MINNEAPOLIS — The decision not to charge the Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Amir Locke during a botched no-knock raid in February came as little surprise to legal observers, many of whom said the law leaves members of the public at risk.

"If they had taken this to trial, this probably would have been dismissed out of hand," said ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Money. Cocaine. A gun.

Former Baltimore Police Sgt. Keith Gladstone admitted to stealing all of that, and more, during his testimony as a witness for the U.S. government in an ongoing trial against one of his previous subordinates.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise had Gladstone take the stand Tuesday to testify against former ...Read more

NEW YORK — Hip-hop icon Kidd Creole was convicted of manslaughter for stabbing a homeless man to death in 2017, despite the music legend’s self-defense claims.

Nathaniel Glover, 61, a member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, was found guilty of manslaughter after a Manhattan Supreme Court jury deliberated for about three hours ...Read more

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces carried out punishing strikes against key Ukrainian cities on Wednesday, brushing aside mounting world outrage over the execution-style killings of civilians even as Washington and its Western allies moved to impose sharp new sanctions against Moscow.

In suburbs around the capital, Kyiv, Ukrainian investigators ...Read more

China’s ruling Communist Party issued a rare call imploring rank-and-file members to help contain the coronavirus in Shanghai, a sign of the strain the locked-down financial hub of 25 million people is under as its worst outbreak to date spreads.

“We must dare to draw our swords and fight against all kinds of behaviors that interfere with ...Read more

North Korea might be considering conducting a nuclear test next week to coincide with national celebrations to mark the birthday of its deceased founder, the Biden administration’s point man for Pyongyang warned.

Sung Kim, the U.S.’s special envoy for North Korea, told reporters Wednesday that Pyongyang might be looking at some sort of ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — A SEPTA transit police officer was hospitalized in critical but stable condition after gun battle erupted Wednesday evening between police and a man suspected of shooting two women in the city's Frankford section.

The male suspect was later found dead inside an apartment building where he had barricaded himself and was firing ...Read more

CHICAGO — Russia President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is a warning that world democracy has gotten “flabby and confused and feckless” at a time of growing boldness and misguided support for authoritarianism, former President Barack Obama told a Chicago audience Wednesday.

“Putin represented a very particular reaction to the ...Read more

A fourth shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine increased protection against viral infection for only four to seven weeks, according to a massive study published Tuesday.

The study included 1.25 million people age 60 and over in Israel who received their fourth dose between January and March. Israel uses only the Pfizer vaccine.

People who got ...Read more

In the days after the Ukraine war began, the ruble’s collapse was a potent symbol of Russia’s newfound financial isolation.

International sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s regime sank it to a record low of 121.5 rubles per dollar, triggering memories of the battering it took during the 1998 Russian financial crisis.

Things looked dire enough...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Parkland school shooting trial ended its first week Wednesday, with several dozen potential jurors passing the first cut to serve on a case expected to last through September.

Despite the explosive nature of the trial, the first week opened quietly, with the Fort Lauderdale courtroom’s spectator benches almost ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas is in the worst drought conditions since 2011, when 95% of the state was in drought. Eleven years ago, parched conditions caused more than $7 billion in crop and livestock losses, sparked wildfires, pushed power grids to the limit and reduced reservoirs to dangerously low levels, according to the University of Texas ...Read more

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is on track for a Supreme Court confirmation vote this week as Republicans signaled they would not seek to stall her history-making appointment.

The vote to make Jackson the first Black woman to sit on the nation’s top court is now expected to take place no later than late Thursday after Sen. John Thune of South ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The man at the helm of a smuggling boat that capsized off Point Loma, ending in the deaths of three migrants, pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court Wednesday to his role in the tragedy.

Antonio Hurtado, a 40-year-old U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to felony charges of attempted human smuggling resulting in death and attempted ...Read more

Less than a year after raising the prices of Forever stamps, the U.S. Postal Service is hiking them up once again.

The USPS said Wednesday that it filed notice for a two-cent increase that will bring the price of first-class stamps to 60 cents a piece. The agency previously raised the price from 55 cents to its current 58 cents in August 2021. ...Read more

NEW YORK — Media critic and journalist Eric Boehlert has died following a bike accident in New Jersey. He was 57.

Boehlert was fatally struck Monday night in Montclair, where he lived with his family, about 20 miles northwest of New York City, his wife, Tracy Breslin, confirmed to the Daily News.

Calling him “an amazing husband and a ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an armed 22-year-old Amir Locke during a SWAT raid in early February will not be charged with a crime, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Wednesday.

Calling Locke a "victim" and urging policymakers to reexamine the police tactic of no...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Gov. Andy Beshear issued a veto Wednesday of a bill that would ban transgender girls from participating in girls or women’s sports grades six through senior year of college.

Senate Bill 83, sponsored by Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, sailed through Kentucky’s GOP-dominated state legislature with scant support from ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he is launching a criminal investigation to find out who leaked security video of an incident in which a deputy knelt on the head of a handcuffed inmate for more than three minutes.

The Times published video last month of the March 2021 incident and detailed efforts by department ...Read more