Portland, Maine – The U.S. Department of Justice is backing three families who are suing to force the state of Maine to pay tuition for some students to attend religious high schools. The “Statement of Interest” filed Monday supports a lawsuit that targets the state’s longstanding tuition policy for students in districts that don’t have [...]

Washington – The meeting between acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and his Chinese counterpart began with all the hallmarks of a routine staged and scripted session between two uneasy rivals. First came the posed photo, as the two men shook hands with broad smiles in front of their nations’ flags, and then they moved quickly [...]

New York – Jogging solo in Florida in near 80 degree Fahrenheit heat, Theresa Winterhalter’s New York City Marathon experience last November looked much different to what you would expect from the world’s biggest marathon. The 54-year-old was one of 424 people to finish the iconic race’s first “virtual marathon”, an event that race organizers [...]

Minneapolis – Minnesota campaign finance officials said last week that U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar misused campaign funds in violation of state rules. They also revealed that she had filed joint tax returns with her husband years before they were legally married and at a time when she was married to another man. The revelation put [...]

Paris – French President Emmanuel Macron downplayed the death of an oak tree he had offered U.S. President Donald Trump last year on Tuesday, saying people shouldn’t read symbols into everything and that he would send the American leader a new tree. The two men celebrated the special relationship between the United States and France [...]

Yarmouth, MA – Ryan Cooper was a 20-something Californian unsure of his place in the world when he struck up a pen pal correspondence in the 1970s with Otto Frank, the father of the young Holocaust victim Anne Frank. Through dozens of letters and several face-to-face meetings, the two forged a friendship that lasted until [...]

Belgium – A non-Jewish Arab man wearing a kippah and carrying several concealed knives was intercepted by guards attempting to enter an Antwerp synagogue. The 34-year-old Iraqi citizen was questioned by guards when he tried to enter the Romi Goldmuntz Synagogue in the Belgian city on Monday, during the holiday of Shavuot, the Joodse Actueel [...]

Paris – French judicial authorities are investigating five people after uncovering an ultra-right plot to attack a religious venue. A judicial official said Tuesday that two people, one a minor, were arrested and placed under investigation in May for criminal terrorist association. Three others were arrested in the probe that was opened in September in [...]

New York – The pilot killed Monday when his helicopter slammed into the roof of a New York City skyscraper was not authorized to fly in limited visibility, according to his pilot certification, raising questions about why he took off in fog and steady rain. Tim McCormack, 58, was only certified to fly under regulations [...]

Davenport, IA – Speaking in Iowa on the same day as Donald Trump, Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden denounced the Republican U.S. president’s trade policies, saying they were easy for Trump to push when farmers and auto makers are feeling the pain. Trump’s trade war with China has crushed American farmers, without countering the challenge [...]