SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, now running for governor, defended his judgment when asked if he should have known that his former chief of staff, Deputy Attorney General Sean McCluskie, had stolen campaign funds from him.

Last fall, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento charged McCluskie, former Gov. Gavin ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The White House announced the U.S. would hold direct talks with Iran even as continued fighting in the Middle East, punctuated by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire in the six-week conflict.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Vice President JD Vance would lead an American delegation to ...Read more

MIAMI — Before a swarm of Coral Springs officers descended on the home of Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen last week, discovering her death, allegedly at the hands of her husband, authorities had been called five times to her home, a Miami Herald inquiry revealed.

Officers were called to the home six times from August 2023 to April 2026, the ...Read more

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would levy criminal penalties against those who use tax dollars to advocate for or against a public question on the ballot, such as constitutional amendments, which have to be voted on by residents in order to pass.

Senate Bill 59, introduced by Steve Rawlings, R-Burlington, ...Read more

PLYMOUTH, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday that she won't make endorsements in either the Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate or the Democratic convention contest for secretary of state, a race that features her own lieutenant governor.

After a press conference celebrating the start of the road construction ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier wouldn’t say Wednesday whether he’s asked a judge to keep secret a grand jury report into the Hope Florida scandal, instead asserting during a combative press conference in Miami that he was not a target in the investigation.

Asked whether he had petitioned a court to redact ...Read more

NEW YORK — A pro-Palestine, anti-ICE protester admitted Wednesday he torched 11 parked NYPD vehicles last year as they sat unoccupied in a parking lot near a Brooklyn police stationhouse.

Jakhi Lodgson-McCray, 22, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to a federal arson charge Wednesday, admitting to an offense that carries a mandatory minimum of five ...Read more

A man shot by U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Northern California is not a gang member wanted for murder in El Salvador as the government says, the man's attorney said Wednesday.

Carlos Iván Mendoza Hernández, 36, a Salvadoran national, was shot Tuesday morning while attempting to evade capture during a targeted ...Read more

Sitting at a makeshift governor’s desk in front of the massive cooling tower in Salem County on Wednesday, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a new law intended to make way for new nuclear energy projects in the Garden State.

Her hope is that more energy — of all kinds — can lower ratepayers’ bills that have skyrocketed in recent ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — After President Donald Trump’s administration dismantled exhibits about the horrors of slavery at the President’s House Site earlier this year, the federal government planned to replace them with its own account of history.

Details of those replacement panels remained unclear until now.

Digital renderings of 11 new panels ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Alameda County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously opposed any efforts to reopen FCI Dublin women’s prison as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center and processing facility as part of the Trump administration’s broader deportation agenda.

During a board meeting Tuesday, some county residents...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago Board of Education approved a resolution Wednesday calling on Gov. JB Pritzker to reject the Trump administration’s federal tax-credit scholarship program and oppose diverting public funds to private education.

Pritzker has yet to decide whether to opt into the program, which has stirred fierce opposition from public ...Read more

Cases of flea-borne typhus have hit an “all-time high” in a California county, according to public health officials.

A record 220 cases of the disease were identified in 2025 in Los Angeles County, the county public health agency reported April 2.

“Alarmingly, nearly 9 out of 10 people identified as infected with typhus required ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A day after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, the truce showed signs of strain Wednesday as Iranian leaders accused Americans of violating the agreement and reports emerged that Tehran had moved to restrict traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The developments tested President Donald Trump’s ability ...Read more

Weeks after the drawdown of federal immigration agents from Minnesota, schools are still seeing lower student attendance due to lingering fears — and that may not be resolved unless a judge reinstates a federal policy preventing agents from being near schools.

That was the argument school leaders made in court Wednesday, April 8, while ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The White House announced the U.S. would hold direct talks with Iran even as continued fighting in the Middle East, punctuated by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire in the six-week conflict.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Vice President JD Vance would lead a U.S. delegation to Islamabad,...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Sen. Mitch McConnell offered his support of the war in Iran while appearing at the University of Kentucky on Wednesday.

A two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is now in effect after weeks of fighting, and earlier this week President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization.” The U.S. and ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump may have backed down on his Tuesday threat to eliminate the “whole” Iranian civilization, but Democrats hope his social media posts triggered enough outcry to buoy them to a congressional majority and, possibly, lead to a push to impeach Trump for the first time this term and the third time since he was ...Read more