WASHINGTON — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that she and President Donald Trump had a “cordial” hour-long meeting in Washington that ended with both leaders extending invitations to visit each other’s country.

“We’ll arrange a date later,” Sheinbaum told reporters outside of the Mexican Cultural Institute.

The ...Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. — Lester Lewis’ chances of freedom seemed bleak.

The allegations were horrific, even for a rape case, and the prosecution’s evidence appeared to be strong. He was accused of beating, burning and sexually violating a woman as she died of a suspected drug overdose in his Oakland apartment, then coldly dragging her corpse to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are pressing their Republican colleagues to summon the Trump administration’s top housing regulator to Capitol Hill for questioning about his turbulent tenure overseeing the nation’s $13 trillion mortgage market.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte should be called to testify before lawmakers ...Read more

Gilbert Clark, the former commandant of the Naval Academy dismissed from his post last month amid concerns over his ability to lead, was seen dancing and drinking alcohol while in uniform with young adults at an Annapolis bar on at least one occasion, according to one witness and a social media video reviewed by the Capital Gazette.

The video...Read more

Negotiators from the White House and Ukraine agreed on a “framework of security arrangements” and discussed what deterrence capabilities would be necessary as part of a peace deal to end the war with Russia, the U.S. said Friday.

“The participants discussed the results of recent meeting of the American side with the Russians and steps ...Read more

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been cooperating with the city corruption watchdog’s investigation into possible violations of ethics laws, his spokesperson said Friday.

“This is a non-criminal, ethics review, and the Mayor is fully confident it will show he followed the law,” Todd Shapiro said of the Department of ...Read more

Waymo said it will file a voluntary software recall with U.S. federal authorities after its autonomously driven vehicles repeatedly failed to fully slow or stop for school buses.

The Alphabet Inc. self-driving unit expects to file the notice early next week, which will become public on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s ...Read more

NEW YORK — Top charter school leaders are looking to improve ties with Zohran Mamdani as simmering tensions between the mayor-elect and the sector threaten to open a contentious chapter in their relationship with City Hall.

After those differences became apparent on the campaign trail, the heads of 19 charter schools and networks, including ...Read more

Former political journalist Olivia Nuzzi’s tenure at Vanity Fair has come to an end, a year after reports of her alleged relationship with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. upended her career.

Vanity Fair and a spokesperson for“American Canto” author Nuzzi said in a joint statement shared Friday that they “...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has ordered more than 260 federal workers it has been trying to fire since March to return to work on Dec. 15 while a court case over their final status drags on.

The staffers at the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which investigates claims of discrimination in schools, were sent an ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Gov. Gavin Newsom kept a low profile as he swung through the nation’s capital this week, holding meetings with a handful of lawmakers Friday on Capitol Hill as he renewed calls for billions in federal recovery aid following the Los Angeles fires.

For a governor who has spent recent weeks in the spotlight — trailed by cameras...Read more

NEW YORK — The City Council’s Ethics Committee is expected to vote as soon as next week to formally censure Councilwoman Inna Vernikov for openly carrying a gun at an October 2023 pro-Palestinian protest, sources familiar told the Daily News.

The move to censure isn’t expected to come with any concrete penalty, such as a suspension or ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett is retiring after all, bringing an end to a nearly 50-year political career.

“I will continue working with the same urgency and determination as if next year were my last, which in public office it will be,” the longtime Democratic lawmaker said in a statement Friday.

Doggett had first announced he�...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — In a rare display of unity, all 28 of Florida’s Congress members and both U.S. senators joined in a bipartisan letter Thursday urging President Donald Trump to keep offshore oil drilling away from the state’s coastline.

The response comes two weeks after the U.S. Department of the Interior unveiled a five-year proposal that ...Read more

BRIGHTON, Mich. — Ed Bambas, 88, choked back tears Friday, saying he wished his late wife could be there as he received a donation of more than $1.7 million from online well-wishers.

"I cannot express any words to how thankful I am," Bambas said during a check presentation in the lobby at Foguth Financial Group in Brighton.

The money was ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — In a hot Publix parking lot in south St. Petersburg, Howie Guja, the guy with the megawatt smile and the Publishers Clearing House blazer, took a selfie behind a minivan as he held an oversize novelty check for $10,000.

Guja and a camera operator named George had flown into Tampa on Wednesday morning from New York. The check ...Read more

The Trump administration will start charging a $5,000 fee to people apprehended who entered the U.S. illegally.

The “apprehension fee” will apply to anyone 14 or older who is arrested and determined to have crossed the border without authorization and is deemed inadmissible, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks said in a statement on X ...Read more

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The state Office of the Budget will have a new leader going into the 2026-27 budget season after Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Budget Secretary Uri Monson will step down next week to become executive director of the Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System.

Shapiro said he will appoint a deputy secretary, ...Read more

Recent weeks have brought good news about vaccines, with studies indicating that flu vaccination reduces heart disease, shingles vaccines can prevent or slow dementia, and a single human papilloma virus shot protects a girl from cervical cancer for the rest of her life.

But in the upside-down world of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert ...Read more