President Joe Biden’s economic agenda risks getting delayed by weeks or months in Congress with tax, health care and other issues still unresolved and continued squabbling between the Democratic Party’s progressive and moderate wings.

House committees on Wednesday wrapped up work on significant portions of the package, including $2.1 ...Read more

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected an appeal by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, made in a phone call, for Republicans to join with Democrats in raising the federal debt ceiling, leaving the two sides at odds with potentially weeks to go until the limit is breached.

“The leader repeated to Secretary Yellen what he has said ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Andrew Rypel grew up fishing on Wisconsin's pristine lakes and rivers. With just a worm on his hook, he caught suckers, gar, sunfish and other native fish he never saw in his game fishing magazines.

From a young age, Rypel loved all the fish species and it surprised him that others paid little attention to the native fish...Read more

Gary Popiel had to drive more than 200 miles round trip to visit his adult daughters in separate behavioral health facilities as they received psychiatric and medical treatment.

It was 2000, and the family’s only options for inpatient psychiatric beds were in Helena and Missoula — far from their Bozeman, Montana, home and from each other. ...Read more

COLUMBUS, Ohio — On a hot summer night in Senegal, Abdoulaye Lam dialed his wife's phone number as usual.

The Mauritanian native, 39, tried to hold back tears as his children — ages 3, 7 and 8 — talked about their lives in Columbus without him. Before hanging up, Lam told the kids how much he missed them and his wife that he wanted to ...Read more

It’s a struggle for Joe Gammon to talk. Lying in his bed in the intensive care unit at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, this month, he described himself as “naive.”

“If I would have known six months ago that this could be possible, this would have been a no-brainer,” said the 45-year-old father of six, who has ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Las Vegas visitors can still snap selfies with the mermaids swimming among tropical fish in the Silverton Casino’s massive aquarium and gaze at the colorful dancing water displays of the iconic Bellagio fountains — for now.

But southern Nevada and much of the American West are struggling to cope with a worsening drought that ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Litigation emerged as a key strategy under the Trump administration for immigrant advocates to halt sweeping policy changes, from attempts to rescind protections for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to efforts that narrowed asylum eligibility.

However, recent court rulings against the Biden administration�...Read more

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Underneath an open-air awning with aluminum ceilings and fans, on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital, patients trickle in to get a much awaited jab of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The list of takers at St. Damien Nos Petit Frères et Soeurs pediatric hospital in Tabarre includes a university professor, a nurse who works in a ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The United States will arm Australia with nuclear submarine technology as part of a new defense partnership announced Wednesday, one of many steps President Joe Biden is taking to strengthen alliances as a bulwark against China.

The agreement includes the United Kingdom, and it will also involve closer cooperation on ...Read more

The Ahmaud Arbery murder trial is still set to begin on Oct. 18, a judge decided Wednesday.

During a conference call, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley, who is presiding over the case, said the trial will proceed as scheduled unless COVID-19 levels soar once again in Glynn County, Georgia, said defense attorney Bob Rubin, who participated ...Read more

Residents over the age of 50 and other vulnerable people in the United Kingdom will be able to get a COVID-19 booster shot as soon as next week.

The U.K. on Tuesday announced a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine will be made available to those over a certain age, a day after the Conservative government also backed plans to roll out a single ...Read more

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Republicans are clamoring to thwart President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccination plan, with legislators weighing proposals that echo the new state law prohibiting local enforcement of federal gun laws.

The president's announcement last week that the federal government will require most workplaces with more than ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to take up a case that could toss a Minneapolis policing proposal from the November election, just two days before early voting is set to begin.

The measure clearing the way for Minneapolis to replace its Police Department with a new agency has become the dominant issue in the ...Read more

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A new era of space travel blasted off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday night with the launch of the all-civilian crew aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon.

The four members of the Inspiration4 mission rode in what is only the fourth trip for a Crew Dragon with humans on board after its first three missions ferrying ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Hampton lawyer Alex Murdaugh plans to turn himself in to law enforcement Thursday after police obtained an arrest warrant to charge him with conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, his lawyer said.

Murdaugh is expected to leave an out-of-state drug rehabilitation clinic Thursday and voluntarily surrender in Hampton, according ...Read more

ATLANTA — Georgia’s government is soon launching radio ads, local newspaper announcements and print brochures to promote free ID cards for voters who need them to cast a ballot.

The marketing campaign is funded by $250,000 budgeted by the Georgia General Assembly last spring along with the state’s new voting law, which requires state ID ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — At least four more Los Angeles police officers are suspected by prosecutors of putting false gang information on field interview cards, according to an internal record from the L.A. County district attorney’s office.

The claims bring the total number of Metropolitan Division officers suspected of inputting false information on...Read more

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has called for state oversight of Aurora's department Wednesday after investigators found police there exhibited a pattern of racial bias, used excessive force and broke a law requiring them to document stops.

The investigation, which stemmed from the death of 23-year-old Elijah ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The rules governing recall elections in California will be subject to new scrutiny and possible changes, as two state legislators said Wednesday that the failed effort to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom from office was too costly and needlessly confusing.

Although election returns remained incomplete following Tuesday’s ...Read more