Politics

The Trump administration has started the arduous process of canceling $3.6 billion in military construction projects to fund its plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper began notifying lawmakers Tuesday which projects will be canceled in their districts. Top Democrats immediately blasted the plan.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was among the first lawmakers to say his district will be impacted by the funding cuts, for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

More than two decades ago, the CEO of BP, one of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world – gave a speech to the 1997 graduating class at Stanford University.

In the speech, John Browne acknowledged for the first time the link between the fossil fuel industry and global warming.

Afterward, the American Petroleum Institute declared that Browne had “left the church.”

From Labor Day barbecues to the chicken sandwich craze that swept the nation in recent weeks, Americans love chicken.

We each eat an average of 94 pounds of the bird per year, according to USDA data. That’s up from just 28 pounds in 1960.

Walmart is dramatically cutting back sales of ammunition and asking shoppers to refrain from openly carrying firearms in its stores.

These are a few of the changes Walmart is making to its gun-sales policy following two shootings a month ago at two Walmart stores within one week.

"As a company, we experienced two horrific events in one week, and we will never be the same," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon wrote to employees on Tuesday.

Updated at 4:50 p.m. ET

Manufacturing activity shifted into reverse in August for the first time in three years, as factory owners adjusted to the ongoing trade wars. An index compiled by the Institute for Supply Management showed a decline in nearly every measure, including new orders, production and employment.

The Cherokee Nation has named its first delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. Former Obama appointee Kimberly Teehee's nomination was approved by the tribe's council on Thursday. Although the treaty that created this nonvoting position is almost 200 years old, it had never been filled.

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Feeling sluggish? Having trouble achieving and maintaining productivity growth? Does it feel like investment will never, ever go up? You may be experiencing secular stagnation.

Symptoms include persistently low interest rates and weak inflation. Also, mediocre economic growth, despite a diet of huge deficits and cheap credit.

With five months before primary season begins, election officials around the country are busy buying new voting equipment.

Their main focus is security, after Russians tried to hack into U.S. election systems in 2016. Intelligence officials have warned that similar attacks are likely in 2020, from either Russia or others intent on disrupting U.S. elections.

Labor Day has long been an unofficial start to election season. So far, two rounds of Democratic debates, and two fundraising deadlines have revealed a lot about where the Democratic primary stands.

Security experts have warned about the prospect of a new era of high quality faked video or audio, which some commentators worry could have deeply corrosive effects on U.S. democracy.

Here's what you need to know.

What are "deepfakes?"

Beyond the cattle barn, the "oink booth," the haunted house and meat-on-a stick, the Minnesota State Fair has a new attraction this year.

Tucked away in the education building at the fairgrounds near St. Paul is an exhibit featuring something anybody would love — free dough.

"How often do you get free money? Genuine U.S. currency," shouted Karmi Mattson, who manages public programs for the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, which set up its first-ever booth at the fair.

Sound too good to be true? Yup.

Foreign interference didn't begin in 2016. It didn't end with that election. And U.S. officials expect it to remain an issue through the 2020 elections as well.

Here's what you need to know.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just finished three weeks of radiation treatment for a tumor on her pancreas, but she told a crowd on Saturday that she is "on [her] way to being very well."

Ginsburg, speaking with NPR's Nina Totenberg at the Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., said she would be prepared for the start of the Supreme Court's term in October.

The Trump administration's decision to shift more than $100 million of federal disaster aid to help pay for more detention beds for migrants has set off an outcry just as Florida is bracing for Hurricane Dorian.

Voting systems in the United States have come a long way since the hanging chads of the 2000 recount in Florida — but now cybersecurity is as big a concern as ballot fidelity.

Here's what you need to know.

The good news

Updated at 1:40 p.m. ET

Security concerns have prompted the Democratic National Committee to recommend nixing a plan that would have allowed Iowans and Nevadans to remotely caucus for candidates next year.

Supporters have long argued that "virtual caucuses" would open up Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential contest, which requires caucusers to physically attend sometimes hours-long events to declare their choice for president.