Author: Reporter

About 49,500 people took their own lives last year in the United States, the highest number ever, according to new government data posted in August. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which posted the numbers, has not yet calculated a suicide rate for the year, but available data suggests suicides are more common in the U.S. than at any time since the dawn of World War II. “There’s something wrong. The number should not be going up,” said Christina Wilbur, a 45-year-old Florida woman whose son shot himself to death last year. “My son should not have died,”...

President Joe Biden joined United Auto Workers strikers on their picket line on September 26 as their work stoppage against major carmakers hit day 12, a demonstration of support for organized labor unparalleled in presidential history. “You deserve the significant raise you need,” President Biden said through a bullhorn while wearing a union baseball cap after arriving at a General Motors parts distribution warehouse located in a suburb west of Detroit. He walked along the picket line, exchanging fist bumps with grinning workers. He encouraged them to continue fighting for better wages despite concerns that a prolonged strike could...

When former President Donald Trump visits Detroit on September 27, he will be looking to divert blistering criticisms from a United Auto Workers union leadership that has said a second term for him would be a “disaster” for workers. Trump will bypass the second Republican presidential debate that day to instead visit striking autoworkers in Michigan, where he has looked to position himself as an ally of blue-collar workers by promising to raise wages and protect jobs if elected to a second term. But union leaders say Trump’s record in the White House speaks for itself. Union leaders have...

On a frigid U.S. air base in Germany, the top U.S. military officer was in his element. Striding along the training area in his fatigues, Army Gen. Mark Milley bellowed at the Ukrainian troops gathered around him. “Slava Ukraini!” he hollered, again and again, the “glory to Ukraine” battle cry. A bit nervously, the Ukrainians shouted back the traditional response, “Heroyam slava,” meaning glory to the heroes. It was a classic scene of a powerful general rallying the troops, but one that would have made Biden administration officials wince. They have consistently stressed that this is Ukraine’s war, not...

Staring down a fast-approaching government shutdown that threatens to disrupt life for millions of Americans, Speaker Kevin McCarthy has turned to a strategy that so far has preserved his tenuous hold on House leadership but also marked it by chaos: giving hard-right lawmakers what they want. In his eight months running the House, McCarthy has lived by the upbeat personal mantra of “never give up” as he dodges threats to his speakership and tries to portray Republicans as capable stewards of the U.S. government. He has long chided Washington for underestimating him. But with the House GOP majority in...