Colorado prosecutors want to increase the total number of beds in the state’s youth detention centers by 50% amid rising juvenile-related violent crime — a dramatic upswing in youth incarceration that has been met with fierce pushback from juvenile justice advocates.

The Colorado District Attorneys’ Council is working with a bipartisan ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After years of culture war battles in school and public libraries, the campaign by conservative-leaning “parent rights” groups has succeeded in casting a nationwide chill over the market for children’s books they deem inappropriate, greatly diminishing sales and opportunities for authors to promote their work.

During the ...Read more

Veteran California public servant Will Lightbourne has stepped in as interim executive director of the state’s mental health commission after its previous executive director resigned following conflict of interest allegations.

Lightbourne served as head of the state’s Department of Social Services for seven years before retiring in 2018 and...Read more

Incoming President Donald Trump’s appointment of Bay Area venture capitalist David Sacks as his artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency “czar” and head science and technology adviser brings the region — and the tech industry — into the White House in an unprecedented way, experts say.

“It’s going to be Silicon Valley’s turn,�...Read more

Unless Michael Madigan shocks the Illinois political world and testifies at his own federal corruption trial, the only thing the jury will have heard from him when it soon comes time to decide his fate is what’s on federal tape.

Over the past eight weeks, prosecutors have brought forth an onslaught of evidence in a case that sprawls over ...Read more

One afternoon in late January, a crowd gathered with a purpose outside the Hotel del Coronado. The conservative evangelical Awaken Church was holding its first service in the city as part of a long effort to establish a church there, and some residents were protesting. “No place for hate,” they chanted, waving Pride flags and pointing to ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For decades, Southern California’s war on smog has focused on strategies to reduce pollution from tailpipes and smokestacks. But one of the main drivers of lung-aggravating smog may be right underneath our feet, according to new research.

About 100 miles east of San Diego, in the heart of the Colorado Desert, the Salton Sea ...Read more

Ex-Rep. John M. Spratt Jr., the former House Budget Committee chairman who was defeated for reelection after his role in enacting the 2010 health care law, died Saturday at the age of 82.

The South Carolina Democrat died from complications from Parkinson’s disease, which he had been battling for a decade, according to a Facebook post from ...Read more

An updated report by the California Department of Public Health found that the number of people infected with salmonella during a 2023-2024 outbreak in raw milk from a Fresno County dairy was much higher than initially reported.

The outbreak originated in San Diego County on Oct. 18, 2023, with eight cases of salmonellosis from people who drank...Read more

The Palestinian government has been carrying out a rare and lethal sweep against militants in a flashpoint West Bank city, saying it was needed to foil an imminent car-bombing and other attacks.

The operation by the Palestinian Authority, targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in the city of Jenin, was launched on Dec. 5 but only ...Read more

A 16-year-old New Mexico boy killed his family in a quadruple homicide, then turned himself in to police early Saturday, authorities said.

Diego Leyva was booked at the traumatic scene in Belen, New Mexico, state police said in a Facebook post. The four victims were not publicly identified.

All four family members were fatally shot, and a ...Read more

For 10 years, part of Brian Schmitz's job at Anchorage's Asplund Wastewater Treatment Facility was "de-ragging" equipment.

That is, manually removing masses of fouled wipes flushed down people's toilets that eventually congeal throughout the sewage system and gunk up equipment.

"Rags" are what people in the water treatment business call the ...Read more

John Spratt, a longtime member of the U.S. Congress from South Carolina, died Saturday night, his daughter said.

“I am heartbroken to announce that my father passed away last night,” Catherine Spratt said on Facebook. He “passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family … due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.”

Spratt, ...Read more

Life seemed grim for Liliana Bernal in March 2020 as the pandemic spread across the country. One month earlier, Bernal had founded her small business Balanced Diversity — a Sacramento-based recruiting and workforce consulting company.

“The first couple of months were a struggle,” Bernal said.

But while waves of small businesses ...Read more

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment after his short-lived martial law decree is being met with celebration among many in metro Atlanta’s Korean community.

Dozens of Korean community members gathered Saturday afternoon at Shorty Howell Park in Duluth to celebrate the National Assembly’s vote to impeach Yoon, carrying posters...Read more

Syrian rebel leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa and United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen discussed reconsidering a 2015 U.N. Security Council resolution outlining a road map for the country’s political transition, a body representing Syria’s de facto rulers said.

On its Telegram account, the so-called Syrian general command said on ...Read more

Two of New York City’s highest profile criminal defendants have one thing in common: Their lawyers are married.

Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who was retained Saturday by accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione, is married to Marc Agnifilo, who is representing Sean “Diddy” Combs in his case for sex trafficking and racketeering.

Friedman Agnifilo ...Read more

When Dr. Robert Lefkowitz received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2012, he used part of his acceptance speech to denounce the “clear anti-science bias” of some candidates who had sought the presidential nomination that year.

“This was manifest as a refusal to accept, for example, the theory of evolution, the existence of global warming, ...Read more

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s latest plan to try to get aldermen to pass his budget for 2025 contains no increase in property taxes thanks to a combination of cuts and a controversial idea to extend the deadline to pay back $40 million in debt, according to aldermen briefed on the proposal Sunday.

Three sources present at the meetings with Johnson�...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped several Californians — including former San Joaquin Valley congressman Devin Nunes — for posts in his next administration.

Nunes, a Republican and former dairy farmer from Tulare, resigned his House seat after nearly two decades in 2022 to become chief executive of Trump Media & Technology Group, ...Read more