BALTIMORE — Five years to the day after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, local leaders in COVID-19-related health care say the virus has forever changed Maryland, the U.S. and the world — in some ways, they said, for the better.

The WHO declared the pandemic on Wednesday, March 11, 2020, when case numbers and the ...Read more

Alexia Nunez presumed “things were going to be pretty bad” for transgender people under President Donald Trump, given his campaign rhetoric, but had decided to stick it out in the U.S. “as long as possible.”

Her breaking point came just days after Trump’s inauguration, she said, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Weeks after fires ravaged the region, many Angelenos were dissatisfied with Mayor Karen Bass' leadership, a new poll has found.

A little over 40% of registered voters in the city said they thought Bass did a poor or very poor job in responding to the fires, while just 19% characterized her response as excellent or good, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Legislation introduced by two Maryland Democrats on Tuesday would ensure that some federal workers who were fired since President Donald Trump took office would get credit for the time they already worked as probationary employees if they’re rehired.

The Protect Our Probationary Employees Act — from U.S. Rep. Sarah Elfreth ...Read more

BOSTON — The state’s highest court has issued a pair of decisions regarding the rights of nonresidents to carry firearms through the Bay State, finding that, while some of the commonwealth’s old licensing rules were in fact unconstitutional, changes made to the law in the wake of a major 2022 Supreme Court decisions pass the legal sniff ...Read more

New York City Mayor Eric Adams conceded Tuesday he hasn’t been formally campaigning for reelection yet, but said he would start “very soon.”

At a Tuesday press conference, Adams fended off the suggestion he might not be actually running because he does not have much visible campaign infrastructure like a campaign manager or spokesman.

�...Read more

More than two dozen elected officials, including mayoral candidates Brad Lander and Zohran Mamdani, are sending a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanding Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student detained by ICE, be released.

The letter, being sent Tuesday, also called on Columbia to stop “any and all�...Read more

The Greenlandic party seeking the fastest breakup with Denmark stands to gain a major boost, according to early counting of the votes in the parliamentary elections that have been overshadowed by Donald Trump’s plans to take over the Arctic Island.

The populist Naleraq party got about 36% in backing, after some 1,000 of the votes had been ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Education Department is pushing to terminate half of its more than 4,000 employees, the Trump administration’s first major step in dismantling an agency it has targeted to shutter completely.

Affected employees will be notified Tuesday, according to a senior administration official who outlined the plans to reporters on the...Read more

Less than two weeks after Donald Trump lambasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an Oval Office confrontation, the U.S. president put the pressure on Russia to accept a ceasefire agreement hammered out with Zelenskyy’s advisers.

The accord reached in Saudi Arabia by U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators for a 30-day halt in the conflict, ...Read more

The Washington state House passed a bill Monday that would cap annual rent spikes at 7%.

House Bill 1217, sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Nicole Macri of Seattle, cleared the chamber 53-42, with another three members excused. Five Democrats broke with their caucus colleagues by voting against the bill; no Republican voted in favor of the ...Read more

Illinois had a record year for solar growth in 2024 and can now draw enough energy from the sun to power 930,000 homes, according to a new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie.

Illinois added 2.5 gigawatts of solar capacity last year — nearly doubling the total amount in the state.

Only the sun-kissed states...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For 15 minutes — the length of a union-contracted break — employees of California’s Department of Education stood outside the agency’s headquarters Tuesday morning, voicing their frustration over the state superintendent’s decision to follow Gov. Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office order.

“It’s been a real win...Read more

DENVER — The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Denver field office is looking to add capacity to hold nearly 1,000 more detainees in Colorado or Wyoming.

ICE wants to add 850 to 950 beds within a two-hour drive of its Denver field office or its 10 sub-offices in Colorado or Wyoming, according to a “request for information” the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Hours after President Donald Trump announced to reporters that Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, a bipartisan group of senators took to the Senate floor to urge support for Ukraine.

The senators confirmed reports that the peace talks between Ukraine and the United States restored military support and intelligence sharing ...Read more

Cuts to the Johns Hopkins University might be on the way as federal funding for the school’s research is under fire from the Trump administration, according to a letter posted by the school’s Office of the President.

Referencing a “cascade of executive orders and agency actions,” Johns Hopkins President Ron Daniels wrote that he ...Read more

Funding freezes by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under President Donald Trump could have a “generational” impact on vulnerable Illinois communities and are already causing financial hardships for farmers, a state House legislative committee was told in testimony Tuesday.

“Farmers face so many challenges as it is, and now they must ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Immigration and Customs Enforcement increased in capacity in Southern Nevada and three other states or persons in the federal agency’s custody.

CoreCivic, a company that operates private prisons and detention centers across the U.S., announced contract modifications with ICE late last month.

One amended agreement adds up to 784...Read more