Michael Whatley said Wednesday his first act in Washington, D.C. if elected to the U.S. Senate would be introducing a federal version of “Iryna’s Law.”

Iryna’s Law is a North Carolina law named after Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee killed on a Charlotte light rail train last year.

Speaking at the Fraternal Order of Police lodge in ...Read more

A scaled-back version of the Maryland bill to reduce auto-charging children in adult court and to house minors charged as adults in non-adult facilities is set to pass out of the State Senate on Friday. It marks the first time in 14 years that a version of the auto-charging reform made it out of committee in either chamber.

The Youth Charging ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Republicans unsuccessfully sought to block a redistricting referendum from going before Virginia voters next month by challenging the process used to get the issue on the ballot. Now, a conservative legal group is running a similar play in an attempt to block a constitutional amendment that would preserve abortion rights from ...Read more

BOSTON — A State House hearing on a bill to ban ICE officers from making some civil arrests devolved into a partisan fight over protecting the public or illegal immigrants.

Lawmakers on the House Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security heard testimony Wednesday at a forum on the Protect Act (H. 5158), filed by the Black and Latino ...Read more

The Iranian warship IRIS Dena was in the Indian Ocean when a Los Angeles-class U.S. attack submarine fired an MK-48 torpedo, setting off a massive explosion that lifted the ship’s stern out of the water before sinking the vessel.

The U.S. Defense Department highlighted the attack — releasing black-and-white video footage that showed the USS...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — When a jury is asked to decide whether Brianna Moore caused the death of her newborn daughter in a University of Tampa dormitory, their decision could come down to what medical and psychological experts say.

On the defense side are doctors who say the 19-year-old freshman was unaware she was pregnant until the morning she gave ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted Wednesday to subpoena Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a push for more information on the Justice Department’s controversial handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

The panel agreed, 24-19, to a motion by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., that would direct the committee to ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Lawmakers on Wednesday turned down a bill that would have targeted students who leave school during the day to protest.

Under the bill, which died on a tie vote in the House Education committee, schools would be barred from granting students excused absences if they left to participate in political protests, to work or ...Read more

Leaders of California, Arizona and Nevada are criticizing the Trump administration’s proposals for water cutbacks along the Colorado River, urging it to take a different approach and avoid a court battle.

The three downstream states said in letters to the Interior Department this week that the agency’s preliminary outline of five options ...Read more

A patient of mine, a veteran who had tried to quit smoking for over a decade, told me that after he started a GLP-1 drug for his diabetes, he lost interest in cigarettes. He didn’t use a patch. He didn’t set a quit date. He simply lost interest. It happened without effort.

Another patient on one of these drugs for weight loss told...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan ballot committee said Wednesday that it collected more than 750,000 signatures in support of an effort to put a proposal before voters that would require individuals to provide proof of citizenship and photo ID in order to vote.

Americans for Citizen Voting planned to turn in its petition signatures Wednesday ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Early voting for the April 21 referendum on redistricting ahead of the 2026 midterms is set to begin on Friday.

The referendum and other surrounding procedures are the subject of ongoing legal challenges, but the vote on it is being allowed to move forward as planned following rulings — the latest on Wednesday — by the ...Read more

U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick voted Wednesday against advancing a war powers resolution that would have barred President Donald Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran without congressional approval.

The vote came days after United States and Israel launched a missile attack on Iran, killing that nation’s supreme leader, ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Mayor Brandon Scott signed an executive order this week aimed at shielding Baltimore residents from federal immigration enforcement while providing city-backed legal support.

The “Protecting the Rights and Well-Being of Baltimore City Residents” order bars Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from using city-owned ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein voted to subpoena U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify on her handling of Justice Department files on the disgraced financier.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee voted 24 to 19 Wednesday to issue the subpoena.

A Justice Department spokesman didn’t immediately ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The White House tentatively aims to release President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal the week of March 30, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the plan.

That timing would put budget delivery some eight weeks after the statutory due date of the first Monday in February, though presidential budgets often ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a war powers resolution Wednesday designed to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities in Iran, as the Trump administration accelerates its military campaign in a conflict that has killed hundreds, including at least six American service members.

The motion failed in a vote of 47-53.

In addition to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. war effort against Iran was “accelerating” as American and Israeli forces fought for control of Iranian airspace and pressed farther inland to seek and destroy Iranian missile capabilities, top U.S. officials said Wednesday.

“Four days in, we have only just begun to fight,” said U.S. Defense Secretary Pete ...Read more