Author

Ariana Figueroa

Ariana Figueroa

Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign finance.

The World Health Organization classified the new COVID-19 variant as a “variant of concern” due to its high mutation and transmission rate. The new strain is called “omicron.” (Getty Images)

Online orders for free at-home COVID tests to begin Jan. 19

By: - January 17, 2022

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Friday launched a new website for Americans to request up to four free COVID-19 tests per household. The administration is buying 1 billion at-home rapid COVID-19 tests, and Americans will be able to begin ordering the tests online on Jan. 19 at COVIDtests.gov. This is part of the administration’s effort […]

A protester holds a Trump flag inside the US Capitol Building near the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Federal prosecutors file seditious conspiracy charges against Oath Keepers in Jan. 6 attack

By: - January 13, 2022

WASHINGTON — Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers, was charged with seditious conspiracy in organizing an attack on the U.S. Capitol and disrupting the Electoral College certification of the president, the Justice Department announced Thursday.  Edward Vallejo, 63, of Phoenix is charged along with Rhodes in connection with events […]

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection in Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)

Biden in Jan. 6 speech decries ‘web of lies’ created by Trump about 2020 election

By: - January 6, 2022

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday warned of the dangers of a collapse of American democracy, standing in a historic chamber in the U.S. Capitol that was besieged by an angry mob of pro-Trump supporters who attempted to halt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.  “We are in the battle for the soul […]

A mob rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to overturn election results. (Photo: Alex Kent)

Here’s what’s happening in D.C. on the Jan. 6 anniversary

By: - January 6, 2022

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will deliver a speech Thursday in the heart of the U.S. Capitol to mark the first anniversary of the insurrection there. One year ago, former President Donald Trump incited a mob of his supporters, and encouraged them to storm the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the […]

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Voting rights tops U.S. Senate agenda as Jan. 6 anniversary nears

By: - January 5, 2022

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday stressed that Democrats are prepared to change Senate rules to pass voting rights legislation — and linked the move to the attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump. “The election subversion efforts we’re seeing all across the country today are […]

U.S. Capitol. Photo by Russ Rohde/Getty Images

Biden’s big social spending bill caught in snags in the Senate

By: - December 17, 2021

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s giant social and climate spending bill on Thursday night appeared stalled in the U.S. Senate for some time to come, a deep frustration for congressional Democrats who aimed to pass the ambitious package by the Christmas recess. At risk also is a temporary expansion of the child tax credit, the […]

Congress was alerted last year to the problems at the detention center by a whistleblower, Dawn Wooten, a nurse who worked at the Irwin County Detention Cente

Investigation urged of doctor who operated on immigrant women in detention

By: - December 7, 2021

WASHINGTON — Two congressional panels are calling for Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to investigate a doctor who was accused of performing gynecological procedures on immigrant women in a Georgia detention center without their consent or full understanding of the treatment being performed. In a Dec. 3 letter, Democrats on the House Homeland Security […]

The World Health Organization classified the new COVID-19 variant as a “variant of concern” due to its high mutation and transmission rate. The new strain is called “omicron.” (Getty Images)

White House imposes travel restrictions for Africa amid new COVID-19 variant

By: - November 28, 2021

WASHINGTON — The White House is set to announce travel restrictions to eight countries in Southern Africa on Monday due to the discovery of a new coronavirus variant, according to senior administration officials. The World Health Organization classified the COVID-19 variant as a “variant of concern” due to its high mutation and transmission rate, and […]

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ.)(Photo by Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)

U.S. House censures Arizona’s Paul Gosar, boots him from committees

By: and - November 17, 2021

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted 223-207 Wednesday to censure Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar and strip him of his committee assignments, following his social media post of a manipulated cartoon that depicted him attacking Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden. Tennsseee 5th District Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper and District 9 Democratic Rep. […]

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican, reaching into a bag, was one of the speakers at a 'parents' rights' demonstration lectern in Washington, DC pm Tuesday. (Photo: Arianna Figueroa/States Newsroom.)

Virginia parents, GOP lawmakers vow national push for ‘parents’ rights’ in public schools

By: - November 16, 2021

WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers and Virginia parents trying to capitalize on their success in the November election on Tuesday gathered across from the U.S. Capitol to voice their opposition to mask mandates and lessons about racism taught in public schools. The ranking Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, Virginia Foxx of North […]

President Joe Biden signed his $1.2 billion infrastructure bill into law at the White House on Monday. (Photo provided by U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper.)

Biden signs $1.2T infrastructure bill: ‘America is moving again’

By: , and - November 16, 2021

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday signed into law his $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill during a ceremony at the White House packed with some 800 supporters, heralding what he said was a “truly consequential” spending bill that will improve Americans’ day-to-day lives. But Democrats also emphasized that there is more to come—a $1.85 trillion […]

Judge William Pryor, chief judge of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, hired a law clerk alleged to have sent a racist text. Georgia U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson and his Democratic colleagues are requesting an investigation. John McCosh/Georgia Recorder

House Dems ask why federal judges hired law clerk alleged to have sent racist text

By: - November 12, 2021

WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee are urging the chief justice of the Supreme Court to investigate decisions by federal judges in Georgia and Alabama to hire a law clerk who allegedly has “a history of nakedly racist and hateful conduct.” The letter says the Democrats have “grave concern” about the […]