SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento Assemblywoman Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk Grove, highlighted a new bill this week that would give a tax credit to business owners who say they have to spend money cleaning up after people who camp out on or near their properties.

One of those business owners is Little Saigon’s Tina Nguyen, who joined the ...Read more

NEW YORK — Earth Day environmental activists defaced Lower Manhattan’s iconic Charging Bull statue Tuesday, then rushed to clean it up before cops arrived, officials said.

Videos on social media and photographs from the scene show a handful of Extinction Rebellion activists spray-painting “Greed=Death” onto the flank of the life-size ...Read more

New Jersey prosecutors urged an appeals court to reinstate criminal racketeering charges against Democratic power broker George E. Norcross III, arguing that a judge erred in dismissing the indictment without reviewing evidence that was presented to the grand jury.

In his February decision, prosecutors said, Mercer County Superior Court Judge ...Read more

MIAMI — The city of Miami could vote this week to deputize its officers with immigration enforcement powers, joining a growing list of Miami-Dade cities that are aiding the Trump administration’s full-forced crackdown on undocumented migration.

On Thursday, the Miami City Commission is scheduled to vote to authorize the city to enter into a...Read more

NEW YORK — A Manhattan jury heard closing arguments Tuesday in former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s defamation case do-over against The New York Times, a high-stakes suit that First Amendment advocates worry could lead to the paring away of protections for the press.

Palin, who got another chance to try the case she lost in 2022 when New York�...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — UnitedHealth Group significantly upped spending on security for top corporate leaders last year with the Dec. 4 killing of health insurance executive Brian Thompson.

The Eden Prairie-based health care giant said it spent more than $1.6 million on security for five top executives last year, including CEO Andrew Witty, according ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A looming Supreme Court decision could result in Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wielding more control over the body that recommends preventive health services insurers must fully cover — a possibility that alarms health advocates.

The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in Kennedy v. Braidwood ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The $10 million that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration diverted to a state-created charity last year consisted of Medicaid dollars owed to state and federal taxpayers, contrary to what the governor and other officials have publicly asserted.

Three years ago, lawyers working with the state drew up a settlement agreement ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For almost a week, Gov. Gavin Newsom has come under fire from his fellow Democrats for dismissing the fervor around a wrongly deported Maryland man as a “distraction” while distancing himself from other Democrats who have sought to unify the party around the ongoing legal battle.

At a Wednesday news conference in ...Read more

Lawyers representing Kilmar Abrego Garcia asked a federal judge for a hearing after they said Justice Department attorneys provided “nothing of substance” in response to requests for information on how the Trump administration is facilitating the mistakenly deported Maryland man’s return.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had not yet ...Read more

CHICAGO — Jurors on Tuesday resumed deliberations in the federal corruption trial of state Sen. Emil Jones III, after nine days in which prosecutors argued Jones had sold his power as a state senator for the promise of a $5,000 campaign contribution and a minimum wage job for his intern.

Jones’ defense attorneys argued that the South Side ...Read more

DENVER — Colorado has announced the launch of a digital passport as part of the state’s “America 250-Colorado 150” commemoration, allowing residents to access exclusive discounts and offers from a variety of local businesses, parks and landmarks.

The digital passport will soft-launch this summer with a full rollout planned for 2026, ...Read more

ATLANTA — After nine months of detention in a South Georgia immigrant jail, a Venezuelan father of two hoped to finally be deported to his homeland. Instead, he was flown to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, entering what his lawyers described as a “legal black hole.”

Edicson David Quintero Chacón is one of 238 Venezuelan ...Read more

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Tuesday claimed attack plans he shared with pals on a Signal group chat amounted to nothing more than “informal, unclassified” information.

The embattled Pentagon chief insisted he did nothing wrong by using his personal phone to share detailed plans for U.S. strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen with about a ...Read more

What happens when politicians post false or toxic messages online? My team and I found evidence that suggests U.S. state legislators can increase or decrease their public visibility by sharing unverified claims or using uncivil language during times of high political tension. This raises questions about how social media platforms shape public...Read more

Last year was a record year for disasters in the United States. A new report from the British charity International Institute for Environment and Development finds that 90 disasters were declared nationwide in 2024, from wildfires in California to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

The average number of annual disasters in the U.S. ...Read more

More than five months after President Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris, Democrats are still trying to understand why they lost the election and the Senate majority – and how the party can regroup.

These concerns have only increased in the wake of Trump’s sustained activity at the start of his second term. The American public ...Read more

In some parts of the world, a person may be secreted away or imprisoned by the government without any advanced notification of wrongdoing or chance to make a defense. This has not been lawful in the United States from its very inception, or in many other countries where the rule of law and respect for individual civil rights are paramount....Read more

Before Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, U.S. factories and cities could pipe their pollution directly into waterways. Rivers, including the Potomac in Washington, smelled of raw sewage and contained toxic chemicals. Ohio’s Cuyahoga River was so contaminated, its oil slicks erupted in flames.

That unchecked pollution didn...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A growing number of Southeast Asian immigrants in Los Angeles and Orange counties whose deportation orders have been on indefinite hold for years are being detained, and in some cases, deported after showing up for routine check-ins at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices, according to immigrant attorneys and advocacy...Read more