BALTIMORE — The 2026 Maryland legislative session will open Wednesday with a projected $1.4 billion budget deficit and rising energy costs, alongside debates over affordability, education, immigration, and health care.

The Baltimore Sun reached out to all 188 members of the Maryland General Assembly. 25 lawmakers responded by email or phone ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Sheriff Rochelle Bilal has garnered national headlines and condemnation for calling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “fake, wannabe law enforcement” and sending a blunt warning to immigration officers who commit crimes in Philadelphia.

“If any [ICE agents] want to come in this city and commit a crime, you will not...Read more

NEW YORK — When Mayor Zohran Mamdani tapped Kamar Samuels to lead New York City’s public schools, the chancellor could’ve expected his new gig would involve putting out fires — metaphorically.

Intsead, two five-alarm fires broke out in the Bronx and Queens on the first couple of days of classes after the winter break. The blazes sent ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday on a challenge to Idaho’s law banning transgender women and girls from participating in sports that align with their gender identity.

Idaho in 2020 became the first state in the country to categorically bar trans women and girls from women’s and girls sports teams after Gov...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Two people allegedly used $100 counterfeit bills at dozens of In-N-Out Burger restaurants in Southern California in a wide-reaching scam.

Glendale police officials said in a statement Friday that 26-year-old Tatiyanna Foster of Long Beach was taken into custody last month. Another suspect, 24-year-old Auriona Lewis, also of Long...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California cities may be forced to close homeless shelters next year if the Legislature approves Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget.

The $349 billion budget, which Newsom released Friday, would omit a large homelessness grant that cities and counties have relied on each year to address the severe crisis since Newsom ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Large, organized protests condemning the ongoing immigration operation in Minnesota are continuing this weekend following Wednesday’s fatal shooting of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross.

A large gathering was assembling the afternoon of Jan. 10 calling for justice for Good and for ICE to leave Minnesota.

The ICE operation...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A clash between U.S. Border Patrol agents and protesters at Roosevelt High School in south Minneapolis on Jan. 7 has attracted national attention and social media commentary, and led former Gov. Jesse Ventura, a Roosevelt graduate, to condemn the federal agents’ actions in a viral video.

The confrontation occurred less than 3 ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — The U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro is being felt far beyond Venezuela.

In Florida, communities with ties to other authoritarian-led nations in Central and South America say the move to arrest Venezuela’s president could reshape immigration and regional stability.

Those like Jaime Arellano, who have firsthand experience with ...Read more

The U.S. may lift additional sanctions on Venezuela as early as next week to facilitate oil sales, Reuters reported, citing an interview with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“We’re de-sanctioning the oil that’s going to be sold,” Bessent was quoted as telling the news agency. He didn’t identify which curbs may be removed, the ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA could be sending a crew on the Orion spacecraft out past the moon in less than a month if everything falls into place. But first the agency has to get its rocket to the launch pad.

That could as early as next Saturday when the mobile launcher topped with the Space Launch System rocket and Orion could make the 4-mile slow ...Read more

Social media platform X will open its new algorithm to the public in seven days, Elon Musk said on Saturday, including the code used to decide what posts and advertisements are recommended to users.

“This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed,” Musk, who owns X, said in a ...Read more

Honduran President Xiomara Castro ordered a recount of November’s presidential election that was won by Nasry “Tito” Asfura, a conservative candidate supported by Donald Trump.

Among the reasons for her decree, Castro said the electoral council has refused to count 4,774 electoral ballots and also to review 292 challenges. She said her ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — As ICE conducts what it describes as the “largest immigration effort ever” in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area, federal agents have been questioning and arresting people inside homes, vehicles and businesses.

On Thursday, Jan. 8, Bridget Keller joined hundreds of others at Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis seeking answers ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Three of Minnesota’s Democratic members of Congress were denied a request to tour a federal immigration detention facility the morning of Jan. 10. Federal officials say they needed to make request seven days in advance.

Reps. Kelly Morrison, Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar arrived at the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling ...Read more

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down amid ongoing criticism that he was too slow in denouncing pro-Hamas chants by demonstrators outside a Queens synagogue Thursday, saying that demonstrators’ screams were “wrong” and have “no place in our city.”

“There’s no place for support for a terrorist organization in...Read more

The U.S. launched missiles in Syria on Saturday, the latest attack on Islamic State militants following the December deaths of two U.S. soldiers, according to U.S. Central Command.

The attack comes after President Donald Trump vowed to do “big damage” to the militants behind the deadly attack of two U.S. Army soldiers and a U.S. interpreter...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The federal government's Boeing E-4B Nightwatch — a military aircraft known, somewhat alarmingly, as the "Doomsday Plane" — touched down at Los Angeles International Airport this week, in what may be the famed aircraft's first-ever LAX landing.

Aviation enthusiasts spotted the plane on Thursday on its approach to LAX. Billed...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Three of Minnesota’s Democratic members of Congress were denied a request to tour a federal immigration detention facility Saturday morning.

Reps. Kelly Morrison, Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar arrived at the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling about 9:30 a.m. to tour the operations. The representatives say they were invited...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot and killed Renee Good on a south Minneapolis street served in a multitude of law enforcement roles during a two-decade career that also included military service.

Federal court records show Jonathan Ross’ career includes U.S. military experience and mostly high-level ...Read more