BOISE, Idaho — A conservative Christian lobbying group said it’s working with Idaho state lawmakers to rename a state highway after Charlie Kirk.

The 31-year-old conservative activist was fatally shot in September while speaking at a university event in Utah. The Idaho Family Policy Center aims to designate the Treasure Valley’s Idaho 16 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County’s district attorney has opened an investigation into claims of fraud within the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Wednesday his office has started a wide-ranging probe into claims that plaintiffs made up stories of abuse in order to sue the county, which ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s state budget is in a precarious position heading into the next fiscal year — due in part to an AI boom — according to a forecast released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom face an $18 billion deficit to fill before the new fiscal year begins ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The House is fast-tracking a medical malpractice bill ahead of the 2026 legislative session that’s identical to one Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed earlier this year.

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would allow more people in Florida to recover money for the loss of their family members due to ...Read more

The San Antonio man accused of fatally shooting his neighbor Jonathan Joss, the actor best known for his voice work on animated series "King of the Hill," faces a murder charge.

A grand jury in Bexar County, Texas, on Monday indicted 57-year-old Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez on a single felony count of first-degree murder, according to legal records ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Current and former members of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration were among the dozens of Sacramento insiders who received FBI letters in recent days notifying them that their phone calls, texts or other electronic communications had been intercepted as part of the federal corruption case tied to Dana Williamson and two...Read more

WASHINGTON — Congress’ schedule for next year is set after the Senate rolled out its 2026 calendar Wednesday, a day after the House unveiled its own version.

The Senate calendar, made public by Majority Leader John Thune’s office, contains a few notable differences from the schedule set by the House for the midterm election year.

The ...Read more

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and first lady MK Pritzker met with Pope Leo XIV in Rome on Wednesday, where they discussed the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the two formally invited the pope to visit Chicago, the governor’s office said.

“It was an honor for MK and me to meet with @Pontifex — a son of Illinois — to ...Read more

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey is rejecting the argument that her opposition to two gas pipelines coming to Massachusetts is a contributing factor to soaring energy costs.

Following an event at the State House Wednesday, the Herald asked Healey about her placing the blame on President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian products for increases in...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Silvia Reyna, a Sacramento-area undocumented woman who is suing a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor for sexual harassment, re-entered the United States on Wednesday — three weeks after she was wrongly deported, her family said.

Accompanied by her daughter Briana Hernandez, Reyna crossed the U.S.-Mexico...Read more

CHICAGO — A Chicago federal appeals court on Wednesday put the brakes on a lower court’s preliminary injunction restricting the use of force in Operation Midway Blitz, saying it is “overbroad” and improperly targets virtually the entire executive branch, including President Donald Trump.

In agreeing to issue a stay, however, the 7th U.S...Read more

WASHINGTON — Travis Hill didn’t satisfy the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee that he’s addressing cultural problems at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, but the panel approved his nomination to chair the agency along party lines on Wednesday.

The panel voted, 13-11, to recommend Hill for the job on a permanent basis. ...Read more

Attorney General Pam Bondi raised major doubts Wednesday about how much of the Jeffrey Epstein files she will release to the public even after a bill requiring full transparency won lightning-quick, near-unanimous passage in both houses of the usually deeply divided Congress just a day earlier.

Before President Trump had even signed the bill as...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A vast canyon of buried garbage has been smoldering inside a landfill in the Santa Clarita Valley, inducing geysers of liquid waste onto the surface and noxious fumes into the air.

In the Inland Empire, several fires have broken out on the surface of another landfill. In the San Fernando Valley, an elementary school has ...Read more

Tom Pritzker, cousin to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and a Hyatt Hotels magnate, is repeatedly named in documents released last week from the estate of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The trove of more than 20,000 documents, made public by the House Oversight Committee, includes emails between Tom Pritzker and Epstein from ...Read more

WASHINGTON — GOP health panel leaders in the Senate on Wednesday seemed intent on quickly implementing a health savings account proposal to replace expiring health care tax credits that subsidize insurance plans used by millions of Americans, despite increased skepticism from Democrats and even some House Republicans.

During a Senate Finance ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Duquesne University has tapped David Dausey, the school's current provost and a nationally recognized epidemiologist, to serve as the Catholic institution's 14th president.

School officials announced the selection during a news conference Wednesday morning. Dausey will take the university's helm in July.

"This is the greatest ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The parents of a Kentucky infant who consumed potentially contaminated baby formula and became sick with a life-threatening disease are suing the company that produced the formula.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court Nov. 12 by lawyers representing Richmond residents Hanna and Michael Everett. It alleges their 4-month-old ...Read more

NEW YORK — The developers selected to build an affordable housing complex on the site of Manhattan’s Elizabeth Street Garden sued Mayor Eric Adams and his top deputy, Randy Mastro, on Wednesday over their attempt to block the project by designating the site as “parkland.”

The lawsuit, brought by a consortium of developers and social ...Read more