LOS ANGELES — A 100,000-gallon sewage spill has closed Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro, L.A. County officials said.

Visitors should avoid ocean water and any wet sand for at least three quarters of a mile upstream or downstream from the beach, the county public health department said in a release.

A sewage discharge from a manhole in Carson ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A Maryland resident is among at least 64 people in 22 states who have fallen ill after being infected with the same strain of salmonella linked to raw oysters, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of those sickened nationwide, 20 people were hospitalized as of Tuesday. No deaths have been reported. Federal ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Since Operation Metro Surge started on Dec. 1, federal officials have given broad arrest numbers with little verification, provided terse written answers to specific questions and made sensational claims on social media.

But the Trump administration has been most forthcoming in court, where federal prosecutors work to prevent a ...Read more

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expects to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday in pursuit of a deal to end Russia’s nearly four-year invasion, though the latest comments from Moscow raise doubts about how close a final agreement ending the war really is.

Zelenskyy told reporters Friday that he would ...Read more

Major storms on both U.S. coasts and into the upper Midwest are disrupting travel plans during the busy postholiday period when many Americans are making their way back home.

More than 1,600 flights across the United States had been canceled as of 1:30 p.m. Eastern time Friday, according to the FlightAware website. There were more than 19,000 ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two Mint Hill police officers are in critical condition after being shot Friday morning at a gift shop in the 6800 block of Matthews-Mint Hill Road, officials say.

A man who shot at them was shot and killed, police said.

“At approximately 10:47 a.m., Mint Hill Police officers responded to Edible Arrangements, located at ...Read more

After the U.S. warned that more strikes may follow its surprise Christmas Day attack on suspected terrorist targets in Nigeria, officials in the West African nation suggested they’d be open to continued intervention.

“I believe this is an ongoing thing and we’re working with the U.S.,” Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar told ...Read more

NEW YORK — Christmas festivities are winding down while New Yorkers are gearing up for a major snow storm.

The fast-moving storm is poised to bring snow and ice to huge swaths of Northeast this weekend, with more than 23 million people under winter storm warnings, including New York City, which could see its most significant snowfall since ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in 2024 let lapse the authority for states to reimburse food stamp recipients who lost their benefits to fraud. Several lawmakers want to reverse course.

In the two years the Agriculture Department had the reimbursement authority, it identified 1.9 million fraudulent transactions using stolen Supplemental Nutrition ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A year ago, officials were sounding alarms about a bone-dry winter that days later would combine with wind gusts of up to 100 mph to bring about the worst fires in Los Angeles history.

Now, Southern California just experienced its wettest Christmas in modern history.

This Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the rainiest in ...Read more

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expects to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday in pursuit of a deal to end Russia’s nearly four-year invasion.

Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday that he’d discuss sensitive issues with Trump including the future of the Donbas region in Ukraine’s east and the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A year ago, officials were sounding alarms about a bone-dry winter that days later would combine with hurricane-strength winds to bring about the worst fires in Los Angeles history.

Now, Southern California just experienced its wettest Christmas in modern history.

This Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the rainiest in the ...Read more

A beloved grandfather died in what police are calling a “freak accident” at a Nebraska McDonald’s drive-thru.

Michael Dickinson, 69, suffered fatal injuries after he somehow became trapped between the payment window and his car at the fast food chain’s store in Grand Island, some 24 miles southwest of Lincoln, local authorities said.

�...Read more

DENVER — The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation is suing Colorado for discrimination in federal court, alleging that a recently passed law denies the Tribe equal access to its ancestral lands.

That law, Colorado Revised Statute 33-12-103.8, provides free access to Colorado’s state parks for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe ...Read more

ATLANTA — By New Year’s Eve, the Trump administration is scheduled to award one-time grants to states to “transform” their rural health care, and Georgia is asking for $1.4 billion.

Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration has submitted an application with a long list of proposed pilot projects, including drop-in telehealth “pods,” health...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Hope Florida won’t be providing loneliness services anymore.

The state has scrubbed nearly 80% of the references to Hope Florida — the controversial DeSantis administration effort to move residents off government assistance that became mired in political scandal — in its Medicaid managed care contract.

The original ...Read more

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he plans to meet his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump “in the coming days,” signaling optimism about reaching a peace deal to end Russia’s almost four-year war.

Separately, the Kremlin said its representatives had made contact with the U.S. at President Vladimir Putin’s direction.

“A lot ...Read more

Thailand claimed that Cambodia fired heavy weaponry into its territory on Friday as talks on a possible ceasefire between the two countries continued.

The Cambodian action early Friday “forced the Thai side to take necessary self-defense measures,” according to a statement published at a daily press briefing. One Thai soldier was also “...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republicans in the Florida House are quickly moving forward on a smorgasbord of ballot initiatives that would ask voters to dramatically overhaul the state’s property taxes — deepening the anxiety for local officials who rely on those funds for their budgets.

When the Legislature convenes January 13 for its regular 60-...Read more