MIAMI — A South Florida man who owned a chain of medical equipment companies and an associate were found guilty on Monday of committing healthcare fraud by paying bribes to generate patients so they could bill $34 million to the federal Medicare program for unnecessary services.

Michael Kochen, 42, of Aventura, and Sandro Herek, 55, of Coral ...Read more

The U.S. Justice Department released another tranche of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, including some that add fresh pressure on President Donald Trump over his past relationship with the late, disgraced financier.

The trove includes thousands of additional pages of material related to investigations of Epstein, including a 2020 email from a...Read more

DETROIT — Detroit Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield will host a public swearing-in ceremony for her new job as the city's first female leader at a free event the Detroit Opera House on Jan. 9.

The "public investiture" is free and will also include the swearing-in of Detroit City Council members, police commissioners and City Clerk Janice Winfrey. ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A major atmospheric river storm walloping the state with heavy rains, strong winds and major snow has made its way to Southern California, bringing what forecasters say may become the region's worst Christmas storm in recent memory.

"This is a long-duration event, so we're going to be having the cumulative effects of rain," said...Read more

The Department of Justice on Tuesday released its biggest tranche to date from the Epstein Files, the department’s investigative cases into the deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

The more than 10,000 files show internal deliberations between federal prosecutors, attorneys for victims and attorneys for Epstein.

The files also include ...Read more

A New Jersey actor whose credits include HBO’s hit “The Sopranos,” as well as the films “J. Edgar” and “The Prestige,” has been indicted on charges related to a road rage incident, during which he shot a woman in the face near Stockton University, police said.

Ernest Heinz is facing 31 counts in connection with the violent rampage...Read more

Clashes erupted between Syria’s army and a U.S.-backed Kurdish group on Monday in the country’s north, an escalation that undermines their planned unification by the end of the year.

The government in Damascus and Kurdish-led armed group Syrian Democratic Forces accused each other of instigating the fighting in the Aleppo province. At least...Read more

Russian forces launched a missile and drone attack across Ukraine, killing civilians and hitting energy targets as negotiators pressed ahead with talks to end the nearly four-year war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes on several Ukrainian regions, with some 650 drones and more than 30 missiles, took place “in the midst of ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — San Diego public officials continued to rely on their elected positions throughout 2025 to solicit donations to favored causes from companies and others with interests before the city.

The so-called behested payments — donations to charities made at the request, or behest, of elected officials — totaled more than $150,000 this...Read more

The U.S. Justice Department released another tranche of files related to late, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, as the Trump administration faces mounting pressure to comply with a new transparency law.

The trove includes thousands of additional pages of material related to investigations of Epstein. It’s heavily redacted like the ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Russell "Rusty" Trubey said he was compelled by God to preach the words that helped set off a national battle over religion at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Reading from a sermon titled "When Culture Excludes God," Trubey, an Army Reserve chaplain, sermonized to a congregation of veterans at the Coatesville VA ...Read more

If you are pregnant or a new mother who is struggling with depression or anxiety, you can call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline, 24/7: 833-TLC-MAMA (833-852-6262). Postpartum Support International can help connect you with a local mental health provider at 800-944-4773 or psidirectory.com.

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Before giving birth to her ...Read more

The 20th century was horrible for the Everglades. The broad shallow river, one of the most unique ecosystems on the planet, was labeled wasteland and ruthlessly dammed, carved into parcels, dried out and diverted into near oblivion.

But at the end of the century, 25 years ago this month, Democrats and Republicans from Florida and Washington, D....Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia blasted several line items in Orlando’s budget as “wasteful” spending, but by far the largest was $450,000 to count its trees.

“Maybe they’re trying to find the money tree? Oh, they already found it – it’s you the taxpayers,” Ingoglia said in October, a criticism ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — For more than a year, San Diego County officials have been pushing a controversial plan for Lemon Grove — a collection of tiny “sleeping cabins” intended to offer shelter to homeless people.

But unbeknownst to county officials, a land deal underpinning the effort skirted federal regulations — a rub in the county’s plans ...Read more

California joined 20 other states and the District of Columbia on Monday in a lawsuit that seeks to prevent the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from being defunded and closed by the Trump administration.

The legal action filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Ore. by the Democratic attorneys general accuses Acting Director Russell...Read more

A judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration must arrange for the return of a group of alleged Venezuelan gang members deported to a prison in El Salvador.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that about 137 men sent in March to the notorious CECOT prison deserve to return to the U.S. to contest in court how they were ...Read more

On Monday morning, a group of Democratic Illinois lawmakers made it inside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview after months of being denied access.

U.S. Reps. Jesús “Chuy” García, Danny Davis, Delia Ramirez and Jonathan Jackson arrived carrying a federal court order confirming that members of ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced he’ll meet next week with executives from major U.S. defense contractors in a bid to force them to spend more money on weapons development, not stock buybacks, executive pay and dividends.

“We make the best equipment in the world but they don’t make them fast enough,” Trump said. “We don...Read more

TACOMA, Wash. — A federal judge on Monday morning ordered the immediate release of a disabled U.S. Army veteran who has been held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma since August.

Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry, who is originally from Pakistan and has been living in the United States since 2000, was detained by U.S. Immigration and ...Read more