In a major victory for Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democratic Party, a federal court in Los Angeles ruled Wednesday that California can use its newly configured congressional district boundaries for the 2026 midterm elections, increasing Democrats’ odds of winning five additional U.S. House seats and seizing control of the chamber.

Attorneys ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday rejected a request to extradite a California physician accused of providing abortion medication to a Louisiana patient, marking the latest clash between states with sharply different abortion laws following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

"Louisiana's request ...Read more

A new state report warns that California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to close a projected $2.9 billion budget shortfall fails to confront what it calls “alarming” multibillion-dollar deficits looming in the years ahead.

“The Governor and administration officials have acknowledged the downside risk to the state’s revenue picture and the ...Read more

DENVER — Twelve months into President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation program, Democratic lawmakers in Colorado are preparing a three-pronged package of bills aimed at regulating immigration enforcement and the detention facilities where authorities hold immigrants — and further tightening a law that Gov. Jared Polis tried to sidestep last...Read more

DENVER — A panel of Colorado Court of Appeals judges appeared to seriously consider Wednesday whether discredited elections clerk Tina Peters’ nine-year prison sentence was unfair, while also expressing skepticism that her convictions should be overturned altogether.

During the hourlong hearing, the three judges focused on whether Mesa ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A top Trump administration lawyer pressed a federal judge Wednesday to block a newly enacted California law that bans most law enforcement officers in the state from wearing masks, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Tiberius Davis, representing the U.S. Department of Justice, argued at a hearing in Los ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Trump administration on Wednesday opened an investigation into New York City’s public school system over a policy that allows students to participate in sports based on their gender identity, federal education officials announced.

The city’s school system is one of 18 school districts, colleges and a state education ...Read more

State Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland, is all in on his bid for the governor’s mansion.

Johnson said in a news release Wednesday he will not seek reelection to his House seat, even though it is common in South Carolina for candidates to run for multiple offices in the same election.

“Serving my community in the State House has been the ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California announced an investigation Wednesday into Elon Musk's xAI, with Gov. Gavin Newsom accusing the artificial intelligence company of becoming a "breeding ground for predators to spread nonconsensual sexually explicit AI deepfakes."

Grok, the xAI chatbot, includes image-generation features that allow users to ...Read more

The U.S. announced the “launch” of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to advance a fragile truce that has been challenged by Hamas militants refusing to disarm.

The second phase will see the war-torn enclave “moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance...Read more

The number of people who have died from complications of the flu in North Carolina more than doubled in the last two weeks to 134, according to state health officials.

Another 26 people died in the state last week, according to the latest data from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The agency also revised figures it released for...Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the case of Barry Croft Jr., one of the ringleaders of a plot to kidnap and harm Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, meaning he will likely remain in federal prison barring a pardon or commutation from President Donald Trump.

The court's order denying Croft's petition for a writ of certiorari was filed in federal ...Read more

A total of 35 children and adults have fallen ill in California in the largest outbreak of mushroom poisonings in years, according to the California Poison Control Service.

The sickened Californians apparently ate foraged poisonous death cap mushrooms — scientific name Amanita phalloides — after mistaking them for “familiar edible ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A group of 33 former federal prosecutors in Minnesota are asking the Trump administration to reconsider its decision to exclude the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good by a federal agent last week, according to a Jan. 14 letter obtained by the Minnesota Star ...Read more

WASHINGTON — State and local officials are once again on the defensive after President Trump renewed threats Wednesday to strike federal dollars from “sanctuary” jurisdictions such as California and Los Angeles, which have long opposed cooperation with immigration enforcement agencies.

The ultimatum, laid out in an early morning Truth ...Read more

Hundreds of St. Paul students walked out of classes and gathered at the state Capitol Wednesday to demand that ICE leave Minnesota.

Organizers said their fellow students are afraid and attendance in schools has dropped with the heavy presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the Twin Cities.

“We’re out here because ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Republican chairmen of the Senate’s defense oversight panels, in back-to-back floor speeches Wednesday, made the case for supporting America’s European allies, contrasting with the Trump administration’s approach on key issues.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, sharply...Read more

WASHINGTON — Top Danish diplomats met with White House officials on Wednesday to talk about President Trump’s repeated threats to take control of Greenland and left with the understanding that the United States and Denmark have a “fundamental disagreement” about the future of the Arctic territory.

Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Danish ...Read more

The U.S. Department of Justice has sued the state of Minnesota, accusing the state of giving discriminatory preference to marginalized state employees and prospective hires.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court of Minnesota, takes aim at the state’s requirement to have affirmative action plans in place and consider diversity goals when ...Read more