CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson’s fight with aldermen about the 2026 budget continued Wednesday as a City Council majority said they are organizing themselves to monitor his administration’s execution of the spending plan that passed over his objections.

The announcement from 29 aldermen who labeled themselves the “Budget Accountability...Read more

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on Wednesday came down hard on various sectors of the U.S. prescription drug supply chain during a hearing to shed light on the reasons for rising costs.

At a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing, Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., touted changes in the fiscal 2026 spending package ...Read more

Investigators trying to find Nancy Guthrie are posed with a daunting but familiar challenge in law enforcement: how to identify a masked person.

Authorities got a huge break on Tuesday with the release of footage of an armed individual wearing a balaclava, gloves and a backpack approaching the front door of Guthrie’s Arizona home and ...Read more

Eight measles cases in Northern California have been classified as an outbreak of the highly contagious disease, state health officials said.

The outbreak is part of a national surge in measles cases that has the California Department of Public Health “strongly urging” Californians to be sure their measles vaccinations are up to date, the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers targeted by the Justice Department over a video they made informing service members of their obligation to reject illegal orders were leaving their options open Wednesday to pursue their own legal action to head off any further attempts at prosecution by the Trump administration.

An attorney for Rep. Jason ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Wednesday to provide $90 million to Planned Parenthood, a move intended to help offset the losses from recent federal cuts targeting abortion providers.

"These cuts were designed to attack and assault Planned Parenthood," said Newsom, speaking at a news conference near the Capitol. "They were not abortion cuts...Read more

DENVER — Denver is a step closer to enacting a new law banning all law enforcement officers — including U.S. Immigration and Customs agents — from wearing face coverings while detaining people after a City Council committee advanced the proposed ordinance Wednesday.

The full council is set to take an initial vote on the measure, which isn...Read more

CHICAGO — A long-awaited analysis of the Chicago Police Department’s staffing and deployment calls for the hiring of hundreds more officers while urging scores of other positions be shifted to civilians.

Citing “real and uneven staffing pressures,” the study and model developed by California-based Matrix Consulting Group found that “...Read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, after a report that federal prosecutors had tried and failed to indict him and five of his colleagues over statements that drew President Donald Trump's ire last fall, said once again Tuesday night that he would not back down from speaking out against the president.

"I will not be intimidated for a single...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas is proposing a small increase in spending for the city’s police force, but far less than what the department requested.

Lucas laid out his spending priorities during his annual State of the City address on Wednesday. Public safety spending makes up 75% of the city’s general fund budget.

...Read more

LAS VEGAS — About 3 million people visit Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas every year, but few have noticed the tiny yellow sunflower that has called it home for centuries. It may face extinction without federal protection, two groups say.

On Tuesday, the Center for Biological Diversity and Save Red Rock filed a petition with the U.S. Fish...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — The rapidly expanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency may be looking at office space near the University of Central Florida, the second-largest university by enrollment in the United States.

Wired, a news outlet focused on science and technology, cited a tranche of records in reporting Tuesday that the feds were ...Read more

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — A few days before the eighth anniversary of the Parkland mass shooting, Hollywood dedicated a trail to hero Chris Hixon at Stan Goldman Memorial Park.

“He really exemplified someone who put service above himself, as shown very bravely on that day eight years ago,” Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy said during the Wednesday ...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — New reports show that Bering Air exceeded weight limits on flights prior to the crash of an overloaded plane near Nome last February that killed the pilot and all nine passengers.

That finding is part of a massive docket of investigative documents the National Transportation Safety Board made public Wednesday. The docket ...Read more

Missouri is a safe harbor for predators and it’s time to put an end to protecting them, supporters of a measure to eliminate the statute of limitations on child sex abuse lawsuits told a state Senate committee Wednesday.

“This is an epidemic, and we need to respond as lawmakers and as leaders to protect our children in the future,” said ...Read more

BALTIMORE — In the week after a winter storm dropped heavy snow and ice across the country, at least a dozen people died as a result of hypothermia in Maryland. In the following seven days, as frigid temperatures left the scraped remains of ice and snow piled on sidewalks and roads, state data shows at least three more.

Every Wednesday during...Read more

The word “unprecedented” is getting a workout after a grand jury in Washington on Feb. 10, 2026, rebuffed an attempt by federal prosecutors to get an indictment against perceived enemies of President Donald Trump.

It began with an unprecedented video in November 2025 featuring six Democratic lawmakers alerting military and ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump met behind closed doors Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the latest world leader to meet with the president this year without facing a torrent of reporters’ shouted questions.

Rather than bring in journalists, Trump opted for a social media post to summarize the meeting, which he dubbed “...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A member of a sophisticated Chilean ATM robbery crew that used disguises and cellphone jammers to steal millions of dollars in heists across the West Coast pleaded guilty to federal charges Monday.

Maite Celis Silva, a 27-year-old from Chile, admitted to renting vacation properties near banks in California, Oregon and Washington...Read more

WASHINGTON — Democratic U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin said Wednesday that she and her allies need to "stay on offense" to fight against intimidation by the Trump administration following its failed indictment of her and five other Democratic lawmakers.

"I think that we've come to a really sad moment in America where the paradigm of leadership has ...Read more