Ian Jackson hired and paid for an attorney to defend him in a 2020 murder case. But two years after his second-degree murder arrest, Miami prosecutors successfully sought a first-degree murder indictment — and opted to seek the death penalty.

Jackson, 32, is accused of killing two men minutes apart on June 22, 2020. One of the killings ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The landmark Supreme Court decision axing a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana has intensified redistricting battles across the nation, rippling as far as Washington state. The ruling has renewed a Republican challenge to Washington's new legislative districts while spurring some Democrats to seek new congressional...Read more

BOSTON — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu took action to try to tamp down a revolt after learning that “some” councilors were mobilizing to vote against her $4.9 billion budget and seek additional funding to prevent painful cuts.

Wu sent a rebuke to councilors in a Thursday letter, saying that a vote to reject her proposed budget for next fiscal ...Read more

State lawmakers are planning a new tax on some New York City homes purchased in cash, state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said Thursday, as new details about the governor’s planned pied-à-terre tax were also revealed.

That new surcharge is expected to be included in the state budget, which is now more than six weeks late.

The tax on cash ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom reaffirmed his decision to call state workers back to government offices during his final budget revision presentation Thursday, appearing exasperated that his employees are still resisting a four-day, in-office requirement.

“While I’m empathetic to change, we’ve been previewing this for...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an antiabortion challenge to federal regulations that permit sending pills through the mail once a patient has consulted a doctor online.

The justices granted an emergency appeal from the makers of mifepristone and set aside an order from a U.S. appeals court in Louisiana that would have ...Read more

BOSTON — The auction for the Lexus SUV at the heart of the Karen Read murder trials was cut short after a private offer for an undisclosed amount was made.

That’s according to a source at Manzi Personal Property Appraisers & Restorers, which hosted the auction scheduled for 3 p.m. on Thursday at its offices at 22 Prospect St. in Woburn.

...Read more

NEW YORK — State lawmakers are planning a new tax on some New York City homes purchased in cash, state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said Thursday, as new details about the governor’s planned pied-à-terre tax were also revealed.

That new surcharge is expected to be included in the state budget, which is now more than six weeks late.

The ...Read more

CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana on Thursday and met with Raúl Castro’s grandson to deliver a message: The United States’ offer to help Cuba economically is genuine, but it has an expiration date.

Ratcliffe visited Havana to discuss the essential steps the Cuban regime must do to build a productive relationship with the ...Read more

After Xi Jinping regaled Donald Trump with goose-stepping soldiers and flag-waving children, the Chinese leader’s warning that Taiwan could lead to “clashes” between the superpowers amounted to a thunderclap in the choreographed world of Communist Party politics.

Cautioning American presidents against interfering with the self-ruled ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosures show that he made a slew of stock and bond purchases with major American companies in the first quarter of the year totaling in the tens of millions of dollars and possibly more.

The transactions, spelled out in a pair of documents filed with the U.S. Office of Government ...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump signaled China is willing to support negotiations with Iran, as he pushes for a diplomatic resolution to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, after a commercial vessel was apparently seized near the United Arab Emirates.

Trump, who is visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, said his counterpart ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington acknowledged Thursday the tight timeline he faces in deciding whether to pause President Donald Trump’s executive order to create a national voter list and limit mail voting nationwide.

Congressional Democratic leaders, the Democratic National Committee and party campaign committees, as well as ...Read more

Gov. Henry McMaster formally called back South Carolina lawmakers to Columbia to finish their work, including taking up efforts to redraw congressional districts.

Because lawmakers did not end the session Thursday with a sine die agreement in place, the governor is allowed to call them back but technically can’t direct what they work on. He ...Read more

DENVER — The Trump administration’s goal of deporting the ex-wife and children of the man who carried out an antisemitic attack on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall last year could ultimately derail the federal criminal case against the man, a federal judge said Thursday.

Senior Judge John Kane declined to issue an order blocking the ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Touting the state’s “dominance” in industry and technological innovation, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in his final budget presentation as governor that surging revenues from the artificial intelligence industry allowed him to close the state’s budget deficit for the next two years.

Newsom said he is keeping his promise...Read more

Following the Florida education commissioner’s March memorandum to protect religious rights in public schools, the state board of education tweaked its policy to clarify its stances on excused absences for religious instruction or religious holidays.

The new rule clarifies that each school district must adopt a policy to allow “release time...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Anytime it rains, trash comes flushing through storm drains and gutters, into rivers and downstream straight into the ocean and onto beaches.

The picturesque beaches that Southern California is known for look more like landfills as piles of debris blanket the landscape. Trash fills the Pacific Ocean, threatening marine life and ...Read more

DETROIT — A privately run immigration detention center in northern Michigan has failed to provide necessary medical care to detained immigrants and limited their access to lawyers and court proceedings, two civil rights groups alleged in a letter sent Wednesday to Kevin Raycraft, the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's ...Read more