TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In the rush to open a detention camp in the Florida Everglades for “some of the most vicious” migrants illegally in the country, state and federal officers detained a 15-year-old boy with no criminal record and sent him in handcuffs to Alligator Alcatraz, the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times have learned.

The teenager,...Read more

NEW YORK — Soon after he was named police commissioner by Mayor Eric Adams, Thomas Donlon made it a priority to examine the evidence storage practices in NYPD warehouses around the city.

He was stunned at what he found — and then shocked at the reaction from police brass, according to his blockbuster lawsuit filed Wednesday alleging top ...Read more

Ecologists in Australia were treated to an “adorable” surprise while reviewing thousands of images captured by their motion sensor field cameras.

There among photos was “a female bandicoot with three young at foot,” according to a July 15 news release from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy obtained by McClatchy News.

Experts called ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Federal scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology have identified a combination of substances believed to be responsible for a last week’s mass overdose in Baltimore’s Penn North neighborhood.

Lab testing revealed the presence of the following drugs in samples tied to the July 10 overdose event:

—...Read more

MEXICO CITY — They have fled to Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica and Spain. Most left in a hurry with few possessions, unsure of when — or whether — they would be able to return home.

As El Salvador cracks down on dissent, jailing critics of President Nayib Bukele, droves of human rights activists, journalists and other members of civil ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Capitol Police officers who were spread thin in recent weeks amid security concerns, an unpredictable congressional schedule and the July 4 holiday say they’re in danger of missing out on money owed to them as they bump up against pay limits.

The busy period has resurfaced debates about how best to meet the staffing challenges ...Read more

DENVER — The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday signaled it no longer believes Colorado can mandate utility companies close their coal-fired power plants, leading environmentalists to accuse the Trump administration of attacking the state’s plan to shift to 100% renewable energy by 2031 to meet its climate goals.

The EPA published...Read more

​WASHINGTON — Politics have largely stayed out of Julie Linton’s South Carolina pediatrician’s office over the years — that is, until recently. The Greenville physician has seen an uptick in the number of parents feeling reluctant or refusing to vaccinate their children.

Anti-vaccine messaging stemming from Washington, D.C., isn’t ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced, 12-0, the nomination of Emil Bove for an appeals court post Thursday after Democrats walked out of the vote for a controversial figure in the administration’s aggressive shake up of the Justice Department.

Republicans brushed past outrage from Democrats over accusations that Bove ...Read more

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., is calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to explain why the Trump administration has repeatedly ordered cuts to HIV/AIDS programs both at home and abroad.

In a letter to Kennedy dated Thursday, Garcia asserted that the Cabinet secretary has a history of peddling misinformation ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Baltimore charter school Dream Academy will open to pupils next year with an extra $1.4 million in its budget thanks to a new interpretation of grant guidelines by President Donald Trump’s administration.

That development was announced at the July 8 meeting of the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners by district CEO ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A change in state law has opened the way for one of Rochester’s most infamous killers to be released from prison.

David Brom, who was convicted of killing four family members in 1988 with an ax, is set to be released later this month, according to the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Brom, who was 16 at the time of the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — This week, reality TV show star Spencer Pratt posted multiple videos on social media savaging a proposed state bill on wildfire rebuilding. In one, Pratt told his 2 million TikTok followers that he consulted an artificial intelligence engine about Senate Bill 549. He said it told him the legislation would allow L.A. County to buy...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Senate early Thursday narrowly passed, 51-48, a $9 billion foreign aid and public media rescissions package, sending the spending cancellations sought by President Donald Trump back to the House where the clock is ticking to get it cleared by Friday.

GOP moderates Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska broke ...Read more

ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp has elevated Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Benjamin Land to a vacancy on the Georgia Supreme Court.

A lifelong Columbus resident, Land joins the court after the resignation of Chief Justice Michael Boggs and the promotion of Justice Nels Peterson to the chief role.

Kemp announced Land’s appointment to the state�...Read more

SEATTLE — While the country reels from a series of deadly and devastating floods, Washington and a coalition of other states are suing President Donald Trump’s administration to keep money flowing so they can guard against even more natural disasters.

The lawsuit from 20 states led, in part, by Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, argues...Read more

DENVER — The growth of one wildfire burning on Colorado’s Western Slope has slowed to a crawl, but four others continue to scorch thousands of acres, fire officials said.

Three of the four active fires in western Colorado were sparked July 10 during a lightning storm. The 2,274-acre Sowbelly fire, which hasn’t grown since Monday, was ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, D-West Sacramento, and Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters, plan to introduce legislation tightening California’s explosives permitting process, the lawmakers told The Sacramento Bee. The announcement comes two weeks after an unpermitted fireworks warehouse exploded in Esparto,...Read more