Venezuela started shutting wells in a region that holds the world’s largest deposits of oil in the face of a blockade by the Trump administration meant to financially squeeze the nation.

Petroleos de Venezuela SA began shuttering wells in the Orinoco Belt on Dec. 28 as the state-run refiner ran out of storage space and inventory swelled, ...Read more

The Trump administration is announcing awards to states from a rural healthcare fund, with the threat that some of that money can be clawed back if jurisdictions fail to embrace policy initiatives backed by the president.

The discretionary grants for 2026 range from $145 million to $281 million for states, according to Mehmet Oz, the head of ...Read more

A West Palm Beach woman is accused of strangling her 97-year-old mother the day after Christmas, telling detectives that the two had previously discussed ways to end the woman’s life as her mother struggled with health issues.

Martha Jo Blake, 66, is facing one count of first-degree murder in the death of her mother, Patricia Blake, whom she ...Read more

The chillier-than-usual temperatures that brought a cold-weather advisory early Monday won’t stay that way for much longer, according to the National Weather Service. The source for their eventual warmup: Yet another atmospheric river rain system.

“It’s gonna start to get a bit warmer Tuesday night into Wednesday morning,” NWS ...Read more

A Black Kansas City Police Department sergeant is suing the Board of Police Commissioners, alleging sex, race and disability discrimination in the workplace.

The suit, filed Dec. 10 in Jackson County Circuit Court, alleges a variety of issues Sergeant Johnita Harris dealt with during her tenure in the Police Department, including racial ...Read more

All they were trying to do was stay warm, friends and family said of the two unhoused individuals found dead in their tent in Fresno.

Fresno police responded to a call from an unhoused individual Friday afternoon at an encampment along the Highway 180 interchange at Abby Street, officials said. When they arrived, they found Denise Celis, 52, ...Read more

The federal government is awarding Illinois $193 million next year to support rural healthcare — money that’s part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but not enough to make up for Medicaid cuts from the measure, state health leaders say.

Illinois asked the federal government for $200 million a year for each of the next five years in its ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s campaign to end the war in Ukraine faced new complications on Monday when Vladimir Putin said he would revise his country’s negotiating position after the Russian leader claimed Ukrainian drones targeted his residence.

Putin told Trump of his decision in a call Monday, according to the Kremlin, even as Kyiv cast the...Read more

The second pilot involved in a midair helicopter collision in New Jersey has died, authorities said Monday.

Two choppers collided in the skies above Hammonton Township on Sunday morning, sending both aircraft to the ground in a horrifying wreck about 30 miles southeast of Philadelphia.

Cops identified the victims Monday as Michael Greenberg, a...Read more

WASHINGTON — Maryland will receive $168 million to bolster its rural healthcare services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced on Monday.

The money will be allocated from CMS’ Rural Health Transformation Program. The program is a five-year, $50 billion health care fund that was included in the One Big, Beautiful Bill to ...Read more

A Clark County Detention Center inmate who was found dead inside a cell with an imprisoned Discovery Channel reality show star has been identified.

Christopher Kelly, 42, was found dead inside a cell at the jail Friday night, a Clark County coroner’s office spokesperson said in an email. Kelly’s cause and manner of death are still being ...Read more

President Donald Trump teased that he has a preferred candidate to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, but is in no hurry to make an announcement — while also musing that he might fire the central bank’s current leader, Jerome Powell.

“I do, still do — hasn’t changed,” Trump said at a press conference Monday, when asked if he ...Read more

Top officials in the administration of President Donald Trump are directing more federal law enforcement resources to investigate allegations of rampant government fraud in Minnesota — a move that comes in the wake of a viral video claiming significant abuse in Somali-run day care programs.

A video posted to social media platforms on Friday ...Read more

Standing alongside President Donald Trump at his Palm Beach estate, Volodymyr Zelenskyy could only smirk and grimace without overtly offending his host. "Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed," Trump told reporters, shocking the Ukrainian president before claiming that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is genuine in his desire for peace.

It was just ...Read more

President Donald Trump expressed concern that Iran is moving to rebuild its nuclear capabilities and bolster its ballistic missile program after strikes by the U.S. and Israel earlier this year, and threatened to target the country again to prevent Tehran from stockpiling weapons.

“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they...Read more

About 400 government employees investigated by the state of Illinois improperly tapped a federal pandemic relief fund program meant to keep small businesses afloat — part of a nationwide wave of Paycheck Protection Program fraud that siphoned tens of billions of dollars from taxpayers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While more than 200 have ...Read more

President Donald Trump said Hamas would be given a “very short period of time” to disarm following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the U.S. looks to shore up the ceasefire in Gaza and move to the second phase of the plan.

“We talked about Hamas and we talked about disarmament. And they’re going to be given a ...Read more

President Donald Trump said the U.S. struck a facility inside Venezuela, in what would be a significant escalation in its campaign against alleged drug trafficking operations there.

“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump told reporters Monday, confirming comments from last week.

Trump...Read more

Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro will soon become the top-earning governor in the U.S. after an automatic cost-of-living pay bump goes into effect on Jan. 1.

Shapiro, a Democrat up for re-election next year who is often named as a 2028 presidential contender, was already the second-highest paid state leader after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. At about $245,...Read more