Author

Jacob Fischler

Jacob Fischler

Jacob covers federal policy as a senior reporter in the States Newsroom Washington bureau. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues as well as climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.

Donald Trum at his April arraignment in New York

The Trump indictments: a seven-year timeline of key developments

By: - August 10, 2023

Former President Donald Trump is a defendant in three criminal proceedings. Two cases are federal, brought after investigations by Special Counsel Jack Smith. The other case is in New York state court and is being prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. A fourth indictment, on state charges in Georgia related to Trump’s efforts to […]

Trump pleads not guilty to charges he sought to subvert 2020 election

By: and - August 3, 2023

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to four felony charges Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., after a federal grand jury handed up an indictment against the former chief executive. Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, was released under the conditions that he must not violate federal, […]

How the fake electors in seven states are central to the Trump Jan. 6 indictment

By: and - August 3, 2023

WASHINGTON — The federal indictment accusing Donald Trump of trying to stay in power after losing the 2020 presidential election includes detailed accusations of Trump and his alleged co-conspirators’ pressure on individual state officials. The central plot to overturn the election, as described in the indictment a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., handed up […]

Trump indicted in connection with Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol

By: , and - August 1, 2023

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted Donald Trump on Tuesday, alleging that Trump and co-conspirators attempted to subvert the 2020 election to keep the former president in power through a series of illegal actions that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The former president faces four […]

U.S. ag secretary touts Biden climate agenda as boost for rural America

By: - August 1, 2023

The U.S. Forest Service will begin accepting applications for a second round of grants from its Community Wildfire Defense Grant program for at-risk communities to help prepare for wildfires, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday during a visit to the World Forestry Center in Portland, Oregon. That program is part of a wider objective […]

Donald Trump waving

New charges for Trump in classified documents case involve video evidence

By: - July 28, 2023

A federal grand jury added three felony charges against Donald Trump on Thursday in the case alleging the former president took classified materials from the White House after his term ended. Trump directed employees to destroy video evidence that could aid the prosecution in the criminal case, according to a 60-page superseding indictment filed Thursday […]

Gov. John Bel Edwards

Democrats push more resilient, lower-carbon infrastructure at U.S. Senate climate hearing

By: - July 26, 2023

The changing climate is hurting infrastructure and the national economy, members of a U.S. Senate panel and experts said Wednesday. Members of both parties on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee agreed at a Wednesday hearing on the need for more resilient infrastructure that could withstand the pressures of a changing climate. They also agreed speeding […]

Donald Trump waving

Trump says he has been told he is a target of the special counsel’s Jan. 6 investigation 

By: - July 18, 2023

Donald Trump has received a target letter from Special Counsel Jack Smith, he said Tuesday, indicating another indictment of the former president is likely over his role in encouraging the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump posted to his social media site, Truth Social, on Tuesday, announcing that he’d received the target […]

Soldiers marching

Defense bill that targets abortion access, trans health, racial equity passes U.S. House

By: - July 15, 2023

The U.S. House approved Friday an annual defense authorization bill loaded with GOP rollbacks of Pentagon policies on abortion and transgender health care, as well as efforts to boost racial equity. Republican amendments targeting social policy issues turned a typically bipartisan measure preserving the nation’s military security into another front for the culture wars, similar […]

a farmer with a tablet in a cornfield

U.S. Department of Agriculture to spend $300M to boost climate data in farming, forestry

By: - July 12, 2023

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend $300 million to better measure the effectiveness of techniques to lower carbon emissions in farming and forestry, the department said Wednesday. The funding comes from a $20 billion allocation for climate-smart agriculture in the climate and social policy law Democrats in Congress passed along party lines and President […]

Wetland ducks

U.S. House Dems want data on impact of Supreme Court ruling on wetlands protection

By: - July 11, 2023

Top Democrats on the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee asked federal agencies Monday to track possible negative effects from a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited federal authority to regulate clean water. Washington’s Rick Larsen, the ranking Democrat on the committee, and Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee ranking member Grace Napolitano of California, […]

Protesters hold a banner that reads "NO CO2 PIPELINES"

Thanks to federal tax credits, it’s boom time in the Midwest for carbon dioxide pipelines

By: - July 5, 2023

Thousands of miles of carbon dioxide pipelines planned in the Midwest have been spurred, in part, by a major expansion of federal tax credits in Democrats’ 2022 climate law. That could lead to billions of dollars per year in federal tax credits benefiting the powerful Midwest ethanol industry, even as the proposals create intense conflicts […]