The U.S. Senate confirmed Judges Benjamin Cheeks and Serena Murillo to fill U.S. District Court vacancies in California in what was expected to be its final judicial votes this year.

The confirmations help establish new records for Black, Latino, women and other minority judges.

Cheeks is the 63rd Black judge named by President Joe Biden, ...Read more

A snowy owl was rescued Monday evening by a woman who was surprised to find it trapped in the grille of a car in a Duluth, Minnesota, parking lot.

Annabell Whelan, a good Samaritan who had also rescued another owl earlier in the day, said she was near the Bentleyville “Tour of Lights” display at Bayfront Festival Park when she found the ...Read more

NEW YORK — The migrant accused of torching a homeless woman on a Brooklyn subway made his first court appearance Tuesday to face murder charges — and prosecutors revealed he used his shirt to fan the flames after he ignited her clothes with a lighter.

Sebastian Zapeta, a 33-year-old Guatemalan migrant living in a Brooklyn men’s shelter, ...Read more

Kimberly Williams took her three daughters to the mall for some last-minute Christmas shopping this week and ended up buying a week’s worth of showers and emergency food for a person living on the street, pots and pans for a once-homeless person moving into their own place, and a blanket and binky for a newborn baby.

The unplanned purchases ...Read more

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri judge last week torpedoed parts of a state law that have required sweeping redactions to court records, preventing the public from accessing routine information.

Moniteau County Associate Circuit Judge Aaron Martin ruled provisions requiring redaction of witness and victim information from court records ...Read more

U.S. lawmakers dropped a potential review of South Africa’s ties with Washington on the basis that they pose national-security risks.

President Joe Biden on Monday signed a version of a key annual defense-policy bill that didn’t contain an earlier amendment passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in June that sought the review.

Two ...Read more

It’s that time of year, when families and friends come together to share their holiday cheer and a few circulating pathogens.

Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco, said people should be on the lookout for the “Big Four”: three respiratory viruses currently moving through the U.S. — influenza, COVID-19 ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Three orphans of a Sacramento couple brutally gunned down in Mexico earlier this month are raising money to help stay afloat and bring their parents’ remains home.

Authorities said Rafael Cardona Aguilera, 53, and Gloria Ambriz de Cardona, 50, were shot and killed Dec. 11 while spending time with their grandparents in ...Read more

Americans are more optimistic about 2025 than they were about 2024 — in large part because of President-elect Donald Trump, according to new polling.

In a December CBS News/YouGov poll, 57% of respondents said that, when looking ahead to 2025, they feel more hopeful than discouraged. Meanwhile, 23% said they feel more discouraged, and 20% ...Read more

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s handpicked school board was blocked from modifying Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez’s duties by a Cook County Judge on Tuesday, giving the embattled schools chief a victory as he battles with City Hall over the district’s future.

Judge Joel Chupack granted Martinez a temporary restraining order against CPS...Read more

BALTIMORE — As Baltimore sunsets a decades-old committee probing police misconduct, the city’s three civilian-led law enforcement accountability boards are at odds with Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration over the future of independent oversight investigations.

Scott’s office argued that the looming dissolution of the city’s Civilian...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Two San Fernando Valley men, who were sentenced to death over a decade ago for killing five people, had their sentences commuted to life in prison on Monday by President Joe Biden.

In 2007, Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas were sentenced to death after they were convicted of murdering five people in a kidnapping-for-ransom ...Read more

BOSTON — A local Massachusetts police officer “likely saved a Christmas headache” after he discovered roughly 80 Amazon packages left behind in the woods, days before the holiday.

Early Sunday morning, Lakeville Police Sgt. Shawn Robert stumbled upon “three large totes full of Amazon packages” that a driver for the e-commerce company ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A squadron of fighter jets that belong to the District of Columbia Air National Guard will transfer to the Maryland National Guard, Gov. Wes Moore and other Maryland leaders said Monday night.

Transferring the 121st Fighter Squadron, which operates out of Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s County, will allow the state to ...Read more

CHICAGO — On quiet nights during the Christmas season, Ed O’Malley enjoys visiting the Nativity scene he helps set up every year in an Arlington Heights park.

He’ll check whether the wind has blown over a statue, or whether any lights have gone out.

On relatively warm evenings, many families will be out and about, O’Malley said. ...Read more