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Leigh Vogel/Congressional Black Caucus Foundation/Getty Images North America/TNS

Maryland Gov. Moore's redistricting commission passes maps, state Senate leader Ferguson calls the group 'irresponsible'

Current News / News & Features /

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s redistricting advisory commission decided on Thursday to “recommend a congressional map to the Governor and the General Assembly,” after the group’s final meeting. The commission will make the submitted maps publicly available after Christmas and will hold two additional public meetings to gather feedback.

“...Read more

JUAN ESPARZA LOERA/The Fresno Bee/TNS

GOP won't allow vote on Obamacare premium relief as credits near end. Now what?

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WASHINGTON — With no hope of preventing Obamacare health insurance premium costs from soaring in two weeks, Democrats and a few Republicans turned to ways to stop the increases when Congress returns in January.

But getting any such action next month, or as long as Republicans control Congress, appears difficult.

The Republican-led House ...Read more

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

The Jeffrey Epstein files are finally set to be released. Here's what to know

Current News / News & Features /

After years of debate, investigations and conspiracy theories, the Department of Justice is scheduled on Friday to finally release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

The release will come nearly 20 years after federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida cut a remarkably lenient plea deal with Epstein that allowed him to avoid a lengthy ...Read more

Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson calls aldermen's debt sale plan a 'red line,' yet mum on budget veto

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CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson on Thursday singled out a debt collection measure as his latest nonstarter in the budget proposal crafted by his aldermanic antagonists, who showed no signs of slowing their march toward an imminent final vote.

Following a City Council meeting where aldermen teed up their 2026 spending package for potential ...Read more

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Chicago remains alert, even as Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino and his agents sweep in and out of town

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CHICAGO — It was almost as if they never left.

When Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino and a throng of masked federal agents returned to Chicago in a flash on Tuesday, residents across the city — armed with whistles, smartphone cameras and chat networks on encrypted texting channels — were just as quick to greet them.

“For our team, we...Read more

House Oversight Committee/House Oversight Committee/TNS

New photos, emails show evidence of Epstein's international sex trafficking

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In December 2006, Jeffrey Epstein was the target of a criminal investigation that the FBI had code named “Operation Leap Year.” A 14-year-old girl claimed that Epstein had sexually assaulted her. Palm Beach police took the case to the FBI because they discovered that he had raped and sexually molested more girls — and they suspected that ...Read more

Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Man accused of lighting woman on fire on Chicago train faces new charge in arson outside City Hall

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CHICAGO — A man accused of lighting a woman on fire on the CTA Blue Line last month has been indicted on additional federal charges alleging he lit a fire outside City Hall three days earlier.

Lawrence Reed, 50, was charged in a two-count indictment made public Thursday with terrorism against a mass transportation system and arson involving a...Read more

Mario Tama/Getty Images North America/TNS

TikTok says it signed agreements for a new US joint venture

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TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew told employees that the social media company and its parent, ByteDance Ltd., signed binding agreements to create a U.S. joint venture majority-owned by American investors.

In an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg, Chew said he was “pleased to share some great news” and said agreements with Oracle ...Read more

Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/TNS

State commission highlights 'unjustified' uses of tear gas, pepper spray by federal immigration agents in Illinois

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CHICAGO — After Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino and scores of his federal agents left Chicago last month, and immigration enforcement wound down, Matt DeMateo said daily life slowly but surely returned to normal.

Congregants started to fill church pews again on the Southwest Side and kids returned to school, said the CEO of the nonprofit ...Read more

Aaron Lavinsky/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Witnesses, DHS offer starkly different accounts after woman dragged in Minneapolis ICE operation

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MINNEAPOLIS — A viral video of an ICE agent dragging a woman across the pavement in south Minneapolis on Monday was met with outrage, while the Department of Homeland Security says agents moved to detain her after she vandalized a law enforcement vehicle but abandoned the arrest amid a clash with protesters.

People in the crowd said the woman...Read more

News briefs

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Trump bucked tradition with partisan end-of-year address

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump broke with past presidents with Wednesday night’s end-of-year address to the nation in which he raised his voice repeatedly and cast wide blame for a stubborn economy that has frustrated many Americans.

Former officials and analysts called the speech an ...Read more

Mario Tama/Getty Images North America/TNS

TikTok says it signed agreements to create new US joint venture

Current News / News & Features /

TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew told employees that the social media app’s parent company, ByteDance Ltd., signed binding agreements to create a U.S. joint venture majority-owned by American investors.

In an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg, Chew said he was “pleased to share some great news” and said agreements with Oracle ...Read more

Carlos Gonzalez/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Federal prosecutors charge 6 more people in 'staggering' Minnesota social services fraud scandal

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MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors announced new charges Thursday as they continue to investigate a massive fraud crisis across Minnesota’s social services programs, adding that 14 Medicaid-funded programs have cost $18 billion since 2018, more than half of which is fraud.

“Every day we look under a rock and find a $50 million fraud scheme...Read more

Bernhard Richter/Dreamstime/TNS

Widow of NYPD officer killed in Park Avenue mass shooting sues skyscraper owner, alleges security failures

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NEW YORK — A Park Avenue building where a rampaging gunman killed four people, including a New York Police Department officer on a paid security detail, didn’t have a single security measure to prevent the rifle-toting attacker from getting inside, a lawsuit filed by the slain officer’s widow alleges.

Officer Didarul Islam was apparently ...Read more

Chuck Fadely/Miami Herald/TNS

NASCAR star Greg Biffle, his family among 7 dead in North Carolina plane crash

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his wife Cristina and their two children were among those who died Thursday when a jet crashed at Statesville Regional Airport, according to a joint statement released by families of passengers.

Seven people in all were killed: Five adults and two children, according to the North Carolina ...Read more

Colleen Cronin/Boston Herald/TNS

'It's very scary': Brookline neighborhood on edge after MIT professor killed

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BOSTON — Tensions are running high in the normally sleepy Brookline neighborhood where an MIT professor was fatally shot Monday. Officials have yet to give an update on a suspect in the killing.

Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was shot multiple times in his Gibbs Street home Monday and died at an area hospital the next morning. According to the ...Read more

Mark Stockwell/Boston Herald/TNS

Judge sentences Brian Walshe to life for 'barbaric' murder of Ana Walshe

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DEDHAM, Mass. — A judge sentenced convicted wife-killer Brian Walshe to life without parole on top of consecutive maximum sentences for lying to police and mishandling a body in court Thursday morning.

Earlier this week, a jury found Walshe guilty of first degree murder for killing and dismembering his wife Ana Walshe at their Cohasset home ...Read more

Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia faces threat as Trump administration proposes rules to stop gender-affirming care for minors

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PHILADELPHIA — President Donald Trump’s administration proposed a sweeping set of rules Thursday designed to prevent hospitals from providing gender-affirming care to minors, a move that could have consequential implications for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

CHOP runs one of the nation’s largest clinics providing medical care ...Read more

Chuck Fadely/Miami Herald/TNS

NASCAR star Greg Biffle, his family among 7 dead in North Carolina plane crash, officials say

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his wife Cristina and their two children were among those who died Thursday when a jet crashed at Statesville Regional Airport, according to multiple sources.

The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office confirmed seven people were killed in the crash: Five adults and two children.

“I am ...Read more

Robin Platzer/Twin Images/UPPA via ZUMA Press/TNS

Nick Reiner not kicked out of parents' house the night before murders, report says

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Contrary to speculation swirling online, Nick Reiner was not kicked out of his parents’ house prior to the brutal murders of Rob and Michele Reiner, according to a new report.

The “When Harry Met Sally” director, 78, and photographer, 70, were found fatally stabbed at their Los Angeles home on Sunday afternoon. Nick, 32, was arrested ...Read more