Immigration dominated the news, as advocates for migrants tussled with the Trump administration as it moved to tighten the southern border to illegal immigrants.

The administration made multiple trips to court and sent thousands of troops to the U.S.-Mexico line as caravans of Central Americans sought asylum in the U.S. Yet federal judges have repeatedly stymied the president's efforts to change immigration policy.

Among the administration moves at least temporarily blocked by judges: the ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for young immigrants; the cancellation of temporary protected status for immigrants from some Central American countries and Haiti; and blocking access to the asylum system for immigrants apprehended crossing the border illegally.

Mr. Trump himself reversed his most controversial enforcement policy: separating parents and children caught crossing the border illegally. More than 2,500 children had been separated. Many, but not all, have since been reunified.

The president did win one significant victory: The Supreme Court ruled in June that the third iteration of his ban on travel from certain Muslim-majority countries could be enacted.

The makeup of immigrants arriving in the U.S. continued to evolve this year away from individuals seeking work and toward families seeking asylum. Many fled violence-racked countries in Central America, including El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

A record 107,000 immigrants traveling as families were apprehended after crossing the U.S. border illegally in the federal fiscal year that ended in September. But the overall number of illegal border crossers arrested -- roughly 396,000 -- remains well below the peak of more than 1.6 million people arrested in 2000.

More recently, multiple caravans involving thousands of Central American migrants made their way to the border. The president denounced the caravaners as an "invasion" and sent some 5,000 troops to help reinforce border security, primarily by laying razor wire.

The mass arrivals combined with the administration's tactics created lengthy waits to enter the U.S. to seek asylum, as well as a high-profile attempt by hundreds to cross the Tijuana-San Diego border that resulted in Border Patrol agents shooting tear gas.

Last week, President Trump threatened to let the federal government shut down if Congress fails to fund his border wall as part of negotiations over a year-end spending bill.

Alicia Caldwell

Trump Campaign Figures Aid Mueller Probe

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election -- and whether President Trump or his associates played a role in it -- entered its second year with new charges and guilty pleas.

Mr. Mueller set his sights on some of Mr. Trump's closest advisers among more than two dozen individuals, including his former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen and former campaign adviser Paul Manafort , as he moved closer to wrapping up the probe.

The investigation, which some Republicans see as politically motivated, charged 25 Russian citizens and three Russian companies in two separate cases. Mr. Mueller filed court documents that detailed an alleged conspiracy by Moscow to interfere in U.S. politics by stealing emails and unleashing a social media campaign aimed at inflaming tensions in American society.

The special counsel obtained a guilty verdict against Mr. Manafort on charges of tax fraud and other financial wrongdoing. In a separate case, he won a guilty plea and a cooperation deal from Mr. Manafort, though prosecutors later said Mr. Manafort had reneged on the deal by lying to them.

In addition, Mr. Mueller charged Mr. Cohen, for years one of the president's closest confidantes, with lying to Congress about Mr. Trump's business dealings in Russia.

That came on top of other federal charges Mr. Cohen faced involving campaign finance and tax-fraud allegations; he pleaded guilty to eight charges and last week received a three-year prison sentence. The charges were based in part on payments the lawyer made to silence women who accused the president of having sexual encounters with them, including former adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

Mr. Cohen helped Mr. Mueller's team after pleading guilty.

The special counsel's team also revealed new details about the extent of former national security adviser Mike Flynn's cooperation -- detailing 19 meetings to assist in three separate inquires. The office continues to investigate Roger Stone, another close friend of Mr. Trump, for his contacts with the antisecrecy website WikiLeaks. The site published hacked and stolen Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign.

Mr. Trump, for his part, gave Mr. Mueller written answers to questions in November after months of wrangling over the terms of the questioning. The president's complaints about Mr. Mueller grew increasingly bellicose over the year, as he accused Mr. Mueller of being "out of control" and pressuring witnesses to lie.

Byron Tau

Kavanaugh Drama Riveted Public

President Trump had the chance to forge the most conservative Supreme Court majority in decades with the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy in July.

He chose Brett Kavanaugh, a judge admired by conservatives and a veteran of the George W. Bush White House and Kenneth Starr's independent counsel team that investigated President Bill Clinton.

The pick prompted an outcry from liberals, who mounted a vocal opposition campaign. And that was before Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor, came forward to allege the nominee sexually assaulted her when the two were teenagers, charges he denied.

The allegations set the #MeToo movement on a collision course with the battle over the direction of the high court, creating a new level of acrimony in the confirmation process.

Congressional testimony by Justice Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford riveted the nation, recalling the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill drama of 1991. In October, the Senate approved Justice Kavanaugh on the slimmest vote for a confirmed Supreme Court nominee in modern times.

Brent Kendall

Shooting Forged Teen Activists

Teenagers became the new faces of the gun-control movement after a troubled 19-year-old killed 17 people at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in February.

The students led marches and put pressure on lawmakers and businesses. Dick's Sporting Goods stopped selling AR-style rifles like the one used in the attack. States including Vermont and Florida raised the minimum age for buying a rifle to 21 from 18.

Two other shootings came in quick succession this fall: An anti-Semitic attacker killed 11 Jewish people at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Oct. 27; 10 days later, a troubled veteran killed 13 at a bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Among those left dead in Thousand Oaks was a survivor of the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting.

Though the number of U.S. deaths from mass shootings was down from 2017, the tragedies inspired a louder response from gun-control activists than in the past. Still, mass shootings continue to make up a small percentage of all gun deaths.

Of the 13,741 U.S. gun deaths as of Dec. 12, not counting suicides, 363 came in attacks where four or more people, excluding the shooter, were injured or killed, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group. In 2017, 437 people died in U.S. mass shootings.

Zusha Elinson

Rates Rise, but Fed's Path Is Less Clear

The Federal Reserve is set to cap a year of rising rates by boosting its short-term benchmark level on Dec. 19, in what would be its fourth increase for 2018. But it has indicated greater uncertainty over the pace of increases next year.

The most recent rise, in September, lifted the benchmark to a range of between 2% and 2.25%

A year ago, Fed officials penciled in three increases this year, but projections of stronger growth due to tax cuts and a federal spending deal in February prompted an extra rise. Yet recently, officials indicated they may take a more wait-and-see approach to future boosts, basing them on the economy's response to past rises.

Meantime, the Fed saw a leadership transition. Jerome Powell succeeded Janet Yellen, a Barack Obama appointee, as chairman, in February. Richard Clarida joined the central bank as vice chairman in September. And John Williams moved from president of the San Francisco Fed in June to run the New York Fed, one of the central bank's most influential positions.

Since his confirmation, Mr. Powell has repeatedly been criticized by President Trump for the rate boosts. Mr. Trump called the Fed "out of control" and blamed it for the stock market's selloff in October.

The Fed chairman didn't respond to the criticisms, working instead to make allies outside of the Oval Office and talk publicly about the economy, not politics.

Nick Timiraos

California Fires Left Devastation Behind

California's fire season was literally one for the record books in 2018.

The 153,000-acre Camp Fire in November destroyed about 14,000 homes and killed at least 86 people, including in Paradise, Calif., was both the most destructive and most deadly in California history.

The 459,000-acre Mendocino Complex fire in July was the largest ever in the state.

Records keep breaking, fire officials say, because inadequate logging, warmer temperatures from climate change and increased development in combustible areas have extended California's fire season from a few months in late summer to virtually all year.

Jim Carlton

New Sexual-Abuse Crisis for Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church found itself mired in another sex-abuse crisis this year.

A Pennsylvania grand-jury report released in August detailed more than 1,000 cases of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the state dating back to the 1940s. The Justice Department and more than a dozen states have now opened their own investigations into abuse by Catholic clergy around the country.

U.S. Catholic bishops had hoped to establish new rules for dealing with abuse allegations at their annual meeting in November. But at the last moment, the Vatican barred them from taking any action until after a global meeting on sexual abuse in February 2019.

Ian Lovett

Amazon.com Picked Two Cities for New Headquarters

Amazon.com Inc.'s unprecedented public search for the location of a new headquarters launched a nationwide beauty pageant among cities eager to win a promised 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment. But the quantity of tech talent Amazon would require proved too much for any single city to provide.

When Amazon finally announced in November that it would split the project's jobs and investment between New York City and Arlington, Va., some questioned whether the results justified a process that had set city and economic-development officials scrambling to please the online retail giant and offer up billions in economic incentives.

Shayndi Raice

MSU Settled Suit Naming Gymnastics Doctor

Michigan State University agreed in May to settle a $500 million lawsuit with victims of Larry Nassar's sex abuse. The Midwestern powerhouse with 50,000 students said it planned to raise the money through a bond offering, with the note to be repaid from the school's investment income.

Nassar was accused of sexual abuse by hundreds of women while working as a team physician at MSU and for the U.S. Olympics gymnastics team. He pleaded guilty last year to state sexual-abuse charges in Michigan and to federal child-pornography charges, for which he is serving an effective life sentence.

Doug Belkin

Letter Bombs, Explosions Inflict Fear

Two domestic terrorism sprees this year shook ordinary Americans and national leaders alike.

In March, a 23-year-old college dropout named Mark Anthony Conditt carried out a string of package explosions in Austin, Texas, that killed two people and left several injured. He blew himself up along a highway as authorities closed in.

In October, a series of letter bombs was sent to prominent Democrats and Trump opponents, including former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and billionaire liberal philanthropist George Soros. None of the bombs exploded.

Cesar Altieri Sayoc, a 56-year-old former exotic dancer and fervent Trump supporter, was charged in a 30-count indictment in New York. He has pleaded not guilty.

Dan Frosch

Harvard Admissions on Trial

The trial of a lawsuit against Harvard University highlighted the role race can play in elite college admissions and exposed details about how one of the nation's most selective schools chooses its undergraduate classes.

A nonprofit group whose members include Asian-American applicants rejected by Harvard sued the school in 2014, alleging it illegally discriminated by holding them to a higher standard than other applicants.

Harvard denies the allegations of discrimination.

The federal suit went to trial in October, but additional briefs will be filed into next year.

A decision, which could end up before the Supreme Court, could affect the admissions practices of many other private universities.

Melissa Korn

Flu Season Sets a Grim Record

The worst flu epidemic in nearly a decade prompted schools to close in more than 11 states and caused the deaths of a record 185 children in the season that ran through the spring. Schools shut anywhere from one day to a week due to widespread absenteeism as administrators tried to stop the spread of the virus and disinfect buildings.

A dominant strain of the flu, H3N2, known for being particularly virulent, tended to strike children and the elderly hard. Early data found that flu shots were likely only about 30% effective against it.

Tawnell Hobbs

Americans Die Younger Due to Opioids, Suicide

Life expectancy for Americans continues to fall. Life expectancy fell by one-tenth of a year, to 78.6 years, in 2017, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. is experiencing the sharpest annual increase in suicides in nearly a decade and a continued rise in deaths from powerful opioid drugs like fentanyl. Influenza, pneumonia and diabetes also contributed to the increase.

The data paint a dark picture of health and well-being in the U.S., reflecting the effects of addiction and despair, particularly among young and middle-aged adults, as well as diseases plaguing an aging population and those with lower access to health care.

--Emily Nelson

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 16, 2018 16:16 ET (21:16 GMT)