When devastating wildfires erupted across Los Angeles County this week, David Torgerson's team of firefighters went to work.

The thousands of city, county and state firefighters dispatched to battle the blazes went wherever they were needed. The crews from Torgerson's Wildfire Defense Systems, however, set out for particular addresses. Armed ...Read more

Thousands of families were displaced on Tuesday when fires torched homes throughout Pacific Palisades and Altadena, kicking off a regionwide house hunt as victims scoured a tight market looking for homes to rent — or even buy.

People are desperate, local agents said. Their homes are in ashes, and they’re looking for stability — somewhere ...Read more

The devastating Palisades Fire pushed to the northeast, prompting new evacuations in the Southern California neighborhoods of Brentwood and Encino as the threat of more dry winds raises risks after a brief respite.

The spreading flames brought “another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak,” Los Angeles Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said...Read more

Two of seven U.S. intelligence agencies broke with previous assessments that foreign adversaries were not to blame for so-far unexplained health incidents among government employees overseas that came to be known as “Havana Syndrome.”

The latest conclusions highlight the confusion that continues to surround the incidents, which were first ...Read more

Canada is drawing up plans for extensive tariffs against U.S. products if Donald Trump follows through on his threat to put 25% levies on Canadian goods, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Canadian government’s draft plans for trade retaliation go well beyond the narrow list of U.S.-made items on which it placed counter-...Read more

Los Angeles has experienced some of the world’s worst air quality this week as smoke from massive wildfires blankets the region and threatens the health of far more people than the fires themselves. And that will end up adding to the economic toll.

Almost 180,000 have been forced to flee their homes and at least 10,000 structures have been ...Read more

DENVER — Investigators from the U.S. Department of Justice will be in Colorado next week to conduct interviews as they probe the Douglas County School District’s response to racial discrimination, harassment and bullying of students — as well as the district’s use of seclusion and restraint against children with disabilities.

The ...Read more

When Haiti’s government announced the reopening of the country’s main international airport and domestic terminal in Port-au-Prince last month, many passengers had hoped to see a return of flights to the country.

But in a notice to customers, the main domestic airline — the country’s only direct commercial air link to the U.S. amid an ...Read more

Donald Trump’s obsession with Greenland has put the world’s largest island in an unexpected position of power.

While Trump’s 2019 bid for the Arctic territory was dismissed as little more than a joke, the president-elect’s timing is better this time around — Greenlanders are intensifying their push for independence from Denmark. ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles faces another tense night as the Palisades fire moved northeast, prompting new mandatory evacuations.

The latest order is in effect from Sunset Boulevard north to Encino Reservoir, from the 405 Freeway west to Mandeville Canyon — an area that includes the Getty Center museum as well as Brentwood and the foothills ...Read more

Several prominent tech leaders are planning to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration this month, the latest sign that the industry is trying to bolster its relationship with the president-elect ahead of his return to the White House.

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman plans to go to the swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20, a company ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A veil of wildfire smoke continued to linger over many Southern California communities Friday as conflagrations tore through the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District extended its ongoing smoke advisory into Saturday, marking the fifth consecutive day of unhealthy pollution, ...Read more

SEATTLE — Mother orca Tahlequah is continuing to carry her burden of grief: a dead calf that she now has been refusing to let go of for at least 11 days.

Tahlequah is the orca whose story shocked the world in 2018 when she carried a calf that lived only half an hour for 17 days and more than 1,000 miles.

The orca and her family, the southern...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Nevada’s lieutenant governor formed a task force this week aimed at preventing transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports and exploring how to create fair competition for the sexes.

Reached by phone Friday, Republican Stavros Anthony said he formed the “Lieutenant Governor’s Task Force to Protect ...Read more

DENVER — Aurora city officials are seeking an emergency court order to immediately close the troubled Edge of Lowry apartment complex, claiming the property “presents an immediate threat to public safety and welfare,” according to records obtained by The Denver Post.

The alleged kidnapping and torture of two residents in December is the ...Read more

DETROIT — The University of Michigan is ending a two decade-long joint institute with Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China that provided global academic opportunities to hundreds of students following concerns about national security by federal lawmakers.

UM announced the move Friday on its website and in a letter to U.S. Rep. John ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A large reservoir in Pacific Palisades that is part of the Los Angeles water supply system was out of commission when a ferocious wildfire destroyed thousands of homes and other structures nearby, the Los Angeles Times found.

Officials said that the Santa Ynez Reservoir had been closed since about February 2024 for repairs to ...Read more