SAN FRANCISCO — Two men who worked as couriers for an illicit delivery service the sold methamphetamine, ketamine and cocaine in the same style as Door Dash or Instacart were given sentenced that did not include any prison time, court records show.

U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley sentenced Matthew Sestak and Rory Rickey to time ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — An Orange County towing company sold off nearly 150 military members' cars, some while service members were deployed overseas, the federal government claimed in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

San Clemente-based S&K Towing signed a contract in August 2020 to tow cars for the Marine Corps Police Department at Camp Pendleton, a ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — More than a year after he was first tapped, the nomination of Trump-supporting Orlando attorney Dan Newlin as ambassador to Colombia appears to be in peril.

Newlin, the owner and CEO of his own law firm and a former Orange County deputy sheriff, was picked by President Donald Trump to be his top diplomat to the South American ...Read more

DETROIT — Jarvis Butts, who was sentenced to up to 60 years in prison two weeks ago following his second-degree murder conviction for killing and sexually assaulting 13-year-old Na'Ziyah Harris, was found dead in prison Thursday after an apparent suicide, state corrections officials said.

Butt's body was discovered Thursday morning at the ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Reports of a mystery rocket seen launching from Cape Canaveral on Thursday could be another hypersonic missile test for the Department of Defense.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security had posted navigational warnings earlier this week with air and maritime space keep-out zones similar to previous hypersonic...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump held his first wartime Cabinet meeting Thursday, one month into his Iran conflict, as he continued toggling between talk of diplomacy and rattling his military saber.

The president has spent much of the week striking a new tone on the war and signaling interest in peace talks, even as the administration ...Read more

MIAMI — Haitians with temporary protected status who hold Florida driver’s licenses will be eligible to keep driving until at least July 1, 2026, Miami-Dade County Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez announced Thursday.

The revised expiration date means eligible individuals will need to visit a local driver’s office to renew and pay the $54.25...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s public universities will no longer allow a standalone introductory sociology course to count toward general-education requirements after state leaders on Thursday approved a sweeping, systemwide ban that reflects years of Republican criticism of the discipline.

The move — which was not originally on the ...Read more

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Nine people will take the ride to the top of the launch tower for the Artemis II moon mission, but only five will ride back down.

That’s if NASA’s plans to launch four astronauts on board the Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System rocket go as planned. Targeting liftoff as early as next Wednesday, the quartet...Read more

NEW YORK — Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro arrived in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday, where a judge was set to consider his request to use Venezuelan funds to pay his lawyer or have his narco-terrorism case thrown out.

The hearing will be the first for Maduro and his wife and codefendant, Cilia Flores, since their initial ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A portion of Interstate 77 in Richland County could be named for former President Barack Obama under a resolution passed in the South Carolina Senate on Wednesday afternoon.

“President Obama’s leadership inspired a generation and broke barriers that once seemed impossible,” said state Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Federal prosecutors have obtained indictments against two people in an investigation of an explosive device that was found earlier this month near the entrance to MacDill Air Force Base.

An indictment unsealed Thursday accuses Alen Zheng, 20, of attempting to damage government property and making and possessing an improvised ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Josh Stein called on the General Assembly to spend $792 million more in Western North Carolina for recovery needs from Helene, which struck the state in September 2024, leading to over a hundred deaths and tremendous damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure.

Stein, a Democrat, made his third request for Helene ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California man who was convicted of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach-related charges and later pardoned by President Donald Trump is running for Madera County’s Board of Supervisors in the June primary election.

Benjamin Martin told The Sacramento Bee he is proud to have stood up for Trump. He said he is focused on his ...Read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Iran with intensified military action and said he’s unsure whether a diplomatic agreement can be reached, with the two sides at loggerheads on how to end the near monthlong war.

Iran had “better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday continued projecting confidence in the U.S. war effort in Iran, suggesting online and during a high-level Cabinet meeting that Iran has been “obliterated,” that its leaders were “begging” for a deal, and that the U.S. is “roaming free” over Iran and “NEEDS NOTHING” from its ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday sued SeaWorld Orlando’s parent company, alleging that the theme parks' ban on “rollator walkers” discriminates against guests with disabilities, including children and veterans.

The department’s civil rights division filed the lawsuit in Orlando federal court against United ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that mandatory life sentences for second-degree murder are unconstitutional — a significant decision that is likely to re-shape a portion of state law that many criminal justice advocates and some public officials have long targeted for reform.

In an opinion released Thursday ...Read more

President Donald Trump trashed Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, on Thursday and predicted Democrats would soon cave and make a deal to end the partial government shutdown that has caused chaos at airports, even though the two parties remain far apart in talks.

With airport security lines stretching for hours and Congress set to leave town for a ...Read more

DETROIT — Minnesota officials are seeking funds to stop a Duluth cemetery from continuing to erode into Lake Superior.

St. Louis County is asking the state of Minnesota for a grant to build a $2.5 million retaining wall at the Scandia Cemetery to halt a clay bank from crumbling, officials said. The erosion has already caused human remains to ...Read more