California no longer faces a budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday, two months after budget officials projected a $2 billion deficit that had left little room for additional government spending.

Newsom teased his $322.2 billion budget proposal, which includes $228.9 billion in general fund spending and $17 billion in total reserves, at ...Read more

In a sweeping environmental decision during the final days of his presidency, President Joe Biden on Monday banned new offshore oil and gas drilling across 625 million acres of America’s oceans, including all federal waters in the Pacific off California, Oregon and Washington.

Biden said the move, which also includes a prohibition on the ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom touted higher than expected tax revenues and a "modest surplus" in an unconventional preview of his $322.2 billion spending proposal for the upcoming fiscal year, but his office said he still plans to pull money from the state's rainy day reserves to pay for policy priorities.

The Democratic governor ...Read more

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday bolstered its recommendations for pulse oximeter testing following public uproar over how inaccurate readings led to different medical care for patients of color during the pandemic.

Minnesota medtech companies have said they were working on boosting clinical trial diversity and oximeter accuracy prior...Read more

The union representing state attorneys has concerns about how the California Attorney General’s Office could spend the $25 million it is expected to receive to prepare the state for anticipated legal fights with the incoming Trump administration.

Gov. Gavin Newsom immediately called for a special session to boost the Justice Department’s ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Duane “Keffe D” Davis is asking a Las Vegas judge to dismiss the charges accusing him of orchestrating the 1996 killing of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur.

Davis’ attorney, Carl Arnold, filed the motion on Monday alleging that the state delayed prosecuting Davis and is relying on Davis’ own statements to pursue the charges, ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Former UFC fighter Tim Kennedy said he competed 13 years ago in a reality TV show with Matthew Livelsberger, the suspected man behind the Cybertruck explosion at Trump Hotel International.

Police said Livelsberger shot himself in the head before the explosion, which injured seven people.

Kennedy wrote in an Instagram post on ...Read more

NEW YORK — A judge on Monday held Rudy Giuliani in civil contempt and granted sanctions against him for blowing off requests for information from the Georgia mother and daughter election workers he defamed, calling out the former New York City mayor for “attempting to run the clock” and thwart the women’s evidence-gathering efforts.

The...Read more

NEW YORK— A Manhattan judge on Monday denied a Hail Mary motion by Donald Trump to stop his sentencing in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case from going ahead this week.

In a brief written decision, state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan kept in place Trump’s sentencing set for Friday at 9:30 a.m. after the president-elect’s lawyers ...Read more

DETROIT — The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office has denied a warrant request relating to an alleged assault by superstar rapper Nicki Minaj during a tour stop in Detroit last spring.

The assault allegedly happened on April 21, 2024 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, the office said. Minaj performed April 20 at LCA while on tour.

Kym Worthy's...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — In a case that seeks to invalidate over 60,000 ballots cast in North Carolina’s Supreme Court election, a federal judge ruled that the state’s Republican-dominated high court should decide, instead of him.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Richard Myers, an appointee of President-elect Donald Trump, sent GOP candidate ...Read more

SEATTLE — Interim Seattle police Chief Sue Rahr announced Monday that she has fired Kevin Dave, the officer who killed Jaahnavi Kandula in a South Lake Union crosswalk while speeding in his cruiser in January 2023.

In an email sent to employees, Rahr said she fired Dave on Monday after the Seattle Office of Police Accountability found he had ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — About 4 1/2 years after the police killing of George Floyd triggered state and federal investigations and sparked protests worldwide, Minneapolis officials have reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice outlining sweeping reforms that will be made to address discriminatory policing.

The Minneapolis City Council ...Read more

A patient in Louisiana who tested positive for bird flu has died, marking the first U.S. fatality linked to the respiratory virus.

The patient was over 65 and had underlying medical conditions, according to a statement from the Louisiana Department of Health. No additional cases have been identified and there’s no evidence of human-to-human ...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump vowed to overturn outgoing President Joe Biden’s eleventh-hour ban on expanded offshore drilling in the U.S.

On Monday, Biden declared he would invoke the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prevent offshore drilling along the East and West coasts, through parts of the Gulf of Mexico and portions of the Northern ...Read more

NEW YORK — An alleged would-be Donald Trump assassin with ties to Iran says he’s been held in a cold solitary confinement cell at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn without warm clothing, and denied basic amenities like salt and pepper to season his food.

Asif Merchant has been locked up in the Special Administrative ...Read more

ATLANTA — The murmurs died down as mourners entered the museum, greeted by Jimmy Carter’s words on the wall.

“My faith demands — this is not optional — that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” one quote read.

The visitors had gathered Sunday to...Read more