MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge ordered the release of two Venezuelan men accused of assaulting a federal immigration officer last month outside a north Minneapolis duplex, concluding that they do not present a heightened flight risk.

But they never made it out of the St. Paul courthouse.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Recently arrested streamer Neo Langston appeared Wednesday in front of a Los Angeles grand jury in connection with the suspected murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose dismembered remains were found in singer D4vd’s impounded Tesla last year.

Langston was arrested in Montana last month on a warrant from the LAPD for failure ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide detectives are looking for possible links among the recent slayings of four homeless people in Willowbrook, including the killing of former NFL lineman Kevin Johnson, who was stabbed to death last month.

Johnson, 55, known in his playing days as "Big Kev," was found dead after sheriff's ...Read more

NEW YORK — City Council Speaker Julie Menin plans to bring outdoor dining back to the streets and sidewalks of New York City year-round, she said Wednesday.

The practice, which surged during the pandemic, but has been scaled back significantly under additional regulations put in place by the city, drew widespread praise but also complaints ...Read more

DENVER — A 3-year-old gray wolf died last week in northwestern Colorado after an attempt by state wildlife officers to capture it during a collaring operation.

The breeding male was part of the King Mountain Pack, one of four known wolf packs in the state, according to a news release from Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The pack formed last ...Read more

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson held a South Side town hall Tuesday evening to again hammer the city budget, the latest score-settling between him and the City Council bloc that passed its own plan in December after rejecting key parts of his proposal.

The fiery meeting at the South Shore Cultural Center began with local Ald. Desmon Yancy, a ...Read more

DENVER — Colorado will pay $245,000 to a Muslim man who was forced to shave his beard in prison in violation of his religious beliefs, court records show.

Tajuddin Ashaheed brought the lawsuit against the Colorado Department of Corrections nearly a decade ago, after he was forced to shave his beard as he entered prison for a parole violation ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Lee H. Hamilton, an Indiana Democrat who went on to chair the 9/11 Commission and was one of his party’s foremost foreign policy mavens, has died at the age of 94.

First elected in 1964, Hamilton served 17 terms and went on to a busy retirement with his roles at, among other institutions and organizations, Indiana ...Read more

CHICAGO — A federal judge has dismissed a whistleblower lawsuit brought by a veteran police misconduct investigator against the city and the former chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability who resigned last year.

The lawsuit brought by Matthew Haynam claimed that his First Amendment rights were violated when he was ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that California this fall may use its new election map, which is expected to send five more Democrats to Congress.

With no dissents, the justices rejected emergency appeals from California Republicans and President Trump’s lawyers, who claimed the map was a racial gerrymander to benefit ...Read more

President Donald Trump sent a fresh warning to Iran’s leaders as U.S. military forces amass in the region, even as diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran appeared to remain on track.

“I would say he should be very worried, yeah. He should be,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, when asked about Iran’s ...Read more

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday that her agency is consulting with the Justice Department on how to proceed after a federal judge halted the administration’s decision to terminate temporary protected status for Haitians in the United States.

The TPS designation, which allows more than 300,000 Haitians to legally live ...Read more

The gunman accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., killing one and seriously wounding the other, has pleaded not guilty to the nine charges against him — including first-degree murder.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was also shot before he was taken into custody, made his brief court appearance Wednesday in a ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed an executive directive requiring all state agencies to cancel their partnerships with ICE.

“Public trust is essential both to keep members of the community safe as well as to keep law enforcement safe. Here in the commonwealth, we want to make sure that we’re making a clear line in the sand ...Read more

MIAMI — Ryan Wesley Routh, the man convicted of trying to kill Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for president was playing golf at his club in West Palm Beach, was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.

During his sentencing in Fort Pierce federal court, Routh generally listened and then read part of a 20-page statement that U.S. ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — White House border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday that the federal government is immediately withdrawing 700 law enforcement officers from Minnesota, marking the first significant pullback of Operation Metro Surge after weeks of heightened immigration enforcement across the state.

The announcement comes a week after Greg Bovino, ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — White House border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday that after getting “unprecedented” cooperation from Minnesota political and law enforcement leaders, the Trump administration is withdrawing 700 federal law enforcement personnel from the state “effective today.”

Homan then said that if Minnesotans want to end Operation ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The University of Southern California has named Beong-Soo Kim — interim president for seven months — as it 13th president, university officials announced Wednesday.

The USC board of trustees said it unanimously voted for Kim, 53, the university's former general counsel who previously worked as a federal prosecutor, to ...Read more

By the time Laura Farnsworth Dogu stepped onto the tarmac at Maiquetía International Airport near Caracas on Jan. 31, the assignment before her was already the most consequential of her career.

Tapped earlier this month by President Donald Trump as the United States’ lead diplomat to Venezuela, Dogu arrived in Caracas at a crucial political ...Read more