WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pulled back threatened military strikes against Iran, a stark reversal that came just hours after he vowed to hit the Islamic Republic “VERY HARD” and threatened to seize its oil infrastructure.

U.S. forces had already pounded Iran with airstrikes for two straight days when Trump on Thursday morning ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Human Services on Thursday said it’s restoring payments to more than 2,000 Medicaid providers after cutting off thousands of providers in programs considered high risk for fraud earlier this month.

Around 3,400 providers of services like home disability and mental health care lost access to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. and Iran are on the cusp of a deal to end their conflict. The reality has proven more elusive — in part because of the nature of the negotiations themselves.

The latest instance came Thursday, when Trump claimed that a deal was imminent, telling reporters that an agreement ...Read more

A federal lawsuit filed Thursday challenges a new Illinois law set to go into effect in September that would allow doctors to prescribe medication to terminally ill people to end their own lives.

Two disabled patients, a doctor and various disability and patients’ rights organizations allege in the lawsuit that the state’s controversial End...Read more

CHICAGO — Hillary Clinton used an audience at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s annual convention to lash out at the Trump administration Thursday, saying Democrats must combat a “revolution to turn the clock back,” a revolution that she said is eroding the building blocks of civil and voting rights established decades ago.

Clinton, a former...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday opened protected Pacific Ocean waters to commercial fishing, lifting restrictions that barred the activity within three marine national monuments.

With a presidential proclamation signed in the Oval Office, Trump removed the fishing limits within portions of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine ...Read more

DEARBORN, Mich. — Two top Trump advisers privately pushed back this week on plans to open the long-awaited Gordie Howe International Bridge, according to three sources familiar with the behind-the-scenes discussions.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had been appointed by President Donald Trump to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he is nominating Jay Clayton to be the next director of national intelligence, following backlash over his selection of housing regulator Bill Pulte to serve in the role on an acting basis.

Clayton, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, was chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Thursday he will try to get President Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence confirmed “as quickly as possible.”

“I don’t know what realistic is, but we’re gonna probe the limits of it,” the South Dakota Republican said.

Trump on Thursday afternoon...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pulled back threatened military strikes against Iran, a stark reversal that came just hours after he vowed to hit the Islamic Republic “VERY HARD” and threatened to seize its oil infrastructure.

U.S. forces had already pounded Iran with airstrikes for two straight days when Trump on Thursday morning ...Read more

NEW YORK — After persuading state lawmakers to give it more time, New York City Public Schools released a plan to reduce class sizes that allocates $244 million to hire new teachers across 360 schools.

The 68-page draft is required by a 2022 state law, which set the caps between 20 and 25 students, depending on their grade level. City schools...Read more

MIAMI — The six jurors in George Pino’s vessel-homicide and manslaughter trial took a road trip to North Miami on Thursday morning to view his boat, which was wrecked in the crash that killed a teenage girl and severely injured two others.

The jurors arrived around 10:30 a.m. in a black Dodge van, escorted by three Miami-Dade Sheriff’s ...Read more

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions Thursday on Union Cuba-Petróleo, known as CUPET, Cuba’s state energy company, accusing the island’s communist leaders of “having weaponized energy” to control the population and for their own “kleptocratic” benefit.

CUPET, which owns refineries and storage facilities, has also come...Read more

Four tons of invasive Burmese pythons were removed from South Florida ecosystems during the latest breeding season, setting a record for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.

The achievement marks a new milestone in the fight against the giant snakes, which are considered one of the greatest threats to the Everglades ecosystem because of their ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — In the middle of mundane City Council procedures on Thursday, cheers erupted inside Council chambers.

Supporters were celebrating the passage of a bill that will outlaw horse-drawn carriages in Philadelphia. The ban would take effect after Mayor Cherelle L. Parker signs it into law.

The city’s last operating horse-carriage ...Read more

BOSTON — The U.S. Marshals Service in Massachusetts, partnered with local police agencies, recovered 35 “high-risk missing children” in “Operation Yellow Card” ahead of the FIFA World Cup.

“The upcoming FIFA World Cup is a monumental event for Massachusetts, but large-scale international gatherings historically bring a heightened ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The city of Minneapolis will go back to the drawing board in deciding what to do with the former Speedway gas station across the street from where police killed George Floyd.

The City Council on Thursday rejected a city staff recommendation that the land be sold to and developed by a community violence prevention group called ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia School District officials and public education advocates were relieved Wednesday when Mayor Cherelle L. Parker announced she had reached a deal with City Council that will prevent 340 classroom positions from being eliminated amid the district’s funding woes.

But as limited details about the agreement began to ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — The U.S. Navy has spent millions of dollars on Idaho cleanup efforts associated with a fighter jet collision at a Mountain Home air show last month that involved two E/A-18G Growler aircraft.

Navy public affairs specialist Liane Nakahara told The Idaho Statesman in an email Thursday that the Navy has spent approximately $2 ...Read more