LOS ANGELES — Spring in Southern California has a certain rhythm: Dodgers fans return to Chavez Ravine, the jacarandas start to bloom, and L.A.'s mayor gives a speech — usually a long one — about how the city is doing.

Mayor Karen Bass, running for a second term in the June 2 election, is shaking up that routine, by delivering two ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s Black Democratic lawmakers spoke with one voice Thursday against Attorney General James Uthmeier’s decision — announced on the federal holiday that honors Martin Luther King Jr. — that he won’t enforce about 80 state laws that he claims are unconstitutionally race-based.

Saying his action would ...Read more

A winter storm is not the only thing to worry about in South Carolina.

While flu cases have decreased since the first week of 2026, the state is still on alert for widespread flu activity.

Latest data from the South Carolina Department of Public Health shows that the influenza-like illness activity level is high and 6.4% of patient visits to ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal officials have been searching for a place to expand immigrant detention in Minnesota, and the shuttered private prison in Appleton remains a leading option.

A building permit filed with Appleton city officials shows at least one contractor has been working on nearly $1 million worth of upgrades at the prison since late ...Read more

President Donald Trump revived his threats to use military force against Iran’s senior leadership amid a violent crackdown on nationwide protests, saying late Thursday that an armada of U.S. Navy vessels was en route to the Middle East.

“We have a big flotilla going in that direction and we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters ...Read more

The Danish prime minister arrived in Greenland on Friday for talks on the island’s future after President Donald Trump seemingly deescalated his threats to take over the Arctic territory.

Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen flew to Nuuk from Brussels, where she attended a summit of European Union leaders and met with NATO Secretary General Mark ...Read more

The Danish prime minister is traveling to Greenland on Friday for talks on the island’s future after President Donald Trump seemingly deescalated his threats to take over the Arctic territory.

Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen is flying to Nuuk from Brussels, where she attended a summit of European Union leaders and met with NATO Secretary ...Read more

The Kremlin said the “territorial issue” remains unresolved after President Vladimir Putin held late-night talks with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on the latest peace plan for ending Russia’s war on Ukraine.

There’s “no hope of achieving a long-term settlement” to the war until Russia’s demands for territory in ...Read more

NUUK, Greenland — One year ago, days before Donald Trump reclaimed power, the head of Denmark's People's Party took a trip to Mar-a-Lago. Morten Messerschmidt thought he and Trump shared a common view on the perils of European integration. Together, he told local media at the time, they could make the West great again.

In Europe, just as in ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said this week that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested “over 10,000 criminal illegal aliens who were killing Americans, hurting children and reigning terror in Minneapolis,” since President Donald Trump took office a year ago, including 3,000 in the past six weeks.

The ...Read more

CHICAGO — Continued enrollment declines at Chicago Public Schools could escalate into a “crisis” that would significantly affect the city’s public education system in the years ahead, according to a new report from Kids First Chicago.

CPS’ current enrollment is more than 316,000 students — a near 28% decrease of more than 122,000 ...Read more

CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. — City Hall in Carmel-by-the-Sea soon could have this address: 662 Monte Verde St.

Seems pretty standard, right? Not in this wealthy little town on the Monterey Peninsula that has never had street addresses.

For 109 years, residents have used directional descriptors — City Hall is on the east side of Monte Verde ...Read more

A rather peculiar red phone booth appeared outside a San Francisco tattoo parlor this week urging residents in one of America's most liberal cities to "call a Republican."

Its counterpart, a blue phone booth, sits outside a bookshop in the staunchly conservative town of Abilene, Texas, where it encourages locals to "call a Democrat."

Together ...Read more

Given how this president is now wielding tariffs, it’s time to take away President Donald Trump’s BB guns.

We’ve been consistent in our view that the substantial increases to date under Trump in duties paid by importers are economically counterproductive and ultimately raise costs for American consumers. But the president’s tariff saber...Read more

MIAMI — It’s no secret that Florida’s iconic coral reefs are in trouble.

Repeated body blows from hurricanes, pollution, disease, climate change — and a near-knockout punch from a 2023 marine heat wave — has effectively wiped several species off the map and shrunk the reefs that stretch from the Keys throughout South Florida.

...Read more

Europe is ready to get back to work with the United States, wary, frustrated and knowing it can’t trust an ally it’s relied on for decades.

With Donald Trump’s threats to seize Greenland off for now, European Union leaders at an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday said the bloc should now return to a to-do list that was already long ...Read more

Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration on Thursday announced it has identified nearly $500 million it will keep in budget reserves following the governor’s request last year that state agencies identify 4% of their budgets to hold back amid federal budget uncertainty.

While the trims affect the current budget year, they come as Illinois ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers halted a legislative proposal to pump funding into combating homelessness and housing insecurity on Thursday, as the Assembly Appropriations Committee confronted a state budget deficit that may not let them address one of California’s most troubling issues with funding at the scale they would like.

...Read more

More than two weeks after she was shot and killed by a federal immigration agent, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death of Renee Good a homicide.

The office released the information on Jan. 22 in a form that was posted to its public data portal. The disclosure indicated she was shot multiple times, but offered no ...Read more

He’s now the boss of the Colombo crime family, the feds say — and his decision to hold court at a family Christmas party in Brooklyn could land him back in the can.

Theodore “Skinny Teddy” Persico Jr., the nephew of notorious Colombo boss Carmine “The Snake” Persico,” has officially taken the title once held by his late uncle, ...Read more