The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed. Since the beginning of the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, oil tanker traffic through the world’s most critical oil shipping choke point has collapsed, dropping by more than 90%.

Iran has threatened to destroy any ships, including oil tankers, that ...Read more

With three weeks until Donald Trump meets Xi Jinping, Beijing is frustrated by what it sees as insufficient U.S. preparation that may limit the landmark summit to trade agreements and leave key diplomatic and security matters untouched.

Chinese officials are dissatisfied with what they consider last-minute planning ahead of Trump’s arrival on...Read more

Could Bay Staters get a double refund this tax season?

Gov. Maura Healey has sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — calling for a $1,745 tariffs refund for every Massachusetts household after the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump admin’s tariffs were unconstitutional.

“On behalf of the people of Massachusetts, I demand a ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — A memorial asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn gay marriage lost some support in the Idaho Legislature.

Idaho lawmakers voted Tuesday on a rerun of a 2025 memorial asking the nation’s highest court to overturn its landmark 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Gay marriage has been legal in Idaho since 2014 under a ...Read more

You complain that Publix is expensive?

Try food shopping on the West Coast at a trendy grocery store with a weirdly unpronounceable name, Erewhon (Air-a-One), an anagram of “nowhere.” It was reportedly inspired by Samuel Butler’s 1872 dystopian novel of the same name.

Safe to say, BOGOs don’t exist at this high-end supermarket, where a...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in San Jose could hear final arguments as soon as May 6 in a major First Amendment lawsuit pitting the Stanford Daily student newspaper against the Trump administration over visa policies that plaintiffs say have silenced noncitizen journalists and students critical of Israel and U.S. foreign policy.

Both ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Energy markets whipsawed for a second consecutive day as investors raced to interpret rapidly shifting comments from the Trump administration over the war in Iran.

Oil prices plummeted after Energy Secretary Chris Wright erroneously posted — and then deleted — a message that the U.S. Navy had escorted an oil tanker through ...Read more

A single dose of psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, appears significantly more effective than nicotine patches at helping people quit smoking, a new study shows.

Researchers conducted a randomized trial involving 82 adult smokers who were “psychiatrically healthy.” It compared the efficacy of nicotine patches given for ...Read more

ADRIAN, Mich. ― Dale Warner, a prominent Tecumseh farmer whose marriage had dissolved into squabbling over money and unfaithfulness, was convicted Friday of killing his wife and hiding her body in a sealed fertilizer tank.

The burly Warner, wearing a coat and tie, buckled slightly as the verdict was read by a court clerk in Lenawee County ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A Florida woman was criminally charged Tuesday after she allegedly sprayed bullets at the home of star singer Rihanna earlier this week.

Ivana Ortiz, 35, of Orlando faces one count of attempted murder, nine counts of assault with a firearm, two counts of shooting into an inhabited dwelling and one count of shooting at a motor ...Read more

Audio has been released from the arrest of Ivanna Lisette Ortiz, the Florida woman charged with attempted murder after she allegedly fired nearly a dozen shots outside Rihanna’s Beverly Hills mansion this weekend.

Los Angeles Police previously confirmed to the Daily News that Ortiz, 35, was being held on over $10 million bail after she ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Alberto Carvalho, the embattled Los Angeles schools chief, in his first public statement since FBI raids at his home and district office on Feb. 25, has denied any wrongdoing and has asked to be returned to his duties.

Carvalho is currently on paid administrative leave, pending developments in the ongoing investigation.

“Mr. ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department’s bolstered training in the execution of search warrants will soon mean an increase in residential searches by CPD officers, Superintendent Larry Snelling told a federal judge Tuesday.

“Once we get all our officers trained up, we can now go back to doing some of those residential search warrants ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore Police lieutenant, a homicide sergeant and a former officer have been indicted on charges that they manipulated timekeeping records to collect extra pay, prosecutors said Tuesday.

A grand jury charged Sgt. Mark Rutkowski, 51, Lt. Welai Grant, 42, and a former officer, Harrison Brandon, 38, with felony theft and ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland’s attorney general sued federal immigration authorities Tuesday, accusing them of blocking an investigation into alleged inhumane conditions inside the “holding rooms” at the Baltimore federal building.

Attorney General Anthony G. Brown filed the lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The Maryland Senate Budget and Taxation Committee on Thursday will either approve, limit, or eliminate numerous budget cuts and fund transfers proposed in Gov. Wes Moore’s fiscal year 2027 budget, which funds the state’s day-to-day costs, with a majority of it financing healthcare, education, and public safety programs.

The ...Read more

CHICAGO — A south suburban man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Tuesday in a massive, $14 million fraud scheme where he collected kickbacks for filing more than 1,500 bogus loan applications at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 120-month term handed down to Sharhabeel Shreiteh was believed to be the longest sentence for any ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota residents told the chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on Tuesday about what they experienced during the nation’s largest federal immigration enforcement action.

Madeline Lohman, director of advocacy at the Advocates for Human Rights, said that during the weekslong Operation Metro Surge, Minnesota saw ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senators sparred at a hearing Tuesday over local jurisdictions that have policies against cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, as the Senate teed up another floor procedural vote to end a Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., used the hearing to highlight his ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Russia is emerging as one of the few early economic beneficiaries of the war with Iran, as disruptions to energy infrastructure drive up demand for Russian exports and the world casts its gaze to the Middle East and away from Moscow's war in Ukraine.

The U.S. and its European counterparts slapped severe sanctions on Russia in ...Read more