TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida bill meant to protect the state from China and other foreign enemies is backed by right-wing, dark money groups and could endanger some student exchange programs and sister-city initiatives, the feel-good efforts meant to promote cultural exchanges.

The proposal (HB 905) was approved by the Legislature in March ...Read more

Two San Diego men have been sentenced for smuggling vulnerable birds into the United States, with one heading to prison and the other getting hit with thousands in fines.

Ricardo Alonzo was sentenced to three months in prison for smuggling 17 birds — two red-lored Amazon parrots, five yellow-crowned Amazon parrots and 10 Burrowing parakeets �...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Tornadoes aren't completely out of the question in California's Central Valley. Over the last century, the region has had scores of them.

But this week, as several thunderstorms moved through, the region experienced something rare: four tornadoes on the same day, all in less than five hours.

The first touched down Tuesday ...Read more

CHICAGO — One Chicago police officer was killed and another critically injured after they were shot at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital Saturday morning by a man they brought in for treatment at the emergency room, according to police and hospital officials. The suspect was taken into custody.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said...Read more

U.S. naval forces intercepted a sanctioned vessel in the Arabian Sea on Saturday as part of the Trump administration’s blockade of Iranian energy exports, according to U.S. Central Command.

The M/V Sevan was among 19 “shadow fleet” vessels sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department on Friday for its links to “transporting billions of ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Dirk Kempthorne, the charismatic former Idaho governor who went on to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior, died Friday night of complications from late-stage cancer. He was 74.

Kempthorne, who also served as a U.S. senator from Idaho and as mayor of Boise, announced his diagnosis in March 2025. He called it maybe the “...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — A planned International Drive attraction called Sloth World will not open following dozens of animal deaths, conservation groups said late Friday, as its 13 remaining sloths were placed in the care of animal experts at Central Florida Zoo & Biological Gardens.

The 13 sloths arrived Friday and are in quarantine at the Sanford ...Read more

Incoming Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said he had information that wealthy figures linked to Viktor Orban’s outgoing government were moving assets abroad and called on authorities to detain fleeing “oligarch” families.

He also urged investors to avoid buying any assets that figures linked to Orban’s Fidesz party were selling, ...Read more

U.S. officials reversed themselves and will now allow Nicolás Maduro and his wife to pay lawyers with Venezuelan funds as they defend themselves in the drug-trafficking case against them in New York.

The reversal clears a roadblock that had stalled the prosecution of the former Venezuelan president and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were captured...Read more

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s renewed pledge to support the U.S. crypto industry’s growth fell short of rekindling appetite for his own memecoin, with $TRUMP falling 14% on Saturday even as the president addressed some of the token’s biggest holders.

During his closed-door remarks Saturday in Florida, Trump reiterated his support for a ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A teenager killed in a drive-by shooting in Santa Ana is one of several cases Gov. Gavin Newsom is hoping to crack with a newly announced slate of $50,000 rewards.

It's been almost seven years since Victoria Barrios, 18, was shot and killed, and her slaying has maintained a high profile in the city. A billboard campaign depicted...Read more

Prediction markets have quickly grown from a niche corner of finance to a multibillion-dollar industry with big Wall Street investment, but a growing list of insider trading allegations is bringing concerns about the platforms all the way to the White House.

The most significant development came on Thursday afternoon, when prosecutors ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jack Bass, journalist, historian and professor, whose work chronicled South Carolina’s civil rights era and the state’s transformation from a Democratic Party segregationist enclave to a hard-right Republican bastion, has died. He was 91.

Over six decades, first as a student reporter at the University of South Carolina, ...Read more

NEW YORK — An accused serial killer who treated his building within a Brooklyn NYCHA complex as a hunting ground, brutally killing three elderly neighbors, pleaded guilty to the murders before a Brooklyn judge on Friday, according to law enforcement officials.

Kevin Gavin, 71, pleaded guilty to committing the killings, all in the same Powell ...Read more

Two U.S. agents who died after an operation to dismantle a suspected Mexican narcotics laboratory had no permission to be carrying out operations of this kind, according to the nation’s security Cabinet.

One of the pair entered Mexico on a visitor’s visa, while the other had diplomatic status, the Cabinet said Saturday, in a statement.

...Read more

CHICAGO — One Chicago police officer was killed and another critically injured after they were shot at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital Saturday morning by a man they brought in for treatment at the emergency room, according to police and hospital officials. The suspect was taken into custody.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said...Read more

President Donald Trump canceled a planned trip to Pakistan by his top envoys for negotiations over the Iran conflict, raising questions about the durability of the current ceasefire.

The president on Saturday told his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff to skip the trip, adding in a social media post that there has been “...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Attorneys for a company seeking to extend a natural gas pipeline through South Carolina are threatening to take property owners to court if the landowners don’t grant access to their property.

Letters were sent earlier this month to multiple South Carolina residents who have not given Elba Express LLC permission to survey ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — The body of a missing University of South Florida student was found Friday on the Howard Frankland Bridge and authorities continued to look for another as they arrested a man described as a suspect in the case.

Zamil Limon, a doctoral student who’d been missing eight days, was found dead Friday morning along the bridge that ...Read more

CHICAGO — A North Side hospital was placed on lockdown Saturday morning amid reports of an active shooter who had wounded two police officers. The local alderman said a suspect had been taken into custody.

Chicago police did not comment on the incident beyond calling the incident a “police Involved shooting,” adding that details would be ...Read more