Author

Ashley Murray

Ashley Murray

Ashley Murray covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include domestic policy and appropriations.

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

Which states will join the new summer meal program for low-income kids? Here’s the list.

By: - January 10, 2024

WASHINGTON — Children from low-income families in Kentucky, 34 other states, four tribes and all U.S. territories will now receive permanent food assistance during the summer months when schools are closed, leaving children in 15 states excluded from the benefits. Low-income families will now receive $40 each month for each eligible school-aged child, up to […]

Three-judge federal panel grills Trump lawyer on claim of presidential immunity

By: and - January 9, 2024

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump appeared in federal court Tuesday seeking immunity from charges that he schemed to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and knowingly fed lies to supporters who turned violent on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump, who is leading polls in the 2024 Republican presidential primary field, watched while his attorney D. […]

Trump legal problems abound as first test of 2024 presidential campaign nears in Iowa

By: and - January 8, 2024

WASHINGTON — On the cusp of a 2024 election season like none other in U.S. history, former President Donald Trump’s legal and political worlds are set to converge. Trump’s lawyers on Tuesday will argue before a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. that he is immune from prosecution for actions he’s accused of taking while […]

US Supreme Court won’t yet rule on presidential immunity question in Trump case

By: and - December 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declined to quickly decide if former President Donald Trump holds immunity from federal prosecution in the case linked to his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith had asked the justices to determine if “a former […]

Tuberville blockade finally ends with confirmations of top military leaders

By: - December 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday night approved the remainder of the military nominations that Sen. Tommy Tuberville had continued to block, even after the Alabama Republican lifted his monthslong freeze of hundreds of armed services promotions in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the floor asked for unanimous […]

Shipbuilding, bombers, military pay raise: Congress sends massive defense bill to Biden

By: - December 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — The massive annual defense policy package cleared Congress ahead of the holiday recess, despite protests about attaching a foreign surveillance extension and criticism that the bill did not block a Pentagon abortion policy. U.S. House lawmakers approved the package on Thursday 310-118, under a suspension of the chamber’s rules, meaning a two-thirds majority […]

Zelenskyy pitches Congress on Ukraine military aid, but it’s tied to stalled border talks

By: , and - December 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy struggled Tuesday to convince members of Congress to approve billions in additional aid to his country at a crucial moment in the nearly two-year war with Russia. But the outlook was grim as lawmakers remained deadlocked on another piece of a supplemental spending bill under debate in the Senate […]

US Supreme Court asked to quickly rule on Trump claims of presidential immunity

By: and - December 11, 2023

WASHINGTON — Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to expedite a decision on former President Donald Trump’s claims of presidential immunity in the 2020 election interference case. Smith asked the justices to rule on a matter that ordinarily would first go to a lower federal appeals court, […]

Oklahoma judicial nominee advances toward U.S. Senate confirmation, overcoming GOP opposition

By: - December 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — Former Cherokee Nation Attorney General Sara Hill is one step closer to becoming the first Native American woman to serve as a federal judge for the state of Oklahoma, despite objections from top state officials and some U.S. Senate Republicans. The Democratic-led U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Thursday favorably approved, 14-7, […]

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy to exit Congress, along with a flock of other lawmakers

By: - December 6, 2023

WASHINGTON — Former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Wednesday joined the growing list of Congress members heading for the U.S. Capitol exits. McCarthy’s planned departure by year’s end, following the expulsion of disgraced New York Republican Congressman George Santos, will leave the House GOP with a razor-thin majority in 2024. The California Republican’s announcement also […]

Tuberville relents on months-long blockade of most military nominees, blaming Democrats

By: - December 5, 2023

WASHINGTON — After blocking hundreds of U.S. military promotions for most of 2023 in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said Tuesday he will lift his holds on all of them except for a handful of four-star general nominees. The senator, who sits on the Senate Committee on Armed Forces, […]

Sandra Day O’Connor, who made history as the first woman on the Supreme Court, dies at 93

By: - December 1, 2023

WASHINGTON — The first woman to serve on the nation’s highest court is dead at 93. Sandra Day O’Connor, a groundbreaking justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, died Friday in Phoenix, Arizona of complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness, according to an announcement from the court. President Ronald Reagan nominated […]