CHICAGO— A police officer died and another was critically injured after a shooting at a Chicago hospital on Saturday, according to officials. The suspect, who was not publicly identified, was taken in custody, Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling said. “Officers transported an individual over to the Swedish hospital for an observation, at which time two of our officers were shot,” Snelling said at a news conference in the afternoon. “One was shot critically. It (the death) was pronounced. The second officer right now is fighting for his life in the hospital behind us.” The shooting was at the Endeavor Health…

by Joseph Omoremi CHICAGO, IL-A motion seeking a 21-day extension of time to respond to five discrimination charges filed against the Village of Olympia Fields by RoseHeart Renewal Center (RoseHeart) and All Nations Assembly Church (ANAC) have been filed at the Northern District of the U.S District Court, in Chicago. The extension became necessary because of the death suffered by the father-in-law of the Village of Olympia Fields attorney Brandon K. Lemley and kept him out of town for two weeks. Attorney Lemley, according to the motion, could not “work on a planned partial motion to dismiss, and because the…

by Mary Clare Jalonick WASHINGTON  — The Senate took the first steps in a new effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security early Thursday, voting to adopt a budget plan that would fund ICE and Border Patrol over Democratic objections and sending it to the House. The entire department has been shut down since mid-February as Democrats have demanded policy changes in the wake of fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents. Republicans are now trying to fund the two immigration enforcement agencies through the complicated, time-consuming process called budget reconciliation, a maneuver that they also used to…

PARIS (AP) — French-Algerian author Kamel Daoud said Wednesday that he has been sentenced to three years in prison in Algeria for his book “Houris,” a recipient of France’s most prestigious literary award. The writer, who lives in France, announced on X that the verdict was delivered on Tuesday. He said that he was also fined 5 million Algerian dinars ($38,000). “Houris” (Virgins, in English) focuses of the victims of what Algerians call the “black decade,” when tens of thousands of people were killed as the army fought an Islamist insurgency. The conflict erupted in 1991 after Islamists won a…

by Dyepkazah Shibayan ABUJA, Nigeria  — Six people accused of plotting to overthrow Nigerian President Bola Tinubu were arraigned in court on Wednesday on charges of treason and terrorism. All six suspects pleaded “not guilty” to all 13 charges, which were announced on Tuesday. They have been in the custody of the secret police for months. The six suspects included a retired major general and a serving police inspector. A seventh suspect, former Bayelsa state Gov. Timipre Sylva, is accused of helping to conceal the plot and is still at large. After taking their plea, the court adjourned the case…

by David A. Lieb Virginia voters approved a mid-decade redistricting plan Tuesday that could boost Democrats’ chances of winning four additional U.S. House seats in November’s midterm elections that will decide control of the closely divided Congress. The constitutional amendment narrowly backed by voters bypasses a bipartisan redistricting commission to allow the use of new districts drawn by Virginia’s Democratic-led General Assembly. But the public vote may not be the final word. The state Supreme Court is considering whether the plan is illegal in a case that could make the referendum results meaningless. The Virginia redistricting referendum marked a setback…

by David A. Lieb The battlefield is narrowing and the timeline is tightening in a congressional redistricting contest among states seeking a partisan advantage ahead of the November midterm elections. Virginia voters on Tuesday approved a constitutional amendment authorizing a Democratic redistricting plan that could help the party win several additional House seats in this year’s elections. Next up could be Florida, where lawmakers are to begin a special session April 28 for a Republican attempt at congressional redistricting. Voting districts typically are redrawn once a decade, after each census. But President Donald Trump triggered an unusual round of mid-decade…

by Nicole Winfield and Gerald Midray LUANDA, Angola  — Pope Leo XIV challenged Angola’s leaders to break the “cycle of interests” that have plundered and exploited Africa for centuries, as he arrived in the southern African country on Saturday with a message of encouragement for its long-suffering people. Leo’s arrival in Angola, the oil-and-mineral rich former Portuguese colony, marked the third leg of his four-nation African voyage. En route from Cameroon, he spoke again of the ongoing back-and-forth with U.S. President Donald Trump over the Iran war. Leo, history’s first U.S.-born pope, said that it was “not in my interest…

by Joseph Omoremi The All-Nations Assembly Church (ANAC) and RoseHeart Renewal Center (RoseHeart)  have filed a-five-point allegations of unfair housing discrimination against the Village of Olympia Fields at the Northern District of the U.S District Court, in Chicago.  ANAC, a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) filed the charges after the Village of Olympia Fields turned down its application to turn the 22-acres property to a 120-bed drug addiction and rehabilitation center.  It is “a clear violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA), American with Disabilities Act ADA), Rehabilitation Act (RA), the Fourteenth Amendments to the United…

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California attorney who aided President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results has lost his license to practice in the state. The California Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered John Eastman disbarred and his name stricken from the state roll of attorneys. It caps a yearslong effort by the state bar to strip Eastman of his law license after he developed a legal strategy to have then-Vice President Mike Pence interfere with the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory. A judge for the State Bar Court of California in 2024 recommended that he…