O.J. Simpson’s “trial of the century” over the 1994 killings of his ex-wife and her friend bared divisions over race and law enforcement and brought an intersection of sports, crime, entertainment and class that was hard to turn away from.

Five Texans were newly elected to Congress this year, four of whom are set to serve in January.

Carter will run against two Republicans for her mother’s seat to hold for a few weeks before the winner of the general election takes over.

Houston’s former mayor is the Democrats’ pick to succeed the late Texas congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee on the November ballot.

Because Jackson Lee died after winning the Democratic primary, Texas Democratic officials will get to decide who replaces her on the November ballot.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday set a special election to fill former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s seat for the remainder of the term on Nov. 5, the same day as the general election.

Vice President Kamala Harris has eulogized U_S_ Rep_ Sheila Jackson Lee as a “force of nature."

Houston area residents are remembering longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas as an advocate for human rights and for her community.

Biden will travel to Houston on Monday and Harris will attend a Celebration of Life Service on Thursday. The trip will mark Harris’ third visit to Texas in the past month.

At least three Democrats are considering bids for the Houston-area seat. But Texas Democratic officials — not voters — will decide who will be on the November ballot.

Since 1995, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee had been synonymous with Texas’ 18th Congressional District, where she won 15 U.S. House terms. But after the veteran congresswoman’s death Friday at the age of 74, the district will have a new member representing them in Washington.

President Joe Biden is calling longtime U_S_ Rep_ Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas “a towering figure in our politics.”.

The family of Houston-area Democratic congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who has been an elected public servant for 35 years, announced her death Friday evening. She was 74.

The Houston Democrat announced earlier this year that she had cancer.

Many Americans are celebrating Juneteenth, marking the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in the U.S. learned they were free.

Longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee says she has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and is undergoing treatment.

Lee, a Houston Democrat, said she plans to continue serving but could have some occasional absences from Congress.

Sheila Jackson Lee defeated Amanda Edwards in the most competitive primary of her congressional career.

Divisions among Republicans are in stark display, some of Texas’ most senior members of Congress are retiring and Democrats are hoping to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz.

Jackson Lee faces off against Amanda Edwards, her most formidable congressional opponent in three decades.

Longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has announced she'll seek reelection to Congress in 2024.

State Sen. John Whitmire, a fellow Houston Democrat, defeated Jackson Lee in a landslide Saturday.

Whitmire defeated U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to be the next mayor of Texas’ largest city and the fourth largest city in the U.S.

A longtime Democratic Texas lawmaker who has represented Houston in the Legislature for more than 50 years will lead the nation’s fourth-largest city after winning a mayoral runoff election.

Voters in Houston will elect the oldest big-city mayor in the U.S. this weekend when they choose between U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and state Sen. John Whitmire, two Democrats in their 70s.

It’s down to two candidates in the race to lead the nation’s fourth-largest city.

The two well-known Democrats led a crowded field, but neither captured a majority of the vote. The runoff will be Dec. 9.

Two Democrats with decadeslong political careers are heading to a runoff election to be Houston’s next mayor.

Jackson Lee has sought to rally her party’s base, vowing to stand up to “MAGA Republicans.” Whitmire has relied on a more bipartisan coalition while also defending his Democratic credentials.

Jackson Lee is running for Houston mayor, and the recording of her expletive-laden rant toward an employee was sent from an anonymous email account to multiple news organizations, three days before the start of early voting.

Houston’s next mayor will tackle many challenges similar to ones faced by other large U.S. cities: crime, crumbling infrastructure, budget shortfalls and a lack of affordable housing.

A Texas woman has been charged with threatening to kill the federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former President Donald Trump in Washington and a congresswoman.

Congressman Joaquin Castro and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Texas Democratic delegation will visit Eagle Pass on Tuesday.

State Sen. John Whitmire, first elected in 1982, and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, in office since 1995, could be vacating seats that haven’t been open for decades. The election calendar, however, may bring a tough decision for one or both.

The Congressional Black Caucus is pushing the White House, Justice Department and the Department of Education to look into whether Florida school districts are violating federal discrimination law following changes to the state's Black history curriculum.

Family and friends gathered at the funeral over the weekend for Houston rapper Big Pokey, an original member of the pioneering group Screwed Up Click.

The high-stakes confrontation could have an impact on retirements accounts, corporations and much more.

Wasi and his brother pray for their family’s safety as the holy month of Ramadan ends and the Taliban continues to rule Afghanistan.

A new bipartisan caucus in Congress is condemning the Iranian government over the recent poisoning of school girls in the country, amplifying the growing criticism in Washington against the Islamic Republic and its disregard for human rights.

For many progressives, the past decade has been littered with disappointments.

Facing a crowded field, Hollins, who served briefly as Harris County clerk in 2020, announced Thursday he will instead run to be Houston’s chief financial officer.

Jackson Lee enters a mayoral contest that is already well underway. The early frontrunner is state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, and his competitors include Chris Hollins, the former Harris County clerk, and Amanda Edwards, a former City Council member.

The Texas Education Agency announced on March 15 that it would replace the current superintendent and its democratically elected school board with a new board of managers as soon as June 1.

After being held in detention in Texas for months during his legal fight to remain in the U.S., Afghan soldier Abdul Wasi Safi is now a free man as he works to secure asylum in America.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s office mounted pressure on several federal agencies earlier this month leading up to Abdul Wasi Safi’s release on Tuesday.

The Houston Democrat said she has sent a letter to the White House asking the Biden administration to ensure Abdul Wasi Safi starts his life in America without a criminal record.

Roland Gutierrez made the remarks during a hearing of the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security that was focused on bipartisan legislative solutions to gun violence.

Many residents in the nation’s fourth-most-populous city heard that they couldn’t drink tap water from friends or neighbors, not from City Hall.

The U.S. House of Representatives Children’s Caucus will hold a hearing in Uvalde on Monday afternoon so parents and teachers can talk about the ongoing impact of the Robb Elementary School shooting.

A ban on certain semi-automatic weapons is moving forward in the House.

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales was the only Texas Republican to vote for a bill seeking to codify the right to same-sex marriage. The measure passed the House, but its fate in the Senate is uncertain.

Civil rights leader and trailblazing educator Mary McLeod Bethune has became the first Black person elevated by a state for recognition in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

House Democrats are combining several gun policy bills into one large package known as the Protecting our Kids Act. Among the measures in the bill: raising the age to purchase semi-automatic weapons to 21; outlawing the sale, manufacture, transfer or possession of a large-capacity magazine; and creating tax breaks for purchasing proper gun storage equipment.

The House Judiciary Committee has advanced legislation that would raise the age limit for purchasing a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21.

Lawmakers erupted in cheers after Vice President Kamala Harris announced the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.

Moments before the Senate began Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation vote to become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, the chamber filled with the swell of history.

California took a big step this week toward becoming the first U.S. state to make some form of restitution a reality by tackling the divisive issue of which Black residents should be eligible to receive reparations for the atrocity and injustices of slavery and racism.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the other Republican senator from Texas, asked the nominee about the court case legalizing gay marriage and questioned her defense of Guantánamo Bay detainees who allegedly faced mistreatment.

Congress has renewed a 1990s-era law that extends protections to victims of domestic and sexual violence.

Eight House Democrats are demanding the Bureau of Prisons make public an audit of sexual assault reports at a federal women's prison in California where inmates say they were subjected to rampant abuse.

Republican leader Kevin McCarthy seized control of the House floor for more than eight hours overnight, preempting passage of President Joe Biden’s big domestic policy bill with a rambling speech full of vitriol.

Brianna Rodriguez, who was killed as the crowd pushed toward the stage at Astroworld in Houston, was remembered by friends and family for her friendliness and love of dance.

Texas Republicans have approved redrawn U.S. House maps that favor incumbents and could decrease political representation for growing minority communities in the nation’s largest red state.

Texas lawmakers are on the brink of finishing redrawn U.S. House maps that would shore up their eroding dominance as voters peel away from the GOP in the state’s booming suburbs.

Thousands of voting rights advocates are rallying across the country Saturday to call for sweeping protections against a further erosion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In the nation’s capital on Saturday, multiracial coalitions of civil, human and labor rights leaders are convening rallies and marches to urge passage of federal voter protections that have been eroded since the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In a story June 18, 2021, story about companies facing pressure to offer a paid day off for Juneteenth, The Associated Press erroneously reported the name of the CEO of Ichor Strategies.

Black Americans are rejoicing after President Joe Biden signed legislation establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

The United States will soon have a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery.

The United States will soon have a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery.

President Joe Biden has signed legislation Thursday establishing a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery, saying he believes it will go down as one of the greatest honors he has as president.

The bill was passed in both chambers with wide support.

Lawmakers from both parties say once-stalled legislation on Capitol Hill that would change the nation's policing laws is now closer than ever to consensus.

Bolstered with new momentum, Congress is ready to try again to change the nation’s policing laws.

A House panel has advanced a decades-long effort to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves, approving legislation Wednesday night that would create a commission to study the issue.

The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act passed 244-172 with 29 Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the legislation. The White House announced its support earlier Wednesday for reauthorizing VAWA, which aims to reduce domestic and sexual violence and improve the response to it through a variety of grant programs. AdPresident Joe Biden introduced the original Violence Against Women Act in June 1990 when serving as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A subsequent version was eventually included in a sweeping crime bill that President Bill Clinton would sign into law four years later. Congress has reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act three times since.

A coalition of 150 organizations nationwide is opposing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The Movement for Black Lives argues the bill is entrenched in strategies that have historically failed to address police violence across the country and fails to meet the moment." The bill, designed by the Movement for Black Lives’ Electoral Justice Project, would also redirect funding toward communities to address the nation’s systemic racial injustices. “It’s not just about after the fact accountability,” said Gina Clayton-Johnson, the lead BREATHE Act architect and leadership team member of the Movement for Black Lives’ Policy Table. AdBut the movement faces a significant uphill battle in securing needed political support from lawmakers who will be key in pushing forward the BREATHE Act or revamping the Justice in Policing Act.

Houston and several surrounding cities are under a boil water notice as many residents are still without running water in their homes. But the crisis was far from over in parts of the South, where many people still lacked safe drinking water. The next phase of the state’s disaster response will be to test drinking water from systems knocked offline by the cold. Power was cut to a New Orleans facility that pumps drinking water from the Mississippi River and generators were used until electricity was restored. Drinking water was made available at fire stations throughout Jackson and officials also planned to set up bottled water pickup sites.

President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with labor leaders in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Washington. Biden backs the idea of studying the issue, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday, though she stopped short of saying he would sign the bill if it clears Congress. Even with Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House, passing a reparations bill could prove difficult. Most Black Americans favored reparations, 74%, compared with 15% of white Americans. AdRep. Burgess Owens, a first-term Republican from Utah, argued against a reparations commission.

HOUSTON – Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), a senior member of the House committees on Judiciary, Homeland Security and the Budget, has introduced Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump just one day after pro-Trump extremists rioted in the U.S. Capitol. Jackson Lee states that the Constitution serves to protect against tyranny and against enemies who intend to harm the United States. “Publicly conveying his interest and willingness to accept the assistance of foreign powers in his attempt win reelection as President of the United States. “Instituting frivolous lawsuits to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election, falsely alleging wide-spread voting fraud but producing no evidence in support of his spurious allegations. See the documents in the tweet below:Articles of Impeachment for introduction, so proud of everyone co-leading this effort with us.

For the past three months, the coronavirus has disproportionately sickened and killed black Texans, and for the last month protesters have filled the streets marching for racial justice. Juneteenth is a celebration that honors the day black Texans learned of their emancipation from Union soldiers in Galveston on June 19, 1865. Bob Daemmrich/The Image WorksCrystal Aitaegbebhunu and her studio partners run through their choreography for a Juneteenth black empowerment video at Emancipation Park on June 15, 2020. Last: Crystal Aitaegbebhunu and her studio partners run through their choreography for a Juneteenth black empowerment video at Emancipation Park on June 15, 2020. For her five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, shell do an oral retelling of moments in black history, their family lineage and the meaning of Juneteenth.

The date - June 19th - is not a federal holiday, and many non-black Americans have only recently become of aware of the day. Several of her employees are spending the day volunteering for the Juneteenth Freedom Phonebank, an initiative encouraging Census participation. Declaring the date a federal holiday would add considerable momentum, and there is growing support for the idea. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, introduced legislation Thursday to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. In contrast, 93% of employers close on Independence day, with similar rates for Labor Day, Christmas Day and Thanksgiving.

HOUSTON 7 a.m. -- Houston is preparing for hundreds of mourners with a six-hour viewing of George Floyds casket on Monday. The viewing, which is open to the public, will be held at The Fountain of Praise church in Houston, Floyds hometown. Al Sharpton, Attorney Benjamin Crump, Slim Thug, Leela James, Paul Wall, Floyd Mayweather, Congressman Al Green, Bishop James Dixon, and more. It is the final public memorial before Floyd will be buried Tuesday at the Houston Memorial Gardens cemetery. Floyd, 46, died after a white Minneapolis officer pressed a knee on his neck for several minutes exactly two weeks ago.

Nearly every member of Congress from Texas has publicly condemned the police actions captured in the video. Thanks to the pandemic, House members are not engaging with each other face-to-face, which is typically vital to moving legislation into law. Despite the turmoil in Washington, U.S. House members were mostly in their own districts on Tuesday. "We can be united for change in our society and we can be thankful that law enforcement is enabling our First Amendment rights. Like the president, Texas Republicans have almost uniformly called for law and order in the same press releases where they express despair over Floyd's death.