NEW YORK — Long Island serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann issued his most defiant denial in court on Tuesday after prosecutors charged him with a seventh murder in the long, emotional saga of the Gilgo Beach killings.

The hulking suspect, cuffed from behind and wearing a dark-colored suit during a hearing at Suffolk County Criminal Court, ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — A new trash boom system is intercepting trash, plastics, tires and other debris flowing from Mexico into San Diego’s Tijuana River Valley, part of a state-funded pilot project to address longstanding pollution along the border.

The 450-foot-long boom was installed in mid-November. And on Tuesday, federal, state and local ...Read more

The Biden administration notched another victory in the war against unnecessary consumer fees Tuesday when the Federal Trade Commission announced its final “junk fees rule” had been approved and would take effect in 120 days.

According to FTC Chair Lina Khan, the rule finalized this week will prohibit bait-and-switch pricing for live-event ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Wide swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties are under a red flag warning until 6 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday as Santa Ana winds whip back up, posing a challenge to crews trying to extinguish the Franklin fire in Malibu.

The blaze had scorched more than 4,000 acres and was 78% contained as of Tuesday afternoon, according to ...Read more

With one month before he leaves office, President Joe Biden is facing pressure from his own party to acknowledge the Equal Rights Amendment as ratified. But is it?

On Dec. 15, over 120 House Democrats sent a letter to Biden beseeching him “to take immediate action to recognize the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as the 28th ...Read more

LONDON — Nigel Farage, leader of the populist Reform UK party, said he is in “ongoing negotiations” with Elon Musk about a political donation, the latest sign of a potential collaboration between the pair that could threaten the traditional two-party duopoly of British politics.

Farage, who met with Musk at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago ...Read more

It’s probably safe to say that Charlie Baker won’t be inviting Josh Hawley to Christmas next week.

The former Massachusetts GOP governor, now NCAA president, was grilled by the Republican U.S. senator from Missouri during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.

Hawley took aim at Baker over transgender athletes being allowed to ...Read more

Some may think of the fates of the Menendez brothers as inextricably entwined, but Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman says he will not consider the pair a package deal when it comes to making a decision on their possible resentencing.

"While they're called the 'Menendez brothers case,' there's an Erik Menendez case and Lyle Menendez ...Read more

NEW YORK — Brendan Paul, the former Syracuse basketball player accused of acting as a drug and gun “mule” for Sean “Diddy” Combs, is no longer facing felony charges in Florida.

Paul, 25, was arrested on March 25 at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport— the same day Homeland Security agents raided Diddy’s mansions in Miami and Los ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration is set to initiate a trade investigation into Chinese semiconductors in the coming days, as part of a push to reduce reliance on a technology that U.S. officials believe pose national security risks.

The probe could result in tariffs or other measures to restrict imports on older-model ...Read more

As mysterious drone sightings have raised security concerns across the country, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan said the Senate could vote as early as Wednesday on legislation aimed at enhancing law enforcement's ability to counter threats posed by the unmanned aircrafts.

The Bloomfield Township Democrat introduced a bill last year co-...Read more

SEATTLE — Seeking to cover a looming budget shortfall and stave off cuts to state services, Gov. Jay Inslee is throwing his support behind a proposed "wealth tax" on the state's richest residents.

The proposal would levy a 1% annual tax on worldwide wealth of more than $100 million. It would affect roughly 3,400 of the state's wealthiest ...Read more

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an urgent safety alert after an electric malfunction in some older Boston Scientific pacemakers was linked to two reported deaths and early device replacements.

Boston Scientific said about 13% of devices from its Accolade family of pacemakers built before September 2018 face an increased ...Read more

A U.S. Department of Justice investigation found that the Ellensburg School District in Central Washington failed to protect Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ students from pervasive harassment, including taunts, intimidation, death threats, humiliation and the use of racial and ethnic slurs.

Investigators determined that LGBTQ+ students also endured ...Read more

College students seeking reward in the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against several elite universities accused of violating anti-trust laws by colluding in a tuition “price-fixing cartel” have until Wednesday morning, just before 2 a.m., to submit their claims to receive payment.

Northwestern University and the University of Chicago...Read more

On a good night, Chris Lopez, a bartender and server in Southern California for eight years, can make $200 to $400 in tips.

So when the 31-year-old, who lives in Orange, first heard the news about President-elect Donald Trump's campaign promise of "no tax on tips," he got excited.

"That's a great idea," he thought to himself.

But when he ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — A Northeast Philadelphia woman who made international headlines last week for evading TSA security checks and stowing away on an international flight from New York City to Paris is back in jail following another daring attempt to flee the United States.

U.S. Marshals arrested Svetlana Dali, 57, near the Canadian border in ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — A UnitedHealth Group employee called the police to report that three words were graffitied on the company’s corporate office in Las Vegas: deny, depose and defend.

These three words are said to be commonly used to describe practices used by insurance companies to deny claims.

They are also similar to the three words found ...Read more