LOS ANGELES — A UC Davis study showed a nutty novel behavior in California squirrels: They're hunting like carnivores, taking down and then consuming other, smaller rodents.

As part of an ongoing 12-year study of California ground squirrels at Briones Regional Park in Contra Costa County, researchers last summer watched as squirrels began to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — It wasn’t too long ago that the big question about Jake LaTurner’s political career was just how high he could go. He won a Kansas state Senate seat in his 20s, and then the treasurer’s race at 30, making him the nation’s youngest statewide elected official. He joined the House two years later, scored a coveted ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s pledge to take a buzz saw to the federal bureaucracy has caused plenty of anxiety, but not an exodus of career civil servants hoping to land jobs at the Capitol, or at least not yet.

Instead, the post-election job market on the Hill largely resembles previous years, with things looking predictably rosier for the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Tom Carper has a roundabout way of sneaking up on an answer. If you ask him to reflect on his 24 years in the Senate, he might start with an anecdote about a nomination; inquire about his concerns for the future, and he’ll start talking about his MBA.

While most lawmakers with résumés like Carper’s share their opinions as ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Despite "repeated, extensive notice" of acts of antisemitism and other harassment in its schools, the Philadelphia School District did not adequately investigate the claims, take appropriate steps to respond to them, or even maintain all necessary records, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has found.

...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has shipped anti-drone technology to an area of New Jersey located where sightings of mysterious aircraft have set residents on edge and drawn accusations that the federal government isn’t taking the incidents seriously.

The Defense Department provided equipment capable of detecting drones and disabling them, ...Read more

CHICAGO — A real estate developer at the center of an alleged attempted extortion scheme by ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan testified Thursday that he never felt intimidated or pressured into hiring Madigan’s law firm.

Andrew Cretal, who helped turn a site in the West Loop into a luxury apartment high-rise, was called as a witness in ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will visit the Rome and Vatican City next month in what will likely be his last presidential mission overseas, as he tries to solidify his legacy on the world stage.

But Biden’s farewell visit with Pope Francis is also likely to be deeply personal. As the second Roman Catholic president and the most ...Read more

MIAMI — A Miami-Dade judge has delayed a key decision in the high-profile case of Courtney Clenney, an OnlyFans model accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death inside their Miami condo in 2022, as attorneys debated whether controversial evidence obtained by state prosecutors should be made public on Thursday.

At issue: defense plans by ...Read more

The federal government has provided “insufficient” information to date about drone sightings near Virginia’s military installations, said Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine on Thursday following a classified briefing on the matter.

The three lawmakers were briefed Thursday by the Department of Defense, Department of ...Read more

MIAMI — The twin brothers charged with a host of sex crimes in state and federal court in Miami and New York were hauled away from a Miami-Dade County jail Thursday morning and taken into federal custody.

As attorneys for Oren and Alon Alexander were discussing a bond arrangement on state rape charges in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, a ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Environmental groups challenged California’s leading climate regulator Wednesday, alleging in new lawsuits that a recent update to a leading climate program will create additional pollution in the state’s San Joaquin Valley.

Two separate complaints allege the California Air Resources Board did not assess or alleviate ...Read more

DENVER — The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado sued the Elizabeth School District on Thursday for removing books from school libraries — titles that largely feature people of color or LGBTQ individuals — in an act the organization alleges violated free speech protections.

The removed books were voted on by the district’s Board ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — A man accused of fatally stabbing two women and injuring six more people on the Strip more than two years ago has been found competent to stand trial.

Yoni Barrios, 34, was arrested on Oct. 6, 2022, after police say he attacked multiple people on the Strip, including several women posing as showgirls. He was sent for a competency ...Read more

An Oakland County judge has denied the Oxford High School shooter’s request for resentencing and withdrawing his guilty plea.

Appellate attorneys for Ethan Crumbley, who killed four students and injured six others and a teacher at a shooting at Oxford high school in November 2021, asked Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwame Rowe to ...Read more

NEW YORK — The MTA’s inspector general said Thursday that he was “deeply concerned” about the poor condition of emergency exits in the subway system, as detailed in a report released by his office.

“I saw firsthand some of the issues highlighted in our audit during site visits,” MTA IG Daniel Cort said in a statement. “I am deeply...Read more

In an effort to improve American diets, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday released a new definition of what it means for a food to qualify as "healthy."

Products like fruit-flavored yogurt, fortified white bread and sweetened energy bars will no longer be allowed to label themselves as healthy if they exceed certain limits on ...Read more

WASHINGTON — House lawmakers from both sides of the aisle joined together to reject Speaker Mike Johnson’s latest stopgap funding package Thursday night, with one day to spare before a partial government shutdown is set to begin.

The House voted 174-235 against the package under suspension of the rules, which requires two-thirds support ...Read more

NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione was hit Thursday with a potential death penalty case in the slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson after a jolting sequence of events that saw him unexpectedly hauled to Manhattan federal court after a dramatic perp walk on the Wall Street heliport.

Mangione was widely expected to be arraigned on state murder...Read more

A porch pirate was caught twerking on a home camera after stealing packages from a home in New Jersey, officials said.

“You can’t make this stuff up,” the Gloucester Township Police Department said in their Dec. 18 Facebook post about the bizarre encounter.

On Dec. 9, two suspects were seen stealing packages from a home’s porch before ...Read more