nation

BOSTON — Clouds of smoke, improvised tourniquets and screams of pain were evoked in the first day of the Boston Marathon bombing trial Wednesday as people who survived the deadly attack recalled one of the darkest days in the New England city’s memory. One survivor testified...

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court appeared sharply divided on ideological lines on Wednesday as it tackled a second major challenge to President Barack Obama's healthcare law, with Justice Anthony Kennedy emerging as a likely swing vote in a ruling. The nine justices heard 85...

WASHINGTON/KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A U.S. probe found systemic racial bias targeted blacks and created a “toxic environment” in Ferguson, Missouri, but cleared a white officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager there, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday. The...

ST. PAUL — A steady stream of nursing home executives from across the state pleaded with a Minnesota House committee Wednesday for higher reimbursement rates in order to stay in business, even as an overall solution also is on the table. Wednesday’s testifiers, who argued in...

CHICAGO — About 200 protesters gathered outside a police facility in Chicago on Saturday, demanding an investigation into a media report denied by police that the site functions as an off-the-books interrogation compound.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval on Friday to a one-week stopgap spending bill for the domestic security agency, averting a partial shutdown with just hours to spare before a midnight deadline.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a one-week funding extension for the Department of Homeland Security late today, in time to avert a partial shutdown for the agency at midnight. The two-thirds majority vote, which came with support from Democrats...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, as promised, swiftly vetoed a Republican bill approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline Tuesday, leaving the long-debated project in limbo for another indefinite period. The U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, after receiving Obama’s...

MINNEAPOLIS — As Minnesota politicians try to open up more trade with Cuba, the Minnesota Orchestra will try to drum up a bond with Cuban musicians as they have been invited to perform two concerts in Cuba on May 15-16 in Havana. The 80-member orchestra received an invitation from...