LOS ANGELES — California Attorney General Rob Bonta has sent more than 200 letters to landlords and hotels warning them that they’ve been accused of wildfire-related price gouging, his office announced Friday.

“The price gouging that we’re seeing and hearing about needs to stop now,” Bonta said in a release. “These letters are just ...Read more

Over the past half-decade, the state of Texas has been pushing an evolution in the administration and enforcement of immigration law. Stepping into a traditional federal role, state lawmakers in 2023 passed Senate Bill 4, allowing Texas police to arrest those illegally crossing the border from Mexico.

But that law, which survived ...Read more

WASHINGTON — If confirmed to be U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi would oversee the U.S. Department of Justice.

That could pit one of her attorneys against a company that Bondi lobbied on behalf of last year.

As a lobbyist for Ballard Partners, Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, represented the Tampa-based refrigerant company iGas ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando hotel has agreed to institute new anti-discrimination policies after abruptly canceling a planned conference by an Arab American group in the wake of the outbreak of hostilities in Gaza in 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Managers at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Orlando at SeaWorld claimed they were...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed 13 bills sent to her by the Democratic-led House and Senate at the close of session in December, including legislation that would set up parolee ID programs, expedite petition signature verifications and create penalties for businesses that don't inform the state of plans to outsource a call center...Read more

Members of Congress scrambled to get tickets to as many constituents as possible for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Some held ticket lotteries because demand overwhelmed supply.

Then came word on Friday that the swearing-in was moving indoors because of the anticipated extreme cold.

Suddenly, House offices had to tell...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal prosecutors on Friday unsealed an indictment charging Oakland’s former Mayor Sheng Thao, her longtime romantic partner and the owners of a waste company in a bribery scheme that allegedly influenced city government behind closed doors.

Sheng Thao, Andre Jones and father-and-son Andy and David Duong were indicted on ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump got the last laugh, beating a slew of criminal charges without punishment and defeating his political foes. His reward: dealing with often-clashing Republicans in Congress.

The president-elect is scheduled to return to Washington this weekend to kick off the capital city’s quadrennial pomp and circumstance around a...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal probe has found that drones meant to dazzle holiday season viewers on the shores of Orlando’s Lake Eola didn’t have the most updated flight path programming installed, triggering a chain of mishaps in which some of the aircraft collided with each other, fell from the sky and, in one case, dived into a crowd of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — With fire containment improving and winds dying down, some residents are being allowed back into neighborhoods devastated by the Eaton and Palisades fires.

Los Angeles County officials say as many as 11,000 people will be able to return home as crews continue to get a handle on the deadly Palisades and Eaton fires that started ...Read more

Will she or won’t she?

Palm Beach gossip watchers can’t help but wonder if Donald Trump Jr.’s new girlfriend is going to attend the inauguration in Washington, D.C., on Monday.

There’s a good chance Bettina Anderson may be front and center as she and Jr., though not Instagram official, have been dating for a hot minute.

The two were ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday declared the Equal Rights Amendment the law of the land, creating a constitutional quandary three days before leaving office and after years of warning that his successor would shred the rule of law.

At question is a 1982 deadline for state ratification of the amendment, which the Biden White House ...Read more

ATLANTA — The day after a northwest Georgia senator’s attempt to ignore his banishment from the House led to his arrest, the chamber’s speaker announced he was lifting the ban.

State Sen. Colton Moore, who previously served in the House, was arrested Thursday after he repeatedly tried to enter the House chamber for a joint session with ...Read more

WASHINGTON — One of the flashpoints of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s confirmation hearing Friday before the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee came when Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he was disappointed with Trump’s statements about withholding disaster relief to California.

Blumenthal repeatedly asked whether Noem would ...Read more

ATLANTA — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can’t revive part of her racketeering case against incoming President Donald Trump and more than a dozen others, an appeals court ruled Friday.

In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel on the Georgia Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court judge who killed six counts in the ...Read more

A man defaced two crisis pregnancy centers in Texas in light of the leaked Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court draft opinion that indicated the high court was going to turn abortion decisions back to the states in 2022, federal prosecutors said.

He took a can of spray paint to the two centers in Denton in May 2022, writing phrases including “not a...Read more

WASHINGTON — Kristi Noem on Friday sailed through a confirmation hearing to be the next secretary of Homeland Security, with responses on major issues related to illegal immigration, international terrorism and cybersecurity that were unlikely to erode what appears to be a solid backing from Republicans.

The Senate Homeland Security and ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis wants the power to suspend or criminally charge local officials who don’t train at least 10% of their law enforcement staff to detain and deport undocumented immigrants or follow other tough new immigration rules he’s proposed.

In a four-page memo to legislative leaders, DeSantis said he wants to make...Read more