The federal government will take another step Monday toward releasing nearly $2 billion to repair Puerto Rico’s troubled electrical grid, part of a pool of money withheld from the island for years even as it struggled to recover from the devastation of 2017’s Hurricane Maria.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development will publish a ...Read more

Last Friday, Earl Bunting welcomed visitors to his Limington, Maine, orchard for “pick your own” strawberry season. “We opened at 7 a.m.,” says Bunting, “and when we opened, our parking lot was full.”

Luckily, he says, there was plenty to pick. “Our crop looks great,” he says. “We had a very mild winter,” and the Maine ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Unless one of them wins the lottery, the four men convicted of burning down Minneapolis' Third Precinct station are going to be paying off the bill from that night for the next 20 years.

This month, a federal judge sentenced Bryce Michael Williams, the last of the four charged with torching the police station during last year's ...Read more

U.S. President Joe Biden’s point man for North Korea is set to hold talks with nuclear envoys from South Korea and Japan in a bit to build a united front pushing to end Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.

Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, is scheduled to hold discussions Monday morning in Seoul with South Korean ...Read more

AUSTIN, Texas — To close out his latest statewide speaking tour, Beto O'Rourke hosted a rally at the Texas Capitol on Sunday to pressure Congress into taking action on voting rights legislation pending before the body.

O'Rourke, a former congressman and presidential candidate from El Paso, has been crisscrossing the state as part of his "For ...Read more

Barnaby Joyce is Australia’s deputy prime minister for a second time after he was selected as leader of the Nationals, the junior partner in Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s coalition government.

The high-profile Joyce, 54, was elected leader of the rural-based party during a meeting of its federal lawmakers in Canberra on Monday. He ...Read more

A British man has died 15 months after first contracting COVID-19, his wife said.

Jason Kelk, 49, was hospitalized in Leeds in March 2020, according to The Guardian. However, he died Friday after he was transferred to a hospice center.

Kelk is believed to have been Britain’s longest-known COVID-19 patient.

“It was definitely important for...Read more

President Joe Biden’s administration rejected Nicolas Maduro’s call for relief from U.S. sanctions, saying the Venezuelan leader needs to do more toward restoring democracy before penalties would be lifted.

Maduro, a target of crippling U.S. sanctions under former President Donald Trump, reached out to Biden in an exclusive Bloomberg ...Read more

The series of flight cancellations from American Airlines this weekend will continue to plague Monday travelers.

Almost 100 flights from the airline have already been canceled for June 21, according to a representative from American Airlines Group Inc. That’s following 123 flights canceled on Saturday and at least 178 on Sunday.

“The first...Read more

Millions of elderly Americans on Medicare would get dental, vision and hearing insurance added to their health benefits under a proposal pushed Sunday by Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Americans age 65 and older have since the 1960s received subsidized health care coverage under Medicare — but ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of burglary after breaking into a Bel-Air home, swimming naked in the pool and killing the owner’s pet parakeets, according to police and home surveillance footage.

Police responded Thursday afternoon to a burglary call in the 1000 block of Casiano Road, said Officer Mike Lopez, a ...Read more

Guests lined up to board Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.’s Freedom of the Seas on Sunday, marking the first cruise from a U.S. port since the pandemic suspended operations 15 months ago.

Passengers filed into PortMiami with suitcases in tow, a sight last seen in the world’s largest cruise port in March 2020. Freedom of the Seas can carry ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — UNC Faculty Chair Mimi Chapman published an open letter Saturday asking university employees, students and supporters to press trustees to approve tenure for Nikole Hannah-Jones, saying action is needed to salvage UNC’s reputation and academic integrity.

The letter, shared on Twitter, summarizes some of the developments so ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland health officials reported no new deaths due to the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the first time the state has gone a full day without any new COVID-19 fatalities since October.

The Maryland Department of Health reported Sunday that no state residents have been reported dead from the virus in the past 24 hours. The ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Orange County's district attorney, in an effort to gather information on additional possible road rage incidents involving a Costa Mesa pair accused in the fatal freeway shooting last month of 6-year-old Aiden Leos, has set up a hotline and is asking for the public's help.

Authorities believe that, between December 2020 and June...Read more

WASHINGTON — China will risk international isolation if it fails to allow a “real” investigation on its territory into the origins of the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Sullivan’s comments follow last week’s call by Group of Seven leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden ...Read more