Environmental advocates are cautiously optimistic after the Supreme Court left California’s nation-leading auto emissions standards in place — at least for the moment.

The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge from Ohio and 16 other conservative states that aimed to strip California of its authority to adopt vehicle emissions standards...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Palm Beach County officials are moving forward with a plan to curb homelessness through the introduction of tiny cottages.

Beyond a place to sleep at night, these tiny homes would provide people with a bathroom, shower and kitchen. And in the face of Florida’s new law banning people from sleeping in public spaces ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- As 30-mph wind gusts howled across a flat spot known as "the notch" halfway up Mt. Baldy last weekend, three young men staggered down from the summit looking cold, tired and very excited to have just reached the highest point in Los Angeles County in such punishing conditions.

Not only had they braved the summit's soaring ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — California’s free earthquake early warning app is now available for Mac computers and Chromebooks — a major expansion of access for the warning system, which has been available for years on cellphones.

The MyShake app, developed by the University of California, Berkeley, is one of the most popular ways to receive earthquake ...Read more

The death of Ollie, a 9-month-old labradoodle mauled at a Massachusetts pet care facility in 2020, led the state this October to enact the stringent “Ollie’s Law,” tightening regulations on the care and housing of pets at boarding and training kennels.

The new Massachusetts law mandates the timely reporting of such incidents to local ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The feud between Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell could soon spark anew in the next Congress with the Kentucky Republican poised to hold ample sway over the president-elect’s agenda and nominees.

McConnell will leave GOP leadership when the 119th Senate is seated on Jan. 3. But that does not mean the outgoing Senate minority ...Read more

Among the biggest-grossing films in America in February 2002 were a war drama about American troops in Somalia (“Black Hawk Down”), an Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie (“Collateral Damage”), and a future Oscar winner about a brilliant mathematician struggling with schizophrenia (“A Beautiful Mind”).

But none of these films topped ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Three men sought help at clinics or emergency rooms in Los Angeles County over a three-month period this year, each reporting severe diarrhea and a recent history of sexual contact with other men.

Stool cultures revealed that all three were infected with Shigella sonnei, a strain of Shigella bacteria that is resistant to five of...Read more

MIAMI — As teacher Monique Bridges worked on her computer in her Liberty City classroom on a recent morning, students quietly wore headphones as they worked on different projects.

In the back of Bridges’ classroom, sixth graders Albrielle Jones and Octruiya Howell stood at a small table. Jones used a large machine to create tubes of ...Read more

More than two years after the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally expanded its interpretation of the Second Amendment, federal courts throughout the country continue to strike down state restrictions on gun ownership.

Since the high court’s 2022 decision — in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen — that firearm regulations ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council is considering cracking down on the sale of nitrous oxide — known as laughing gas, which typically is administered by anesthesiologists as a short-acting sedative, but when used recreationally it can lead to disorientation, falls and even death.

But a ban intended to keep young people from using ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — John Carney is scheduled to step down next month after eight years as governor of Delaware (pop. 1.03 million). On Jan. 7 he begins a four-year term as mayor of Wilmington (pop. 70,000), the little state's biggest city, after beating city Treasurer Velda Jones-Potter in a close September Democratic primary. No Republican ran.

...Read more

MIAMI — Monroe County has seven projects underway to elevate roads in the Florida Keys, keeping them dry even as rising sea levels threaten to leave them permanently underwater.

In a presentation this week, Chief Resilience Officer Rhonda Haag reported that five years ago, the county had no plans in motion to raise roads, even as residents ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesotans generate about 6 million tons of waste each year, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. In new efforts to reduce the harmful impacts, the state is adopting policy geared toward decreasing that tonnage.

The MPCA, local officials and business leaders gathered Wednesday at Choo Choo Bob’s Train ...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal appeals court panel has overturned a previous decision that awarded more than $367.4 million to the Municipality of Anchorage in its lawsuit against the federal government over failed construction work at the Don Young Port of Alaska.

In an opinion issued Monday, a panel of judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has launched a national security investigation into TP-Link, the China-founded router maker whose equipment now dominates the American market and has been targeted in repeated Chinese cyberattacks, people familiar with the matter said.

The probe opens a new front in the U.S. push to crack down on China-linked ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Diocese of Orange has agreed to pay $3.5 million to a man who alleges he was sexually abused by a former administrator at Mater Dei High School in the late 1970s.

The settlement concludes a lawsuit filed in 2019 against the diocese and brings the amount the Catholic Church has paid out in civil cases involving Msgr. Michael ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Billionaire Elon Musk is turning to an executive from one of his own companies, a former Trump White House official and other tech executives to help hire staff for the incoming administration’s nascent effort to slash the size and scope of government.

Steve Davis, president of Boring Co., Musk’s tunneling operation, and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Nearly two years after he was caught on camera beating a transgender man in a 7-Eleven parking lot, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy has agreed to plead guilty in federal court to a civil rights violation for using excessive force, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Joseph Benza III, 36, was charged late Tuesday with one count of ...Read more