House Vote Sends Major Criminal Justice Overhaul To Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has passed an extensive criminal justice bill that will reduce some of the harshest sentences for federal drug offenders and boost prison rehabilitation programs, handing President Donald Trump a legislative victory amid the turmoil over how to avoid a partial government shutdown. The bill addresses concerns that the nation’s war…

Illinois Investigation Finds 500 More Clergy Abuse Cases

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says her office has found 500 more Catholic clergy accused of sexually abusing children than the state’s six archdioceses have publicly identified. In a blistering rebuke of the church’s handling of the crisis, Madigan’s office says its preliminary findings have revealed the state’s six dioceses have done…

US To Withdraw All American Troops In Syria, Official Says

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, SUSANNAH GEORGE and CATHERINE LUCEY , Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will soon withdraw all of the approximately 2,000 American troops from Syria, a U.S. official said Wednesday as President Donald Trump declared victory in the mission to defeat Islamic State militants there. Planning for the pullout has…

In Farewell, Ryan Sees Solutions if ‘Politics Will Allow It’

By ALAN FRAM ,  Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan is bemoaning America’s “broken politics” in a farewell speech in which he calls Washington’s failure to overhaul costly federal benefit programs “our greatest unfinished business.” “Our complex problems are solvable,” Ryan says in excerpts of remarks he plans to deliver Wednesday at…