The Oregon Supreme Court on Feb. 5, 2026, issued a ruling that will have a wide impact. More than 1,400 criminal cases had to be dismissed, the justices ruled, due to lack of adequate counsel available for defendants.

Like other states, Oregon must provide defendants with legal representation if they cannot afford attorneys on their ...Read more

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker never flew with former President Bill Clinton on a plane belonging to Jeffrey Epstein, spokespeople for the two Democrats said late Monday hours after video of Clinton’s testimony before a House committee was released, in which the former president suggested the pair had traveled with the financier before ...Read more

BALTIMORE — As the war in the Middle East intensifies, Iranian Americans in the United States are expressing a wide range of emotions, reflecting deep divisions over Iran’s next leadership and the conflict abroad.

President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. has “the capability to go far longer” than its projected four-to-five-week ...Read more

BOSTON — Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said the Boston Police Department ignored 167 federal immigration detainer requests last year, not 57 as reported by the city’s police commissioner, and that the requests included serious criminal charges.

Lyons’ disclosure on Monday comes after last week’s 9-4 vote from the Boston City Council to...Read more

NEW YORK — A homeless man sleeping inside Penn Station in Midtown was set on fire by three young men, police said Tuesday.

The 37-year-old victim suffered second-degree burns to his arm and back that are not considered life threatening, cops said.

He was asleep near an entrance to Penn Station’s Amtrak rotunda on West 33rd Street near ...Read more

When Big Bear’s celebrity bald eagle couple’s eggs were eaten by ravens in late January, they didn’t grieve alone.

Thousands had watched Jackie and Shadow on livestream, as they meticulously arranged sticks in their nest high in a Jeffrey pine and nibbled each other’s feathers in preparation for laying. All seemed just dandy until both...Read more

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missourians would have to prove they are United States citizens when registering to vote under a proposal heard in a Senate elections committee on Monday, though details of how the state would accomplish that remained unclear.

Current state law requires applicants registering to vote to present valid identification and ...Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court handed Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-New York, a lifeline by ruling that her Staten Island-based district does not need to be redrawn ahead of the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

The conservative top court blocked a state court judge’s ruling that ordered the state’s redistricting committee to redraw the lines of ...Read more

Sean “Diddy” Combs caught a small break.

The fallen rapper will be released a few weeks early from his prison stint at FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey.

According to the Bureau of Prisons, Combs was set to be sprung June 4, 2028, but will get out April 25, 2028.

The reason for the date change is unclear, but his lawyers may have gotten him time...Read more

LOS ANGELES — California Republicans facing tough reelection fights in this year’s midterm elections have lined up in support of President Donald Trump’s war on Iran, which polling suggests is not popular.

They include Republicans whose chances of reelection were already diminished by the passage by voters in November of Proposition 50, ...Read more

CHICAGO — In Skokie, an Iranian-American can’t get through to communicate with his father in Iran after a bomb fell in the father’s neighborhood, injuring him.

In Evanston, a Northwestern University professor speculates that time could be on Iran’s side.

And just south of Evanston, a professor says he can’t imagine his mother, family...Read more

In Johnson County, Iowa, the number of tuberculosis cases has increased in recent years — and so has the cost of containing it.

The cost of contact tracing and surveillance, traveling each day to patients’ homes to ensure they take their meds or booking hotel rooms to quarantine patients, has surged from $17,000 in 2020 to $65,000 last ...Read more

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran expanded its targets Tuesday, striking the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia as Washington began to pull many staff out of the Middle East. The U.S. and Israel battered Iran with airstrikes in what President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a war that has severely disrupted the world’s supply of oil ...Read more

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran reverberated across the region for a fourth day, with oil and gas prices surging and the world adjusting to a conflict that President Donald Trump says has no fixed timeline.

Iran sent a fresh wave of missiles at countries including Qatar, Bahrain and Oman that host U.S. bases, with Doha saying targets weren’t ...Read more

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar are privately lobbying allies to help them persuade President Donald Trump to reach for an off-ramp that would keep U.S. military operations against Iran short, according to people familiar with the matter.

The countries are seeking to build a wide coalition to advance a swift and diplomatic end to the ...Read more

Earlier this year, Justin and Amy Miller packed their vehicles with three kids, two dogs, a pet bearded dragon, and whatever belongings they could fit, then drove 2,000 miles from Wisconsin to British Columbia to leave President Donald Trump’s America.

The Millers resettled on Vancouver Island, their scenic refuge accessible only by ferry or ...Read more

COLUSA, Calif. — Early on, Jean Franklin got some career advice she followed religiously: “Pay yourself first.” So she did, socking away hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement savings by the time she became a stay-at-home mom at age 41.

She and her husband, Charles, a former high school teacher who goes by Chaz, planned to retire ...Read more