Two members of the Israeli embassy’s staff were fatally shot outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington on Wednesday night, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.

A single suspect is in custody, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith told reporters, adding that the individual chanted “Free Free Palestine” while in custody. ...Read more

State wildlife agencies have a big job.

While the federal government protects animals listed under the Endangered Species Act, states are tasked with keeping the vast majority of other species out of the “emergency room.” Habitat loss, pollution and climate change are making that job much more difficult.

At the same time, states are ...Read more

On the last day of patient care at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Marquette, Michigan, a port town on the shore of Lake Superior, dozens of people crowded into the parking lot and alley, holding pink homemade signs that read “Thank You!” and “Forever Grateful.”

“Oh my god,” physician assistant Anna Rink gasped, as she and three ...Read more

Brian Rigsby was lying with his right wrist shackled to a hospital bed in Montgomery, Alabama, when he learned he didn’t have long to live.

It was September 2023, and Rigsby, 46, had been brought to Jackson Hospital from an Alabama state prison 10 days earlier after complaining of pain and swelling in his abdomen. Doctors found that untreated...Read more

Private equity companies have gobbled up group homes and other services for people with disabilities, attracting the attention of state and federal regulators across the nation and alarming advocates.

People with intellectual or developmental disabilities have suffered abuse, neglect and even death while under the care of private equity-owned ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — When sex offender Mark Chapman left a New York prison in 2022, he was greeted with an arrest warrant and a transport van back to the state of Michigan on new sexual abuse charges stemming from the state's investigation into the Boy Scouts of America.

Chapman, now 55, pleaded guilty to first and second-degree criminal sexual ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A new narrative is taking root in the story of George Floyd and the former police officer convicted of murdering him.

It is manifesting on online message boards, where Floyd is called a “drug addict” and “career criminal” who died of an overdose, not by the knee of Derek Chauvin. Social media posts say Chauvin was a ...Read more

OCALA, Fla. — The state wildlife commission on Wednesday endorsed Florida’s first black bear hunt in a decade, turning aside fears of animal advocates who worry the plan for a December hunt will lead to a needless slaughter of the state’s largest land mammal.

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission ended four hours of public debate and ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayoral front-runner Andrew Cuomo went on the offensive Wednesday following news that he’s under criminal investigation by President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, rolling out a campaign ad blasting the probe as a nakedly political effort to disrupt his momentum in the race.

The 33-second spot kicks off with a narrator ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Brooklyn immigrant who plunged to his death as FDNY firefighters worked to save him from a fire in his apartment above a Brooklyn bodega fell after the rescue ladder he stepped onto suddenly retracted, startling video seen by the New York Daily News shows.

Ashiq Hussain turned around backwards in the window of his third-floor ...Read more

SEATTLE — Something unusual happened when attorney Sofia Velling went to a Seattle immigration court hearing Tuesday with an asylum-seeker. Out of the blue, she said, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorney moved to dismiss deportation proceedings against her client.

Stationed in the hallway outside were several ICE officers — a...Read more

WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Doug Burgum defended proposed cuts to his department’s fiscal 2026 budget before a Senate panel Wednesday as lawmakers questioned an administration suggestion that some parts of the National Park Service could be managed by the states.

Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Chair Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska,...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Fluid left in bongs and water pipes can no longer be part of the total weight of a controlled substance when authorities charge people with drug offenses, under a clause tucked into a judiciary and public safety bill that has been sent to Gov. Tim Walz to sign.

The governor is expected to sign the 192-page bill in the coming ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — With federal agents arresting immigrants nationwide on a constant basis, Connecticut lawmakers voted Wednesday to strengthen the current law to maintain the independence of state and municipal police.

The controversial Connecticut Trust Act blocks local police from making an arrest that is based only on a request by federal ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday there was “no basis” for local prosecutors to open an investigation related to the state’s Hope Florida Foundation and called the Republican lawmaker who provided documents to the state attorney’s office a “jackass.”

In his most substantive remarks since the Times/Herald broke ...Read more

WASHINGTON — After an uncomfortable Oval Office encounter with Donald Trump, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa becomes the latest world leader hoping to mend relations only to discover the U.S. president has something else in mind: confrontation.

He was seeking to secure Trump’s favor: catering to his ego with golf swag, a cadre of ...Read more

Walt Disney Co. notified Florida-based employees who are losing temporary legal residency in the U.S. that their jobs would be terminated next month after the Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Trump administration could revoke protections for 350,000 Venezuelans.

The company sent an email to employees under Temporary Protected Status on ...Read more

While the Illinois village of Dolton is moving ahead with negotiations to buy Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home in the village, it’s unclear how trustees were consulted about the decision, which hasn’t been discussed at an open meeting.

As Mayor Jason House seeks to come to terms with the home’s owner, at the same time the village attorney ...Read more

A majority of Americans said discrimination in the United States is felt by several groups, but perceptions on which groups face it the most vary widely by partisanship, a poll found.

In general, Democrats said there was more discrimination overall when compared to Republicans, according to a survey by Pew Research Center released May 20.

The ...Read more

NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein accuser Jessica Mann faced an array of questions in Manhattan Supreme Court Wednesday on how long she kept up her “relationship” with the disgraced Hollywood studio boss even after she said he raped her.

In an hours-long, often contentious cross-examination session, Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala pressed Mann ...Read more