ATLANTA — Last year, David Lee was living on Atlanta’s streets, sleeping on a cardboard box and begging for change outside of a QuikTrip. That was until one day when a police officer approached him as Lee laid on the ground in the rain.

The officer asked what he was doing to which the Atlantan — who was struggling with substance abuse ...Read more

MIAMI — Citing a growing Muslim population in South Florida, an Islamic Center wants to open a cemetery that adheres to the religion’s specific burial rites on a seven-acre plot in the Redland.

“As this community expands, so does the need for a burial space. This is the fact of life,” said Dr. Tariq Chebbi, a well-known South Florida ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — San Diego County and California leaders in K-12 public education are bracing for a second Donald Trump presidency that they say is likely to threaten federal funding for low-income, special-education and other vulnerable students, erode protections for LGBTQ+ students and promote particular ideas of patriotism in schools.

Trump ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland has experienced a “significant increase” in cannabis-related emergency department visits, according to the Maryland Department of Health.

The health department launched a data dashboard last week to track public health impacts of cannabis and visualize trends pre- and post-marijuana legalization in the state.

The ...Read more

CHICAGO — Endeavor Health is spending up to $453 million to settle patients’ claims alleging one of its former doctors sexually abused them, the Chicago-area hospital system disclosed in its latest financial statement Monday.

The financial statement did not name the doctor. But Endeavor and Swedish Hospital are currently facing 61 lawsuits ...Read more

A cache of documents provided by JPMorgan Chase & Co. was what led British regulators to begin an investigation into the links between Jeffrey Epstein and former Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley, a court was told.

JPMorgan informed the Financial Conduct Authority in November 2019 that it had identified “various documents” ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Bracing for the return of President-elect Donald Trump, the Los Angeles school board is moving quickly to reaffirm the nation's second-largest school system as a sanctuary for immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community and to propose a new high school course delving into current political events.

These efforts are coming forward at the...Read more

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is considering pairing Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve official, in the Treasury secretary role, with hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as director of the White House’s National Economic Council, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bessent was offered the NEC post ...Read more

NEW YORK — A former Sean “Diddy” Combs bodyguard is making bizarre claims that the hip hip mogul took part in an animal sacrifice ritual in Central Park to keep him being convicted in the 1999 New York nightclub shooting for which rapper Shyne served time.

Shyne, born Jamal Michael Barrow, was eventually sentenced to 10 years for assault,...Read more

NEW YORK — Three people were fatally stabbed in Manhattan Monday morning in an unprovoked spree by a lone attacker, police said.

The suspect, identified by police as Ramon Rivera, is a 51-year-old resident of the Bellevue Men’s Shelter on E. 30th St. near First Ave. who randomly selected his victims, police sources said. Rivera was taken ...Read more

Tens of thousands of protesters including Maori warriors in traditional dress marched on New Zealand’s parliament Tuesday in opposition to a draft law that they say would erode the rights of Indigenous people.

The march, or "hikoi," began in the far north last week and culminated in the capital city of Wellington. Warriors wielding spears and...Read more

Lebanon and the Hezbollah militia have reached agreement on a U.S. plan for a cease-fire with Israel, Reuters reported on Monday.

Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, told the news agency that the government gave its response to Lebanon’s U.S. ambassador on Monday.

A U.S. official cautioned that ...Read more

NEW YORK — A doctor from the New York City chief medical examiner’s office said the likelihood Jordan Neely died from drug use or poor health — as Daniel Penny’s lawyers have proposed — was “vanishingly low” as the prosecution rested their manslaughter case against the former Marine Monday.

Dr. Cynthia Harris, during her third day...Read more

WASHINGTON — Key senators in both parties are demanding more information on a closely held House sexual misconduct probe into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. attorney general.

Calls for more scrutiny even from members of Trump’s own party signal that Gaetz’s confirmation process will be a rocky ...Read more

Elon Musk had a “massive blowup” with a top aide for President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago because the pair reportedly disagreed on Cabinet appointments.

Musk, believed to have spent around $120 million to get Trump elected, engaged the incoming president’s longtime adviser Boris Epshteyn in a “huge explosion” last week, ...Read more