LOS ANGELES — A red glow illuminated the valley behind the Brunel family’s Malibu home around 11 p.m. Dec. 9. The fierce Santa Ana winds blowing dry desert air over the mountains and out to sea had already triggered public safety power shutoffs.

The family, whose previous home was destroyed by the 2018 Woolsey fire, knew it was a bad sign. ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Advocates across Baltimore City and Maryland are quick to point out why kids chronically missing school is a problem. The hard part is coming up with a solution.

There’s been some discussion of chronic absenteeism in the past at City Hall and the Maryland State House, but elected leaders say there’s more work to be done, ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — For a decade, children brought into the country illegally by their undocumented parents could enroll in a state college or university for the same fee as in-state residents, if they attended a Florida high school for three years.

But now, state Sen. Randy Fine, a Republican who plans to resign mid-session to run for ...Read more

BOSTON — Beacon Hill lawmakers were in the process of advancing legislation Friday that would eliminate religious vaccination exemptions for children entering public, private, or charter K-12 schools.

The measure was among six bills the Legislature’s Public Health Committee was in line to stamp its approval on and ship to the House for ...Read more

A person was arrested after trying to climb a fence near the White House Saturday morning, authorities said.

The suspect, who hasn’t been identified, was spotted by the Secret Service Uniformed Division around 11 a.m. while attempting to “climb temporary anti-scale fencing near the White House,” a Secret Service spokesperson told The New ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies shot an armed man dead following a pursuit near the Fort Lauderdale Tri-Rail station, officials say.

Just before 2 p.m., deputies responded to a report of a “domestic disturbance with a firearm” at a home in Broward County, Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Carey Codd said in a ...Read more

CHICAGO — The timing of the Chicago Police Department’s two gun turn-ins Saturday was intentional.

During the late days of December around Christmas and New Year’s Eve, when schools are shut down and offices sit mostly empty, many people spend more time at home. Lots of folks also visit the homes of relatives this time of year.

Thus ...Read more

ATLANTA — President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate Bill White to be the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, boosting a prodigious fundraiser who helped raise millions for his campaigns while ruffling feathers within the Georgia Republican establishment.

White quickly emerged as a political force after moving to Georgia from New York, stamping ...Read more

BOSTON — Five people are federally charged with conspiring to provide driver’s licenses to immigrants in the country illegally and living in states where they are ineligible for the licenses.

The alleged co-conspirators operated in New England, with three of them residing in Massachusetts and the other two living in Connecticut at the time ...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump said he’s appointing Devin Nunes, the chief executive officer of his Truth Social platform, to head a presidential advisory board that he said will keep tabs on the U.S. intelligence community.

He also named Ric Grenell as “presidential envoy for special missions.” Grenell, who was Trump’s first-term ...Read more

Haitian political leaders are accusing the political party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and its allies of trying to hijack the country’s shaky transition process — and they want the Caribbean Community to step in.

In a three-page letter requesting the intervention of the 15-member regional Caribbean Community bloc known as ...Read more

The CODEVI and Caracol industrial parks in northeast Haiti are closer to the Dominican Republic than they are to the gang violence engulfing Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s volatile capital.

But that 100-mile distance over brutal terrain hasn’t stopped either park from getting hit by the effects of the spiraling security crisis and ongoing ...Read more

Sen. Thom Tillis warned Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James Wynn not to revoke his retirement last month after Republican senators struck a deal with Democrats that blocked the nomination of Wynn’s would-be successor.

But Wynn did just that in a letter Tillis released Saturday afternoon between Wynn and President Joe Biden and a ...Read more

Georgia selected Mikheil Kavelashvili as its next president on Saturday, as protests backed by the current head of state continue over the government’s turn away from the West in favor of closer ties with Russia.

Kavelashvili, a former footballer and lawmaker for the ruling Georgian Dream party that won disputed parliamentary elections in ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council hiked the rate that it pays for services at many of its homeless shelters on Friday, in an attempt to keep nonprofit contractors from pulling out of more than a dozen sites.

The council passed a 12-2 vote to increase the rate it pays to $80 per night, up from a range of $60 to $66, at its congregate...Read more

One person is dead and a suspect is in custody following a shooting at an Army base in east Georgia Saturday morning.

The victim, whose identity has not been released, was shot “in on-post housing” at Fort Eisenhower, just outside Augusta, in what the base described as an “active shooter” situation.

An alert issued on social media at ...Read more

WASHINGTON — ABC has agreed to donate $15 million to Donald Trump’s future presidential foundation or museum to settle claims that one of its anchors defamed the president-elect in describing a past court verdict against him.

The settlement was disclosed in a court filing on Saturday. The agreement came one day after a federal magistrate ...Read more

Liam Payne’s close friend, a man who’s been charged in connection with his death, says the One Direction alum seemed “fine” and even “playful” the hour before his fatal fall — an account disputed by authorities and witnesses.

The 31-year-old pop star plunged to his death on Oct. 16 from the third-floor balcony of his room at the ...Read more

NEW YORK — The suspected killer wanted for the 2006 murder of up-and-coming boxer Kemal Kolenovic was arrested in Kosovo after dodging justice for nearly 18 years.

The Bronx district attorney’s office issued an international “red notice” arrest warrant for Ahmet Gashi after he was identified as living in the Balkan country, and U.S. ...Read more