The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28, 2026, set off the process of selecting a new supreme leader. It is only the second such transition in the Islamic Republic’s 47-year history and the first since the ailing Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini transferred power to Khamenei in June 1989.

As stipulated in Article 111 of the ...Read more

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf region use the fossil fuels under their desert lands not only to make money, but also to make drinking water. The petroleum they produce powers more than 400 desalination plants, which turn seawater into drinkable water.

In the war that began on Feb. ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Baltimore will close multiple parks at night this month as federal sharpshooters move in to thin deer herds that officials say are overwhelming forests and choking off new tree growth.

The city’s Recreation and Parks Department held a community meeting Wednesday to go over the details, approved last month by the Baltimore Board ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A closely divided Minneapolis City Council on Thursday voted to temporarily give renters more time to pay rent and avoid eviction, although it was unclear whether Mayor Jacob Frey will support the idea.

Minneapolis landlords must give 30 days’ notice before filing an eviction; the ordinance would temporarily extend that to 60 ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Trump declared he would be “personally involved” in selecting Iran’s next leader as U.S. and Israeli forces continued their bombardment of its government Thursday, even as officials in Tehran insisted they could withstand the ongoing war.

In a series of media interviews, Trump rejected the potential rise of ...Read more

BOSTON — A trooper, who had taken a plea deal after being accused of stealing more than a $1,000 worth of merchandise — including golf balls — from Target, no longer works for Mass State Police.

Zachariah Kent resigned during an ongoing disciplinary process and received a dishonorable discharge, a State Police spokesperson confirmed to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Trump declared he would be “personally involved” in selecting Iran’s next leader as U.S. and Israeli forces continued their bombardment of its government Thursday, even as officials in Tehran insisted they could withstand the ongoing war.

In a series of media interviews, Trump rejected the potential rise of ...Read more

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will step down from her position to become special envoy for a new regional security initiative called the “Shield of the Americas,” a program aimed at strengthening security cooperation across the Western Hemisphere.

Noem’s reassignment comes after ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s move Thursday to oust Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and replace her with Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin drew at least one Democrat’s support.

While Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., became the first Senate Democrat to publicly back Mullin, other Democrats made it clear ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday ordered all U.S. and Minnesota flags to fly at half-staff at all state buildings until sunset on the day of interment, in honor of Nicole Amor of White Bear Lake. Amor died Sunday in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.

“Sergeant First Class Amor answered the call to serve and gave her life in service to our ...Read more

Not long after President Donald Trump announced he had fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday, Minnesota Democrats rushed to celebrate the news while calling for additional reforms and accountability.

“Kristi Noem has done a stunning amount of damage, and it’s good she’s gone,” Gov. Tim Walz posted to social media. �...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, and Senate President pro Tem Monique Limon publicly entered the fight to preserve election integrity after President Donald Trump called on the Republican Party to “nationalize” elections last month.

Trump floated the idea of Republicans taking over election procedures...Read more

NEW YORK — The Mamdani administration appointed three new upper-level staffers at the city’s Department of Transportation Thursday.

“I am honored to welcome Tiffany-Ann Taylor as chief strategy officer, Madeline Labadie as chief of staff, and Sindhu Bharadwaj as director of strategic initiatives — three exceptional leaders whose policy ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minneapolis man will spend nearly five years in prison for trying to bribe a juror with $120,000 cash during a Feeding Our Future trial in 2024.

Abdulkarim Shafii Farah, 25, was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul after pleading guilty to one count of bribery of a juror for his role in the plot, which ...Read more

MIAMI — For months, environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe have been suing the state and federal government over the opening of Alligator Alcatraz, arguing they ignored the need to conduct an environmental study before opening the immigration detention center in the middle of the Everglades.

It turns out, the state did conduct its own ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he’d consider dropping out of his Republican runoff if a bill requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections is passed out of the U.S. Senate.

Paxton on Tuesday advanced to a May 26 Republican runoff for the U.S. Senate with incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. ...Read more

President Donald Trump sounded confident Thursday that regime change might soon come to Cuba and said the country’s leadership is trying to cut a deal with the United States.

“Cuba’s going to fall, too,” he told the news outlet Politico in a phone interview. “We cut off all oil, all money, or we cut off everything coming in from ...Read more

DORAL, Fla. — Senior Trump administration officials on Thursday called on allied nations across the hemisphere to intensify their fight against drug cartels and narco-traffickers, with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller comparing the groups to the ISIS and al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere.

“The cartels that operate in this ...Read more

Colorado has its first measles outbreak of 2026, with three cases linked to students at Broomfield schools.

Measles symptoms can take up to three weeks to appear and initially are nonspecific: a fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes.

The rash, which typically starts at the hairline and moves down, appears about four days after someone becomes ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A video went viral Wednesday of a U.S. Senate candidate from North Carolina wrestling with Capitol police in Washington when his arm caught between two doors and seemingly snapped.

Sen. Tim Sheehy, a Republican from Montana, jumped into help officers as they wrestled with the protester.

Capitol police told McClatchy that three ...Read more