The summit of Cowboy Mountain, about 75 miles east of Seattle, Wash., on Nov. 15, 2012. The Cascades separate the lush western counties of Washington and Oregon from the dry, agricultural counties to the east. (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times) By ANNA GRIFFIN Last month, a journalist turned organizer named Andrew Engelson invited friends and fellow Pacific Northwesterners to a small club in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood for an evening of verse, in which his guests would

A Social Security Administration office in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, Sept. 3, 2025. The financial forecast for Social Security worsened this year, according to the annual financial report released on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, by the program’s trustees. (Dave Sanders/The New York Times) By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD and MARGOT SANGER-KATZ The financial forecast for Social Security worsened this year, according to the annual financial report released earlier this week b

“Latinos for Trump” signs at a campaign event for President Donald Trump in Phoenix, Sept. 23, 2020. Latino voters shifted sharply toward President Trump in each of the last two presidential elections, a trend that shocked and confounded Democrats. (Adriana Zehbrauskas/The New York Times) By JENNIFER MEDINA Latino voters shifted sharply toward President Donald Trump in each of the past two presidential elections, a trend that shocked and confounded Democrats. Many in the part

Graham Platner takes the stage at his election night watch party with his wife, Amy Gertner, after he won the Democratic nomination for Senate, in Blue Hill, Maine, on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Platner, the progressive oyster farmer who toppled Maine’s political establishment even as a series of unsettling revelations about his past rattled his party, won the Democratic nomination for Senate on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. (Sophie Park/The New York Times) By KELLE

Federal agents during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, Jan. 28, 2026. The House on Tuesday, June 9, narrowly voted to take up Republicans’ $70 billion immigration enforcement bill, clearing a key hurdle to enacting the measure to fund President Donald Trump’s deportation crackdown through the end of his term. (Victor J. Blue/The New York Times) By CATIE EDMONDSON The House earlier this week narrowly passed Republicans’ $70 billion immigration enforcement b

By ZACH MONTAGUE A Trump administration initiative to impose $100,000 fees on employers seeking visas for skilled foreign workers amounts to an unlawful tax on those companies and must be voided “in its entirety,” a federal judge ruled Monday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin in Massachusetts nullified one of a series of tactics the administration has used to restrict legal immigration, even in fields in which foreign skilled labor helped address severe sho

Nithya Raman, a City Council member running for mayor, during a campaign stop in downtown Los Angeles ahead of the primary election, May 2, 2026. (Gabriela Bhaskar/ The New York Times) By SHAWN HUBLER Nithya Raman, a progressive Democrat who has drawn comparisons to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, will face Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles in a two-person race in November, the Associated Press determined Monday. Raman, 44, a City Council member and former Bass ally, was be

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents create a perimeter to let cars enter and exit without disruption by protesters at the Delaney Hall migrant detention center in Newark, N.J., June 6, 2026. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who had been trying for weeks to tour Delaney Hall, was allowed to visit the detention center on Monday, June 8, 2026, but she said she was not allowed to speak with the detainees, who have complained of inhumane living conditions. (Lexi Parra/T

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling to an event in Chippewa Falls, Wis., on Friday, June 5, 2026. President Trump, who campaigned on a central promise to keep the United States out of overseas wars, denied in an interview aired on Sunday that he’d ever made the pledge. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times) By KATIE ROGERS President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a central promise to keep the United States out of overseas wars, denied i

By SHAWN HUBLER Nithya Raman, a progressive member of the Los Angeles City Council, pulled ahead of reality TV star Spencer Pratt in the Los Angeles mayoral primary Sunday, as a surge in the vote count signaled a potential shift in the race for second place. Five days after the election deadline, it remained officially undetermined who will face Mayor Karen Bass, the incumbent, in the November contest to decide who will lead the nation’s second most populous city. The Associa