Russian leader Vladimir Putin has reportedly joined President Donald Trump as a dark horse candidate for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.

According to Newsweek, the state-owned Russian news agency Tass made the announcement and insisted the Russian government wasn't responsible for nominating its own strongman.

A collective of Russian public ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA - Only days after the U.S. House passed legislation to provide federal protection from hair discrimination in schools and employment, a group of Pennsylvania lawmakers held a virtual news conference Thursday to promote their own bills.

Known as the CROWN Act, the House bill, passed Monday, would ensure that people cannot be ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - To patrol a smoldering city in the two weeks after George Floyd's death, Minneapolis shelled out more than $3.3 million in police overtime costs - roughly 37 times more than normal, pushing the department past its annual budget.

The state's largest police force tapped 822 of its 855 sworn officers to pull extended shifts during ...Read more

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Unified School District's distance learning plan has caused "enormous learning losses" and left tens of thousands of Black and Latino students without a basic education, according to allegations in a class action lawsuit filed against the district Thursday.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Los Angles public school ...Read more

ATLANTA - The federal government's top infectious disease official attempted to reassure the public Thursday that he'll support safety standards set by federal officials for any COVID-19 vaccines and their work won't be swayed by politics.

"If (U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials) come and say this is the way we should do it, I've got ...Read more

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A day after grand jurors declined to charge officers for killing Breonna Taylor - a Black woman who was shot dead at night inside her own apartment six months ago - a quiet sense of mourning has engulfed this city tucked along the banks of the Ohio River, now the epicenter of national outrage over police killings of unarmed ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Nate Trujillo sat on a windy ridge and watched California's largest wildfire, the August Complex, work its way toward the cannabis-growing enclave of Post Mountain-Trinity Pines, where many of the locals are refusing to evacuate.

Law enforcement officers went door to door warning of the danger a few days ago, but "we couldn...Read more

MIAMI - Federal authorities are investigating thousands of dollars in suspicious personal spending by former Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on trips to Disney World, New York and other destinations, after the Miami Republican announced she was retiring in 2017, according to her defense attorney.

Miami attorney Jeff Weiner said the Justice ...Read more

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors announced they're investigating "potential issues" with a handful of mail-in ballots found in a Pennsylvania county, including several cast for President Donald Trump, who earlier seized on the probe as a sign of voting troubles ahead.

Prosecutors with the Middle District of Pennsylvania said Thursday that ...Read more

The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the school district where the Parkland mass shooting took place more than two years ago does not have to pay more than $300,000 in combined damages to the victims' families.

Attorneys for survivors and families of the 17 students and staff killed at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in ...Read more

Haiti's public works minister showed up at the offices of the government's watchdog agency Wednesday. But it wasn't an ordinary visit.

Joiseus Nader was accompanied by heavily armed men dressed in ski masks and black clothing. While they stood guard, civilians accompanying them snapped photos and took videos of some of the 300 employees and ...Read more

CHICAGO - Kyle Rittenhouse is scheduled for a hearing in Lake County court Friday morning that will focus on whether he will be sent to Wisconsin to face charges alleging he fatally shot two people and wounded a third during protests in Kenosha last month.

Lawyers for the 17-year-old from Antioch could waive his right to challenge extradition ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Two men promised to smuggle Cuban migrants into the United States via Mexico, but instead they tortured and extorted their victims, prosecutors say.

Reynaldo Marquez Crespo, 41, and Jancer Sergio Ramos Valdes, 33, both Cuban, face charges of alien smuggling and kidnapping in a South Florida federal court.

Crespo and ...Read more

WASHINGTON - Less than six weeks before Election Day, President Donald Trump traveled to North Carolina on Thursday to announce his commitment to protecting Americans with preexisting medical conditions and to issue another round of executive orders related to health care.

"We are delivering better care, with more choice, at a much lower cost ...Read more

As President Donald Trump and his wife emerged at the top of the Supreme Court steps on Thursday morning to pay their respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a throng of onlookers broke out into a deafening chant of "Vote him out," their words echoing against the historic marble building.

But Trump claimed afterward that he could barely hear ...Read more

WASHINGTON - During the last contested presidential election, John Roberts flew to Florida as a private attorney to advise its governor, Jeb Bush, how to navigate the fight ahead.

The governor's brother, George W. Bush, won that contest at the Supreme Court against Al Gore in 2000, became president, and later appointed Roberts to the high court...Read more