An urgent request appeared last July on the Facebook page of Trans Heartland, a Kansas-based transgender advocacy group. A young trans adult needed $289 after getting a traffic ticket for not having vehicle insurance.

“Donate if you can please,” the post said, followed by a heart emoji. Nearly $300 in contributions arrived.

But Kansas ...Read more

DEDHAM, Mass. — Jennifer McCabe searched for “hos long to die in cold” after John O’Keefe’s body was already discovered, according to a second prosecution digital forensics expert called in the Karen Read case.

“What I can state with a scientific degree of certainty is that that search occurred at 6:24 a.m. and was the last search ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he would sign a bill into law to prohibit doing exactly what his administration had proposed last year: building golf courses, hotels and other destructive amenities on state park land.

His signature would represent another step in an extraordinary — and rare — reversal of course for DeSantis...Read more

As more than 130 voting cardinals entered the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday to begin the secret process to elect the next head of the Holy See, a new poll finds that a plurality of U.S. Catholics want Pope Francis’ successor to continue his teachings.

The papal conclave includes the most electors ever — the bulk of them appointed by the late ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — A Clearwater Ferry passenger who was injured when another boat crashed into the back of it has filed a lawsuit against the Pinellas County man who said he was at the wheel.

Passenger Nicole Makelele was injured when Jeff Knight crashed a 37-foot powerboat into the Maddie’s Crossing ferry near the Clearwater Memorial Causeway ...Read more

CHICAGO — Former Brennemann Elementary School Principal Sarah Jackson Abedelal was found dead after she failed to show up for her sentencing in an overtime kickback scheme, her lawyer told a judge Wednesday.

Abedelal, 61, had been scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday morning before U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, who issued an arrest warrant ...Read more

BOSTON — Male students in Dover-Sherborn Middle School reportedly doctored disturbing AI-generated nudes of their female classmates in what one official called “child pornography,” according to a letter sent from a school committee member to parents.

“On September 16th, 2024, eleven female DSMS students were informed that a group of ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — A drug that gained international attention for its controversial off-label use during the COVID-19 pandemic could soon be available in North Carolina without a prescription.

House Bill 618, titled the “Ivermectin Access Act,” would require the state to issue a standing order by Oct. 1 allowing licensed pharmacists to ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — The woman killed by an alligator on a Central Florida lake Tuesday was attacked after her canoe passed over it in shallow water, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced Wednesday.

The attack occurred near the mouth of Tiger Creek on Lake Kissimmee, just east of Osceola County, where the woman and her ...Read more

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Shoppers across Missouri could soon be able to pay for their groceries and pay taxes with gold and silver.

Missouri lawmakers this week, in a move that surprised some, approved a controversial bill that would make gold and silver legal tender in the state. The legislation, which passed both chambers of the General ...Read more

A massive search is underway in Texas for a girl who hasn’t been seen in nearly seven years, an effort sparked after her mother was recently arrested for allegedly locking the missing girl’s 7-year-old sister inside a closet for weeks.

Ava Marie Gonzalez, who was never reported missing, was just 2 years old when she seemingly vanished in ...Read more

NEW YORK — Liquor is still allowed at President Donald Trump’s New Jersey golf courses, despite a state law barring felons from serving and profiting from the sale of alcohol.

The state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, or ABC, initially opted against renewing liquor licenses for the Trump National Golf Clubs — in Bedminster and ...Read more

The Yellowstone tour van crash that killed seven people in Idaho was caused by a pickup truck that crossed the center line, police said Tuesday.

A Dodge Ram pickup traveling westbound on U.S. Route 20 entered the oncoming lanes and struck a Mercedes passenger van traveling eastbound toward Yellowstone National Park on May 1, Idaho State Police ...Read more

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was in Springfield on Wednesday to decry Illinois’ policies that limit state and local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

“People are dying every day because of these policies. People are evading justice,” Noem told reporters during a news ...Read more

BOSTON — Mayoral candidate Josh Kraft rolled out a comprehensive plan to revamp the embattled Boston Public Schools, and in doing so unveiled a third major area his campaign sees as a vulnerability for Mayor Michelle Wu.

Kraft released a five-page “plan to provide current and future generations of Boston families the BPS education they ...Read more

CHICAGO — DePaul University’s President Robert Manuel testified before the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee Wednesday morning, apologizing for any harm caused to Jewish students, faculty and staff since the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

Manuel joined the presidents of Haverford College and California Polytechnic ...Read more

New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to reset ties between their nations and join forces to help strengthen the European Union’s defensive capabilities and competitiveness.

“As we face war on our continent, fierce global competition, accelerating climate and technological change, and threats of a...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran says some opponents of his plan to have the department partner with ICE have used "Holocaust-era language" to slander him as the state's only Jewish sheriff.

In a statement shared with The Inquirer this week, as civil-rights groups prepared for a Wednesday news conference to oppose an ICE ...Read more