DETROIT — Four people from Illinois accused of vandalizing the cliffs at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior in Michigan were fined and banned from entering the park for a year, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.

The punishment comes after park rangers on patrol came upon several vessels along the cliffs of the ...Read more

KANKAKEE, Ill. — Bob Wehrle sat in his driveway Wednesday morning and looked at the lot where his house once stood. His belongings and debris were scattered across his lawn, and his trailer was frozen in the air, pierced by a tree. It’s difficult to make out where the house ended and began.

Wehrle, 60, said he and his wife moved into their ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favor of bills that would cap late fees and interest that can be charged on medical debt and would require hospitals to develop financial assistance programs.

The measures now go to the state House for consideration. They were part of a bipartisan bid to combat rising ...Read more

MIAMI — During an explosive court hearing in the lawsuit accusing former Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo of using city resources to punish political opponents, an unexpected character with little connection to City Hall took center stage this week.

Jeffrey Epstein, the multimillionaire who was indicted on sex trafficking charges before his ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday vetoed a plan to give residents more time to pay their rent in the wake of the 12-week federal immigration surge that left many people scrambling to pay their bills.

Also Wednesday the Minnesota Senate began debating $40 million in emergency rental assistance for people who were affected...Read more

SAN DIEGO — There has been some confusion in San Diego and other Navy towns about whether sailors can wear their uniforms in public while the U.S. is at war with Iran, leading to a fleet-wide advisory on Tuesday.

“There is no directive on uniform wear for Sailors in the continental United States traveling to and from work, out in town, or ...Read more

MIAMI — Florida International University is accusing the members of a racist group chat among Miami campus Republicans of Student Code of Conduct violations that could lead to suspension or expulsion, the school’s president announced this week.

One member of the group chat — William Bejerano, who posted some of the most violent, racist ...Read more

Terror suspects Ibrahim Kayumi and Emir Balat, who became the focus of worldwide attention this week after allegedly of hurling two homemade bombs at an anti-Islam protest outside Gracie Mansion, had led relatively quiet lives in quaint, well-kept, Pennsylvania suburbs with their immigrant parents.

Kayumi, 19, lived with his parents in a $2.24 ...Read more

The Continental Army’s winter encampment at Valley Forge, between December 1777 and June 1778, is the stuff of legend. Chased out of Philadelphia by the British Army, George Washington and over 12,000 American troops retreated to Valley Forge, where they spent six long months harried by hunger, disease and the bitter cold.

In this ...Read more

Despite the scale of its military assault on Iran, the Trump administration’s reasons for entering into war have been inconsistent and vague, from regime change to the destruction of nuclear weapons, preempting military action by Israel, or the more chilling decree of following “God’s divine plan.”

Politicians, pundits and ...Read more

DENVER — Immigration agents who were involved in leaving “death cards” in the abandoned cars of arrested immigrants have been removed from field work and placed on office duty, a senior official in Denver’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office said Wednesday.

Gregory Davies, the assistant field office director, ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho schools may soon be required to hold a moment of silence at the beginning of each school day.

A bill making its way through the Legislature requires that teachers in all public school classrooms implement a minimum of 60 seconds of silence every morning. Students can spend the time reflecting, meditating, praying or doing...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — The director of the Idaho prison system has exclusive authority to set and revise the state’s protocols for carrying out the death penalty, and a lawmaker wants to ensure those decisions are not subject to judicial review.

In January, Rep. Bruce Skaug, a Nampa Republican, proposed the change in law and described it as a “...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Law enforcement agencies across California were recently warned that the Iran war could lead to a surprise drone attack in the Golden State, but sources told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday there’s no credible intelligence to support it.

In a memo sent to agencies who are part of a federal Joint Terrorism Task Force, the ...Read more

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s office continues to decline to explain why it removed one of its Democratic lawmakers from key caucus duties two weeks ago — prompting the House Republicans’ political arm to now accuse the office of lacking transparency about the situation.

In late February, House ...Read more

The U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran forced world governments to intervene to shore up energy supplies, even as President Donald Trump once again said fighting will end soon.

The International Energy Agency approved its largest-ever release of emergency oil reserves on Wednesday, a move to curb surging oil prices while a critical waterway ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leadership is not budging against pressure to use a so-called talking filibuster to pass the party’s voter identification legislation, despite President Donald Trump’s adding weight to that dogpile this week.

“We don’t have the votes either to proceed to get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if...Read more

WASHINGTON — Now that a long-delayed plaque honoring officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack has been given a temporary place on the Senate side, some say they aren’t giving up their fight for a permanent home.

A resolution adopted in January and led by Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., directed ...Read more

Attorney General Pam Bondi was quietly and quickly moved to secure military housing amid threats from drug cartels and critics over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, according to a report.

Bondi was relocated from her apartment in Washington, D.C., to one of several heavily guarded military bases in the city, after federal law ...Read more