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Abrego Garcia wins latest bid to be released from US custody

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Maryland has ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant at the center of political and legal battles as a symbol of President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis found that U.S. officials lacked legal grounds to keep Abrego ...Read more

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Justice Department drafting a list of 'domestic terrorists'

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WASHINGTON — Justice Department leadership has directed the FBI to “compile a list of groups or entities engaged in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism” by the start of next year, and to establish a “cash reward system” that incentivizes individuals to report on their fellow Americans, according to a memo reviewed by the Los ...Read more

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Family of Krystal Rivera files suit against Chicago Police Department, partner who shot her, while alleging pair had romantic relationship

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CHICAGO — In late May, Chicago Police officer Krystal Rivera ended an off-and-on romantic relationship with her partner, fellow officer Carlos Baker, according to her family and attorneys.

Just days later, Baker shot and killed her while the two tactical officers tried to arrest a weapons suspect on the South Side. Rivera, 36, was the first ...Read more

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

Senate blocks plan to continue Obamacare subsidies after this month

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WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday rejected plans from Republicans and Democrats to ease soaring health care costs, making it more likely many people face health insurance premiums that could double shortly.

COVID-era credits for people with Obamacare-inspired health care policies will expire at the end of this month.

Senate Democrats ...Read more

Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Illinois state Sen. Emil Jones III reaches deferred prosecution agreement ahead of retrial in bribery case

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CHICAGO — A month before his retrial on bribery charges, Illinois state Sen. Emil Jones III has agreed to enter into a deferred prosecution deal with prosecutors that will leave him with no conviction as long as he admits to certain illegal conduct and pays a fine.

The agreement was announced at a hearing Thursday before U.S. District Judge ...Read more

Renée Jones Schneider/Star Tribune/TNS

'Really scary' messages prompt Hope Walz to take social media break out of safety concerns

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MINNEAPOLIS — The 24-year-old daughter of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said that troubling messages with “real-life consequences” have led her to temporarily unplug from social media out of concern for her family’s safety.

Hope Walz on Wednesday posted a video on TikTok in which she said she is taking a break from social media for the next ...Read more

'Nothing beautiful about that': Erase Trump's face from parks pass, lawsuit demands

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Calling the design decision crass and disgusting as well as illegal, an environmentalist group is demanding that President Trump’s image be removed from the 2026 national parks pass.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday, Dec. 10, by the Center for Biological Diversity takes issue with an Interior Department switch-up that replaced the contest-winning ...Read more

How Nobel winner María Corina Machado outsmarted Maduro's forces to get to Norway

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The extraordinary escape of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado from the grip of Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian regime to fly to Norway to receive the Nobel Peace Prize involved months of planning, a stealth journey through 10 military checkpoints and a perilous predawn voyage across the Caribbean Sea, according to new details ...Read more

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Newark recording studio shooting leaves 2 dead, 2 injured

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NEW YORK — Gunfire erupted at a recording studio in Newark on Wednesday night, leaving two people dead and another two injured, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said.

The deadly violence occurred at Platinum Sound, a studio located on the bottom floor of an apartment building tucked between a hair salon and a supermarket on Clinton ...Read more

Toby Melville/WPA/Getty Images North America/TNS

Ukraine allies to meet as Kyiv sends draft plan to Trump

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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned Russia will come for the rest of Europe if its warmongering is not checked now, just moments before Ukraine’s allies were slated to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest peace push.

“We need to be crystal clear about the threat,” the military alliance leader said in a speech Thursday in ...Read more

Matt Stone/Boston Herald/TNS

Illegal alien behind horrific Everett hit-and-run crossed border under Biden Administration policy, ICE says

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BOSTON — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says the illegal immigrant with a history of reckless driving who caused a horrific hit-and-run crash Sunday, which sent a woman flying nearly 80-feet and has left her in serious condition, was let into the country under a Biden Administration border policy.

The agency tells the Herald that ...Read more

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SpaceX mission today 1st of 5 launches in 8 days on tap for Space Coast

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ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX and United Launch Alliance are combining for a busy week or rocket launches on the Space Coast.

First up Thursday afternoon is SpaceX’s planned Starlink 6-90 mission with 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. Liftoff is targeting 3:26 p.m. during launch window that...Read more

Rape, pregnancy and a stroke: The scars that sexual violence leaves on Haiti's victims

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Judith and her family had just returned home after weeks of sleeping outdoors in a public square near the airport when gunmen stormed their Brooklyn neighborhood in Port-au-Prince’s sprawling Cité Soleil slum.

Going house to house, the men fired automatic weapons indiscriminately, forcing their way inside. The ...Read more

Venezuela's Machado says she plans to return and hide soon

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OSLO, Norway — Venezuelan dissident María Corina Machado said she plans to ultimately go back home and disappear from authorities to continue fighting for democracy.

Speaking at a news conference in Oslo on Thursday, after emerging in the Norwegian capital in the early hours, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said she will return “as soon as...Read more

Thai citizens urged to leave Cambodia as border clash grinds on

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Thailand has urged its citizens to leave Cambodia or reconsider travel as border clashes look set to stretch into a sixth day and casualties mount on both sides.

Thais who do not need to stay in Cambodia should consider leaving and those who don’t need to travel there should refrain from doing so until the situation resolves, the Thai ...Read more

Ukraine allies to meet as Kyiv sends draft plan to Trump

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A coalition of Ukraine’s allies will discuss a bid to move swiftly on U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace proposal on Thursday as Kyiv’s forces carried out their first-ever attack on Russian Caspian Sea oil production.

Leaders from more than 30 countries that are part of the so-called coalition of the willing will hold a virtual meeting,...Read more

'A new era': Miami voters resoundingly reject the city's political dynasties

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MIAMI — Miami found itself in the national spotlight this week after Eileen Higgins defeated Trump-backed opponent Emilio González in the runoff for Miami mayor, making her the city’s first woman mayor and also the first Democrat elected to the position in decades.

But Miami voters also sent a resounding message on the local level this ...Read more

Charlotte church adds ICE agents to nativity scene that aims to 'disturb' passersby

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte church says it wants to “disturb” passersby this Christmas with a nativity scene pictures Jesus, Mary and Joseph with masked immigration agents wearing bulletproof vests and brandishing handcuffs.

The installation went up this week outside Missiongathering Church at 420 East 15th St. in the Optimist Park area...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Plan-switching, sign-up impersonations: Obamacare enrollment fraud persists

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Florida resident Keith Jones says his Affordable Care Act insurance plan was changed multiple times this year without his permission. Now the 52-year-old is struggling with his health problems while facing large premium bills he says he shouldn’t owe.

The third time, he sought help from an insurance agent, who got Jones on the phone with the ...Read more

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Medicare's new AI experiment sparks alarm among doctors, lawmakers

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A Medicare pilot program will allow private companies to use artificial intelligence to review older Americans’ requests for certain medical care — and will reward the companies when they deny it.

In January, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will launch the Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction (WISeR) Model to ...Read more