LOS ANGELES — Anytime it rains, trash comes flushing through storm drains and gutters, into rivers and downstream straight into the ocean and onto beaches.

The picturesque beaches that Southern California is known for look more like landfills as piles of debris blanket the landscape. Trash fills the Pacific Ocean, threatening marine life and ...Read more

DETROIT — A privately run immigration detention center in northern Michigan has failed to provide necessary medical care to detained immigrants and limited their access to lawyers and court proceedings, two civil rights groups alleged in a letter sent Wednesday to Kevin Raycraft, the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A former top aide to Gov. Gavin Newsom pleaded guilty in Sacramento federal court Thursday to bank fraud, filing a false tax return and lying to the FBI in a corruption scandal that rattled California politics last fall and still threatens to upend the state’s hotly contested race for governor.

Dana Williamson, who ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Looking for a new owner to take control of a key piece of George Floyd Square, Minneapolis officials have picked Minnesota Agape Movement, which has proposed building a six-story commercial development in place of the People’s Way.

Their decision comes six years after Floyd’s murder sparked a civil unrest that transformed ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court appeared skeptical Thursday of a push from President Donald Trump to punish four major law firms, in a case that could outline the bounds of presidential power and have broader ramifications for the legal industry.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, ...Read more

MIAMI — A U.S. Coast Guard cutter crew unloaded more than 8,000 pounds of cocaine at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday. The agency says the haul is worth almost $62 million.

The drugs were seized in the Caribbean Sea about 90 miles off the coast of Cartagena on May 8, the Coast Guard said in a press release.

The Cutter Tahoma, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an anti-abortion challenge to federal regulations that permit sending pills through the mail once a patient has consulted a doctor online.

The justices granted an emergency appeal from the makers of mifepristone and set aside an order from a U.S. appeals court in Louisiana that would have ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania State Police is creating a new unit to investigate threats against elected officials after a communication failure surrounding violent threats against Pennsylvania legislators.

Adam Berryhill, 42, was arrested on May 6 after making “politically violent” threats on social media, including an alleged “hit ...Read more

Florida’s wildlife commission voted Wednesday to end a controversial policy that allowed the capture of wild manta rays — a federally threatened species — for overseas aquariums.

But the commission will still allow U.S. companies to seek approval from Florida’s wildlife officials if they want endangered marine wildlife for their ...Read more

Cuba’s leader, Miguel Díaz-Canel, said Thursday that his government will accept a U.S. offer to provide $100 million in humanitarian aid, as the country runs out of fuel and Washington signals its impatience with stalled diplomatic talks between the two countries.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday the U.S. government had offered to ...Read more

The WhatsApp messages go out, often several times a week, to royals across the Persian Gulf.

The sender: Jared Kushner, envoy for President Donald Trump — and a private investor handling billions of dollars for those same princes and emirs.

Since his father-in-law took the U.S. to war with Iran, he’s engaged in a campaign of official ...Read more

DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis signed legislation Thursday that rewrites and softens a Colorado law that sought to curb discrimination through the use of artificial intelligence, ending a two-year tug-of-war over how tightly the state should regulate the technology.

Starting Jan. 1, the law passed as Senate Bill 189 will require companies or ...Read more

Where you live, how much you earn and whether you can afford health insurance can shape far more than your medical bills in Texas. According to a new report, those differences can also have lasting effects on your access to care and overall health.

The Commonwealth Fund analyzed data from 2022 through 2024 to compare health system performance ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Just east of the front doors of St. Cecilia’s Church in the Fox Chase neighborhood, there sits a memorial to victims of sexual abuse — a rare sight not only in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, but at churches nationwide.

Consisting of a stone pillar embellished with a light and a blue wreath, in a parish that has reckoned ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — A justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court has proposed loosening the rules that require judges to restrict their political speech in public — rules intended to maintain the image of impartiality among the state’s judicial branch.

Phil Berger Jr., a Republican on the high court, suggested the reforms in an email to his ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — For the past several weeks, young people have been running through Church of Scientology buildings. They’re often clad in masks and costumes and film themselves trying to get as far into the building as possible — all to the chagrin of bewildered church staff.

The trend gained popularity after a teenager, who uses the social...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors have asked to dismiss the criminal case against a woman accused of assaulting federal law enforcement officers in January during Operation Metro Surge.

In a brief motion, special assistant U.S. attorney Robert Tucker asked the court on Thursday to dismiss the case against Nasra Ahmed. The motion did not ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Two toxic air contaminants present in California’s ambient air, acrolein and ethylene oxide, appear to be much stronger carcinogens than previously known, California environmental health officials announced Thursday.

The draft finding from the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment found that the chemicals ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The likelihood of a potentially powerful El Niño taking shape in the Pacific Ocean is rising, heightening concerns that Southern California could be in for an extreme rainy season.

There is now an 82% chance that El Niño is likely to emerge over the next few months, up from the 61% chance estimated a month ago. And there’s ...Read more