LOS ANGELES — In the year after fire swept through Altadena, man and nature have camouflaged the destruction, to some extent.

The burned husks of thousands of homes have been flattened. Weeks of record rainfall have left empty lots a shimmering green. Parts of Altadena now resemble a rural town, with scattered houses separated by vast swaths ...Read more

U.S. job openings fell in November to a more than one-year low and hiring slowed, indicating most employers remain reluctant to make big changes to headcount.

The number of available positions decreased to 7.15 million in November from a downwardly revised 7.45 million in the prior month, Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed Wednesday. The ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he would order the Florida Legislature to convene for a special session to redraw the state’s congressional districts before the 2026 election.

His move formally places Florida in line with the national Republican effort, demanded last year by President Donald Trump, to have states ...Read more

The Trump administration has warned Venezuela’s most feared power broker that he could be next unless he falls in line.

The Reuters news service has reported that U.S. officials have put Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on notice that cooperation with Washington is now a condition for survival as Venezuela navigates a volatile post-Maduro ...Read more

The Trump administration announced a major overhaul of American nutrition guidelines Wednesday, replacing the old, carbohydrate-heavy food pyramid with one that prioritizes protein, healthy fats and whole grains.

"Our government declares war on added sugar," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a White House press ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The son of a storied Republican president, Michael Reagan, who recently died, was memorialized as a stalwart supporter of his father's legacy. But in his home state of California, Reagan was remembered as much for his community involvement — which was at times so low-key that some didn't even realize his father was Ronald ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Wednesday that a woman was shot and killed by a Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a confrontation between federal agents and protesters in Minneapolis.

Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said ICE officers “were conducting targeted operations” when community members began ...Read more

Hours before he was snatched by U.S. Delta Force commandos and taken to New York City to face trial on charges of narco-terrorism, Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro told journalists he had “a foolproof bunker.”

Despite a U.S. armada off the coast of Venezuela, he wasn’t overly concerned about his security, which he had entrusted for ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Famed defense attorney Alan Jackson stepped down Wednesday as counsel for Nick Reiner, who is awaiting trial in the murder of his parents, beloved Hollywood couple Rob and Michele Reiner.

“We feel that we have no choice at this juncture, but to ask to be relieved,” Jackson told L.A. County Superior Court Judge Theresa ...Read more

Two Caribbean countries whose nationals have been targeted under a recent U.S. travel ban have agreed to accept asylum-seekers rejected from the United States who cannot return to their countries of origin.

The governments of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica confirmed the development earlier this week, issuing separate statements defending a ...Read more

DETROIT — A Syrian man has pleaded guilty in federal court to fraud for using his mother's Dearborn address to collect more than $190,000 in Social Security benefits.

Samer Succar, a naturalized United States citizen who resides in Syria, entered the plea Monday in federal court in Detroit, said Jerome Gorgon, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern ...Read more

European allies Wednesday asked for urgent talks over Greenland with Secretary of State Marco Rubio after President Donald Trump ramped up threats to seize the Danish territory after the U.S. attack on Venezuela.

Denmark and Greenland itself asked for the meeting with the top American diplomat a day after NATO allies rebuked the Trump ...Read more

DETROIT — The city fell under 200 homicides for the first time in six decades in 2025, Police Chief Todd Bettison and other city officials said Wednesday, marking three consecutive years of decline and mirroring a national downward trend.

Detroit recorded 165 homicides last year, the fewest number since the city had 125 homicides in 1964 and ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Wolfe County commonwealth’s attorney has moved to dismiss a fetal homicide charge against a Kentucky woman arrested after a medication abortion.

Miranda King, the lead prosecutor for Wolfe County, filed a motion to dismiss a fetal homicide charge against Melinda Spencer, 35, of Campton, according to documents available...Read more

Iran’s president ordered security forces not to target peaceful protesters, a bid to defuse violent unrest that activists say has left at least 36 people dead.

“No security action should be taken” against those protesting economic hardship as long as they don’t compromise national security, President Masoud Pezeshkian’s deputy ...Read more

MIAMI — A Miami man who threw a 5-year-old girl into the Everglades and left her to be eaten by alligators could again be condemned to die almost three decades after the girl’s cruel death.

Harrel Braddy, 76, kidnapped Quatisha Maycock, 5, and her mother, Shandelle Maycock — an acquaintance Braddy met in a church group — on the night of...Read more

MIAMI — As her administration gears up for the bruising task of balancing Miami-Dade County’s next budget, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is replacing her longtime budget chief with her library director.

Chief Budget Officer David Clodfelter, who helped Levine Cava manage a massive influx of federal COVID aid and then propose austerity measures...Read more