State leaders who want to curb the increasingly violent arrest tactics of immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere are struggling to push back.

They’ve promised civil rights legislation that could offer alleged victims another route to courts, ordered up official tribunals to gather video and other records, or asked cities ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — FBI and Homeland Security agents arrested Minneapolis civil rights activist Nekima Levy Armstrong and St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Louisa Allen in connection with the disruption of a church service on Jan. 18.

A third arrest of a protester involved was announced later Jan. 22.

Attorney General Pam Bondi in a post on X...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Over the past two years, Kansas City has received $42,000 from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a little-noticed agreement between the city and the federal immigration agency.

The agreement, revealed in federal government spending records reviewed by The Star, runs from September 2024 to May 2026. The ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Republican state representative from Central Florida used a vulgar, not-safe-for-work expletive in a recent email to a constituent who'd criticized him for an expected vote in favor of redrawing congressional districts.

“As much as I want to tell you to “go f— yourself”, I won’t,” state Rep. David Smith, ...Read more

TOLEDO, Ohio — Vice President JD Vance acknowledged in a speech here Thursday that there is an "affordability crisis" in the United States, but said it was caused entirely by former President Joe Biden's policies.

"You don't turn the Titanic around overnight," he told a crowd gathered at an industrial facility near the Maumee River. "It takes...Read more

WASHINGTON — In the months leading up to the 2024 election, many Republicans tried to play off abortion as a lesser campaign priority following the backlash to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

But one year into President Donald Trump’s second term, anti-abortion advocates are aiming to push the issue back ...Read more

A friend of President Trump’s youngest son, Barron, said that he saved her life by calling the police when he saw her getting beat up by a man during a FaceTime call.

A transcript of the emergency call was shared during suspect Matvei Rumiantsev’s trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London on Thursday, CNN reported.

On Jan. 18, 2025, Trump...Read more

Haitians woke up Thursday under a cloud of uncertainty as the country’s fragile political transition descended into open confrontation, with the sides locked in a standoff and neither appearing willing to back down.

With just days remaining until its mandate ends, Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council is seeking to remove Prime Minister...Read more

A New York federal judge has denied a request from members of Congress and victims of Jeffrey Epstein for an independent monitor to oversee the Department of Justice’s release of its investigative files into the late sex trafficker.

California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie sent the request ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and European leaders broke up this week. Or, at the very least, the longtime members of the trans-Atlantic alliance are taking a break.

The American diplomat in chief spent two days at a global summit in Switzerland ushering in a new U.S. foreign policy, one based more on individual transactions and less on...Read more

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday morning said he was not surprised the Trump administration blocked his appearance at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland the day before, saying it was another example of the president trying to stifle dissent.

"Is it surprising the Trump administration didn't like my commentary and wanted to make ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A plan by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to put up to 800 new tiny homes this year on its West Los Angeles campus drew an immediate rebuke from veterans who won a federal court order requiring the agency to build thousands of new units of temporary and permanent housing there.

"I don't think that's suitable at all," ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles school officials warned this week of impending staff reductions — including likely layoffs — as they grapple with steadily falling enrollment and a three-year budget projection that ends with a deficit.

The budget uncertainty is exacerbated by ongoing Trump administration moves that threaten California school ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Another hiker has died while attempting to summit the highest peak in the contiguous U.S., marking the third reported death on Mount Whitney this season.

The hiker was reported missing Monday after failing to descend the mountain and reunite with a hiking companion, who had decided the prior afternoon to turn around early due to...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Sunday before last, Blake DeBok snowmobiled out to nine wild horses he was told were stranded in deep snow north of Mammoth Lakes.

“As soon as I saw them, it really confirmed that they were in a very serious situation,” the Bishop resident said.

Two horses were dead when he arrived, including a foal that appeared ...Read more

After a year of ongoing measles outbreaks that have sickened more than 2,400 people, the United States is poised to lose its status as a measles-free country. However, the newly appointed principal deputy director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ralph Abraham, said he was unbothered by the prospect at a briefing for ...Read more

Kim Kardashian's fashion brand must pay $200,000 to settle allegations that it overcharged customers over a five-year period.

The Hollywood-based loungewear and shapewear brand Skims Body improperly charged New Jersey customers sales tax from 2019 through 2024 even though most clothes are exempt in the state, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After the LAPD response to a 2020 protest outside the mayor's mansion led to an excessive force lawsuit, attorneys representing the Police Department insisted they had turned over all relevant evidence.

But then lawyers for the plaintiffs — activists from Black Lives Matter-L.A. — found footage recorded on the officers' body...Read more