John Roberts, the chief justice, urged Congress to restore some of the money cut from the federal judiciary budget in 2013, which he said had forced staff reductions and delayed trials.
Gabriel Mendiola, 24, who authorities in west Texas say was carrying 145 pounds of marijuana wrapped as Christmas presents, was arrested on charges of possession of marijuana and evading detention.
David Campbell, a Democratic New Hampshire state representative who drove into a group of ducks outside a Nashua hotel last week, killing some, apologized and said it was an accident.
Branden Mattier, 23, a man charged on accusations of trying to bilk the Boston Marathon bombing victims fund out of more than $2 million, filed a federal lawsuit claiming that state police violated his constitutional rights when they arrested him.
Ernest Boatright, 48, a Pennsylvania state trooper, was placed on unpaid leave and charged with child endangerment and harassment, accused of pepper-spraying his girlfriend’s 13-year-old son because the boy stayed in bed instead of going to school.
Jay Nixon, the Democratic governor of Missouri, renewed his push during a Capitol news conference to expand his state’s Medicaid health-care program to more lower-income adults, expressing hope that reluctant lawmakers will feel pressure to do so as other states start receiving a surge of federal Medicaid dollars.
Mary Scriven, a federal judge in Orlando who was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush, struck down a Florida law that required welfare recipients to undergo mandatory drug testing.
Michelle Snyder, the No. 2 official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services who supervised the troubled rollout of President Barack Obama’s health-care law, is retiring.
Zhang Shuxia, a Chinese doctor, admitted in court that she stole babies from the hospital where she worked and sold them to human traffickers.
Melissa Harris-Perry, an MSNBC host, apologized to Mitt Romney’s family after she and guests on her Sunday show joked about a Christmas picture that showed Romney’s adopted, black grandson and 21 other grandchildren, all of them white, with one guest, comedian Dean Obeidallah, saying the photo “sums up the diversity of the Republican Party.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/01/2014