ATLANTA — A few days ago, Georgia state Rep. Al Williams got a call from a business owner in his southeast Georgia district he hadn’t heard from in decades wanting to know why the Democrat wasn’t supporting Gov. Brian Kemp’s legal overhaul.

Williams bluntly told him he saw it as a giveaway to the insurance industry. But the fact that an...Read more

MIAMI — Federal authorities in South Florida have recently detained at least 18 Cubans during scheduled immigration appointments, local attorneys say, highlighting that a group that has historically enjoyed special immigration benefits is not immune to the Trump administration’s intensified mass deportation efforts.

In recent years, ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — A measure on next year’s ballot could finally accomplish what Idaho lawmakers have tried to do for years: block voters from legalizing pot in the state.

Idaho voters next year will decide whether to approve a measure that would add to the state constitution that only the Legislature has the power to legalize marijuana, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump revoked security clearances for former President Joe Biden and some key members of his administration, saying it is “no longer in the national interest” for them to continue to have access to classified information.

Those losing access include former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary ...Read more

TEUCHITLÁN, Mexico — The anguished mother arrived on a motorcycle, the bike kicking up a cloud of dust as it swerved to a halt before strands of red and yellow crime-scene tape. Heavily armed cops blocked access to the place known as Rancho Izaguirre. But even from far off, María Luz Ruiz said she sensed his presence.

"I feel that my son ...Read more

SEATTLE — Threatening messages began filling up Valerie Costa's inboxes after Elon Musk in an X post accused her of "committing crimes."

Her alleged crimes? Leading and promoting protests against Musk at Tesla showrooms across the Seattle area.

Costa and her housemates started asking whether they are safe and whether the FBI or law ...Read more

Maui’s police chief, John Pelletier, who formerly worked as a Las Vegas officer and was recently named a “co-conspirator” in a federal lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs, will not be placed on administrative leave, per a 7-0 vote held by the county’s police commission.

Pelletier served in the Metropolitan Police Department for 22 ...Read more

ISTANBUL — Hundreds of thousands of Turks protested the detention of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s biggest political rival for a third straight evening, extending a standoff that’s rattling investors.

The opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, said more than 200,000 took the streets in Istanbul, defying a ban on protests ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — One by one, they relived the pain they experienced in 1988 upon learning that their loved one, their college roommate or their dear friend was dead at the hands of an enraged and heavily armed Richard Wade Farley as he carried out a massacre that would inspire the entire construct of workplace violence.

Former employees of ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho doctors can perform an abortion as stabilizing care during a medical emergency, a federal judge ruled this week — so long as they’re at the right hospital.

U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled Thursday that only St. Luke’s Health System and its medical providers are protected from Idaho’s near-total ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott issued a stinging rebuke to President Donald Trump Friday night, claiming that the commander-in-chief’s criticisms of student math scores don’t add up.

“In response to he who shall not be named, let’s talk facts,” Scott posted on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The city of Sacramento has agreed to pay $350,000 to people who alleged they experienced police brutality during the Black Lives Matters protests and were treated differently compared to white supremacist groups.

The settlement was reached earlier this month and comes more than three years after it was filed in Sacramento...Read more

WASHINGTON — The acting head of the Social Security Administration retreated from his threat to shut down the office after a federal judge said an order restricting data access for Elon Musk and his cost-cutting team doesn’t apply to agency employees.

In a letter released Friday, U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander said the order she issued...Read more

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington said Friday that President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport alleged Venezuelan gang members is “incredibly troublesome and problematic” as he considers the government’s case to end his restraining order blocking their removals.

In a hearing, Judge James E. ...Read more

The Trump administration is revoking the legal status of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who were paroled into the United States during the Biden administration under a humanitarian program aimed at curbing irregular migration to the U.S. from the four nations.

The decision means that hundreds of thousands...Read more

Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian Columbia graduate student the Trump administration is trying to deport, appeared for an immigration proceeding in Louisiana on Friday as his lawyers challenge his detention as cruel and unlawful.

The appearance was Khalil’s first before a judge since Homeland Security agents took him into custody at his ...Read more

NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s cross-town bus ride Friday had been planned as an act of resistance — a demonstration of the lack of traffic, scheduled for the day the feds had tried to order her to turn the state’s congestion tolling system off.

Instead, less than a day after President Donald Trump’s transportation secretary ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A Maryland federal judge pushed back on speculation that her court order restricting Social Security Administration data access for Elon Musk and his cost-cutting team may threaten benefit payments by forcing much of the agency’s operations to shut down.

In a letter released Friday, U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander said the ...Read more