Maryland leaders pledged to lower costs through the state budget, but economists say affordability isn’t actually easing for Marylanders.

When the cost of living is affordable, research shows, household income is equal to or greater than the price of essentials such as groceries, energy and housing. Economists noted that while budget funds ...Read more

DETROIT — The federal government is suing Washtenaw County authorities, accusing them of obstructing federal immigration enforcement operations by the administration of President Donald Trump.

Named in the lawsuit are Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, Sheriff Alyshia M. Dyer and the county's Board of Commissioners in a six-count, 53-page...Read more

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro outraised his likely Republican opponent, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, by 10-1 in the first quarter of the year — underscoring the Democratic incumbent’s grip on the governor’s race heading into the midterms, while Garrity failed to see a significant bump after receiving a coveted endorsement from President...Read more

A man who was shot by ICE agents in Northern California told his attorney that he only attempted to leave the scene after authorities had already fired on his vehicle — refuting the agency’s account of what prompted the shooting.

Patrick Kolasinski, the attorney for Carlos Iván Mendoza Hernández, said he spoke with his client at the ...Read more

NEW YORK — A Manhattan federal judge has vacated the Trump administration’s move to halt magnet school grants to New York City over its policies for transgender students.

Judge Arun Subramanian in a 10-page order Wednesday said the U.S. Department of Education failed to follow the procedures of Title IX — the federal civil rights law ...Read more

WASHINGTON — First lady Melania Trump made a rare public appearance at the White House on Thursday to tell reporters that she did not know about Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and that the convicted sex offender did not introduce her to her husband, President Donald Trump.

“The lies linking me to the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end ...Read more

Adek Stein – a Holocaust survivor from Bialystok, Poland – looked anxiously about the room, struggling with the question he’d just been asked. As his eyes searched his small audience, it was clear he was nervous. That itself wasn’t new. But the interviewer had asked about sexual violence during the Holocaust, and Stein’s face seemed...Read more

Ivanka Trump broke down in tears in new a interview, revealing her heartbreak over her mother’s death and the shocking moment she learned her father had been shot.

President Donald Trump was shot during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, as he campaigned for a second term in the White House back in 2024. On July 13 of that year, 20-year-old ...Read more

BRUSSELS — The U.S. wants specific commitments from European allies on their pledge to help secure the Strait of Hormuz after the fighting in Iran stops, requesting that countries present concrete plans to ensure navigation through the waterway within days, according to a senior NATO official.

The request was presented during discussions ...Read more

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was “very optimistic” about a deal with Iran, despite ongoing Israeli strikes in Lebanon and the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz jeopardizing efforts to secure a diplomatic resolution to the war.

Trump described Iran’s leaders as “much more reasonable” than their public comments ...Read more

ONSTED, Mich. — After a Lenawee County woman vanished at sea over the Easter weekend and police arrested her husband, the mystery of what happened to Lynette Hooker has caught international attention, and some details of their stormy relationship have come to light.

Lynette Hooker and her husband, Brian Hooker, are avid travelers who have ...Read more

NEW YORK — A federal appeals court in New York weighed arguments Thursday over whether the 50-month prison term handed down to Sean “Diddy” Combs for his conviction on prostitution offenses was overly harsh and wrongly influenced by conduct he wasn’t found guilty of.

The three-judge panel at the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals sharply ...Read more

DENVER — Colorado lawmakers’ choreographed, multiweek budget marathon has hit a sizable speed bump after a Republican triggered the legislative equivalent of the nuclear option — a move made in protest of how the House handled a recent ethics complaint she’d filed.

During debate on the state budget Wednesday night, Rep. Brandi Bradley, ...Read more

Venezuelan opposition leaders said this week that María Corina Machado is preparing to return to Venezuela soon and will do so without necessarily seeking permission from the United States, describing the move as a decisive step in efforts to accelerate the country’s political transition after Nicolás Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces in ...Read more

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill that would make it a crime to approach or remain within 25 feet of a first responder who warns that doing so could distract them or put people or property in danger.

In her veto message, Kelly said the bill poses “a myriad of legal concerns” and creates “serious tension between ensuring law ...Read more

Gov. Brad Little issued five vetoes Wednesday evening dealing with issues ranging from day care to rainy day funds.

One of those included line-item vetoes in a budget bill, which means the governor nixed only a portion of the bill and allowed the rest of it to become law.

The Republican-dominated Legislature adjourned last week sine die, so it...Read more

BALTIMORE — Baltimore’s Forest Service Urban Field Office will close sometime this year, according to a March 31 U.S. Department of Agriculture announcement. Employees at the Catonsville office say they still do not know when or how that will take place, or what will happen to them.

“Reorganization? More like disorganization,” one ...Read more

First lady Melania Trump on Thursday denied all ties to Jeffrey Epstein in a surprise White House speech and called for congressional hearings featuring the notorious pedophile’s victims.

Without explaining why she was speaking out now, Trump insisted she barely knew Epstein and his convicted lieutenant Ghislaine Maxwell and denied that he ...Read more

Nearly 90% of the world’s Christians celebrated the most important holiday in their faith last Sunday, but for those in the Eastern Orthodox tradition — including about 20,000 in the Baltimore area — Easter, or Pascha, takes place this weekend. Fr. Louis Nopros is used to the theological quirk.

Nopros, 69, is the head priest at St. ...Read more