed they were legitimate electors despite Joe Biden’s victory in the state.