LOS ANGELES — The slow pace of reconstruction after January’s fire disaster has touched off a political tempest in Malibu, prompting the resignation of the city’s volunteer rebuilding “ambassador” and his suggestion — along with some other rebuilding activists — that Mayor Marianne Riggins “consider gracefully stepping down.”

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MIAMI — Donald Trump’s planned presidential library in Downtown Miami is already breaking norms — after a lightning-quick land deal, discussions of a hotel on-site and an unusual early source of funds from lawsuit settlements.

Since the state of Florida only had one requirement in the land transfer — that construction begin within five ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — An explosion and fire rocked a refinery in El Segundo on Thursday night, causing massive flames that could be seen for miles.

The city of El Segundo said that there was a fire at the Chevron refinery but that there is no public threat or evacuation orders in a 10:10 p.m. alert.

Videos taken when the explosion occurred around 9:...Read more

LOS ANGELES — An explosion and fire rocked a refinery in El Segundo on Thursday night, causing massive plumes of flames that could be seen for miles.

The city of El Segundo said that there was a fire at the Chevron refinery but that there is no public threat or evacuation orders in a 10:10 p.m. alert.

Videos taken when the explosion occurred...Read more

UNLV has erased references on its website to a student diversity office and a program for undocumented students, the Las Vegas Review-Journal has found.

Webpages for the Office of Student Diversity Programs and the Undocumented Student Program could not be found on UNLV’s website as early as Wednesday afternoon. References to the programs ...Read more

German air traffic control said it suspended flight operations at Munich Airport Thursday evening after several drone sightings, affecting multiple departures and thousands of passengers at the country’s second-biggest hub.

Seventeen departures were grounded, and 15 incoming flights were diverted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna and Frankfurt,...Read more

While the government shutdown has furloughed about 90% of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees and halted the agency’s inspection operations, the California Environmental Protection Agency told The Sacramento Bee on Thursday it will proceed with its inspections “as planned.”

According to the EPA’s updated contingency plan, ...Read more

Political activist and Donald Trump confidante Laura Loomer posted on X Tuesday night that a U.S. Army Research Lab scientist and adjunct instructor is behind an Immigration and Customs Enforcement tracking app called Red Dot, and that he should be investigated and fired.

Such apps have come under fire in the past week after federal officials ...Read more

CHICAGO — A mother and her two children who were detained in Millennium Park on Sunday by immigration agents were released from custody Wednesday, bringing a moment of relief and renewed hope for the Chicago-area family caught in the crosshairs of aggressive federal immigration enforcement.

The move came after a federal judge ordered that the...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The votes of Californians who drop their ballots in mailboxes on Nov. 4 may not be counted because of U.S. Postal Service processing delays, state officials warned Thursday.

In many parts of the state, a ballot dropped in the mail is now collected the next day, said Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber...Read more

NEW YORK — Temporary boilers were being shuttled into a Bronx city housing complex to restore heat and hot water to residents a day after a massive gas explosion ripped the corner brick chimney off a 20-story apartment building.

City housing officials said investigators were still trying to determine what led to the Wednesday morning ...Read more

Amid a funding stalemate in Congress and a federal government shutdown, President Donald Trump’s planned termination of nearly $8 billion for energy projects primarily in states that didn’t vote for him includes $583 million in cuts for projects in Illinois.

Among those set to lose tens of millions of dollars in anticipated funding are ...Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy is canceling 12 grants for energy projects in Minnesota, including a $464 million proposal to build large transmission lines in seven states, according to a list reviewed by The Minnesota Star Tribune.

The projects are part of $7.5 billion in Energy Department cuts announced by the Trump administration Wednesday ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A federal judge denied the U.S. Justice Department’s request to pause several upcoming deadlines during the government shutdown in a legal fight over President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Washington.

In a one-paragraph order on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb wrote that the written materials ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — The cost to build the long-touted Brightline West Las Vegas to Southern California high-speed rail line has ballooned to $21.05 billion, according to a U.S. Transportation Department document.

Brightline West, backed by Fortress Investment Group, applied for a $6 billion loan from the federal government on Sept. 26, according to a...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, unwilling to accept defeat at the hands of the Kansas Supreme Court, is asking lawmakers to take extraordinary measures to help him prevent transgender Kansans from changing their gender on driver’s licenses and birth certificates.

The state’s highest court on Monday declined to ...Read more

Days after a 70-year-old Air Force veteran was among five people charged while protesting outside a suburban U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, fellow veterans and others gathered Thursday at the same spot in Broadview to speak out against ICE’s increased presence in the Chicago region and the Trump administration’s increased...Read more

The Department of Energy is canceling $1 billion in federal funding intended to jump-start a green hydrogen hub in the Pacific Northwest.

The federal spending cuts are part of a broader effort announced this week by the White House to scale back spending in Democratic states on clean energy projects and initiatives.

In a post on X on Wednesday...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A popular and promising young mountaineer fell to his death on Yosemite's El Capitan on Wednesday, a tragedy that was reportedly live-streamed on social media.

Balin Miller, 23, from Anchorage, Alaska, had already reached the top of the 3,000-foot granite wall — among the most famous and challenging rock climbs in the world �...Read more

Drought conditions east of the Cascade crest are so dire that state officials plan to cut off water for farmers, ranchers and more, something they’ve never done before.

Reservoirs in the Yakima River Basin are expected to run out of water early next week, officials with the Washington Department of Ecology said in a release. To conserve what ...Read more