The Illini Republicans club at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is facing backlash after posting an illustration on social media of a masked gunman holding a weapon to a kneeling man’s head — alongside the caption, “Only traitors help invaders.”

The Instagram post, published Friday, also says Alex Pretti and Renée Good �...Read more

President Donald Trump defended his plan to shut down the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for two years, calling it necessary to complete a $200 million renovation that includes the installation of a new Carrier Global Corp. air conditioning system.

“It’s in very bad shape. It’s run-down. It’s dilapidated, sort of ...Read more

An Illinois appeals court may soon decide whether to undo a controversial order by a Cook County judge that kept video footage and other records sealed related to the slaying of Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera, after media outlets and the state’s attorneys office asked for the ruling to be vacated.

Such a ruling from the court would not...Read more

BALTIMORE — In a 99-37 vote Monday, the Maryland House of Delegates passed House Bill 488, fast-tracking a new congressional redistricting map to the Senate and setting the stage for a potential clash between Senate President Bill Ferguson and Gov. Wes Moore.

The bill, sponsored by Charles County Delegate C.T. Wilson, a Democrat, would ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — The federal government’s decision to directly buy stakes in mining companies is largely without precedent in American history, and two mines with Nevada ties have been among the biggest beneficiaries.

But now, three high-ranking Democrats in Congress have questions.

“By privileging select corporations through direct ownership...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Maryland House on Monday approved a new congressional map that would favor Democrats in all eight of the state’s districts.

The 99-37 vote sends the measure to the state Senate, where its prospects for passage remain uncertain. Bill Ferguson, the chamber’s top Democrat, has opposed his party’s push to eliminate Maryland...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Mayor Karen Bass, delivering the first of two State of the City addresses planned this year, urged Angelenos on Monday to come together ahead of the 2028 Olympics while announcing a push to clean up Los Angeles’ busiest streets in the run-up to the Games.

The mayor spoke at the Expo Center in Exposition Park in front of ...Read more

The two federal agents who shot and killed Alex Pretti during anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis were identified Sunday in a report.

Jesus Ochoa, 43, and Raymundo Gutierrez, 35, were identified as the shooters in government documents, ProPublica reported. They had not been named publicly prior to ProPublica’s reporting Sunday.

Ochoa is a ...Read more

A federal judge in Washington blocked the Trump administration Monday night from ending temporary immigration protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, many of them in South Florida, ruling that the Department of Homeland Security violated the law.

The decision halts, for now, the Trump administration’s decision to terminate Haiti’...Read more

Elon Musk is combining SpaceX and xAI in a deal that values the enlarged entity at $1.25 trillion, as the world’s richest man looks to fuel his increasingly costly ambitions in artificial intelligence and space exploration.

The acquisition of xAI was announced in a statement on SpaceX’s website signed by Musk and confirming an earlier ...Read more

A U.S. judge ruled that a wind farm being developed by Orsted A/S off New York’s Long Island can resume work halted by the federal government, the fifth such court win for an industry President Donald Trump has sought to cripple.

The Sunrise Wind project, which was losing $2.5 million a day while it sat idle, would “be irreparably harmed”...Read more

WASHINGTON — Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed Monday to appear for depositions as part of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s investigation of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as the House took steps to vote on contempt of Congress measures this week.

Attorneys for the Clintons informed the committee they accept terms...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump said he anticipated talks with Iran over a new nuclear deal in the coming days, building on a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at averting war between the two countries.

“We have ships heading to Iran right now, big ones, biggest and the best, and we have talks going on with Iran,” Trump told reporters Monday...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein once inquired about buying a private plane from University of Pennsylvania megadonor and Wharton School adviser Marc Rowan, emails released by the U.S. Department of Justice show.

The exchange, which appears among the three million documents unsealed Friday, occurred in early 2016, at a time ...Read more

Writer Neil Gaiman denied sexual misconduct allegations first brought forth against him more than a year and a half ago in a statement released Monday.

Gaiman, the bestselling fantasy author behind "The Sandman" comic books, and novels and shows "American Gods" and "Good Omens," called the allegations, which emerged in the summer of 2024, a "...Read more

BALTIMORE — The Howard County government revoked a building permit Monday that had been issued for a planned federal immigration detention facility in Elkridge, County Executive Calvin Ball announced during a news conference.

The detention center has been under construction in a former warehouse building in an office park at 6522 Meadowridge ...Read more

FRESNO, Calif. — A decades-old cold-storage facility in Reedley closed three years ago after an investigation is back under FBI scrutiny — and again, it’s tied to an illegal biomedical laboratory.

On Saturday, the FBI raided a home in Las Vegas, where they found “evidence of possible biological material to include refrigerators with ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that “every officer” in the field in Minneapolis will wear a body camera after a national outcry over the killings of two U.S. citizens in the city, potentially easing the path to pass a government funding deal.

“Effective immediately we are deploying body cameras to every ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — Democrat Jocelyn Benson raised the most money of the candidates running to be Michigan's next governor over the final two months of 2025, while Republican Mike Cox had the most cash still available to spend, according to disclosures that were due Monday.

The new reports detailed fundraising from Oct. 21 through Dec. 31 and ...Read more