WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court may help the GOP keep control of the House of Representatives next year by clearing the way for Republican-led states to redraw election districts now held by Black Democrats.

That prospect formed the backdrop on Wednesday as the justices debated the future of the Voting Rights Act in a case from Louisiana.

The...Read more

CHICAGO — Chicago inspector general Deborah Witzburg has recommended a top adviser to Mayor Brandon Johnson be fired and placed on a do not hire list for failing to cooperate with an investigation into City Hall’s handling of a negotiation with an alderman.

Johnson declined to fire the adviser, senior Jason Lee, and denied that he failed to...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams told senior officials in his administration Wednesday that he has received at least one offer for a job once he leaves City Hall at the end of the year, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Adams, who last month abandoned his reelection bid amid continuing controversies stemming from his ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A former FBI agent was sentenced to 60 years in prison Tuesday after raping three women he’d lured into his tattoo parlors in Gaithersburg and Potomac.

A jury convicted Eduardo Valdivia of six rape counts and two sex offenses following a nearly two-week trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court this summer. The 41-year-old faced ...Read more

Japan’s ruling party leader Sanae Takaichi called on the leaders of an Osaka-based opposition party to back her in a parliamentary vote to decide the prime minister expected next week.

“We’re almost on the same page on basic policies,” Liberal Democratic Party President Takaichi said following a meeting in Tokyo with Hirofumi Yoshimura ...Read more

Pakistan and Afghanistan claimed killing dozens of each other’s soldiers in clashes overnight along their shared border, renewing deadly skirmishes that began over the weekend that caught President Donald Trump’s attention.

Pakistan killed as many as 50 Afghan soldiers, while repulsing their attacks in different locations of Spin Boldak and...Read more

A candidate for Iraq’s upcoming legislative elections was killed in the explosion of a car bomb in northern Baghdad, the capital’s security forces said Wednesday.

A bomb exploded after midnight under a vehicle belonging to Safaa al-Mashhadani, one of the candidates in next month’s parliamentary elections. “The bomb resulted in his death...Read more

CHICAGO — Nearly three years after leaving his post as Chicago Board of Education vice president, former teacher and Chicago Public Schools parent Sendhil Revuluri is vying to return, announcing his candidacy for school board president Wednesday.

If victorious in the November 2026 election, he aims to unite the board behind a common goal: ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Hours after President Donald Trump suggested that the military use American cities as “training grounds,” Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker stared down a row of cameras at an unrelated news conference. A reporter wanted to know her response to the president.

Parker said she was proud to support young people training for...Read more

In St. Louis, a team of students aboard a well-equipped van visits senior centers, a nursing home, a church, and other sites, learning to conduct comprehensive, hourlong geriatric assessments.

The team — future doctors, social workers, psychologists, and therapists — looks for such common problems as frailty, muscle weakness, and cognitive ...Read more

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.”

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ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A few months ago, Waynesville Police Sgt. Paige Shell was about to give up hope of getting better. The daily drip of violence, death, and misery from almost 20 years in law...Read more

BALTIMORE — One still has burn scars on his palms, earned during hours of push-ups on burning hot pavement.

One said he was attacked, beaten with a homemade blackjack while he slept.

One said he developed post-traumatic stress disorder.

These teens who enrolled at the Maryland National Guard Freestate ChalleNGe Academy in previous years ...Read more

TURLOCK, Calif. — California, like much of the nation, is not producing enough nurses working at bedsides to meet the needs of an aging and diverse population, fueling a workforce crunch that risks endangering quality patient care. Nearly 60% of California counties, stretching between the borders with Mexico and Oregon, face a nursing shortage...Read more

San Francisco Bay Area universities lost more than $2 million in funds after the Trump administration announced it was rerouting money meant for minority-serving institutions to charter schools and other educational programs, an analysis by Bay Area News Group has revealed.

In September, the Department of Education announced it was ending $350 ...Read more

Democratic mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani picked up an endorsement Tuesday from a Brooklyn pastor who previously supported Andrew Cuomo in the race for City Hall.

The Mamdani endorsement from Bishop Orlando Findlayter, whose congregation is in East Flatbush, could help Mamdani make inroads with Black, socially conservative Democrats, a ...Read more

New laws signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom aim to make the artificial intelligence and social media landscape in California safer, especially for minors.

Senate Bill 243, sponsored by state Sen. Steve Padilla (D-Chula Vista) will require AI companies to incorporate guardrails that prevent so-called "companion" chatbots from talking to users of any ...Read more

The heads of Japan’s main opposition parties are expected to discuss Wednesday whether they can close policy gaps and pick a candidate of their own for the nation’s premiership.

The leaders — Yuichiro Tamaki of the Democratic Party for the People, Yoshihiko Noda of the Constitutional Democratic Party, and Fumitake Fujita of the Japan ...Read more

MIAMI — A Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge on Tuesday blocked Miami Dade College from transferring property to the state for Donald Trump’s presidential library, ensuring the school keeps the land in its possession until the court issues a final verdict in a lawsuit alleging the institution violated Florida’s Sunshine law when its trustees ...Read more