Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and first lady MK Pritzker met with Pope Leo XIV in Rome on Wednesday, where they discussed the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the two formally invited the pope to visit Chicago, the governor’s office said.

“It was an honor for MK and me to meet with @Pontifex — a son of Illinois — to ...Read more

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey is rejecting the argument that her opposition to two gas pipelines coming to Massachusetts is a contributing factor to soaring energy costs.

Following an event at the State House Wednesday, the Herald asked Healey about her placing the blame on President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian products for increases in...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Silvia Reyna, a Sacramento-area undocumented woman who is suing a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor for sexual harassment, re-entered the United States on Wednesday — three weeks after she was wrongly deported, her family said.

Accompanied by her daughter Briana Hernandez, Reyna crossed the U.S.-Mexico...Read more

CHICAGO — A Chicago federal appeals court on Wednesday put the brakes on a lower court’s preliminary injunction restricting the use of force in Operation Midway Blitz, saying it is “overbroad” and improperly targets virtually the entire executive branch, including President Donald Trump.

In agreeing to issue a stay, however, the 7th U.S...Read more

WASHINGTON — Travis Hill didn’t satisfy the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee that he’s addressing cultural problems at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, but the panel approved his nomination to chair the agency along party lines on Wednesday.

The panel voted, 13-11, to recommend Hill for the job on a permanent basis. ...Read more

Attorney General Pam Bondi raised major doubts Wednesday about how much of the Jeffrey Epstein files she will release to the public even after a bill requiring full transparency won lightning-quick, near-unanimous passage in both houses of the usually deeply divided Congress just a day earlier.

Before President Trump had even signed the bill as...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A vast canyon of buried garbage has been smoldering inside a landfill in the Santa Clarita Valley, inducing geysers of liquid waste onto the surface and noxious fumes into the air.

In the Inland Empire, several fires have broken out on the surface of another landfill. In the San Fernando Valley, an elementary school has ...Read more

Tom Pritzker, cousin to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and a Hyatt Hotels magnate, is repeatedly named in documents released last week from the estate of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The trove of more than 20,000 documents, made public by the House Oversight Committee, includes emails between Tom Pritzker and Epstein from ...Read more

WASHINGTON — GOP health panel leaders in the Senate on Wednesday seemed intent on quickly implementing a health savings account proposal to replace expiring health care tax credits that subsidize insurance plans used by millions of Americans, despite increased skepticism from Democrats and even some House Republicans.

During a Senate Finance ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Duquesne University has tapped David Dausey, the school's current provost and a nationally recognized epidemiologist, to serve as the Catholic institution's 14th president.

School officials announced the selection during a news conference Wednesday morning. Dausey will take the university's helm in July.

"This is the greatest ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The parents of a Kentucky infant who consumed potentially contaminated baby formula and became sick with a life-threatening disease are suing the company that produced the formula.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court Nov. 12 by lawyers representing Richmond residents Hanna and Michael Everett. It alleges their 4-month-old ...Read more

NEW YORK — The developers selected to build an affordable housing complex on the site of Manhattan’s Elizabeth Street Garden sued Mayor Eric Adams and his top deputy, Randy Mastro, on Wednesday over their attempt to block the project by designating the site as “parkland.”

The lawsuit, brought by a consortium of developers and social ...Read more

CHICAGO — Late Monday night, federal authorities said a man in all black approached a young woman on a Blue Line train, took out an iced tea bottle and poured clear liquid onto the woman’s head. Then he set it on fire.

Lawrence Reed allegedly stood at the front of the train car and watched as the 26-year-old woman, “engulfed in flames,”...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hundreds of protesters lined up outside a south Charlotte Home Depot on Wednesday morning to protest the arrest of day laborers by federal agents.

Protesters on both sides of North Wendover Road held signs and cheered as drivers — including two men in a large Home Depot moving truck — drove by and honked in support.

...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose State University community was on edge this week following the discovery of graffiti threatening violence against Asian, Jewish and Muslim members of the community.

The message, which warned of a mass shooting at the college campus in the next three days, was found Tuesday at MacQuarrie Hall. It was paired with...Read more

BERKELEY, Calif. — A 19-year-old UC Berkeley student rushed to a hospital last week after being taken unresponsive from a fraternity has died, police said Wednesday.

Authorities did not identify the person immediately. The incident happened last Friday.

Emergency crews responded about 11:25 p.m. to the fraternity in the 2400 block of ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — The death of an 18-year-old aboard a Carnival Cruise Line ship earlier this month could result in charges being filed against a teenage stepbrother as the FBI continues its investigation, according to filings in Brevard County family court.

A motion filed Monday by a lawyer representing the stepmother of Anna Kepner seeks to ...Read more

MIAMI — The FBI is investigating the mysterious death of a teenage girl whose body was found on a Carnival cruise ship this month, and the focus is on one of her step siblings, according to a court filing obtained by the Miami Herald.

Anna Marie Kepner, 18, was found dead on board the Carnival Horizon as it was heading back to PortMiami from ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in a case against a former Whittier detective accused of multiple counts of assault.

Jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on charges that stemmed from a 2020 incident in which the officer, Salvador Murillo, opened fire on an unarmed fleeing suspect, striking the man twice in the ...Read more