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Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images North America/TNS

LSD, trips back to Boston, OJ Simpson trial scare: 'Whitey' Bulger's tell-all exposed

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BOSTON — James “Whitey” Bulger, the city’s most notorious gangster, was haunted by LSD flashbacks, kept cash hidden in the U.S. and Europe, and returned to Boston on “several occasions” armed “to the teeth” while on the lam.

It’s all part of his handwritten draft of a book manuscript and interview notes after his capture that ...Read more

Phillip Fry, The Detroit News/The Detroit News/TNS

Ice builds as Michigan endures historic blizzard

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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A historic storm that dumped more than 4 feet of snow on parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula tapered off Tuesday, but ice accumulated in northeastern lower Michigan and other locations as more than 90,000 people still lacked power, and some roads remained impassable.

A station near Round Lake in the U.P.’s Luce County...Read more

Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Maryland Senate debates Gov. Moore's budget; Republicans blame Dems for deficit

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Maryland Republicans on Tuesday blamed Democratic policies for the state’s projected $1.4 billion deficit during a Senate debate over Gov. Wes Moore’s budget proposal, adding that their plan to close the gap is insufficient.

“We have to show people we’re serious about fiscal responsibility and discipline,” Senate Minority Whip Justin ...Read more

Report finds Minnesota officials erred in not investigating allegations of autism program kickbacks

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Minnesota social services officials didn’t investigate complaints about alleged kickbacks in an embattled autism intervention program despite having legal authority to do so, according to a new auditor’s report.

The report, which the Office of the Legislative Auditor released Tuesday, March 17, is the state’s latest effort to address a ...Read more

Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump attacks Newsom again for having dyslexia, says it disqualifies him from being president

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WASHINGTON — President Trump has once again mocked Gov. Gavin Newsom’s dyslexia as “disqualifying” for leadership, marking at least the fourth time in a week that the president has targeted the California Democrat for being open about his diagnosis.

In remarks Monday in the Oval Office, Trump said Newsom was “dumb” and should never...Read more

Costas Metaxakis/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

US carrier involved in Iran fight heads back to port after fire

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WASHINGTON — The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is leaving the fight with Iran and heading back to port, a U.S. official familiar with the matter said, after a fire broke out in its laundry area and left at least two sailors with non-life-threatening injuries.

The Ford will travel from its current location in the Red Sea to Souda Bay, on...Read more

Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/TNS

DeSantis elevates key attorney in Hope Florida Medicaid settlement to judge

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Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday appointed the key attorney behind the controversial Hope Florida Medicaid agreement to serve as a circuit judge in Tallahassee.

Andrew Sheeran, general counsel for the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration since 2023, was the chief legal architect behind the settlement with Medicaid company Centene at the ...Read more

Kenny Holston/Getty Images North America/TNS

'Foreseeable future': Senate begins debate on SAVE

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WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday afternoon voted to begin what could become a long and extended debate on the SAVE America Act, the GOP’s marquee voter ID and election overhaul bill, following increased pressure from President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill.

But the debate is not the same thing as a “talking filibuster,” ...Read more

News briefs

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‘Cannot in good conscience’: Trump’s counterterrorism chief quits over Iran war

WASHINGTON — Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, abruptly resigned Tuesday, becoming the most senior national security official to break publicly with the Trump administration over its military campaign against Iran.

In a ...Read more

Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News/TNS

Federal program poised to provide $629M to boost internet access across Alaska

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The state has won a key federal approval for its plan to award nearly $630 million to more than a dozen companies to help modernize internet service in Alaska.

The money represents the largest single chunk of federal funds ever committed to improving online access across the state, officials said.

It will extend high-speed internet to more ...Read more

Erin Alexis Randolph/Dreamstime/TNS

Arizona charges Kalshi with illegal gambling operation

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Arizona said it filed criminal charges against Kalshi for operating an illegal gambling business, in a significant escalation in the legal battles between the prediction market exchange and about a dozen states.

While state regulators have taken steps to crack down on what they say is unlicensed betting on Kalshi’s site, Arizona appears to ...Read more

Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Capitol Police budget request tops $1 billion

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WASHINGTON — The Capitol Police must expand to face a rise in threats to lawmakers’ safety, Chief Michael G. Sullivan told House appropriators on Tuesday.

The department is seeking more than $1 billion for fiscal 2027, an increase of 20% over current levels and its largest request to date.

This was Sullivan’s first budget hearing since ...Read more

Michigan Gov. Whitmer's European trade trip with Olympics visit cost over $200K

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LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's February trade mission to Germany and Italy cost about $208,000, according to documents obtained by The Detroit News through an open records request.

It wasn't clear Tuesday how much of the money came from the state's Michigan Economic Development Corp. and how much came from the Michigan ...Read more

Win McNamee/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bondi ordered by House committee to testify on Epstein probe

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WASHINGTON — The House Oversight Committee ordered U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to appear for a deposition on the U.S. Justice Department’s handling of the investigation and release of files related to sex trafficking by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The panel’s Republican chairman, James Comer of Kentucky, said in a letter to ...Read more

Max Bryan/The Detroit News/TNS

Historic Michigan blizzard prompts emergency declaration by Gov. Whitmer

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LANSING, Mich. — Citing extreme winter weather, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared Tuesday a state of emergency in seven counties and a statewide energy emergency.

A winter storm system on Sunday and Monday dropped 2 feet to 4 feet of snow across much of Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, causing widespread damage, according to ...Read more

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump ditches appeal for help in Iran war, slamming allies

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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned his effort to recruit partners for the war with Iran and scolded allies who openly rejected his appeals, even as he repeated claims the conflict would end soon.

The U.S. and Israel nonetheless kept up their attacks with little clarity on when operations would end, with Israel saying it had ...Read more

Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald/TNS

Healey responds to fed probe into Mass. Medicaid fraud and Trump's new Fraud Task Force

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Gov. Maura Healey is responding to a federal probe into Medicaid fraud in Massachusetts as Tuesday marks the deadline for her to turn over information requested by the House Energy & Commerce Committee, claiming MassHealth has “strong program integrity,” while also dismissing Vice President JD Vance’s new role as chief of the newly-created...Read more

Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Mayor Brandon Johnson commends safe Chicago St. Patrick's Day and says he has never had a BORG

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CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday commended the safety of Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities, but declined to endorse the proliferation of BORGs in citywide revelries this past weekend.

A BORG, or “blackout rage gallon,” is an alcoholic concoction typically contained in a plastic gallon jug. And in the nation’s third-...Read more

DAVID SANTIAGO/Miami Herald/TNS

Zoo Miami says park is safe, but bomb threats have been costly

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MIAMI — Despite receiving bomb threats that triggered evacuations, police sweeps and financial losses during the past week, Zoo Miami is “the safest it’s ever been,” longtime spokesperson and wildlife expert Ron Magill said Tuesday.

From Friday through Monday, Zoo Miami received at least four bomb threats. None were found to be credible...Read more

Alex Wroblewski/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

A federal judge blasted prosecutors in NJ, saying Trump's DOJ has 'lost the confidence and the trust of this court'

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A federal judge in New Jersey this week declined to hold a routine sentencing hearing because of what he said were unresolved questions about who is leading that state’s U.S. Attorney’s Office — a decision the judge made during a contentious proceeding in which he also kicked a prosecutor out of his courtroom.

The ruling from U.S. ...Read more