WASHINGTON — The Pentagon and the Vatican denied allegations of a rift following Pope Leo XIV’s criticism of the Trump administration and a news report of a contentious meeting between a papal envoy and a top U.S. defense official.

In separate statements, the two sides professed an eagerness to get along, saying the meeting that occurred in...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Twenty-one people are facing charges as part of a massive hospice fraud scheme that prosecutors say bilked California’s medical system out of $267 million.

Attorney General Rob Bonta on Thursday announced the results of an investigation called Operation Skip Trace. Five principal conspirators were arrested on suspicion of a ...Read more

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to hold talks with Lebanon as U.S. President Donald Trump said the Israeli leader is “going to low-key it” with strikes on the war-weary country, signaling some hope for deescalation.

Still, Netanyahu vowed to keep fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which on Wednesday suffered the ...Read more

Hunter Biden wants to fight either of President Donald Trump’s elder sons in a cage match.

The 56-year-old son of former President Joe Biden said it’s his understanding that popular YouTuber Andrew Callaghan is trying to put him in a ring with either Don Trump Jr. or Eric Trump.

Much the same way President Donald Trump routinely derides ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — After three hours inside the confines of the immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she discovered needlessly inhumane conditions, including 32 men housed in each cage, minimal food, and a persistent odor of urine.

“Everything about this screams ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Council member Ysabel Jurado called Thursday for allotting more than $360 million to developers and nonprofits building and preserving affordable housing projects.

The appropriation, which requires City Council approval, would fund 80 projects, with construction of 1,528 new units and ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will have wide latitude to keep his preferred pick leading the Justice Department after his firing of ally Pamela Bondi, including scenarios that could entirely avoid a Senate confirmation process well into the future.

Any permanent attorney general nominee could face a tough path to confirmation in the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Pivotal negotiations in Pakistan this weekend between the United States and Iran could hinge on developments in Lebanon, where ongoing Israeli strikes Thursday risked derailing a wider regional ceasefire.

Tensions only deepened amid reports of limited Iranian drone attacks across the region, and as Arab states warned that the ...Read more

NEW YORK — Sgt. Erik Duran, the NYPD “Cooler Cop” who killed a fleeing drug-deal suspect in the Bronx by hurling a heavy, ice-filled cooler at him, got a three-to-nine-year prison sentence Thursday, drawing cheers from criminal justice reform advocates and vitriol from the former cop’s followers.

Duran, 38, wept as he stood before Judge...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he was “optimistic” about a deal with Iran but later threatened Tehran over charging fees in the Strait of Hormuz, as Israeli strikes in Lebanon and the continued closure of the vital waterway jeopardized diplomatic talks.

“There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the...Read more

CHICAGO — A lawyer for imprisoned House Speaker Michael Madigan told a federal appeals court on Thursday his conviction on an array of corruption counts should be overturned because there was no evidence that he agreed to enter into a bribery conspiracy with ComEd or took any specific official action on the utility’s behalf.

In the long-...Read more

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani came into office on New Year’s Day with big plans, lots of enthusiasm and the mammoth challenge of putting his lofty campaign promises into action.

One hundred days later, the mayor has made headway on some of those campaign pledges, but he’s backpedaled or moderated his stance on others.

...Read more

Maryland leaders pledged to lower costs through the state budget, but economists say affordability isn’t actually easing for Marylanders.

When the cost of living is affordable, research shows, household income is equal to or greater than the price of essentials such as groceries, energy and housing. Economists noted that while budget funds ...Read more

DETROIT — The federal government is suing Washtenaw County authorities, accusing them of obstructing federal immigration enforcement operations by the administration of President Donald Trump.

Named in the lawsuit are Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, Sheriff Alyshia M. Dyer and the county's Board of Commissioners in a six-count, 53-page...Read more

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro outraised his likely Republican opponent, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, by 10-1 in the first quarter of the year — underscoring the Democratic incumbent’s grip on the governor’s race heading into the midterms, while Garrity failed to see a significant bump after receiving a coveted endorsement from President...Read more

A man who was shot by ICE agents in Northern California told his attorney that he only attempted to leave the scene after authorities had already fired on his vehicle — refuting the agency’s account of what prompted the shooting.

Patrick Kolasinski, the attorney for Carlos Iván Mendoza Hernández, said he spoke with his client at the ...Read more

NEW YORK — A Manhattan federal judge has vacated the Trump administration’s move to halt magnet school grants to New York City over its policies for transgender students.

Judge Arun Subramanian in a 10-page order Wednesday said the U.S. Department of Education failed to follow the procedures of Title IX — the federal civil rights law ...Read more

WASHINGTON — First lady Melania Trump made a rare public appearance at the White House on Thursday to tell reporters that she did not know about Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and that the convicted sex offender did not introduce her to her husband, President Donald Trump.

“The lies linking me to the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end ...Read more

Adek Stein – a Holocaust survivor from Bialystok, Poland – looked anxiously about the room, struggling with the question he’d just been asked. As his eyes searched his small audience, it was clear he was nervous. That itself wasn’t new. But the interviewer had asked about sexual violence during the Holocaust, and Stein’s face seemed...Read more