US president finds himself shouldering same burdens of affordability crisis and the inexorable march of time

He was supposed to be touting the economy but could not resist taking aim at an old foe. “Which is better: Sleepy Joe or Crooked Joe?” Donald Trump teased supporters in Pennsylvania this week, still toying with nicknames for his predecessor Joe Biden. “Typically, Crooked Joe wins. I’m surprised because to me he’s a sleepy son of a bitch.”

Exulting in Biden’s drowsiness, the US president and his supporters seemed blissfully ignorant of a rich irony: that 79-year-old Trump himself has recently been spotted apparently dozing off at various meetings.

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© Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

© Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

© Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Harold Hamm, an Oklahoma oil tycoon, has played a central role in reshaping energy policy by allying himself with President Trump.

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A federal lawsuit argues that proposed work by ConocoPhillips could threaten delicate ecosystems in the largest tract of public land in the U.S.

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The president said he would weaken Biden-era mileage standards, which were designed to increase electric-vehicle sales, calling them a “scam.”

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Executives from top automakers were invited to attend the announcement at the White House on Wednesday.

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The Trump administration said that had the new prices been in effect last year, Medicare would have saved $12 billion, which would have reduced its spending on those drugs by 44 percent.

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The reorganization reflects the ongoing shift in the federal government’s energy priorities: less renewable energy, more fossil fuels.

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The decision to allow oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s ecologically sensitive North Slope has the support of the state’s governor and senators.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom, a chief critic of the president and an opponent of oil exploration in the Pacific, called the proposal “dead on arrival.”

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President Trump announced a deal with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to lower prices on hugely popular weight-loss drugs for Medicare, Medicaid and American patients who pay with their own money.

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With federal subsidies ending or becoming hard to claim, companies are racing ahead with solar, wind and battery projects.

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