BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s high court dismissed a final state appeal from Thomas Creech on Wednesday, leaving the federal courts to decide whether Idaho can try again to execute its longest-serving death row prisoner after a failed attempt earlier this year.

The Idaho Supreme Court unanimously rejected Creech’s arguments that a second ...Read more

Trying to limit widespread pollution and violent threats to their employees, board members of Silicon Valley’s largest water agency late Tuesday approved a new ordinance to ban camping along 295 miles of creeks in San Jose and other parts of Santa Clara County.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District’s board voted 6-1 to enact the rules, ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan's top elected official, spent about one in every four days outside the state's borders over the first nine months of the year, according to data released by her office and an analysis by The Detroit News.

Multiple former state leaders said the rate of trips totaling at least eight weeks ...Read more

Several members of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed Cabinet were hit with swatting calls, bomb threats and other harassing calls late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, according to the FBI.

The agency issued a statement on Wednesday, saying the bureau was “aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Several Kentucky counties are eligible for federal funds to help recover from Hurricane Helene, which hit the state at the end of September.

Almost 15% of Kentucky households lost power due to the heavy wind and rain brought on by the hurricane. High water impacted several Kentucky roadways, and wind gusts of up to 65 mph hit...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California wound up with more money challenging the first Trump administration than it spent, the state Department of Justice said.

With state leaders bracing for a new round of legal fights with the president-elect’s administration, the attorney general’s office said it spent nearly $42 million on litigation ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — More than 100 locations nationwide participating in new clinical trials for a drug that shows promise for treating epileptic seizures among patients for whom other medications do not work.

The drug, BHV-7000, activates potassium receptors in the brain in a way that appears to modulate seizures, explained Dr. Taha Gholipour, a ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump nominated retired Gen. Keith Kellogg as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, choosing a longtime adviser who’s supported the president-elect’s aims to end the war swiftly, including by potentially cutting off military aid to Kyiv.

Trump, a longtime skeptic of continued U.S. assistance to Ukraine, has vowed ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A divisive election. At least two major wars raging in Europe and the Middle East. And the ever-present pitfalls of internal family politics.

Together, they might make for one of the nation’s tensest Thanksgivings yet — or you could consider eating some psychedelic mushrooms to up your overall sense of love and sail right ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore judge has paused the city’s lawsuit against an Anne Arundel County gun shop — a complaint that alleges the store sold thousands of untraceable “ghost guns” miles from city limits — ahead of trial because of a U.S. Supreme Court case that could determine the legal definition of a firearm.

Baltimore’s case ...Read more

The Somerville City Council has reaffirmed its commitment as a sanctuary city, while elected officials across Massachusetts continue to worry President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan will harm illegal immigrants who are not violent criminals.

Somerville is the latest Bay State sanctuary city to extend its support of that status, ...Read more

NEW YORK — A federal judge held New York City in contempt of court Wednesday for failing to improve conditions at Rikers and other jails — and her scathing ruling says she’s now “inclined” to place the entire correctional system under federal control.

The bombshell ruling from Manhattan Federal Court Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Concluding a multi-year disciplinary proceeding, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Seminole County judge who a judicial commission found acted like a “playground bully” in court, cursing defendants and denying their rights, will receive a 60-day suspension and a public reprimand.

Circuit Court Judge Wayne ...Read more

CHICAGO — Six years ago, Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis sat in House Speaker Michael Madigan’s office to break the news that he would not be seeking re-election to the City Council.

But don’t worry, Solis told Madigan, he still had a few months left in office, and there were major new real estate developments going up in his ward, and that ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — More than 100 locations nationwide participating in new clinical trials for a drug that shows promise for treating epileptic seizures among patients for whom other medications do not work.

The drug, BHV-7000, activates potassium receptors in the brain in a way that appears to modulate seizures, explained Dr. Taha Gholipour, a ...Read more

War is often less seen than heard, and as a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel came into effect on Wednesday morning, Ibrahim Najdi marveled at the absence of one particular sound: the buzz of Israeli drones that had been a near-constant presence in Beirut over the last few months.

"You can't hear them, can you? They're gone," he said. He ...Read more

U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., was granted a temporary restraining order by a judge Tuesday after she alleged that her former partner engaged in “harassment and threats” that harmed her relationship with her family and her professional reputation.

The temporary domestic violence restraining order mandates that Julian Willis, Porter’s ...Read more

BOSTON – Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said she never intended to pick a fight with federal officials in the incoming Trump administration while firmly reiterating the city’s intent to resist mass deportation plans.

“When you talk about 10 to 20 million people that is not just those with a criminal warrant; that is uprooting families from ...Read more