MITCH SMITH

Dennis Hastert, once among this nation’s most powerful politicians, was sentenced to 15 months in prison Wednesday for illegally structuring bank transactions in an effort to cover up his sexual abuse of young members of a wrestling team he coached decades ago.

The family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy whose fatal shooting by the Cleveland police in 2014 prompted national outrage, is set to receive $6 million from the city in a settlement announced Monday in federal court.

Racism has contributed to a long, systemic pattern of institutional failures by this city’s police department in which police officers have mistreated people, operated without sufficient oversight, and lost the trust of residents, a task force assigned by Mayor Rahm Emanuel has found.

In a court filing, prosecutors said they believed the former speaker of the House should face as much as six months in prison when he is sentenced April 27.

Indiana’s governor signed a bill on Thursday that adds broad limits to women’s access to abortions, banning those motivated solely by the mother’s objection to the fetus’ race, gender or disability, and placing new restrictions on doctors.

A top aide to Michigan’s governor referred to people raising questions about the quality of Flint’s water as an “anti-everything group.” Other critics were accused of turning complaints about water into a “political football.” And worrisome findings about lead by a concerned pediatrician were dismissed as “data,” in quotes.

Shortly after officials switched the source of their drinking water to the Flint River from Lake Huron in April 2014 to save money, residents started complaining that their tap water looked strange, tasted bad and caused rashes. But not until the fall of 2015, when the water was found to have elevated levels of lead that were reflected in children’s blood, did state officials swing into action.

Chicago officials released a chilling dashcam video of the fatal shooting of a black 17-year-old on Tuesday, just hours after a white police officer was charged with first-degree murder in the encounter.

A defeat for an anti-discrimination ordinance that had drawn a national spotlight and inspired many months of rancorous, costly debate.

Federal education authorities, staking out their firmest position yet on an increasingly contentious issue, found Monday that an Illinois school district violated anti-discrimination laws when it did not allow a transgender student who identifies as a girl and participates on a girls’ sports team to change and shower in the girls’ locker room without restrictions.

The proposal is bankrolled by wealthy investors who've spent nearly $25 million to put it on the ballot and sell it to voters. If it passes, they will have exclusive rights to growing commercial marijuana in Ohio.

For almost a year, activists in Cleveland have pushed for the arrest of Officer Tim Loehmann, the rookie patrolman who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice near a recreation center in November.