PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that mandatory life sentences for second-degree murder are unconstitutional — a significant decision that is likely to re-shape a portion of state law that many criminal justice advocates and some public officials have long targeted for reform.

In an opinion released Thursday ...Read more

President Donald Trump trashed Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, on Thursday and predicted Democrats would soon cave and make a deal to end the partial government shutdown that has caused chaos at airports, even though the two parties remain far apart in talks.

With airport security lines stretching for hours and Congress set to leave town for a ...Read more

DETROIT — Minnesota officials are seeking funds to stop a Duluth cemetery from continuing to erode into Lake Superior.

St. Louis County is asking the state of Minnesota for a grant to build a $2.5 million retaining wall at the Scandia Cemetery to halt a clay bank from crumbling, officials said. The erosion has already caused human remains to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers gathered on the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol, overlooking the National Mall, to honor officers who defended Congress during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack with a commemorative plaque.

But two things were missing — Republicans and the plaque itself.

The plaque is instead installed on a stone wall in a cellar...Read more

BALTIMORE – Salisbury University students are getting lunch delivered by robot — and the service is catching on faster than campus officials expected.

Since the fall semester, students living on campus have been able to use Grubhub to order deliveries from four campus restaurants for a flat $3.50 fee. Options include Chick-fil-A; coffee and...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Iran with intensified military action after Tehran rejected Washington’s push for a peace deal, with the two sides far apart in efforts to end the near month-long war.

Iran had “better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be ...Read more

BOSTON — Another major public benefits fraud ring has been uncovered in Massachusetts, as U.S. Attorney Leah Foley announces a $9 million scheme busted by the Feds involving nine Dominican nationals who used stolen identities to enroll in public assistance programs.

“Nine individuals have been charged in a coordinated federal crackdown on ...Read more

CHICAGO — Food delivery robots have shattered two city bus shelters within the last week, fueling heated discussion amongst Chicago humans who say they shouldn’t have to share the public way with the apparently freewheeling automatons.

The first crash happened when a Serve Robotics device collided with a bus shelter in the West Town ...Read more

NEW YORK — Crews have removed the mangled wreckage of the Air Canada jet that crashed into a Port Authority fire rescue truck as the probe into what sparked the fatal collision continued Thursday.

Port Authority officials confirm the debris from the plane and the fire truck have been removed from runway four, which is expected to reopen on ...Read more

MIAMI – Activists coming back to the United States from a humanitarian trip to Cuba were detained at Miami International Airport Wednesday, according to multiple people from the aid envoy.

At least 20 of the more than 100 people who participated in Nuestra América Convoy were held for interrogation when they returned to Miami this week, ...Read more

MIAMI — The Trump administration appears to have allocated some $149 million to dozens of law enforcement agencies across Florida for participating in immigration enforcement partnerships to round up undocumented immigrants across the state, according to a leaked financial ledger.

The ledger, obtained by independent journalist Ken ...Read more

MEXICO CITY — President Claudia Sheinbaum’s approval rating plunged to the lowest levels of her term in March, as Mexicans expressed deepening worries about corruption and crime following the killing of a notorious cartel leader.

Roughly 54% of Mexicans approve of Sheinbaum, down 2 points from February and 9 from her January rating, ...Read more

Israel and Iran exchanged missile strikes as the status of potential peace talks remains uncertain, extending a war that’s wreaked havoc across the Middle East and global markets.

U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Iran is desperate to make a deal to end the nearly month-long conflict, while Iran publicly rejected Washington’s push for ...Read more

Most people think of Alzheimer’s disease as an illness of aging. But in fact, the brain changes that characterize it begin much earlier – sometime around the third decade of life.

In the earliest of these changes, a tangled version of a protein called tau starts building up in a tiny region deep in the brain involved in sleep, ...Read more

Paul Ehrlich opened his 1968 book “The Population Bomb” with a scene recounting returning to his hotel through a crowded Delhi neighborhood on a stifling night in the mid-1960s. He described the physical sensation of overpopulation: people eating, washing, arguing, begging – “people, people, people, people.”

From that ...Read more

John Galvin knows he needs a colonoscopy. But he’s waiting to schedule the procedure until December, when he turns 65 and qualifies for Medicare.

He was already thinking about delaying it — then his monthly Obamacare insurance premium payment tripled this year to $2,460, about a third of his income, he said. And with a $2,700 deductible, he...Read more

Russell Anthony made eight trips to the dentist last year. The 65-year-old retiree in Nashville, Tennessee, hopes to go less often in 2026, but he’s already made a few visits.

“I had a root canal just last week that was like $500,” he said. “The week before that, I had a crown that cost me several hundred dollars. And as we speak, I ...Read more

Since their peak less than three years ago, opioid overdose deaths dropped nearly by half as of October, according to a Stateline analysis. The drop comes as a shrinking fentanyl supply has made the drug weaker and less deadly and volunteer efforts get more people into treatment.

The weaker fentanyl tracks to a crackdown on materials used to ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — State Rep. Brad Tabke had been following what he believed to be immigration agents driving through his southwest suburban district in early January when the SUV suddenly pulled into his neighborhood.

The third-term DFL lawmaker, who had been leading a training for Minnesotans on observing immigration officers during Operation ...Read more