WASHINGTON — Democrats’ narrow victory in Tuesday’s redistricting referendum in Virginia gives the party up to four pickup opportunities in the commonwealth in this year’s midterm elections. But it also puts both parties near parity in the monthslong arms race over redrawing congressional lines that has been a defining storyline of the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Eaton wildfire survivors' anger about Southern California Edison's burying of electric wires in Altadena boiled over Tuesday with residents calling on government officials to temporarily halt the work.

In a letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, more than 120 Altadena residents and the town's council wrote that ...Read more

BOSTON — After taking some heat from city councilors, the Boston Fire Department said a new order has been placed for plastic hats that will be distributed to children at fire houses, spending that had been halted due to budget cuts.

Brian Alkins, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department, said a directive had gone out earlier this month for...Read more

WASHINGTON — Navy Secretary John Phelan is stepping down “effective immediately,” the Defense Department said, the latest high-profile Pentagon departure amid the war in Iran.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, who announced the decision in a post on X, gave no explanation, and it wasn’t immediately clear if Phelan had been fired or was ...Read more

RICHMOND, Va. — The General Assembly effectively rejected a number of Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s proposed amendments to key policies, including the creation of a legal retail cannabis market, a ban on assault weapons and allowing public sector employees to collectively bargain. The legislature reconvened Wednesday to take up the governor’s ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming is acknowledging a misstep after posting a link to a YouTube video that included an AI-generated image of Mayor Brandon Scott, triggering an ethics complaint from City Hall and reviving questions about how far protected speech extends for the city’s top watchdog.

Cumming ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — When Florida lawmakers return to the state Capitol next week at Ron DeSantis’ behest, one of the governor’s biggest, most-consequential priorities won’t be on the agenda: cutting property taxes.

The idea, first floated by DeSantis early last year, has all but disappeared from the daily digest of topics to tackle in ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Democrats’ narrow victory in Tuesday’s redistricting referendum in Virginia gives the party up to four pickup opportunities in the commonwealth in this year’s midterm elections. But it also puts both parties near parity in the monthslong arms race over redrawing congressional lines that has been a defining storyline of the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Iranian forces attacked three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, stoking an already tense standoff in the Persian Gulf as a U.S. naval blockade strains Tehran’s economy and pressures its divided leadership to return to peace talks.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, claimed responsibility for...Read more

A week after the city of Durham, North Carolina, attempted to remove a homeless encampment from a downtown park, police made multiple arrests at another.

On Wednesday afternoon, Durham police carried out multiple arrests and seized drugs and weapons at Long Meadow Park on Liberty Street, according to a statement from the department.

The park ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — On March 13, Duke University’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine shared an Instagram post featuring a political cartoon of two pigs: one labeled “U.S. Imperialism,” holding a torch of liberty, and another labeled “Zionism,” holding a Star of David. The two are touching snouts and interlocking toes.

Eleven ...Read more

Possible victims of a cruise ship crew member who planted a hidden camera to watch a young girl undress in her cabin won a significant legal victory on Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale federal court.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Detra Shaw-Wilder ruled against Miami-based Royal Caribbean’s attempt to require that all potential victims go through ...Read more

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Wednesday doubled down on criticism of the University of Kentucky, saying the school should be “a nonpartisan university that doesn’t waste taxpayer dollars.”

One day after saying he was “losing confidence and growing increasingly concerned with the management and decision-making” at the state’s largest...Read more

The government of Kenya is refuting a United Nations report that found members of its police-led gang-fighting security mission in Haiti were involved in cases of sexual exploitation and rape in the Caribbean country.

The rejection of the findings was conveyed in a confidential letter sent earlier this month to U.N. Secretary-General António ...Read more

The Trump administration is nearing a rescue package for Spirit Airlines that could give the U.S. government the option to own as much as 90% of the carrier once it emerges from bankruptcy, according to people familiar with the matter.

The agreement, which has not yet been finalized, would offer as much as $500 million in financing in exchange...Read more

DENVER — Colorado’s wolves roamed a smaller slice of the state in April as spring denning activity began.

All of the wolves tracked by the state remained largely in the northwest quadrant of the state between March 24 and April 21, according to a new map released Wednesday by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Their territory stretched west from...Read more

NEW YORK — A judge temporarily blocked the city from opening a new intake shelter in the East Village Wednesday after a group of neighborhood residents filed a court challenge over how the Mamdani administration went about closing the existing 30th Street shelter.

The temporary restraining order, issued by Justice Sabrina Kraus, does not mean...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn.— After months of clashes and hours of debate, the state House of Representatives passed a controversial bill Tuesday to ensure the status quo in a state that already has one of the highest vaccination rates in the nation.

Democrats who favored the bill said they were trying to reinforce the status quo at a time when the ...Read more