The U.S. Senate has passed a new bill that would offer a tax deduction on tips worth up to $25,000.This bill, if enacted into law, would also extend to business tax credits for payroll taxes on tips in beauty and spa services.Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, is pushing the proposal – which passed unanimously – an outcome considered rare for substantive legislation.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey was ousted Tuesday in a stiff Democratic primary challenge from Corey O’Connor, the son of a former city leader who had the support of the party’s “old guard” and some Republicans.

Philadelphia Democrat District Attorney Lawrence Krasner survived a primary challenge from Judge Pat Dugan in what was seen as a truly competitive race this year for top prosecutor in the six-to-one Democrat stronghold.However, if it turns out that Dugan received enough Republican write-in votes in addition to his cache on the Democrat ballot, he will have the opportunity to have a November rematch against Krasner.

House Republicans are channeling Edward Hopper this week as they try to pass President Trump’s big, “beautiful bill.”Hopper is known for “Nighthawks,” one of the most iconic paintings in American history. The 1942 painting depicts four people in a diner in the middle of the night. A deserted streetscape commands the foreground. Two men – heads festooned with fedoras – sit separately at the counter, nursing coffee.

Two South Texas gang members have been sentenced for human smuggling, following a series of high-speed chases at the border that involved one of the gang members crashing his car into the Rio Grande and swimming to Mexico to escape.A Monday statement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said the two human smugglers, Juan Miguel Regalado, 28, and Samuel Grajeda Jr., 21, are members of “Puro Tango Blast,” a local Texas gang.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducted its first self-deport operation, dubbed “Project Homecoming,” with a charter flight on Monday from Texas, and made stops in Honduras and Columbia, taking 64 illegal immigrants who chose to self-deport back to their home countries.DHS said in a post on X that all participants who chose to leave the U.S. were offered the same benefits as any illegal alien who self-deports using the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is launching an investigation into the City of Chicago for allegedly engaging in a pattern of discrimination based on race, which is a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, sent a letter to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday to notify him that an investigation into civil rights violations was being opened.

Following news that the House Rules Committee will convene at 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning to take the next steps in advancing President Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill, Democrats are accusing Republicans of cowardice for advancing the monumental bill “in the dead of night.”The House Budget Committee reached an initial consensus to pass the bill to the Rules Committee late Sunday evening, after gaveling in at approximately 10:00 p.m.