House censures Rep. Al Green for disrupting Trump’s joint address to Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has voted to censure Al Green, a Democratic congressman from Texas, for disrupting President Donald Trump’s address to Congress earlier in the week. Green offered no regrets when he explained his actions on the House floor and said he’d do it again. The resolution against Green was approved in a mostly party-line vote of 224-198 on Thursday. Green was joined in the well of the House by more than 20 fellow Democrats as Speaker Mike Johnson read the resolution. Green and some of his colleagues began singing “We Shall Overcome” as Johnson spoke. Republicans yelled “order” as the singing continued. Eventually, Johnson declared the House in recess.

2nd federal judge extends block preventing the Trump admin.from freezing funding

BOSTON (AP) — Attorneys general in New York and Rhode Island are backing a federal judge’s decision to extend a block barring the Trump administration from freezing grants and loans potentially totaling trillions of dollars. The judge Thursday granted a request for a preliminary injunction from nearly two dozen Democratic states. Last month, the White House said it’d temporarily halt federal funding to ensure the payments complied with President Donald Trump’s orders barring diversity programs. Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James calls the funding freeze illegal. The judge says the executive branch was trying to put itself above Congress. Government lawyers argue the court lacks the constitutional authority to block a funding pause by the Republican administration.

Attorneys file class action appeals to federal board for thousands of workers Trump fired

(AP) — Attorneys are filing class action appeals to a federal board for thousands of workers fired by President Donald Trump. Lawyers based in Washington and Maryland said Thursday they’ve filed several appeals to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board and plan to file about 15 more for tens of thousands of fired probationary federal workers. The lawyers want to get jobs back for the employees as well as back pay. The appeals contend the firings by Trump’s Republican administration were large-scale terminations conducted for organizational reasons, known as a reduction in force, that have specific regulations to be followed. Trump has said he’s targeting fraud, waste and abuse in a bloated federal government.

Mortgage rates have declined but could stay at a level that makes it tough to afford a home

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mortgage rates eased this week for the seventh week in a row, a trend that gives prospective home shoppers more financial flexibility just as the spring homebuying season gets going. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. fell to 6.63% from 6.76% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, it averaged 6.88%. But the same factors that have pulled mortgage rates to their lowest level since December — signs that the U.S. economy is slowing and uncertainty over the potential fallout from the Trump administration’s tariffs on imports — are clouding the outlook for where mortgage rates will go from here.