Gov. Gavin Newsom headed to California's Central Valley on Thursday to tout his forthcoming jobs plan, saying the state’s economic might was “cold comfort” to regions that feel like they don’t fully participate in the state’s muscular output.

The substance of the governor’s announcement was incremental. But the set piece — a ...Read more

One of the ripple effects following Saturday’s recall of organic carrots pulled one lot of falafel bites out of pantries in Florida, California, Texas, New York and 14 other states.

New Jersey-based Fabalish said one of the ingredient suppliers for it’s Fabalish Kickin’ Carrot Falafel Bites gets its product from Grimmway Farms, which made...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia courts are on track to see 600 new medical malpractice cases this year, after a rule change at the beginning of last year allowed more cases to be filed in the city rather in the county where the incident occurred.

That would represent a 46% increase from the annual average in the three years before the pandemic, ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday defended a recent controversial decision by the California Air Resources Board to tighten a carbon-reduction rule, telling reporters in Fresno that blame for gasoline price increases rests with oil companies.

The Low Carbon Fuel Standard, a $2 billion credit trading system that mandates and incentivizes cleaner ...Read more

Controversial right-wing Rep. Matt Gaetz abruptly dropped his bid to be Donald Trump’s attorney general on Thursday, amid growing allegations involving illegal drugs and paid sex with young women.

The former Florida lawmaker said he was stepping aside to avoid what he called a “needlessly protracted Washington scuffle” over his nomination...Read more

NEW YORK — Daniel Penny’s defense team called an expert witness Thursday, who challenged the medical examiner’s determination that Jordan Neely died as a result of the former Marine choking him on a subway car.

Dr. Satish Chundru — a Texas-based forensic pathologist Penny’s legal team hired to reinvestigate Neely’s cause of death �...Read more

The Idaho State Board of Education could pass a resolution limiting diversity, equity and inclusion polices, also known as DEI, in Idaho’s public colleges and universities.

The discussions come amid a nationwide backlash against DEI programs, which became popular in 2020 in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minnesota ...Read more

CHICAGO — Nearly eight and a half years after being confronted by federal authorities about his own wrongdoing, former Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis took the witness stand Thursday in the corruption trial of ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan to testify about his unprecedented turn as an FBI mole.

Solis is the 34th prosecution witness — and ...Read more

The California Fish and Wildlife Department has ordered another delay in the commercial Dungeness crab fishing season — the second so far this year.

The risk of whales becoming tangled in crab fishing gear remains high for most of the coastal waters from the Mendocino County line south to the Mexican border, director Charlton H. Bonham ...Read more

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said past talks with the U.S. merely confirmed Washington’s “unchangeable” hostility toward Pyongyang, in comments delivered at an arms exhibition showing off the country’s latest missiles designed to hit the U.S. mainland.

“We have already gone as far as we could through negotiations with the U.S., ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Superior Court will be implementing a lottery system to manage the eager crowds vying to watch convicted murders Eric and Lyle Menendez return to the court to seek a downgrade to their charges, possibly leading to their release.

The brothers, who were convicted of murdering their parents almost 30 years ago, will...Read more

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump announced he will nominate Pam Bondi to be his next attorney general, in a social media post Thursday that touted the former Florida attorney general’s history as a prosecutor who “was very tough on Violent Criminals.”

Bondi, if confirmed, would oversee a sprawling Department of Justice ...Read more

The attorney representing at least 120 alleged victims of Sean “Diddy” Combs has himself been accused of assault, according to a new lawsuit.

A suit filed by a “Jane Doe” claims attorney Tony Buzbee assaulted her years ago while handling her divorce, according to court documents obtained by TMZ. She accuses Buzbee of malpractice that ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A woman told police in Monterey, California, that Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Defense secretary, took her phone, blocked her from leaving his hotel room and sexually assaulted her, according to a newly released police report.

The Monterey Police Department on Wednesday night released a 22-page report ...Read more

OTTAWA, Canada — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a C$6.3 billion ($4.5 billion) affordability package that includes temporary relief on the federal sales tax and a one-time C$250 rebate to more than 18 million Canadians.

The plan has the support of the New Democratic Party, an opposition party that pulled out of a power-sharing deal ...Read more

ATLANTA — A Georgia man convicted last year of a felony and two misdemeanors for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol was sentenced to 18 months probation rather than the years in prison prosecutors had requested.

Jake Maxwell, 23, of Athens, was found guilty of felony civil disorder and two misdemeanors following a two-day nonjury ...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday tapped former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his new pick for U.S. attorney general.

The announcement — made in a post on Trump’s social media site Truth Social — came just hours after the president-elect’s first choice for attorney general, former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name ...Read more

ATHENS, Ga. — It was a chilly, cloudy morning just before 9 a.m. on Feb. 22 when Laken Riley began her usual morning jog.

Home security camera footage showed the 22-year-old nursing student leave her house and, minutes later, a University of Georgia camera captured Riley enter the woods that lead to unpaved trails near intramural fields.

...Read more

The swift sinking of former Rep. Matt Gaetz as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general showed Thursday that Republicans are still capable of finding fault with Trump’s choices, and even pushing back.

Whether they will flex that muscle often — or again at all — is anyone’s guess.

Heading into a second White House ...Read more