ATLANTA -- President Donald Trump doubled down on border security Wednesday and took aim at Democrats and the pharmaceutical industry as he vowed to fight the deadly opioid abuse epidemic.

Trump made the remarks at the Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit in Atlanta, an annual event that attracts thousands of addiction experts, treatment counselors ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker released 10 years of tax returns Wednesday, and like many of his neighbors, the New Jersey senator got stung by a new cap on deductions of state and local taxes.

Booker, one of 19 Democrats running for their party's 2020 presidential nomination, reported that he earned $152,715 in ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- A California Democratic Party employee sued the organization in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday, alleging he was repeatedly groped and sexually assaulted by former Chairman Eric Bauman.

William Floyd, who served as Bauman's assistant from March 2016 until November 2018, claims in the suit that Bauman performed oral...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- Even if he was startled by a loud noise, the Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Justine Ruszczyk Damond two summers ago would not have been justified in using a Taser or pepper spray -- much less his gun -- a use-of-force expert testified on Wednesday.

"The use of force was objectionable, unreasonable and violated police...Read more

WASHINGTON -- A Tennessee-based chain of pain clinics that abruptly shut down last summer faces five whistleblower lawsuits accusing it of defrauding Medicare and other health insurers by billing for hundreds of unnecessary urine drug tests and other dubious health services, newly unsealed court records show.

The federal suits target Tennessee-...Read more

MOSCOW -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday accused Moscow of crossing a "red line" by signing a decree to ease the process of obtaining Russian citizenship in eastern Ukraine.

"It's a fact that this is about the Kremlin preparing the next point of aggression against our country: the annexation of Ukraine's Donbass or the ...Read more

MIAMI -- Bodycam footage released Wednesday shows a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy punching an arrested man in the face while the man remained handcuffed to a hospital bed.

Deputy Jorge Sobrino claimed in the arrest paperwork that 27-year-old Boca Raton resident David O'Connell initiated the physical part of the encounter by pushing him in the...Read more

CHICAGO -- "Time froze" for Jason Van Dyke as he fired 16 shots at Laquan McDonald, the then-Chicago police officer told a psychologist in 2016 as he prepared for his murder trial.

Van Dyke told Dr. Laurence Miller that he was "not that good a shot with the handgun" and thought the shots may have been missing the teen as he walked down Pulaski ...Read more

NRA sues city of LA over its new contract disclosure law

LOS ANGELES -- The National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a new Los Angeles law requiring companies that seek contracts with the city to disclose whether they have ties to the gun rights group.

The suit was filed in federal court on behalf of the NRA, including ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump vowed Wednesday to fight a host of congressional efforts to scrutinize his conduct, business and policies, opening the path toward a constitutional clash that could last for the rest of his term or longer.

"We're fighting all the subpoenas," Trump told reporters, ascribing partisan motives to Democrats who ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said Congress should begin a Watergate-style investigation into President Donald Trump's attempts to obstruct Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election that she lost.

Clinton wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that lawmakers should undertake "...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- Mounting health problems left prominent Twin Cities businessman Irwin Jacobs reflective about his fate and distraught in the weeks before he killed his wife and then himself in their Lake Minnetonka home, his son said.

In an interview Monday, Mark Jacobs said his father, 77, had recently stopped driving because of incapacitating ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential hopefuls are embracing gun control as the 2020 campaign accelerates, deepening the divide in U.S. politics between rural areas with a rich gun culture and urban and suburban areas where the mood has turned in favor of tougher laws.

Bolstered by shifting public sentiment, the candidates are increasingly ...Read more

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A week after Indonesia's election, the nation remains deeply divided with both candidates continuing to claim victory, prompting the authorities to warn against public displays of discord.

President Joko Widodo and challenger Prabowo Subianto both say they've won the April 17 vote even though a dozen unofficial quick ...Read more