Medline Inc. shares surged 41% in their trading debut, after the medical supplier raised $6.26 billion in the year’s biggest initial public offering.

The shares closed at $41 each on Wednesday in New York, versus the IPO price of $29. Medline, which counts Blackstone Inc., Carlyle Group Inc. and Hellman & Friedman among its backers, sold 216...Read more

Six weeks after Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica and left behind an unprecedented trail of destruction, hundreds of people remain unable to return home, while many others are still without electricity.

Dennis Zulu, the United Nations resident coordinator for the country and several others Caribbean islands, said Wednesday that while �...Read more

Sen. Ted Budd offered an unusually blunt stance on a former lawmaker and fellow North Carolina Republican after allegations surfaced that Budd was blocking the Senate confirmation hearing of former Rep. Mark Walker to oversee international religious freedom.

Budd told McClatchy in an exclusive interview Wednesday that he’s not blocking ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A man held at California's newest and largest immigration detention center could face "imminent death," attorneys argued in an emergency motion filed late Tuesday, asking a federal judge to order ICE to immediately provide lifesaving medical care to him and another detainee.

In a motion for a temporary restraining order, ...Read more

CHICAGO — Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino and dozens of federal immigration agents spent hours Wednesday driving around Chicago and the suburbs, appearing to make minimal arrests but facing continued pushback from enraged community members.

Bovino spoke with a Tribune photographer at a Home Depot in Evanston around noon. He said he’s �...Read more

The Senate confirmed in a 67-30 vote Jared Isaacman to head NASA after President Donald Trump nominated and withdrew the nomination earlier this year, and then renominated the billionaire entrepreneur last month.

Isaacman will oversee the agency’s push to beat China in returning astronauts to the moon and coordinating missions to send humans ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Federal officials gave the clearest timeline yet for when a breakthrough could come in closed-door negotiations over the water supply of 40 million Americans.

On Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of Water and Science Andrea Travnicek said the public will have another document to review as early as the end of this year. It will come ...Read more

SEATTLE — A storm brought high winds and heavy rain to Western Washington overnight into Wednesday, leaving more than 200,000 customers in the dark after days of flooding.

Wind speeds reached the 50s and 60s in Seattle and surrounding areas early Wednesday: In the Alpental Ski Area, 112 mph gusts were recorded around 2 a.m., and Snoqualmie ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Senate blocked a bid Wednesday by Sen. Adam Schiff to require the Pentagon to make public an unedited video of the September U.S. strike that killed two people who had survived an initial attack on an alleged drug boat near Venezuela.

“This is going to come out. It’s just a question of how long we have to fight to make ...Read more

DENVER — A federal judge has temporarily blocked a new federal policy that limited congressional members’ ability to visit immigration detention centers, siding with a group of Democratic lawmakers that included U.S. Reps. Jason Crow and Joe Neguse of Colorado.

Wednesday’s ruling means that members of Congress can resume unannounced ...Read more

NOVI, Mich. — Two months after a gunman attacked a Church of Latter Day Saints in Grand Blanc Township and then set the building ablaze, Michigan State Police met with faith leaders on Wednesday in Novi to give them tips and resources to bolster their congregations' safety.

Dozens of faith leaders met at the Novi Police Department to learn ...Read more

In central Haiti, where residents take pride in working the land, the humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating, the United Nations warned, as escalating attacks by criminal gangs in the Artibonite region leave aid groups facing growing access restrictions.

In just the past two weeks, violence in the region, often to referred to as Haiti�...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Nick Reiner made his first appearance in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday morning, roughly three days after allegedly killing his parents — beloved Hollywood figures Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner — inside their Brentwood home.

Flanked by his attorney, Alan Jackson, and two other lawyers, Reiner was barely visible ...Read more

ATLANTA — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis struck a defiant tone in early questioning before a Georgia Senate committee Wednesday at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta.

Willis was contemptuous when questioned by Sen. Greg Dolezal, who was filling in as chair of a committee founded to investigate the DA’s handling of the Donald Trump ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr on Wednesday defended the FCC’s authority to regulate television stations based on whether they serve the public interest, in the face of senators’ questions on free speech and media competition.

He made his defense before the Senate Commerce Committee, where he appeared ...Read more

NEW YORK — New York City public schools left tens of millions of dollars on the table last year in penalties from yellow bus companies, as poor service continues to strand students and force parents to miss work, a new comptroller’s audit found Wednesday.

The penalties were for violations related to GPS technology that drivers must log into...Read more

BOSTON — An alleged scheme that fraudulently obtained nearly $7 million in SNAP benefits was cracked open after the feds arrested two men who are accused of operating the “criminal enterprise” out of tiny retail stores in Boston.

Antonio Bonheur, 74, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti living in Mattapan, and Saul Alisme, 21, a Haitian ...Read more

Police in Providence, Rhode Island, released new photos Wednesday of an individual they say they would like to speak to as they search for the person responsible for the deadly shooting at Brown University over the weekend.

“Investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying and speaking to the individual shown in these photos, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is poised to head into the new year facing several political and economic headwinds that could hamstring Republicans in the coming midterm elections.

As his poll numbers sag and a stubborn economy continues to frustrate voters, Trump is expected to depart Washington on Friday to spend Christmas and New Year...Read more