President Donald Trump announced the creation of a task force to fight fraud across the country Monday, following the administration’s focus on Minnesota, which is grappling with widespread fraud in its social services programs.

Vice President JD Vance will chair the task force and Andrew Ferguson, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, ...Read more

Nearly 70% of the people held in California’s detention centers have no criminal conviction, according to the latest data from U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement.

The figure is consistent with the conviction rate of detainees across the country and further underscores how immigrants are targeted under President Donald Trump’s second ...Read more

A Baltimore County Council bill that would have barred law enforcement officers from wearing masks while on duty and required them to visibly display identification failed Monday night after not garnering support from anyone but the bill sponsor.

Introduced by Councilman Izzy Patoka, a Pikesville Democrat who’s running for county executive, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The detonation of a military round over the 5 Freeway during an exercise at Camp Pendleton in October was a “one in a million” malfunction that investigators have struggled to explain, according to a report from the U.S. Marine Corps released Friday.

The investigation determined the military round exploded before it was ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A federal judge dealt a blow to the Trump administration’s public health agenda on Monday, blocking implementation of an advisory panel’s controversial changes to the childhood vaccine schedule and casting doubt on the panel’s validity.

Judge Brian Murphy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump reiterated his appeals for help from other nations to secure the Strait of Hormuz, saying that Iran was nearly obliterated even as the war keeps roiling oil markets and global shipping.

“Numerous countries have told me they’re on the way — some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t. Some ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — As a central advocate for the recent strikes on Iran, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham reiterated sending troops to the region isn’t necessary to end the war.

But in Columbia, Graham repeatedly voiced his support for President Donald Trump, who has not publicly committed to keeping U.S. troops out of Iran.

“I’m going to tell ...Read more

A federal judge paused the Trump administration’s decision to drastically slash the number of recommended childhood vaccines, halting the implementation of U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s unprecedented change to national immunization policy.

The decision Monday by Judge Brian Murphy of the U.S. District Court for the District ...Read more

Grammy winning country music star Zach Bryan so disliked Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and its ticket selling unit that he tried to avoid the company’s concert venues on his 2023 tour and even released an album titled “All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster.”

But Bryan still ended up having to perform at some Live Nation arenas on the tour, Jay...Read more

The US. Supreme Court announced Monday it will have oral arguments next month on Trump administration requests to end temporary protected status for Haiti and Syria.

In a one-page order, the high court said it would schedule an hour in April to hear arguments about whether some 356,000 people from the two countries should keep their deportation...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Trump expressed frustration Monday that U.S. allies were not enthusiastic about sending warships to protect merchant vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a sign of Washington’s growing isolation as it tries to stabilize one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes amid its war against Iran.

Trump ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A Jared Taylor speaking engagement that had been scheduled for March 9 at Salisbury University has not been rescheduled after the school postponed the event last week, citing safety concerns after hundreds raised objections on social media.

Salisbury University, the Maryland GOP and civil rights leaders all condemned Taylor as an ...Read more

NEW YORK — Four people were killed, including a child, in a Queens fire Monday afternoon, the FDNY said.

Two people were rushed to the hospital in critical condition from the scene, a storefront with two residential floors above it on College Point Blvd. near Avery Ave. in Flushing.

“This is a difficult and tragic day,” FDNY ...Read more

DENVER — The Environmental Protection Agency this month sent six proposed permits to regulate air pollution from oil and gas wells on the Western Slope back to Colorado regulators because the state did not require adequate emissions monitoring at the sites.

The partial rejection of the Title V air permits, which regulate how much pollution ...Read more

The warm winter has left very little snow in California’s Sierra Nevada, and now an extreme heat wave is accelerating the rapid melt in the mountains.

The Sierra snowpack measures 45% of average for this time of year, according to state data, down from 73% of average in late February.

When water expert Newsha Ajami went skiing near Lake ...Read more

MIAMI — Zoo Miami received another bomb threat Monday, marking the fourth one since Friday, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said.

By 6 p.m. the sheriff’s office declared the property all clear, said Ivan Castro, a Zoo Miami spokesman.

The sheriff’s office thinks the threats are “swatting calls,” hoaxes to provoke a strong law-...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — In early February, environmental advocates warned followers on social media that a crucial vote to roll back a mine ban next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was imminent.

“The bill to overturn the 20-year mining ban near the Boundary Waters is heading to the Senate floor THIS WEEK!” read a post from Save the ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Even before last week’s attack against a ROTC classroom at Old Dominion University, the U.S. military had been showing some concern.

Students enrolled in JROTC programs within Hampton schools had been told not to wear their uniforms more than a week prior to the shooting at ODU. The school district implemented its temporary ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The ICE plaque is gone.

The fake but authentic-looking Pennsylvania historic marker, erected by two artists who sought to ruefully commemorate a local immigration arrest, disappeared from its post in Philadelphia sometime Monday.

Huston West, one of the artists, said he was walking his dog around 1 p.m. when he noticed that ...Read more