ORLANDO, Fla. — A forensic psychologist who interviewed alleged suitcase killer Sarah Boone nine times testified Wednesday she had Battered Spouse Syndrome — the mental health issue central to her defense of the second-degree murder charge in the 2020 death of her boyfriend.

Julie Harper, an expert witness called by the defense, told jurors...Read more

ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump and his allies tried to energize the state’s most reliable Republican voters with a fiery pep rally Wednesday in Gwinnett County and a “faith” town hall in Middle Georgia that both aimed squarely at his party’s base.

The back-to-back events in Zebulon and Duluth reflected his campaign’s ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Reports have long shown that Southern California Gas wrongfully spent millions of customer dollars in recent years to oppose California’s growing electrification policies.

SoCalGas, the nation’s largest gas utility, has repeatedly denied those findings.

Now the utility’s regulator acknowledges that SoCalGas ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — In a room full of students at Cal State L.A. last week, a young man told Los Angeles City Council candidate Ysabel Jurado that he supports the idea of abolishing the police and wanted to know where she stood on the issue.

Jurado’s reply, which included the phrase “F— the police, that’s how I see 'em,” drew sharp ...Read more

Walt Disney World has raised prices on all four levels of its annual passes, including the top tier Incredi-Pass, which now sells for more than $1,500, according to the resort’s website.

The increases range between $30 and $100, usually a hike of about 7%. Annual pass pricing as it now stands:

—The Disney Incredi-Pass, which has no ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Space Coast saw its 72nd launch of the year on Wednesday evening, equaling the total number of orbital missions flown in 2023 and with 10 weeks still to go.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 had been aiming for a Tuesday liftoff, but weather in the recovery area for the booster forced a scrub.

Teams turned around and got the rocket off ...Read more

Anne Werpy rang a bell in late August, signifying her discharge from a recovery unit at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, after her liver transplant. Werpy received her liver as part of a unique pairing that matched recipients to donors who were unable to give their organs to loved ones who also needed transplants.

Anne Werpy had been ...Read more

Victims of recent hurricanes in Florida who have signed contracts with public adjusters or repair contractors can have those contracts reviewed for free by attorneys working for the Florida Department of Financial Services.

If any provisions of the contract are illegal, the attorneys will tell homeowners how they can cancel the contracts and ...Read more

DENVER — More than 635,000 Colorado voters have returned their ballots for the Nov. 5 election, which features a faceoff between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump and a host of other races and ballot measures, according to data released by state elections officials Wednesday.

So far, Democrats have outpaced ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee and the Justice Department agreed Wednesday to pause a court case over congressional subpoenas rather than have Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, appear for a hearing next week.

Faced with an ultimatum from Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — First lady Jill Biden stumped for Vice President Kamala Harris in Las Vegas on Wednesday, headlining a pair of events to encourage voters to cast a ballot early and highlight women’s “reproductive freedom.”

Jill Biden’s visit to the Xiao Long Dumplings restaurant in Chinatown and a local Harris campaign office came just ...Read more

CHICAGO — A ComEd vice president testified Wednesday in the corruption trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan that the utility giant was in severe financial straits leading up to its all-out effort to gain support in Springfield for two major pieces of legislation that brought the company from the brink of bankruptcy.

Their financial ...Read more

Brazil’s efforts to slow deforestation are encouraging, but political swings have made it tough to get the investment needed to protect the Amazon, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said.

Satellite systems now do a very good job at measuring forest destruction, Gates said during a virtual interview at the Bloomberg New Economy at B20 in ...Read more

McDonald’s Corp. is trying to contain the fallout from a severe E. coli outbreak that appears to be linked to the slivered onions in its popular Quarter Pounder sandwiches.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday announced an investigation into a raft of illnesses across 10 states from Sept. 27 through Oct. 11. The ...Read more

When Sean “Diddy” Combs was charged last month in a federal sex-trafficking probe, it unleashed a wave of lawsuits detailing how the music industry mogul allegedly drugged and assaulted men and women for years undeterred.

But the piecemeal allegations leveled in the criminal and civil cases stopped short of answering an essential question ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — After winning a more than $1 million judgment earlier this year, a North Idaho drag performer on Monday sued the Idaho Family Policy Center for defamation related to a 2022 dance performance.

The performer accused the group of spreading false and damaging statements about him, which he said led to harassment and emotional ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles will utilize AI-powered scanners at Union Station over the next month in an effort to stop passengers with hidden weapons from boarding the rails.

Commuters descending to the A and B subway lines (formally known as the Blue and Red lines) will enter into the testing ground for Metro's 30-day pilot program, which is ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday said at least 3,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia, raising the possibility they will be sent to fight in Russia's war on Ukraine — an assertion made by South Korea and the Ukrainian government in Kyiv.

The move may show that Moscow's shortage of manpower amid exorbitant ...Read more

Most Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade County support former president Donald Trump, according to a poll from Florida International University released only days ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

The poll found that Trump is on track to capture 68% of Cuban Americans voters, underscoring the wide support the presidential candidate has ...Read more