Washington
Wake up with the Washington Examiner: Trump’s disappointing debate, moderator bias, and Taylor Swift weighs in – Washington Examiner
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump met for the first time last night on the debate stage in what became a sparring match on policy. The moderators started the night with questions on the economy. Scott Jennings, a longtime adviser to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), thought Trump won the first 15 minutes by speaking on the economy and inflation but that his winning streak ran out after that.
Harris seemed to get under Trump’s skin during the immigration question, and he wasn’t able to course-correct for the rest of the debate. He was “agitated,” University of New Hampshire professor James Farrell told the Washington Examiner’s Haisten Willis, while Harris remained, for the most part, calm.
However, not all viewers were impressed with Harris’s performance. Kirstin Kiledal, professor of rhetoric at Hillsdale College, told Haisten she gave her a grade of “fail” against Trump’s grade of “pass.”
“‘I believe’ and ‘I have a plan’ and ‘I know,’ however many times you repeat them, do not equal ‘I have a dream,’” Kiledal said. “That is the primary problem. She tells us that she has a plan and that leaders must have a vision, but the only vision here is MAGA. It is inseparable from the Trump campaign.”
Harris reiterated her claim of having a plan many times throughout the night despite only publishing a policy section on her website this week. She repeated her idea to give new small businesses a $50,000 tax deduction rather than the current $5,000 one, as well as her goal to increase the child tax credit to $6,000.
On the border, however, she evaded the question of why the Biden administration waited until six months before the election to cap the number of people allowed in, a policy that has successfully decreased the number of people crossing the border.
“Then, the immigration question happened,” Jennings told Haisten. “She evaded responsibility for any of it and pivoted to taunting him on his rallies. And [after that, she was] largely … in control of the debate. He had a few moments, and she has lied terribly about a number of things, but I’d say he won the first 15 minutes, and the rest, she’s been dictating the flow of the debate.”
Click here to read more reactions to the debate.
On abortion
As Harris said last night, Trump is no longer running against President Joe Biden, and on the abortion question, it showed. Whereas Biden and Harris are largely aligned when it comes to abortion, Harris was able to deliver the Democrats’ argument in a passionate and genuine way that Biden never was. Trump largely looked straight ahead, unflinching, while Harris told anecdotes about women miscarrying in their car because of the difficulty of receiving treatment following the overturning of Roe v. Wade and subsequent changes to abortion access.
Trump was asked about his own stance on this issue quite forcibly by the moderators. The former president has said he is in favor of the issue being decided by the states but was unclear about whether he would sign a national abortion ban. When reminded that his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), said he would, Trump responded, “I didn’t discuss it with J.D.”
Click here to read more takeaways from the evening.
Moderator fact-checking or bias?
Following the debate, moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis faced swift backlash over their fact-checking of Trump. Frank Luntz, the GOP pollster, wrote on X that Muir “arguing with Trump will fuel the narrative that these moderators are biased against him.”
Several Trump surrogates echoed those comments in the spin room following the debate. “I thought that they definitely leaned to the left side of American politics,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) told Mabinty Quarshie. “But listen, as a Republican, we’re accustomed to dealing with moderators who don’t play it straight down the middle and keep Democrat members on task.”
During the debate, the ABC News anchors fact-checked Trump on his claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
“Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said in a moment that went viral.
“You bring up Springfield, Ohio, and ABC News did reach out to the city manager there,” Muir responded. “He told us there had been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being used by individuals within the immigrant community.”
A similar situation occurred after Trump’s answer on abortion when he claimed it was legal to “execute” a baby after it was born under some abortion laws.
“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” Davis said bluntly before turning her attention to Harris.
Harris did not receive the same “fact-checking” as Trump did.
Click here for more about Harris not being held accountable.
What else you missed
Biggest zingers from first Trump-Harris presidential debate
Harris brings debate fight to Trump in a way Biden could not
Taylor Swift endorses Harris with ‘childless cat lady’ swipe
Presidential debate: Fact-checking Harris’s statements on fracking
In nondebate news
Kroger-Albertsons merger: Why the FTC says it will raise food prices
Kelly Ayotte and Joyce Craig head to competitive race for New Hampshire governor
Four takeaways from hearing with migrant crime victims
To know today
Biden and Harris will start the day in New York City for a 9/11 commemoration ceremony at ground zero. They will then head to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, for a wreath-laying ceremony commemorating Flight 93. Finally, they will head back to Washington, D.C., for a wreath-laying ceremony at the Pentagon.
The Senate has an 11 a.m. meeting to consider judicial nominees.
Washington
Washington Watch: CCAMPIS grant competition announced – Community College Daily
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), “on behalf of the Department of Education (ED),” on Monday released a Notice Inviting Grant Applications for the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program. Applications are due by May 29.
Last November, ED announced that it had entered into an interagency agreement with HHS to administer the CCAMPIS program. This is the first CCAMPIS competition conducted under this arrangement.
Approximately $73.5 million will go to institutions of higher education that awarded at least $250,000 in Pell grants to enrolled students in FY 2025. HHS will award about 148 grants, ranging from $150,000 to $1 million.
The terms of the grant competition are not significantly different than prior competitions. As before, there are two absolute grant priorities that every application must address – leveraging non-federal resources and utilizing a sliding-fee scale for low-income parents.
This year’s competition includes only one invitational priority that reflects the Trump administration’s general educational policy. The new priority, entitled “Expanding Education Choice in Early Learning Settings,” encourages applications that “expand access to education choice … including by empowering parents in choosing the early learning setting that best meets their family’s needs.” Flexible childcare programs that include drop-in care and care during nontraditional hours are also encouraged.
One other notable difference from prior competitions is an expanded “Terms and Conditions” section that not only requires compliance with applicable civil rights laws, but also refers to Trump administration Executive Orders and guidance on racial discrimination that clarify “the application of federal antidiscrimination laws to programs or initiatives that may involve discriminatory practices, including those labeled as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) programs.” This includes any “discriminatory equity ideology [as defined in Executive Order 14190] in violation of a federal antidiscrimination law.”
The exact scope of these terms is unclear because courts have not found many of the practices described in these Executive Orders and guidance documents to be violations of federal law.
Washington
A look at the roots (and routes) of immigration to Washington
The Newsfeed
This week, the team brings you stories about how communities including Filipino immigrants, Sephardic Jews and Somalis arrived in the Pacific Northwest
Each week on The Newsfeed, host Paris Jackson and a team of veteran journalists dive deep into one topic and provide impactful reporting, interviews and community insights from sources you can trust. Each day this week, this post will be updated with a new story from the team.
Group hopes to boost recognition for Seattle’s Filipinotown
By Venice Buhain
The group Filipinotown Seattle hopes to make sure that the legacy of Filipino Americans in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District isn’t forgotten.
One of the group’s current projects is pushing for a Filipinotown placemarking sign in the CID.
“Filipino Americans have had a presence here for over 100 years in Seattle,” said Filipinotown Seattle Executive Director Devin Israel Cabanilla.
He said that the signage is important to remind people that “the International District is not just Chinatown. Japantown. Filipinotown is here as well.”
The group held a poll on what signage might look like and where it might be located. It would be similar to the Chinatown sign on South Jackson Street and Fifth Avenue South, or the Wing Luke Museum
In the early 20th century, the area now known as the CID was a hub full of businesses, entertainment, social groups and housing that served Seattle’s growing immigrant population from Asia and elsewhere. The communities all intermingled throughout the CID.
“This area was a central place for Asian Pacific immigrants simply because of segregation,” Cabanilla said.
Because the Philippines was a U.S. territory from 1898 to 1946, Filipino immigrants were unaffected by laws in the 1920s that restricted immigration from Japan or China. Many Filipinos came to study at the University of Washington or to work in burgeoning industries, like lumber, farming, canneries and factories.
While the physical Filipino presence in terms of buildings and storefronts in the CID dwindled in the later 20th century with redevelopment, Seattle Filipinos and Filipino Americans continued to make impacts locally, regionally and nationally.
“It may not have been in terms of storefronts, but our presence has always existed in terms of politics, culture as well,” Cabanilla said.
The Seattle Department of Transportation said it is aware that the group is working on its signage request, but the Department of Neighborhoods has not yet received a formal request. They are also working to develop a clearer process for this and other similar neighborhood signage proposals.
Filipinotown Seattle said it hopes that the sign helps remind Seattle of the CID’s unique designation as a neighborhood shaped by many immigrants and migrants to Seattle.
“Is it Chinatown? Is it Japantown? Is it Little Saigon? It’s all those things. And I think re cultivating that this is a multicultural district, Filipinotown is helping establish: Yes, it’s more than one thing,” Cabanilla said.

Venice Buhain is a multimedia journalist at Cascade PBS. She previously was the Cascade PBS’s associate news editor and education reporter. Venice has also worked for KING 5, The Seattle Globalist and TVW News.
Venice Buhain is a multimedia journalist at Cascade PBS. She previously was the Cascade PBS’s associate news editor and education reporter. Venice has also worked for KING 5, The Seattle Globalist and TVW News.
Washington
The Church of Jesus Christ has announced its 384th temple
The state of Washington is getting a seventh temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Marysville Washington Temple was announced Sunday night during a devotional in the Marysville Washington Stake by Elder Hugo E. Martinez, a General Authority Seventy in the church’s United States West Area Presidency.
“We are pleased to announce the construction of a temple in Marysville, Washington,” the First Presidency said in a statement. “The specific location and timing of the construction will be announced later. This is a reason for all of us to rejoice and express gratitude for such a significant blessing — one that will allow more frequent access to the ordinances, covenants and power that can only be found in the house of the Lord.”
The other temples in Washington are the Columbia River, Moses Lake, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma and Vancouver temples.
The church has 214 temples in operation. Plans for another 170 temples have been announced; many of those temples are in various stages of planning and construction.
Sunday’s temple announcement follows the new practice of the church’s First Presidency, which determines where temples will be built — and when and how they will be announced.
The First Presidency directed a General Authority Seventy to announce the first temple in Maine at a fireside there in December.
In January, church President Dallin H. Oaks said the Maine announcement set the pattern for future temple announcements.
“The best place to announce a temple is in that temple district,” he told the Deseret News.
The First Presidency will continue to decide where future temples will be built. It then will “assign someone else to make the announcement in the place where the temple will be built,” he said.
This pattern came to him as a strong impression after he assumed leadership of the church in October, following the death of his friend, President Russell M. Nelson.
This came as a strong impression to him shortly after he assumed the leadership of the church, President Oaks said.
The church remains in the midst of an aggressive temple-building era. President Nelson announced 200 new temples from 2018 to 2025. All but one were announced at general conference.
Five dozen temples are now under construction.
President Oaks now has overseen the announcement of two temples, neither at a general conference.
At the October conference he said that “with the large number of temples now in the very earliest phases of planning and construction, it is appropriate that we slow down the announcement of new temples.”
Ten new temples are scheduled to be dedicated in the next six months.
- May 3: Davao Philippines Temple.
- May 3: Lindon Utah Temple.
- May 31: Bacolod Philippines Temple.
- June 7: Yorba Linda California Temple.
- June 7: Willamette Valley Oregon Temple.
- Aug. 16: Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple.
- Aug. 16: Cleveland Ohio Temple.
- Aug. 30: Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple.
- Oct. 11: Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple.
- Oct. 18: Managua Nicaragua Temple.
Two-thirds of the 170 temples still to be built are outside the United States.
Temples are distinct from the meetinghouses where Latter-day Saints worship Jesus Christ each Sunday. Temples are closed on Sundays, but they open during the week as sanctuaries where church members go to find peace, make covenants with God and perform proxy ordinances for deceased relatives.
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