MINNEAPOLIS—A Minnesota woman has been convicted on federal health-care fraud charges for orchestrating a $3.6 million scheme targeting the state’s now-defunct Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program. A federal jury found Sharmaine Meadows, 45, of Lake Elmo, guilty of three counts of health care fraud after prosecutors said her company billed Medicaid for housing services that Read More…
NEW YORK—JPMorgan Chase will report third-quarter earnings Tuesday morning, putting the nation’s largest bank at the center of Wall Street’s first major test of the new earnings season. JPMorgan is scheduled to release results at about 7 a.m. Eastern time, followed by an earnings call at 8:30 a.m. Wall Street analysts are looking for earnings Read More…
WASHINGTON—The Justice Department said UCLA School of Law discriminated against white and Asian applicants in admissions for its 2023, 2024 and 2025 incoming classes, finding that the school continued to consider race after the Supreme Court restricted race-conscious college admissions. The department’s Civil Rights Division said its investigation found UCLA Law violated Title VI of Read More…
(The Center Square) – Fraud could cost federal taxpayers as much as $521 billion annually, according to a Foundation for Government Accountability report citing a federal estimate. The report estimates that improper payments by the federal government have totaled about $3 trillion since 2003. Liesel Crocker, the report’s author and senior research fellow at FGA, spoke with Read More…
Trump administration ‘continues largest denaturalization effort ever’ The Trump administration continues its multifaceted approach to border security and national security, including its concerted effort to denaturalize citizenship of convicted criminals. The administration argues it’s the “largest denaturalization effort ever” in the history of the country. The most recent 10 denaturalization actions have been filed in Read More…
A man accused of orchestrating a $547 million Medicare fraud scheme through diagnostic laboratories in Louisiana and other states has been captured overseas and returned to the United States after nearly four years as a fugitive, federal officials said Tuesday. Khalid Ahmed Satary was captured Monday and transported back to the United States on Tuesday. Read More…
The Trump administration allowed a national emergency declaration over Hong Kong to expire Friday, lifting some sanctions on current and former city officials — but Washington moved quickly to clarify that the underlying executive order stripping Hong Kong of its preferential trade treatment remains fully in place. The move set off a brief wave of Read More…
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Maryland and Attorney General Anthony Brown on Thursday over the state’s sanctuary policies, arguing they unlawfully obstruct federal immigration enforcement. The complaint, filed July 9 in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, targets Maryland’s Community Trust Act, a 2026 law that broadly prohibits state and local Read More…
The Department of War awarded two Other Transaction Authority agreements totaling $86 million to nLIGHT Defense and Lockheed Martin Aculight to develop high-energy laser weapons capable of defeating drone swarms and cruise missiles, with a total program ceiling of $847 million. The agreements, announced July 9, are being executed by the department’s Scaled Directed Energy Read More…
A former general in Afghanistan’s Border Force and first deputy speaker of the Afghan National Assembly’s House of the People has been extradited to the United States and charged with conspiring to import hundreds of kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine and provide an arsenal of military-grade weapons to a drug trafficking organization. Abdul Zahir Qadeer, Read More…
Canada has suspended several animal exports from Texas due to concerns about the New World screwworm, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is immediately suspending the export of horses, pigs, cattle, bison, sheep, goats, deer, elk, moose, llamas and more. Imports from other states are permitted, provided the Read More…
Utah Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Tony Graf has delayed his ruling on whether there’s enough evidence to bring Tyler Robinson to trial on charges of killing Arizona conservative leader Charlie Kirk. Following a five-day preliminary hearing, Graf on Friday said he would make his decision after having prosecution and defense lawyers present oral arguments Read More…
U.S. Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett made a rare appearance before lawmakers on Tuesday to defend the high court’s $225.1 million budget request, which included increased provisions for security. The U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee on financial services and general government heard testimony from the two justices of the court’s fiscal year Read More…
Soldiers and airmen assigned to the Alaska National Guard executed four missions to save four people in the Alaska wilderness before the July Fourth holiday weekend. Air Force Maj. Kody Schmidt, Alaska Rescue Coordination Center senior controller, said the first mission started following a request July 2 from the Alaska State Troopers for a hoist-capable Read More…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions Friday on a Dubai-based Iranian financier accused of managing a global network of assets for Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, along with three Iranian exchange houses that move billions of dollars annually on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks. The designations come as Iran has resumed attacks Read More…
Department of Homeland Security purchases facilities in California’s Kern and San Diego counties Private prison operator CoreCivic has sold two Southern California immigration detention centers to the federal government for $1.5 billion. Under the deal, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security takes ownership of the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego County for $739.2 Read More…
Two Romanian brothers illegally in the United States pleaded guilty in federal court to orchestrating a fraud scheme that stole more than $760,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits from recipients across multiple states. Marian Ovidiu Dumitru, 37, and Catalin Dumitru, 39, both Romanian citizens who were residing unlawfully in the United States, each pleaded Read More…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury released an analysis of the first filing season under the Working Families Tax Cuts, the sweeping tax legislation President Trump signed into law one year ago, showing American families and workers claimed more than $82 billion in individual tax relief through the April filing deadline. According to Treasury’s analysis, Read More…
The U.S. Department of Commerce has named Andrew Silberstein as executive director of the U.S. Investment Accelerator, the federal office created by President Trump in March 2025 to attract and fast-track large-scale domestic and foreign investments. Silberstein brings nearly three decades of experience in real estate, private equity and investment banking to the role. He Read More…
Medicare and Medicaid funding accounted for almost $12 billion of services provided through assisted living facilities, according to a new report released by the Government Accountability Office. The independent nonpartisan agency examined spending for services in assisted living facilities in 2024, the year with the most recently available data. The agency found $3.5 billion in Read More…
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday ruled the federal government can’t hold undocumented immigrants for more than 90 days without a bond hearing, rejecting a Trump administration policy that requires immigration agents to hold immigrants until they are deported. In 2-1 ruling, the three-judge panel based in New Orleans said the federal government Read More…
The Justice Department announced charges against eight alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in two separate cases involving kidnappings and murders in Texas and Illinois, with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche saying all eight entered the United States illegally between December 2021 and April 2024. In the Texas case, a grand jury Read More…
Two hundred and fifty years after 56 delegates affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, the United States is marking its semiquincentennial — one of the rarest milestones a nation can reach — with a yearlong wave of celebrations, commemorations and reflection stretching from coast to coast. July 4, 2026 is the Read More…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced it will accept large philanthropic contributions of publicly traded stock to support Trump Accounts, the federal child investment program launching July 4 to coincide with America’s 250th anniversary. Under the new process, eligible philanthropic contributors may transfer approved publicly traded stock to Treasury, which will then distribute the Read More…
The U.S. Justice Department sued California and Virginia Wednesday over new gun laws that went into effect the same day. Both states used their Democratic trifectas – a Democratic governor and both legislative chambers under Democratic control – to pass more restrictive gun laws earlier this year that went into effect on July 1. California Read More…
President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission delivered its final draft report to the president during an Oval Office presentation, capping a yearlong review of religious-liberty issues across education, healthcare, the military and the private sector. Chairman Dan Patrick, the Texas lieutenant governor, and Vice Chairman Ben Carson presented the 224-page report alongside other commission members. Trump Read More…
An Arizona woman pleaded guilty to attempting to steal more than $7.7 million in government funds by filing false tax returns with the IRS. According to court documents, Regina Durkin of New River, Ariz., conspired with others to defraud the United States by submitting false quarterly employment tax returns to the IRS. “No matter the Read More…
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal by Robb Elementary students and teachers who argued failures by the Department of Public Safety and Uvalde County contributed to a botched response to the 2022 shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers. The court’s order, issued without comment, upheld a February ruling by the Read More…
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision on Monday, allowed President Donald Trump to fire Rebecca Slaughter, a member of the Federal Trade Commission. Trump fired Slaughter in March 2025. Under federal law, members of the FTC can only be fired for a certain cause, but Trump did not include a cause. Justices on Read More…
Carlos Javier Padron, 36, an illegal alien from Venezuela, was sentenced to 78 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to deploy malware and steal millions of dollars from ATMs across the United States, a scheme known as “ATM jackpotting.” His co-defendant, Oddry Arnoldo Cabrera Torrealba, 37, also an illegal alien from Venezuela Read More…
The Department of War’s Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy announced the launch of an interactive public website tracking the department’s investments in domestic and allied supply chains, mapping more than $6.7 billion in Defense Production Act and Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment funding made since 2015. The Investment Intelligence Read More…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on eight individuals and entities linked to procurement and recruitment networks that the agency said continue to fuel Sudan’s civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Treasury said the networks have enabled both sides to expand Read More…
The Justice Department said fifteen individuals — eleven described as illegal aliens and four U.S. citizens — have been charged in Massachusetts in connection with more than $1.4 million in alleged fraud involving the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, MassHealth, and disability and unemployment benefits. The charges, announced this week, are the latest from a Benefit Read More…
Taxpayers help subsidize illegal immigrants in 21 states, including California, Texas, Illinois, New York State financial aid continues to expand within higher education, allowing money to go to eligible illegal immigrant students. The increased spending is heating up debate over who should receive state taxpayers-funded higher education benefits. Currently, around 21 states and the District Read More…
The U.S. Supreme Court threw out a federal appeals court ruling in an immigration case Tuesday and returned the case to the court for an alternative ruling. In a 6-3 decision along partisan lines, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that immigration officers have broad authority to decide if restrictions should be placed on a returning Read More…
(The Center Square) — A majority of American voters say the U.S. should remain in NATO, according to The Center Square Voters’ Voice poll. President Donald Trump has toyed with the notion of pulling out of the treaty, ramping up talks in recent months following a reluctance of several NATO nations to assist the U.S. Read More…
The Center Square) – Minnesota’s special districts reported $5.4 billion in outstanding long-term debt in 2023, while increasingly relying on state funding as pandemic-era federal aid declined. This is according to a new report from the Minnesota Office of the State Auditor. The 91-page report examined 572 special districts that submitted financial data to the auditor’s Read More…
This coverage is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat Texas’ free newsletters here. A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration’s overhaul of an immigration verification system to check voter eligibility across the nation, striking down a central pillar of the Read More…
Financing aims to scale domestic rare-earth processing as Washington pushes to secure a mine-to-magnet supply chain The U.S. Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital said Thursday it has signed a $725 million conditional loan commitment with Energy Fuels Inc. to expand the company’s domestic processing of rare-earth elements, the latest move in Washington’s push Read More…
Army Pvt. Joe Gandara was a paratrooper who fought in France during World War II. Little is known about him other than that he was the son of Mexican immigrants. However, his bravery and selflessness earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor — nearly 70 years after he sacrificed himself to save his battle buddies. Read More…
(The Center Square) – American voters believe building more data centers in the United States are not worth the potential strain on local electricity, water and infrastructure and that the negatives outweigh the importance for national security and competing with China, according to a new poll. The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll found that 54% Read More…
The Marine Corps is taking a leap forward in tactical vehicle training, trading unnecessary wear and tear for high-tech, immersive realism at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. With the introduction of the multiplatform driver simulator, Marines are now able to push the limits of the joint light tactical vehicle without assuming any physical Read More…
Siding with SpaceX and the attorney general’s office, the Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that environmental groups did not have a right to sue to preserve public access to a beach that has been closed during rocket launches. The unanimous ruling said a trial judge properly dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning the groups Read More…
A former U.S. Intelligence Community contractor pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit offenses against the United States after soliciting and accepting more than half a million dollars in illegal kickbacks in exchange for steering government contracts to his co-conspirators. David Duggin, 55, of Orrtanna, Pennsylvania, worked as a Senior Systems Engineer and on-site contractor at Read More…