AURORA, Ill. — A 15-year-old boy is accused of possessing a loaded semiautomatic firearm, the State’s Attorney Office for DuPage County announced Tuesday. On Sunday, around 3:15 a.m., a Naperville police officer stopped a Nissan Altima at Washington and Iroquois for improper lane usage. Prosecutors allege that during the stop, the officer witnessed the juvenile driver reach down behind the driver’s seat. After talking with the juvenile, the officer allegedly found a loaded 9 mm CPX 2 handgun with one bullet in the chamber behind the driver’s seat, prosecutors said....

Washington is redoubling efforts to disrupt migration routes that lead to the United States, in particular via charter flights to Central America, top diplomat Antony Blinken said at regional talks Tuesday. The secretary of state is leading the US delegation at a meeting in Guatemala of the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, a cooperation framework agreed to at a summit in California in 2022. The United States has "stepped up efforts against those preying on vulnerable migrants," notably those flying people from Asia, Africa and elsewhere to Central...

Washington quarterback Sam Huard is pictured before a game against Kent State on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022, in Seattle. Huard, who played last season at Cal Poly, is transferring to Utah. The University of Utah quarterback room will be adding another young talent to its ranks. Former Washington and Cal Poly quarterback Sam Huard has committed to Kyle Whittingham’s program, both 247 Sports and On3.com reported Tuesday. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Huard comes from an NFL pedigree: his father Damon Huard and uncle Brock Huard were both NFL quarterbacks Sam Huard...

Jeanne Lambrew, who led Maine’s Health and Human Services department through the COVID-19 pandemic, is resigning from her post to work with a Washington-based health care policy organization and teach at Harvard University. Lambrew, a former high-ranking health official in the Obama and Clinton administrations, will become the Director of Health Care Reform for The Century Foundation. She will also be an adjunct professor of health policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her last day as Maine’s top health official will be May 31. Lambrew was...

Washington State Ferries (WSF) has certainly seen better days. With over 3,500 canceled sailings last year and just 15 of its 21 vessels reliably operating, a recent Seattle Times editorial described the ferry system as “in crisis” and characterized its fleet as “antiquated” and “depleted.” Such language is apt. With 11 of the system’s ferries at least 40 years old and WSF five short of the 26 vessels it considers ideal, new vessels are badly needed. Unfortunately, none are projected to arrive until 2028 at the earliest. The extended delivery...

LOS ANGELES — Caitlin Clark's first WNBA game in Los Angeles is being moved to a bigger stage. The Los Angeles Sparks said Tuesday that their home game against Clark and the Indiana Fever on May 24 is being moved from Walter Pyramid on the Long Beach State campus to Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles. Two other Sparks home games — May 26 against Dallas and June 5 against Minnesota — are also moving to Crypto.com Arena. That's where the Sparks usually play all their games and it seats...

Passersby can be forgiven for mistaking Friendship Aspire Academy for a place of worship: One of the elementary school’s main buildings is actually a repurposed church, a towering, ‘60s-era cast concrete sanctuary complete with a pipe organ tucked into an old choir loft. The architecture suits the tiny elementary school on South Hazel Street, which has taken on a kind of spiritual significance for families since it opened six years ago. The first of seven charter schools here either taken over or built from the ground up by the Washington,...

In “Take Me Out Feet First,” a new docuseries now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, director Serene Meshel-Dillman chronicles people’s right to choose medical aid in dying. The six-part docuseries, made in partnership with the nonprofit advocacy organization Compassion & Choices, profiles 25 terminally ill people, their families, and friends, as well as experts in the medical field who advocate for MAID. The series chronicles people who have taken control of how their final days will play out. While some live in states where medical aid in dying is legal,...

• Utah was ranked the best state in the country in U.S. News & World Report’s Best States rankings. • The ranking began in 2017 and evaluates states performance in eight categories using over 70 different metrics. • New Hampshire, Nebraska and Minnesota made it to the top five spots in the ranking. Utah earned the top spot in U.S. News & World Report’s Best States rankings. This is the second year in a row Utah has been ranked the best state in the country with the outlet attributing the...

With two full days of events and programs along with performances by Wu-Tang Clan, Redman, and Thundercat, the 2024 National Cannabis Festival will be bigger than ever this year. Leading up to the festivities on Friday and Saturday at Washington, D.C.’s RFK Stadium are plenty of can’t-miss experiences planned for 420 Week, including the National Cannabis Policy Summit and an LGBTQ happy hour hosted by the District’s Black-owned queer bar, Thurst Lounge (both happening on Wednesday). On Tuesday, the Blade caught up with NCF Founder and Executive Producer Caroline Phillips,...