Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday said he’s working to ensure Illinois has help from top experts to defend its assault weapons ban, after the U.S. Supreme Court indicated this week it would hear arguments over similar bans in Cook County and in Connecticut.

“I think they will be attacking all of the assault weapons bans with this case that they�...Read more

DENVER — A federal appeals court in Denver has directed the Trump administration to provide bail hearings for many immigrant detainees in a ruling that will have major implications for hundreds of people held indefinitely in Colorado and across the West.

The unanimous opinion from the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals restores a...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento County reported its first human infection of West Nile virus this year, county health officials announced Thursday.

According to Sacramento County Public Health officials, a woman in her 60s tested positive for the disease and is still recovering. The announcement marks the second case of the mosquito-...Read more

More than 100 passengers were sickened in a recent norovirus outbreak on the Ruby Princess cruise ship that departed from California last month and arrived back at port Thursday.

The guests reported mild gastrointestinal illness during a 20-day voyage that departed from San Francisco on June 12, a spokesperson for Princess Cruises wrote in an ...Read more

BOSTON — Mayor Michelle Wu doubled down on her “safest major city” in America claim amid criticism from the city’s largest police union that recent violence has Boston trending more toward becoming crime-ridden Chicago “garbage.”

Wu’s office issued a statement Thursday saying the mayor is “proud” to continually shout out ...Read more

WASHINGTON — All aboard the Trump train.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday emerged from a rail coach painted specially for America’s 250th birthday bash, with both arms spread, as the awaiting crowd in Medora, North Dakota, cheered his arrival.

Moments later, as a pack of Theodore Roosevelt-era “Rough Rider” enactors on horseback ...Read more

CHICAGO — With the announcement of Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling’s retirement later this month, the search for the next head of the Chicago Police Department will soon begin in earnest.

The selection of CPD’s leader is always a high-profile affair — the superintendent is the most public-facing city employee aside from the...Read more

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Virginia’s new law barring law enforcement from wearing face masks, just hours before it was set to take effect.

The law, signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger in May, would have prevented officers from wearing facial coverings except in limited circumstances and required most agents to display identification ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. led a fractured Supreme Court this year that both expanded a president's power to run the government and dealt major defeats to President Donald Trump.

In Trump's second year back in the White House, Roberts and the court punctured his claim to have power with no limits.

The justices struck down...Read more

A team of South Florida fire departments led by the City of Miami Fire Rescue along with other international groups helped rescue Hernán Alberto Flores Gil on Thursday, a man who had been trapped under tons of rubble for eight days after the back to back earthquakes in Venezuela.

The City of Miami said that the South Florida teams worked ...Read more

When images of North Carolina’s booth at the Great American State Fair first surfaced last week, a Confederate battle flag displayed on multiple monitors became the latest controversy to hit the Washington, D.C., exhibit — raising questions about where the image came from and whether it bears any historical merit.

In fact, North Carolina ...Read more

Check your change: You might have one of the U.S. Mint’s special-edition coins celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday.

For one year only, circulating nickels, dimes, quarters, and half-dollars will feature new historical designs. Part of the U.S. Mint’s Semiquincentennial program, many of the coins entered circulation at the beginning of...Read more

Sen. Mitch McConnell is continuing his recovery in the hospital and working closely with his staff, according to a new statement from a McConnell spokesperson.

“Sen. McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the spokesperson said in a July 2 statement. “The Senator ...Read more

The very nature of fireworks makes them dangerous, so what can make fireworks so dangerous that they get recalled two days before the biggest fireworks day of all, July 4, Independence Day?

For an answer, check out Thursday’s recalls by Winco Fireworks International, based in the Kansas City suburb of Grandview, Missouri.

Winco recalled ...Read more

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s recent hospitalization is the latest in a string of recent significant health incidents for the 84-year-old lawmaker.

McConnell was hospitalized June 14, but his staff did not give details about his health at the time, other than to say he was receiving “excellent care.” The public has since received few ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia can’t prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other federal officers from concealing their identities, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Chad F. Kenney issued an order preventing Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration and District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office from ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab population saw an increase this year, despite still facing a concerning decline over the past decade, according to a news release Thursday from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

May’s winter dredge survey, conducted by Maryland and Virginia fisheries, predicted a jump in crabs to 349 million, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump made more than 21,000 securities trades in his first year back in office, often in intense bursts tied to market events he created.

The total dollar value of the trades was somewhere between $600 million and $1.86 billion, according to his financial disclosure for 2025, which lists values in broad ranges. ...Read more

A seasoned federal prosecutor in Miami began running a politically sensitive investigation into one of President Donald Trump’s enemies in January, but she would last only a few months because she didn’t see a legal basis for a criminal case.

Her exit from the probe in mid-April, however, didn’t stop the Justice Department from using the ...Read more