U.S./World category, Page 69
DeSantis announces plans for 2nd immigration detention facility dubbed ‘Deportation Depot’
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is preparing to open a second immigration detention facility dubbed “Deportation Depot” at a state prison as a federal judge decides the fate of the state’s holding center for immigrants at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”...
Judge orders RFK Jr.’s health department to stop sharing Medicaid data with deportation officials
WASHINGTON — A federal judge ordered the nation’s health department to stop giving deportation officials access to the personal information — including home addresses — of all 79 million Medicaid enrollees. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services first handed over the personal data on millions of Medicaid enrollees...
Caribbean officials warn of heavy rain and monster waves as Tropical Storm Erin nearsVideo
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Officials in the northern Caribbean warned Thursday of heavy rain and dangerous swells as Tropical Storm Erin approached the region. The storm is expected to remain over open waters and move north-northeast of islands including Antigua and Barbuda, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and...
Costco forgoes sale of abortion pill, emboldening religious groups
Costco Wholesale Corp. has decided not to dispense the abortion pill mifepristone at its more than 500 pharmacy locations, a decision hailed by a group of faith-based activists who urged the retailer to avoid selling the drug. Costco said in a statement that it hasn’t seen consumer demand for the...
Washington homeless encampments clear out in anticipation of Trump crackdown
WASHINGTON — National Guard troops and Humvees guarded some Washington landmarks Thursday and advocacy organizations helped clear homeless encampments in advance of an anticipated crackdown as President Donald Trump’s takeover of city police ramped up. The multiagency flood of federal law enforcement ordered by the Republican president to tackle crime...
Pam Bondi fires Justice Department employee accused of throwing sandwich at federal agent
WASHINGTON — A man charged with a felony for hurling a sandwich at a federal law-enforcement official in the nation’s capital has been fired from his job at the Justice Department, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media post Thursday. A video of Sean Charles Dunn berating a...
Trump and Putin set to meet in Alaska for high-stakes summit on Russia-Ukraine war
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — U.S. President Donald Trump is meeting face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday for a high-stakes summit that could determine not only the trajectory of the war in Ukraine but also the fate of European security. The sit-down offers Trump a chance to prove...
Social Security has existed for 90 years. Why it may be more threatened than ever
WASHINGTON — When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law 90 years ago this week, he vowed it would provide economic stability to older people while giving the U.S. “an economic structure of vastly greater soundness.” Today, the program provides benefits to almost 69 million Americans...
Man accused of faking his death to avoid rape charges is found guilty of sexual assault in Utah
SALT LAKE CITY — A Rhode Island man accused of faking his death and fleeing the United States to evade rape charges was found guilty Wednesday of sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in his first of two Utah trials. A jury in Salt Lake County found Nicholas Rossi guilty of...
LA Olympics to sell naming rights to some venues in game-changing deal for 2028
Organizers of the Los Angeles Olympics will sell naming rights for a handful of its venues in deals expected to bring multiple millions of dollars to the 2028 Games while breaking down the International Olympic Committee’s long-sacrosanct policy of keeping brand names off its arenas and stadiums. The organizing committee...
6 planets are hanging out in early morning skies this month. Here’s how to spot them
NEW YORK — Six planets are hanging out in the sky this month in what’s known as a planetary parade. Catch the spectacle while you can because it’s the last one of the year. These linkups happen when several planets appear to line up in the night sky at once....
Melania Trump demands Hunter Biden retract ‘extremely salacious’ Epstein comments
WASHINGTON — First lady Melania Trump demanded that Hunter Biden retract comments linking her to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and threatened to sue if he does not. Trump takes issue with two comments Biden, son of former President Joe Biden, made in an interview this month with British journalist Andrew...
Casino lobby says illegal operators control one-third of U.S. gambling activity
Nearly one-third of all gambling activity in the United States is conducted with an illegal operator or at an unlawful site, according to the industry’s main lobbying group. A new analysis from the Washington, D.C.-based American Gaming Association claims that 31.9 percent of the total U.S. gambling market is controlled...
Man arrested for hurling sandwich at federal law-enforcement official in D.C.Video
A man has been arrested on a charge that he hurled a sandwich at a federal law-enforcement official in the nation’s capital amid a surge in law-enforcement patrols ordered by the White House, according to a court filing Wednesday. Sean Charles Dunn, 37, of Washington, D.C., approached a group of...
Federal agents will be out 24/7 on patrol in Washington, White House says
WASHINGTON — As a wary Washington waited, the White House promised a ramp-up of National Guard troops and federal officers on the streets of the nation’s capital around the clock starting Wednesday, days after President Donald Trump’s unprecedented announcement that his administration would take over the city’s police department for...
Trump administration’s lawsuit against all of Maryland’s federal judges meets skepticism in court
BALTIMORE — A judge on Wednesday questioned why it was necessary for the Trump administration to sue Maryland’s entire federal bench over an order that paused the immediate deportation of migrants challenging their removals. U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen didn’t issue a ruling following a hearing in federal court in...
Trump warns of ‘severe consequences’ if Putin does not agree to stop war after summit
BERLIN — President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that there will be “very severe consequences” if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not agree to stop the war against Ukraine after the two leaders meet for a summit later this week in Alaska. Trump made the comment in response to a question...
Environmental concerns could halt construction at Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigration jail
MIAMI — The fate of a makeshift immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed “ Alligator Alcatraz ” hung in the balance on Wednesday as a federal judge considered whether building on sensitive wetlands violated environmental laws. Last week, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered a 14-day halt on...
Mother, father and child killed by fallen tree in Tennessee heavy rain, floodingVideo
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A mother, father and child were killed when a tree fell on their car during heavy rain and flooding in Tennessee, where submerged roads also led to dramatic rescues of people trapped in their cars, authorities said Wednesday. The three were killed when saturated ground caused a...
6 people dead after a truck crashed into a van carrying members of an Amish group in Michigan
CARO, Mich. — A pickup truck went through a stop sign in rural Michigan and crashed into a van carrying members of an Amish community, killing at least six people, authorities said. The crash occurred Tuesday afternoon in Tuscola County’s Gilford Township, 100 miles north of Detroit. Thirteen people were...
Harvard and the Trump administration are nearing a settlement including a $500 million payment
WASHINGTON — Harvard University and the Trump administration are getting close to an agreement that would require the Ivy League university to pay $500 million to regain access to federal funding and to end investigations, according to a person familiar with the matter. The framework is still being sorted out...
Appeals court lets Trump administration suspend or end billions in foreign aid
WASHINGTON — A divided panel of appeals court judges ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can suspend or terminate billions of dollars of congressionally appropriated funding for foreign aid. Two of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that grant recipients challenging...
Trump announces George Strait, Sylvester Stallone, Kiss for Kennedy Center Honors; says he’ll host the awards show
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday named country music star George Strait, “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone, singer Gloria Gaynor, the rock band Kiss and actor-singer Michael Crawford among the first batch of Kennedy Center Honors nominees under his leadership as the center’s chairman and said he’ll host the awards...
Why many Americans are rethinking alcohol, according to a new Gallup poll
WASHINGTON — Fewer Americans are reporting that they drink alcohol amid a growing belief that even moderate alcohol consumption is a health risk, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday. A record high percentage of U.S. adults, 53%, now say moderate drinking is bad for their health, up from 28%...
Amazon expands its perishable delivery service, putting pressure on traditional grocers
NEW YORK — Amazon is now rolling out a service where its Prime members can now order their blueberries and milk at the same time as basic items like batteries and T-shirts and get them within hours. The online juggernaut said Wednesday that customers in more than 1,000 cities and...
