Author

Jacob Fischler

Jacob Fischler

Jacob covers federal policy as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues. His coverage areas include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.

U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., at a U.S. Senate hearing on artificial intelligence on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023.

Congress starts trying to figure out how to set AI ‘rules of the road’

By: - September 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — The development of artificial intelligence presents far-reaching challenges for virtually every aspect of modern society, including campaigns, national security and journalism, members of a U.S. Senate panel said at a Tuesday hearing, Technology experts invited to testify at a hearing of the Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security Subcommittee of the Senate […]

An American Airlines plane takes off from Los Angeles International Airport on Oct. 1, 2020

Biden to nominate former FAA deputy to lead aviation agency

By: - September 7, 2023

President Joe Biden chose a new nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday, months after the U.S. Senate blocked his first choice. Biden intends to nominate Michael G. Whitaker, an executive at Supernal, a company working on an electric air vehicle, and a former deputy FAA administrator during President Barack Obama’s administration, according […]

Cypress trees stand in swamp near Lake Maurepas

U.S. Supreme Court narrows scope of Clean Water Act

By: - August 31, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court in a major environmental decision Thursday overturned the Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of wetlands that fall under the agency’s jurisdiction, siding with an Idaho couple who’d said they should not be required to obtain federal permits to build on their property that lacked any navigable water. All nine justices agreed to […]

President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington.

‘Hate will not prevail in America’: Biden marks 60 years since March on Washington

By: - August 29, 2023

The U.S. still hasn’t met the goals of the Civil Rights Movement, President Joe Biden said Monday, the 60th anniversary of one of the movement’s most iconic events. Six decades to the day after the 1963 March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, Biden urged Americans not […]

Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum participate in the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News at the Fiserv Forum on Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Trump absent but still dominates as GOP presidential rivals clash at first debate

By: , and - August 24, 2023

Eight Republican presidential candidates gathered onstage Wednesday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for a heated first primary debate heavily influenced by former President Donald Trump, though the party’s front runner refused to attend the two-hour event. Trump instead recorded a competing 46-minute interview with former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson that aired on X, formerly known […]

photo illustration showing illuminated cables coming from a laptop screen

‘The internet is no longer a luxury’: $667M from USDA for rural broadband

By: - August 21, 2023

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend another $667 million on rural broadband loans and grants, the department said Monday, marking the fourth round of Biden administration funding under a program that the 2021 infrastructure law invigorated. Nearly three-quarters of the funding, $493 million, will go toward grants, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on a […]

Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for his arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 4, 2023 in New York City.

The Trump indictments: A 7-year timeline of key developments

By: - August 10, 2023

Former President Donald Trump is a defendant in three criminal proceedings. Two cases are federal, brought after investigations by Special Counsel Jack Smith. The other case is in New York state court and is being prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. A fourth indictment, on state charges in Georgia related to Trump’s efforts to […]

Former President Donald Trump speaks on May 28, 2022, in Casper, Wyoming.

Trump pleads not guilty to charges he sought to subvert 2020 election

By: and - August 4, 2023

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to four felony charges in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., after a federal grand jury handed up an indictment against the former chief executive related to the 2020 election. Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, was released under the conditions that […]

Former President Donald Trump speaks on May 28, 2022, in Casper, Wyoming.

‘Fueled by lies,’ Trump charged with seeking to overturn 2020 election

By: , and - August 1, 2023

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted Donald Trump on Tuesday, alleging that Trump and co-conspirators attempted to subvert the 2020 election to keep the former president in power through a series of illegal actions that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The former president faces four […]

President Joe Biden speaks during an event on extreme heat July 27, 2023, in Washington, D.C. On a monitor in the background is Mayor Kate Gallego of Phoenix, Arizona.

As extreme heat sweeps the U.S., Biden warns that states must act to protect workers

By: - July 27, 2023

With many parts of the country gripped by extreme heat, President Joe Biden said Thursday his administration would target states that don’t offer worker protections and would direct millions of dollars to water projects and improved weather forecasting. In a live address, with the mayors of Phoenix and San Antonio joining by video, Biden said […]

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards is shown addressing an audience at the Andrew P. Sanchez Multi-Service Center in New Orleans on Feb. 16, 2023.

Edwards stresses need to upgrade infrastructure with climate impact in mind to U.S. Senate panel

By: - July 26, 2023

The changing climate is hurting infrastructure and the national economy, members of a U.S. Senate panel and experts said Wednesday. Members of both parties on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee agreed at a Wednesday hearing on the need for more resilient infrastructure that could withstand the pressures of a changing climate. They also agreed speeding […]

Former U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he makes a visit to the Cuban restaurant Versailles after he appeared for his arraignment on June 13, 2023 in Miami, Florida.

Trump says he has been told he is a target of the special counsel’s Jan. 6 investigation

By: - July 18, 2023

Donald Trump has received a target letter from Special Counsel Jack Smith, he said Tuesday, indicating another indictment of the former president is likely over his role in encouraging the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump posted to his social media site, Truth Social, on Tuesday, announcing that he’d received the target […]