MIAMI – Florida’s surgeon general wants to do away with all state vaccine mandates. But the first step in his plan targets four specific vaccines.

Earlier this month, the Department of Health had a meeting during which officials unveiled a proposal to drop the requirement for the chickenpox; the Hepatitis B; the Haemophilus influenzae type ...Read more

After years of debate, investigations and conspiracy theories, the Department of Justice is scheduled on Friday to finally release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

The release will come nearly 20 years after federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida cut a remarkably lenient plea deal with Epstein that allowed him to avoid a lengthy ...Read more

The U.S. and Ukraine’s European allies have put together a plan of security guarantees containing detailed, robust and serious measures to ensure that any peace deal with Russia holds, according to officials familiar with the proposals.

An 800,000-strong Ukrainian army would provide the first line of postwar deterrence, with weapons and other...Read more

Russia will be paying for its invasion of Ukraine for years to come even if the fighting ended tomorrow, as the government plugs a widening gap in the military budget with increasingly costly borrowing.

As U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for a deal to end the war, the future bill for Moscow keeps growing. In one of the final bond auctions ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles City Councilmember John Lee is facing a steep fine for his notorious 2017 trip to Las Vegas, with the city's Ethics Commission saying he must pay $138,424 in a case involving pricey meals and expensive nightclub "bottle service."

On Wednesday, the commission decided 4 to 0 that Lee, who represents the northwest San ...Read more

It’s pitch-black and frigid in the parking lot of an Italian restaurant in Michigan City, Indiana, by the time a small group of volunteers and immigrants gather in a circle, arms resting on each other’s shoulders and heads bent in prayer.

A pastor tells three Chicago-area men, who just hours ago had been released from an ICE detention ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — Over a year ago, Missouri voters approved enshrining abortion rights into the state constitution. Lawyers won court cases, blocking clinic restrictions. Providers promised that Missourians could access abortions close to home.

But today, appointments are hard to come by at the three Planned Parenthood clinics — in Kansas City, ...Read more

Alex immigrated to the U.S. as a toddler and has long felt haunted by his undocumented status.

In 2017, when he turned 15, he was finally old enough to apply for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, only for it to slip from his grasp right before he started the paperwork, when it was rescinded by the Trump administration.

Then, ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The trickle begins in the fall, some principals say: Students with a history of behavior or disciplinary problems or other issues show up in Philadelphia School District schools, often from city charters.

Students switch schools after the start of the school year for many reasons — and changing schools is fairly common in ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal immigration officials claim to have detained more than 400 undocumented immigrants this month.

But the legal fate of those men and women is increasingly being decided in secret.

Staff at immigration court inside the federal Whipple Building at Fort Snelling are increasingly barring government watchdogs, reporters and ...Read more

When Su Wang was in medical school, she donated blood. That’s when she learned she was infected with hepatitis B, a virus that attacks the liver and can lead to cancer and death decades later.

“I was 18, healthy, in college,” she said. “And suddenly I had a chronic illness I didn’t even know about.”

Born in Florida in 1975, Wang ...Read more

President Donald Trump looked to reassure Americans concerned about the rising cost of living by announcing plans to award a special holiday payment to military service members and roll out new housing reforms in the new year.

Trump announced the plans Wednesday during a prime-time address from the White House, which he used to extol his ...Read more

To veto, or not to veto?

That is the question facing Mayor Brandon Johnson as an alternative budget plan from defiant aldermen marches toward a vote. And his public absence Wednesday spoke volumes.

The mayor’s office canceled an afternoon news conference less than an hour before it was supposed to start, citing “ongoing meetings and budget...Read more

A white Columbia area man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with a case where a Black man out jogging near Spring Valley was fired upon, according to a Justice Department news release.

The federal grand jury, based in Columbia, has returned an indictment charging Jonathan Andrew Felkel, 34, with violating the housing ...Read more

China’s top diplomat expressed support for Venezuela on Wednesday, criticizing one-sided coercion hours after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of oil tankers to ratchet up pressure on the South American nation.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil that Beijing opposes “unilateral bullying” and...Read more

WASHINGTON — The dark-money arm of Donald Trump’s sprawling political operation entered 2025 with $84 million in the bank, highlighting the president’s fundraising prowess and offering insight into his war chest ahead of crucial midterm elections.

Securing American Greatness, a 501(c)4 organization, raised $275 million in 2024, according ...Read more

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court alleging Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have violated the rights of Minnesotans who’ve observed this month’s enforcement actions.

The 63-page lawsuit against ICE includes a long list of alleged encounters between ICE agents and “...Read more

An independent federal office is launching an investigation into the U.S. Department of Energy after it canceled $8 billion in funding for clean energy projects in California and other Democratic-leaning states.

The Energy Department Office of the Inspector General agreed to audit the agency after nearly 30 California lawmakers wrote a letter ...Read more

RICHMOND — Gov. Glenn Youngkin presented his final budget plan to the General Assembly’s money committee’s Wednesday. It’s a less ambitious proposal than in years past, which historically included the elimination of the car tax.

But the magnitude of meeting the commonwealth’s spending obligations next year was such that it crowded out...Read more