WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned Food and Drug Administration staff about the influence of the “deep state” on the agency in an all-hands meeting Friday where he also made off-color comments about children with developmental disabilities.

FDA employees gathered at the agency’s Maryland-based headquarters for a “viewing party...Read more

Lawyers for British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell said they asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her 2021 sex-trafficking conviction, arguing she was shielded from prosecution under a deal her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein reached with the government in a separate case.

In her petition, which was provided by her lawyer, Maxwell argued she ...Read more

Luigi Mangione’s attorneys argued Friday that federal prosecutors should be precluded from seeking the death penalty for the Towson, Maryland, native on charges that he killed a health insurance executive.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi’s announcement earlier this month directing prosecutors to pursue capital punishment in the case was “...Read more

MEXICO CITY — A war over water is brewing at the U.S.-Mexico border.

This week, President Donald Trump threatened Mexico with new tariffs for failing to deliver billions of gallons of water under a 1944 treaty governing the dispersal of three rivers that run through both countries.

“Mexico has been stealing the water from Texas farmers,�...Read more

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Following a wave of schools and professional sports teams over the last 20 years scaling back usage of Native American-themed names, imagery, mascots and logos, the Democrat-led Illinois House has advanced legislation that aims to place a statewide ban on such usage from elementary through high schools.

The legislation has...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The federal government has revoked the legal status of 43 international students associated with Northwest Missouri State University, the school said in a statement Friday afternoon.

Five of the people are current students and the remaining 38 are “optional practical training students” who graduated but remained in the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A federal judge denied President Donald Trump’s request to dismiss a lawsuit over comments he made last year about five men who were wrongly convicted in the 1989 jogger rape case and came to be known as the “Central Park Five.”

U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone on Thursday ruled that the case accusing Trump of defaming...Read more

ATLANTA — It was the middle of the night, and Walmart employees were just a few hours into their overnight shifts in an otherwise empty Newton County store when horror broke out.

One of their co-workers went on a multisite shooting rampage that would leave two people dead and seriously injure a third, the sheriff’s office said. The ...Read more

Officials from the U.S. and Iran are set to meet Saturday in Oman for the highest-level talks on the Islamic Republic’s advancing nuclear program since 2022, a sign of Tehran’s eagerness for sanctions relief and to avoid the crippling military attack that President Donald Trump has threatened.

Each side’s distrust of the other runs deep, ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida House Republicans on Friday issued letters to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, demanding text messages, emails and records that stretch back years as the chamber tries to investigate possible wasteful government spending in the executive branch.

The House is demanding administration officials turn over the ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Gov. Brad Little on April 3 signed a law banning government entities, including cities, from flying non-“official” flags on their property.

In lawmakers’ debates over the bill, supporters shared pictures of the LGBTQ+ Pride flag outside Boise’s City Hall as an example of the flags they hoped the law would bring ...Read more

NEW YORK — An immigration judge in Louisiana ruled Friday the Trump administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who served as a negotiator on behalf of his classmates at Columbia University with the school administration.

Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans gave Khalil’s lawyers until April 23 to seek a ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Some immigration advocacy groups are beginning to move away from popular apps like WhatsApp and toward Signal, an encrypted app seen by many as more secure, amid growing uncertainty surrounding new anti-immigration policies.

At least that’s what happened with the Florida Immigrant Coalition, a well-known group that defends ...Read more

NEW YORK — A day after a tourist helicopter crash in the Hudson River killed six people including a Spanish CEO, his wife and three children, many local elected officials renewed their calls to outlaw non-emergency chopper traffic above New York City — but Mayor Eric Adams, whose support would be key to achieving any such prohibition, argued...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge denied Friday a request by 27 organizations representing Christian and Jewish denominations to block a policy from President Donald Trump’s administration that allows for immigration enforcement agents to enter houses of worship without a warrant.

The ruling comes less than two months after a different federal...Read more

LOS ANGELES — More than 150 miles of electrical power lines damaged by the Palisades and Eaton fires in Malibu and Altadena are slated to be replaced with underground lines, Southern California Edison announced Friday. The years-long project would reduce the future risk of wildfire in the devastated communities, officials said.

The company’...Read more

NEW YORK — A tourist couple next in line behind a Spanish family that died in a Hudson River helicopter crash said visitors to New York might start thinking twice about taking flights around the city.

“We are really shocked. I was shaking,” said Melissa Maertem, 23, who is visiting Manhattan from the Netherlands with her partner, Melissa ...Read more

President Donald Trump on Friday backed switching the U.S. to permanent daylight savings time, a move that would eliminate the often disruptive moving of clocks back and forth twice a year and offer more sunlight later in winter afternoons.

Trump weighed in on the controversial topic as Congress considers whether to keep the current system, ...Read more

The ACLU of Michigan filed a federal lawsuit Thursday asking the court to reinstate four international students at Michigan universities whose student immigration status were terminated by the Trump administration.

The lawsuit asks the court for an temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction requiring the government to reinstate the ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday asked President Donald Trump to make a presidential emergency declaration for 12 northern Michigan counties and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

The designation could qualify the state for "up to $5 million in immediate public assistance to support emergency efforts" in the wake ...Read more