FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — After three hours inside the confines of the immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she discovered needlessly inhumane conditions, including 32 men housed in each cage, minimal food, and a persistent odor of urine.

“Everything about this screams ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Council member Ysabel Jurado called Thursday for allotting more than $360 million to developers and nonprofits building and preserving affordable housing projects.

The appropriation, which requires City Council approval, would fund 80 projects, with construction of 1,528 new units and ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will have wide latitude to keep his preferred pick leading the Justice Department after his firing of ally Pamela Bondi, including scenarios that could entirely avoid a Senate confirmation process well into the future.

Any permanent attorney general nominee could face a tough path to confirmation in the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Pivotal negotiations in Pakistan this weekend between the United States and Iran could hinge on developments in Lebanon, where ongoing Israeli strikes Thursday risked derailing a wider regional ceasefire.

Tensions only deepened amid reports of limited Iranian drone attacks across the region, and as Arab states warned that the ...Read more

NEW YORK — Sgt. Erik Duran, the NYPD “Cooler Cop” who killed a fleeing drug-deal suspect in the Bronx by hurling a heavy, ice-filled cooler at him, got a three-to-nine-year prison sentence Thursday, drawing cheers from criminal justice reform advocates and vitriol from the former cop’s followers.

Duran, 38, wept as he stood before Judge...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he was “optimistic” about a deal with Iran but later threatened Tehran over charging fees in the Strait of Hormuz, as Israeli strikes in Lebanon and the continued closure of the vital waterway jeopardized diplomatic talks.

“There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the...Read more

CHICAGO — A lawyer for imprisoned House Speaker Michael Madigan told a federal appeals court on Thursday his conviction on an array of corruption counts should be overturned because there was no evidence that he agreed to enter into a bribery conspiracy with ComEd or took any specific official action on the utility’s behalf.

In the long-...Read more

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani came into office on New Year’s Day with big plans, lots of enthusiasm and the mammoth challenge of putting his lofty campaign promises into action.

One hundred days later, the mayor has made headway on some of those campaign pledges, but he’s backpedaled or moderated his stance on others.

...Read more

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