WASHINGTON — When immigration agents recently began conducting welfare checks on youths who had arrived at the border unaccompanied by their parents, advocates grew alarmed, fearing the tactic was a cover to target the minors, their adult sponsors and possibly others for deportations.

Stories of these unannounced visits popped up around the ...Read more

CHICAGO — At a once-vacant brownfield on the South Side of Chicago, a semitruck backed into an unassuming warehouse and unloaded a colorful batch of food scraps and spoiled products. The discards soon ended up in a massive tank that mimics a cow’s digestion — minus the release of gassy byproducts — where they were turned into compost and...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A battle is underway against an invasive mosquito behind a recent surge in the local spread of dengue fever in Southern California — and officials may have unlocked a powerful tool to help win the day.

Two vector control districts — local agencies tasked with controlling disease-spreading organisms — released thousands of ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump spent much of the last four years decrying Justice Department prosecutions against him and his supporters, and one of his first executive orders in January said it sought to end the “weaponization of prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process.”

But since then, Trump has used the power of his ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said that Sen. Thom Tillis’ decision not to support Trump’s nomination of Ed Martin as Washington’s top prosecutor is “disappointing.”

“It’s disappointing, because I know Ed,” Trump said. “He’s very talented. Crime is down in Washington, D.C.”

Trump was asked about Tillis’ stance ...Read more

A top U.S. Air Force official said Boeing Co. is proposing to deliver its new version of Air Force One by 2027 as officials look to satisfy President Donald Trump’s demand for the updated presidential jetliner before the end of his second term.

While Boeing aims to deliver the aircraft on the accelerated time line, “I would not necessarily ...Read more

NEW YORK — Arrests were underway late Wednesday as the New York Police Department moved in to clear about 100 pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University who had taken over Butler Library just days before final exams.

Several hours into the protest, Acting President Claire Shipman authorized the NYPD to enter campus, on top of a limited...Read more

FBI officials say they are conducting more than 250 investigations across all of their field offices into a group they describe as a “nihilistic violent extremist network” that looks to “sow chaos” and “bring down society.”

The FBI is investigating the so-called “764” online predator group that is known to push victims to “...Read more

A federal judge posed a new threat to President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, telling government lawyers he may order the U.S. to facilitate the return of alleged Venezuelan gang members who were deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

At a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said he is weighing ...Read more

North Carolina gun owners who want concealed carry handgun permits could soon have to apply only once in their lives, if a bill in the state legislature becomes law.

The current law requires concealed carry permit holders to renew the permits every five years.

Under House Bill 674, which passed the House on Wednesday evening, there would be a ...Read more

NEW YORK — Arrests were underway late Wednesday as the NYPD moved in to clear about 100 pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University who took over Butler Library just days before final exams.

Several hours into the protest, Acting President Claire Shipman authorized the NYPD to enter campus, on top of a limited number of arrests made by ...Read more

The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency is planning to eliminate the money-saving Energy Star appliance program.

The program — which began in 1992 under Republican President George H.W. Bush — called for some appliances like refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines to meet certain energy efficiency standards...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he’s unwilling to preemptively lower tariffs on China in order to unlock more substantive negotiations with Beijing on trade.

“No,” Trump said Wednesday when asked by a reporter if he is open to pulling back his 145% duties on Chinese imports to get the world’s second-largest economy to the ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina lawmakers have now approved multiple bills to allow private school teachers to carry concealed handguns on campus.

On Wednesday, the state Senate voted 29-18 to pass the Private School Security Act that sets conditions where private schools can authorize school employees and volunteers to carry handguns. Last ...Read more

Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday signed an executive order that formally restricts the unauthorized collection of autism-related data by state agencies.

Pritzker’s order responds to federal efforts under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to create databases of personal information for those with autism “without clear legal safeguards or ...Read more

A legislative effort to attack rising property insurance costs in Colorado failed in the last days of the session.

The bill, which was supported by Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway, would have tacked a 1% fee onto property insurance policies statewide, increasing the average premium by $32 per year. The ...Read more

NEW YORK — New York City’s Campaign Finance Board is sticking to its guns in denying Mayor Eric Adams more than $4 million in public matching funds for his reelection run — and will not give him another chance to challenge the decision until mid-July, the Daily News has learned.

The board first denied Adams the matching funds in December ...Read more

The California State Bar’s botched roll out of a new exam — a move that the cash-strapped agency made in the hopes of saving money — could ultimately end up costing it an additional $5.6 million.

Leah T. Wilson, executive director of the State Bar, told state lawmakers at a Senate Judiciary hearing Tuesday that the agency expects to pay ...Read more