CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson reversed course Saturday and announced he will not attend a slain cop’s funeral after the officer’s family told him to stay away.

Johnson’s office had said Friday he would go to the funeral for Officer Enrique Martinez, despite protests from the police union president who said he would not be welcome.

...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump nominated Chris Wright, who runs a Colorado-based oil and natural gas fracking services company, to lead the Energy Department.

Wright, the chief executive officer of Liberty Energy Inc., has no previous Washington experience. He’s made a name for himself as a vocal proponent of oil and gas, saying fossil fuels ...Read more

Chinese leader Xi Jinping told U.S. President Joe Biden that he’s ready to work with Donald Trump to improve the relationship between the world’s biggest economies.

Speaking in their final meeting before Trump takes office, Xi told Biden that the U.S. and China shouldn’t pursue decoupling and instead strive for peaceful existence over ...Read more

Billionaire Elon Musk voiced support for Howard Lutnick in the race to be President-elect Donald Trump’s next Treasury secretary as warring camps make final pushes for the coveted Cabinet post.

The infighting has delayed decisions on Trump’s economic picks even as he rushes to fill many other posts in his incoming administration.

Musk ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Tropical Storm Sara is forecast to slog its way over Central America this weekend but lose organization before remnants make their way into the Gulf of Mexico and get sucked back to the east toward Florida next week.

As of the National Hurricane Center’s 4 p.m. advisory, Sara was located about 25 miles west-northwest of Isla...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump may be looking at a chief Boston-based official as a leader of his administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

Todd Lyons, who led U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations field office for New England and was promoted in October to acting assistant director of field ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — Following the recent election results, many LGBTQ+ people are feeling frightened and uncertain about the future. A rally in support of the community is planned on Sunday at Blue Back Square in West Hartford and is expected to attract hundreds from around Connecticut and beyond.

The event starts at 11 a.m. and is planned to ...Read more

Buckle up, America.

President-elect Donald Trump has burst back onto the Beltway political scene, sparking outrage from critics and glee among his loyal followers by tapping controversial characters like Matt Gaetz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Elon Musk for his second-term Cabinet.

Just days after scoring a decisive election win, Trump has moved...Read more

The Biden administration is weighing a last-ditch push for an international agreement that would restrict financial support for foreign oil and gas projects before critical talks start in Paris.

Landing the deal is seen as essential to deliver on a promise President Joe Biden made his first year in the White House. But administration officials ...Read more

Russia’s war in Ukraine, which will reach its 1,000th day next week, must be brought to an end in 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview aired on Saturday.

“We, from our side, must do everything so that next year, this war ends by diplomatic means. This is very important,” Zelenskyy told “Suspilne” radio. ...Read more

With President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, numerous public health leaders are voicing fears that the nation’s premier health agencies will be weakened at a time when the country faces rising threats from infectious diseases, emboldened industry ...Read more

Billionaire Elon Musk voiced support for Howard Lutnick in the race for President-elect Donald Trump’s next Treasury secretary, offering a late boost to the candidacy of the Cantor Fitzgerald LP CEO as the incoming Cabinet takes shape.

Musk said on his social media platform X that he saw Lutnick as a disruptor compared to Key Square Group LP ...Read more

Voters in two red states agreed to increase their minimum wage in steps to $15 an hour and to require employers to give workers paid sick time, and a third red state also approved sick leave.

But a proposed $18-an-hour base wage in California failed, as did initiatives in two states to change the hourly rate for workers who earn tips.

The ...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump's victory should bring some clarity to Americans with student loans, but probably not in the way they'd hoped.

A flurry of Biden administration initiatives and court rulings against them have left millions of borrowers uncertain about their future payments. Many federal student loans, in fact, are stuck in a period ...Read more

When Ken Griffin decamped from Chicago, the billionaire financier left behind $94 million in ritzy condos and penthouses that once shattered price records and trumpeted his status as the richest man in town.

The homes are now emblematic of something else. Real estate bargain hunters are descending on Chicago, after an exodus of a wealthy elite ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s selection to serve as President-elect Donald Trump’s top health official is prompting questions from policy watchers over how the pick will handle the range of key health policies that would fall under his purview.

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and leading vaccine skeptic, has been vocal on his ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Kids missing school is a longstanding problem in Baltimore. But new data obtained by The Baltimore Sun and FOX45 shows absenteeism in city schools is more dire than previously known — with thousands of students missing a third, half, or majority of the school year.

Data shows around 11% of Baltimore City school students — more...Read more

Voters in several states this month delivered a stinging rebuke to ranked choice voting, clouding the future of an idea that had seen strong momentum in recent years.

Ranked choice voting, which allows voters to rank political candidates by preference, is used statewide in Alaska and Maine and in major U.S. localities such as New York City and ...Read more