New York – New York has become the first major city in the U.S. to offer free phone calls from jails. Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that the city has fully implemented a law passed by the City Council last August to eliminate fees for inmate phone calls. The Democratic mayor says the free [...]

Augusta, Maine – Maine has become the first state to ban single-use food and drink containers made from polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed the bill into law Tuesday. The Natural Resources Council of Maine said that Maine’s the first state to enact such a ban. Similar legislation passed Maryland’s [...]

Washington – Private tensions between Justice Department leaders and special counsel Robert Mueller’s team broke into public view in extraordinary fashion Wednesday as Attorney General William Barr pushed back at complaints over his handling of the Trump-Russia investigation report and aimed his own criticism at the special counsel. Testifying for the first time since releasing [...]

Ramat Gan, Israel – Under a fluorescent light, an archivist from Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial snaps photos and scans into her mobile database the last remnant that a pair of elderly siblings have of their long-lost father — a 1943 postcard Samuel Akerman tossed in desperation out of the deportation train hurtling him toward [...]

Washington – The White House is asking Congress for an additional $4.5 billion in emergency spending for border security. That’s according to two people familiar with the request who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. A summary of the request obtained by the AP says [...]

New York – U.S. religious centers are buying special insurance to protect them from the financial consequences of an armed intruder opening fire in their buildings. Many congregations have been reassessing coverage and buying separate “active assailant” policies as shootings at houses of worship, including churches, synagogues and mosques, become more common, religious leaders and [...]

New Jersey – At the age of 93, Holocaust survivor Ed Mosberg is saying his goodbyes to the city of his birth. Flanked by two physicians who accompanied him all the way from New Jersey, Mosberg, who made a fortune in construction after surviving several ix concentration camps, traveled here yesterday as he has done [...]

Washington – The fear was persistent. As the Russia investigation heated up and threatened to shadow Donald Trump’s presidency, he became increasingly concerned. But the portrait painted by special counsel Robert Mueller is not of a president who believed he or anyone on his campaign colluded with Russians to interfere in the 2016 election. Instead, [...]

New York – Apple Inc shares rose almost 5 percent on Wednesday, pushing the iPhone maker’s market valuation back towards $1 trillion as its quarterly report and upbeat forecast calmed investors worried about slowing growth. Apple breached the trillion-dollar valuation in August last year, but later gave up the gains as signs emerged of weak [...]

Washington – Special counsel Robert Mueller (MUHL’-ur) told Attorney General William Barr that Barr’s summary of the Russia probe’s findings caused “public confusion about critical aspects” of the investigation. A copy of Mueller’s letter to Barr was released Wednesday. In his letter, Mueller raised concerns about a letter that Barr sent to Congress detailing what [...]