Politics

WASHINGTON —  At 3:04 p.m. Tuesday, Laphonza Butler walked across the floor of the U.S. Senate, stood facing Vice President Kamala Harris and took the oath to defend the Constitution, making official her emergence as a powerful new figure in California’s leadership.At the same moment, on the other side of the Capitol, the fate of a long-tenured figure in the state’s power structure stood in the balance, as members debated Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s effort to keep his post.McCarthy’s longtime antagonist, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, missed the debate and the vote, which McCarthy lost. She was in San Francisco, “grieving the loss of her dear friend Dianne Feinstein,” her spokesperson said. “She is very saddened not to be there for this historic vote.”The landscape of California evolves through...

Five people were injured Tuesday in a shooting at Morgan State University in Baltimore, police said, an attack that marred homecoming celebrations at the historically Black college.None of the victims had life-threatening wounds, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said at a news conference early Wednesday. The four men and one woman are between the ages of 18 and 22.Morgan State Police Chief Lance Hatcher said four of the victims were students at the university, according to the Associated Press.Authorities did not announce any arrests or indications of a suspect.Classes at Morgan State were canceled for Wednesday.Around 10 p.m. Tuesday, Baltimore police said on social media that they were responding to an active-shooter situation at the campus on Argonne Drive. About 40 minutes ...

Kevin McCarthy’s long career has been about calculating the odds and working the backrooms, but those traits, which barely won him the House speakership earlier this year, were not enough to stop several far-right Republicans from pushing him out of the job he had craved since he was a young California assemblyman from Bakersfield.The vote Tuesday to oust McCarthy was a humiliating and historic defeat that revealed the limits of his formidable powers of persuasion while further exposing an increasingly divided and rancorous Republican Party whose extremists have broken the bounds of convention for a radical agenda against President Biden that has no use for what they describe as McCarthy’s conciliatory — and weak — nature.McCarthy is a politician of affability and a master of fundraising. ...

As the baseball playoffs begin, let’s update the inspiring tale of Dennis Kasumba, an 18-year-old catcher from Uganda who dreams of playing in the major leagues.He was a 14-year-old orphan working in a slaughterhouse when he met Paul Wafula, a coach and former member of Uganda’s national baseball team. Wafula, who believes in the redemptive power of sports, made him an offer: If you leave the slaughterhouse and come to baseball practice, you’ll get fed. Go to school and you’ll get paid too. Times reporter Kevin Baxter and I chronicled Kasumba’s intense workouts using improvised equipment — car tires for weights — and how he earned about $1 a day mucking out cow pens, while barefoot, of mud, manure and urine. The story reported that he had been invited to play in the amateur MLB Draft Leagu...

The historic humiliation of Rep. Kevin McCarthy couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy.I’ll refrain, however, from solely piling on the Republican from Bakersfield who’s now, involuntarily, the former speaker of the House, the first in U.S. history to be voted out of the job. Any pile-on for this mess should be Republican Party-wide. Opinion Columnist Jackie Calmes Jackie Calmes brings a critical eye to the national political scene. She has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress. McCarthy’s firing by the House on Tuesday after only nine months, instigated by a mutiny from within his Republican majority, isn’t just the story of a single man’s political downfall. And his nonsensical defenestration — which has thrown Congress into ...

Seventeen times.That’s how many times NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” cut away to shots of Taylor Swift watching rumored boyfriend Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs play the New York Jets with a slew of famous friends in a luxury suite at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.That’s a lot. Too much for some NFL fans, who have started expressing displeasure over the amount of attention the league and its broadcasters have been giving the “ME!” singer this season.Kelce and his older brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, addressed the topic Wednesday on their weekly “New Heights” podcast. And, yes, they agree — the NFL is “overdoing it” with its Swift coverage.Jason initiated the discussion, asking his brother his “honest opinion” on “how the NFL is treating celebrities at ga...

The sun had barely set on Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster from the speakership Tuesday when his temporary replacement issued his first orders: boot Rep. Nancy Pelosi out of her honorary Capitol office. A source familiar with Pelosi’s staff confirmed that officials on Tuesday night began moving her things out of the hideaway office — a small secondary office to retire to in between business on the House floor. Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), a close ally of McCarthy, is filling in as speaker and booted Pelosi out of the privileged office space just hours after a House vote that pushed McCarthy, Pelosi’s successor, from his role.Pelosi maintains her large primary office in another building of the Capitol complex. Pelosi is in San Francisco mourning and preparing for the Thursday fune...

Wars are won and lost on battlefields. But public finance plays a critical role in determining what the combatants can afford. This is particularly true for a long war, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already become.In declining to include funding for Ukraine as part of the recent deal to avert a government shutdown, Congress sent a signal of encouragement to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, the increase in global oil prices (now above $90 per barrel) is providing new revenues for Russia’s war effort.Congress needs to restore funding for Ukraine, a move supported by both Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Just as important, the U.S. must take further steps to reduce Russia’s oil revenues.John McCain, the la...

Acting with dispatch, Gov. Gavin Newsom this week appointed Laphonza Butler, a veteran labor organizer and political strategist, to replace the late Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Senate.The move fulfilled a promise Newsom made to choose a Black woman, filling a notable void. With Vice President Kamala Harris’ exit, there were no Black women among the 100 members of the august chamber. In fact, before Butler, there had been only two Black women senators in the history of the country. Butler, 44, was sworn into office Tuesday by Harris, a friend and former political client. She is the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color to serve in the Senate. Times columnists Erika D. Smith, Anita Chabria and Mark Z. Barabak discussed the history-making selection, speculation about Butler’s future and the p...

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) was ousted as speaker Tuesday night, plunging Congress into confusion over who would lead the GOP in the House of Representatives. It remained unclear Wednesday morning who would fill that role, as multiple Republicans jumped into the candidate pool. Immediately after the vote to push McCarthy out, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.) ascended to temporarily fill the role as speaker pro tempore. Under House rules, McHenry will serve until the election of the next House speaker or speaker pro tempore. McHenry could make the case to run for the position permanently, though he has previously indicated he would not want to be speaker. He currently serves as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.The House is expected to hold a candidate forum Tuesday...