A major U.S. Supreme Court decision this summer was hailed as a conservative court’s broadside against a Democratic administration, giving red states more backing to delay or overturn policies they don’t like, such as transgender protections and clean energy goals.

But the ruling in the Loper Bright case, which granted courts more power to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — As he closes out his last term in Congress, Indiana Republican Rep. Larry Bucshon says he’s taking the long view.

“Congress has always had its ups and downs, since the first one up until the 118th,” says the former heart surgeon, one of multiple members of the GOP Doctors Caucus who decided not to run for reelection.

“...Read more

It's a brisk day in Johannesburg, a tiny mining town tucked among the Rand Mountains in the Mojave Desert.

The landscape is vast and rugged, a mish-mash of rock, dirt and creosote bushes, swaths of gray and brown under a deep blue sky. The terrain appears completely untouched by man, but a closer look reveals dozens of cavities pocked across ...Read more

KINGSPORT, Tenn. — Jerry Qualls had a heart attack in 2022 and was rushed by ambulance to Holston Valley Medical Center, where he was hospitalized for a week and kept alive by a ventilator and blood pump, according to his medical records.

His wife, Katherine Qualls, said his doctors offered little hope. In an interview and a written complaint...Read more

Seven Western states that depend on the Colorado River are ending the year at an impasse in negotiations over the writing of new rules for dealing with chronic water shortages.

Representatives of California and other states who attended an annual Colorado River conference in Las Vegas last week said they remain deadlocked in their talks on long...Read more

An 18-year-old from Bucks County is suing 11 major food manufacturers, alleging that his Type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease were caused by ultra-processed foods, which he contends the companies intentionally engineered to be as addictive as cigarettes.

The lawsuit alleges that Bryce Martinez, of Warrington, is the victim of a “predatory ...Read more

Haitian authorities are reopening the country’s main international and domestic airports in Port-au-Prince as of Wednesday.

Toussaint Louverture International Airport and the Guy Malary domestic airport were both closed last month after Spirit Airlines, JetBlue Airways and American Airlines were struck by gang gunfire on Nov. 11. No ...Read more

Kimberly Guilfoyle has been nominated to serve as United States ambassador to Greece, President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday.

Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host now deeply enmeshed in the broader Trump orbit, was married to California Gov. Gavin Newsom when he was mayor of San Francisco. The former prosecutor announced her engagement to Trump...Read more

The Biden administration is weighing new, harsher sanctions against Russia’s lucrative oil trade, seeking to tighten the squeeze on the Kremlin’s war machine just weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Details of the possible new measures were still being worked out, but President Joe Biden’s team was considering ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The students huddling in Pepperdine University library watched through the windows as the fire crested the Santa Monica Mountains.

Some students prayed. Others called their parents as the wind blew embers across campus, setting palm trees on fire and drawing orange flames closer and closer to their building.

A few wondered out ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A ferocious wildfire fanned by strong winds burned through Malibu on Tuesday, destroying homes, triggering power outages and forcing thousands to evacuate along the coast in the dark while firefighters struggled to contain the flames.

The eastern half of Malibu remained under an evacuation order Tuesday. The rest of the city and...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A Ramsey County judge has sided with the Minnesota attorney general’s office this week and ordered tobacco manufacturers to pay what has been calculated as more than $58 million they underpaid the state as part of a historic 1998 settlement.

On Monday, Judge Mark Ireland filed an order for Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds ...Read more

Public trust and confidence in state and federal judicial systems is falling at an alarming rate, and it’s an essential issue that must be addressed for court systems to operate at their best, the chief justice of Massachusetts’ top court said.

“Alexander Hamilton called the judiciary the weakest branch of government. We wield no power of...Read more

NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory doesn’t wipe the slate clean in Manhattan’s courthouses, legal officials said Tuesday.

In new court filings, the Manhattan district attorney’s office asked state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to reject Trump’s bid to toss the verdicts in his hush money case, and to ...Read more

Luigi Mangione‘s lawyer Thomas Dickey on Tuesday said his client would plead not guilty — and ask for bail — in the gunshot-slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, declaring that he and Mangione had formed “a strong bond.”

Speaking at his law office in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in a 17-minute press conference, Dickey reiterated ...Read more

AQRABA, Syria — Standing some 40 feet from the charred remains of the Syrian air force helicopter, Ahmad Abu Leyl, a young rebel fighter, cocked his ear, listening for the characteristic buzzing of an Israeli drone overhead.

"I don't want to get closer," he said. "They might hit this place again if they see we're near."

Then he climbed on ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The conditions late Monday were primed for an explosive wildfire.

Forecasters had issued a rare, particularly dangerous fire weather warning across much of Southern California, as strong Santa Ana winds were expected to further dry an already parched landscape.

So when the Franklin fire broke out in Malibu on Monday night, it ...Read more

LONDON — The U.K. has an opportunity to take the lead on Europe’s relationship with Donald Trump, as France and Germany continue to grapple with political instability on the eve of his return to the White House, U.S. ambassador to the UK Jane Hartley said.

Though Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration has endured a “rocky” start...Read more

LONDON — The U.K. has an opportunity to take the lead on Europe’s relationship with Donald Trump, as France and Germany continue to grapple with political instability on the eve of his return to the White House, U.S. ambassador to the UK Jane Hartley said.

Though Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration has endured a “rocky” start...Read more