A patient of mine, a veteran who had tried to quit smoking for over a decade, told me that after he started a GLP-1 drug for his diabetes, he lost interest in cigarettes. He didn’t use a patch. He didn’t set a quit date. He simply lost interest. It happened without effort.

Another patient on one of these drugs for weight loss told...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan ballot committee said Wednesday that it collected more than 750,000 signatures in support of an effort to put a proposal before voters that would require individuals to provide proof of citizenship and photo ID in order to vote.

Americans for Citizen Voting planned to turn in its petition signatures Wednesday ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Early voting for the April 21 referendum on redistricting ahead of the 2026 midterms is set to begin on Friday.

The referendum and other surrounding procedures are the subject of ongoing legal challenges, but the vote on it is being allowed to move forward as planned following rulings — the latest on Wednesday — by the ...Read more

U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick voted Wednesday against advancing a war powers resolution that would have barred President Donald Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran without congressional approval.

The vote came days after United States and Israel launched a missile attack on Iran, killing that nation’s supreme leader, ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Mayor Brandon Scott signed an executive order this week aimed at shielding Baltimore residents from federal immigration enforcement while providing city-backed legal support.

The “Protecting the Rights and Well-Being of Baltimore City Residents” order bars Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from using city-owned ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein voted to subpoena U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify on her handling of Justice Department files on the disgraced financier.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee voted 24 to 19 Wednesday to issue the subpoena.

A Justice Department spokesman didn’t immediately ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The White House tentatively aims to release President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal the week of March 30, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the plan.

That timing would put budget delivery some eight weeks after the statutory due date of the first Monday in February, though presidential budgets often ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a war powers resolution Wednesday designed to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities in Iran, as the Trump administration accelerates its military campaign in a conflict that has killed hundreds, including at least six American service members.

The motion failed in a vote of 47-53.

In addition to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. war effort against Iran was “accelerating” as American and Israeli forces fought for control of Iranian airspace and pressed farther inland to seek and destroy Iranian missile capabilities, top U.S. officials said Wednesday.

“Four days in, we have only just begun to fight,” said U.S. Defense Secretary Pete ...Read more

BOSTON — Karen Read is pushing back against the O’Keefe family in the wrongful death lawsuit against her, as she claims that she never told Turtleboy, “I’m dead. I’m (expletive) dead.”

That alleged quote was included in a recent court filing from the family of the late John O’Keefe. The family is suing Read for the death of her ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan ballot committee said Wednesday that it collected more than 750,000 signatures in support of an effort to put a proposal before voters that would require individuals to provide proof of citizenship and photo ID in order to vote.

Americans for Citizen Voting planned to turn in its petition signatures Wednesday ...Read more

TROY, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday she would need more information before deciding whether Michigan would join at least 23 other states in opting in to a federal scholarship program giving taxpayers up to $1,700 for private school tuition or other educational uses.

The Democrat governor said President Donald Trump's Education ...Read more

NEW YORK — A parolee with a criminal record that includes 131 prior arrests in New York City was busted Wednesday for setting a homeless man on fire as he slept at Penn Station, according to police and prosecutors.

Damon Johnson, 47, is charged with attempted murder and assault for the attack on Monday that left a 37-year-old man with second-...Read more

WASHINGTON — The White House tried for a fifth day Wednesday to explain why the United States is waging war in Iran — this time it was press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s turn — as Democrats said the president has not made a clear case.

Leavitt led her Wednesday press briefing by dubbing the Iranian government led by Ayatollah Ali ...Read more

WASHINGTON — As Congress prepared to vote on whether to rein in the American assault on Iran, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman joined Pennsylvania Republicans in continuing to enthusiastically support the military effort while other Democrats railed against what they said was an increasingly dangerous and unnecessary war.

Fetterman has spent the days...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A respiratory virus that doesn’t have a vaccine or a specific treatment regimen is spreading in some parts of California — but there’s no need to sound the alarm just yet, public health officials say.

A majority of Northern California communities have seen high concentrations of human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, detected in ...Read more

DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has again signaled that he thinks Tina Peters’ prison sentence was too harsh as he considers granting some form of clemency — though not a full pardon, his office confirmed Wednesday.

In a social media post Tuesday night, Polis — who has also faced months of pressure from President Donald Trump to ...Read more

The Federal Aviation Administration is extending its ban on U.S. commercial airlines flying into Haiti’s gang-ridden capital, while also widening the restricted airspace beyond Port-au-Prince to include parts of southern and central Haiti as well as the Artibonite region.

“Gangs have increasingly conducted violent attacks in the Artibonite ...Read more