Politics and views in the United States.

President Trump places D.C. police under federal control, Texas Governor Greg Abbott warns the redistricting process could drag on for years and new research shows an increasingly partisan split to views of science.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

This is Liberation Day in D.C. and we're going to take our capital back.

We're taking it back.

President Donald Trump is taking control of the Washington, D.C., police and deploying the National Guard, he says, to make the capital safe.

Trump says other cities, including Baltimore, Chicago and New York, could be next.

The president cites individual incidents, like an attempted carjacking of a former Doge employee, but violent crime in the district is actually at a 30-year low.

Hundreds of local residents and elected officials are denouncing the move, saying it underscores the need for D.C. statehood.

Samantha Davis is with the group Free D.C.

This is not about crime.

This is about control.

This is not about public safety.

This is about power.

Trump says homeless people must, quote, "immediately move far from the Capitol," although it's unclear where they would go.

The Texas standoff over new congressional districts has entered its second week with no end in sight.

The legislature remains stalled, while more than 50 Democrats remain out of state, keeping it from reaching a quorum.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott says he can wait.

I'm authorized to call a special session every 30 days.

It lasts 30 days.

And as soon as this one is over, I'm gonna call another one, then another one, then another one, then another one.

Abbott says Democrats who return to the state will be arrested and taken to the Capitol.

California may redistrict in response, but Governor Gavin Newsom says they would drop their plans if Texas does too.

The Supreme Court will decide this fall whether to take up a case challenging the legality of same-sex marriage.

A Kentucky County clerk who spent six days in jail in 2015 for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses has petitioned the court.

She cited Justice Clarence Thomas's opinion that the court should revisit the decision.

Partisan use of scientific data may be driving Democrats and Republicans further apart.

A new study finds Democrats cite scientific research nearly twice as often in Congress and five times as often in think tank reports.

Alexander Furnas with Northwestern University says Republicans express far less trust in science.

We observe these partisan differences both in their attitudes towards science and in the kind of documents that these folks actually produce that have policy impacts.

Furnas says the research is concerning for those who believe science should establish facts while politics can determine what to do about them.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates 10 million Americans will lose their health insurance under the Republican mega bill passed last month.

It estimates that overall, the law will cost low-income households about $1,200 a year while wealthier households benefit by more than $13,000. and Harvard University and the Trump administration are reportedly near to a legal settlement that would restore billions of dollars in federal research grants.

I'm Katherine Carley for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.