LOS ANGELES — Amid firestorms and extended red flag warnings, the idea of a weekend rainstorm is a balm for Southern California’s soul. And the rain could help with the firefight, but forecasters say it probably will not end what has been a devastating fire season.

Southern California is not out of the woods yet when it comes to fire risk. ...Read more

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — The sky above their newly built homes was clear, and the ground beneath their feet reassuringly soggy from recent winter rains. But as residents in the Coffey Park neighborhood made their way to a community gathering on a recent evening — passing one yard after another devoid of trees or brush or anything readily ...Read more

President Donald Trump Wednesday demanded an apology from the Episcopal bishop who criticized his hardline policies on immigration and LGBTQ rights at the National Prayer Service on his first full day back in the White House.

A day after Trump was forced to grimly endure the tough-talking service by Bishop Mariann Budde, the president derided ...Read more

President Donald Trump stepped up pressure on Russia to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, and threatened financial penalties on the country if it refuses to conclude fighting swiftly.

In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin should make a deal “soon,” or else he would “have no other choice”...Read more

Last April, a scathing state audit found San Jose had failed to adequately track the more than $300 million it spent combatting homelessness over the previous three years as the number of unhoused residents grew. Now, the city is almost five months late in adopting auditors’ recommendations to ensure its spending is helping solve the crisis.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A man who prosecutors say may have been motivated by politics pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to felony arson in connection with the fire that severely damaged the Bidwell Mansion, the historic landmark at the center of Chico.

Kevin Alexander Carlson, 30, was arrested earlier this month and accused of setting the Dec. 11 ...Read more

After three months, more than five dozen witnesses and an array of thorny legal scuffles, attorneys in the landmark corruption trial of ex-speaker Michael Madigan are slated to begin presenting closing arguments Wednesday.

First, though, they will conduct an abbreviated hearing on the legal instructions jurors should hear — a process that has...Read more

A body part from a deceased animal being tested for rabies caused deep concern at the highest level of the state Department of Public Health last year after the improperly sealed package leaked and potentially exposed swathes of the public health workforce to the disease last year.

The animal was a raccoon, DPH spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said.

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The ceasefire agreement that paused the war between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon will likely be extended when it expires next week, according to several people familiar with the matter.

The Iran-backed group and the Israelis are unlikely to resume full-scale fighting despite needing more time to implement the original terms of ...Read more

ATLANTA — Atlanta HIV educator and activist Masonia Traylor is calling for extensive outreach efforts to convey the risks of HIV to Black women and Black gay men in Georgia. She sat down with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to explain how stigma hampers efforts to reach at-risk populations.

Q: Atlanta has the third-highest rate of new HIV ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Senate on Wednesday authorized its Democratic leader to pursue legal action against the Republican-led Michigan House for failing to send nine bills from the last session to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's desk.

The authorization, outlined in a resolution Wednesday, would allow Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, R-...Read more

DENVER — The high school graduation rate in Colorado inched up during the last academic year to its highest level in a decade as 84.2% of students received their diplomas on time, according to new state data released Wednesday.

At the same time, the statewide dropout rate — the number of students who left school before graduating — fell ...Read more

As she surveyed the charred remains of her old Altadena neighborhood, Jocelyn Boyd stared in silent disbelief.

Loma Alta Park, where the public swimming pool once served as a summertime sanctuary for her and other Black residents, had been ravaged by the Eaton fire.

Standing outside a nearby community garden whose plants were mostly untouched...Read more

LAS VEGAS — More than 39,000 Nevadans will see increases to their Social Security payments thanks to a law former President Joe Biden signed this month.

The Social Security Fairness Act — which became law Jan. 5. — eliminates the reduction of Social Security benefits for those who are entitled to public pensions from work not covered by ...Read more

His foreign minister just abruptly resigned. A deadly wave of violence between fighting guerrilla groups is endangering his nation’s hard-won peace accord, and 17 of his countrymen, former soldiers accused in the July 2021 assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moïse, are locked up in a Haitian jail.

Nevertheless Colombian President ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento’s first inspector general — hired in 2021 to investigate police misconduct amid an outcry over George Floyd’s murder the preceding year in Minneapolis — has left his position.

Dwight White oversaw investigations into use-of-force incidents that resulted in serious injury or death, in-custody deaths and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Even as the flames still raged, the impulse to quickly restore two devastated communities to what they once were became a political imperative.

First Gov. Gavin Newsom, then Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, issued orders designed to speed the rebuilding of damaged and destroyed homes by stripping away bureaucratic and regulatory ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Union leaders and elected officials who represent tens of thousands of federal workers in Maryland are reviewing what they say are potentially harmful impacts of President Donald Trump’s moves to implement a hiring freeze, end work-from-home policies and, eventually, remove thousands of workers from the federal payroll.

The ...Read more