Andy Burnham is all but certain to become the U.K.’s next prime minister after Darren Jones, who had been talked up as a potential rival, said he would not launch his own leadership bid.

Jones, a minister and ally of outgoing prime minister Keir Starmer, ruled himself out of the race in an interview with Sky News on Wednesday, saying he ...Read more

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, as he looks to assure Gulf allies of the strength of an interim peace agreement with Iran.

Rubio is also scheduled to travel to Kuwait and Bahrain, visits that come after U.S.-Iran negotiations to secure a more ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Cleavotta Morgan said her son, Daejon Morgan, called her every day from his cell at Men's Central Jail.

The 20-year-old inmate would ask her to pass the phone around to different members of the family. She'd often put the receiver up to his dog Hunter's ear so he could hear the animal's excitement at the sound of his voice. The ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A police dog in western Minnesota stood in the heart of an emotionally charged custody battle between the Swift County Sheriff’s Office and one of its deputies who left the force this spring.

Deputy Steve Henriksen resigned from the Sheriff’s Office in May, but he didn’t want to be separated from Red, a police dog from ...Read more

The rise of artificial intelligence has Minnesota faith leaders wrestling with questions that feel both ancient and newly urgent: How should they respond to a force rapidly reshaping daily life?

And where is the line between using technology to, say, streamline church work and allowing it into relationships and spiritual practices long defined ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The statewide adoption of remote work for government employees was politically advantageous for Gov. Gavin Newsom early in the pandemic.

His administration set up a public-facing dashboard tracking how much carbon dioxide commuting state workers were not adding to the atmosphere by working from home. The administration ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — New state laws implementing sweeping reforms to the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, expanding absentee voting to all eligible voters, preventing armed security officers with records of misconduct from serving in the public school system and providing greater oversight for nonprofits that receive millions of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- A plant extract that's gaining popularity as a pain cure-all and has been associated with multiple California deaths in its concentrated, synthetic form has been approved for research as a treatment for opioid addiction by the federal government.

Kratom is derived from the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa, a tree native to Southeast ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can no longer arrest undocumented immigrants at courthouses solely for civil immigration violations under an order issued Tuesday by a federal judge in San Jose.

The order by U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts bars the government from enforcing two key policies that had ...Read more

Despite lingering inflation and economic uncertainty brought on by the Iran war, supporters of President Donald Trump who showed up for his appearance at Mack Trucks’ Lower Macungie Township production facility Tuesday said they feel he is putting the country on the right track.

Edward Xavier Young from Brick Township, New Jersey, travelled ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday unanimously advanced an ordinance to halt new oil and gas drilling and phase out all existing production over the next 20 years. L.A. is home to more than 2,000 active oil wells.

The measure revives a similar ban passed in 2022, which was struck down by a judge following legal challenges ...Read more

A former New Hampshire state representative was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison for involvement in a child exploitation case — almost double the mandatory minimum.

Stacie Marie Laughton, 42, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation of children after soliciting and receiving nude photos of three toddlers from an ex-...Read more

Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown filed an amicus brief Tuesday in three lawsuits opposing a decision by the Trump administration to allow oil and gas development in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The three lawsuits specifically have to do with the coastal plain of the refuge and were filed by Alaska Native villages and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Unified School District will ban classroom screen time before second grade and has enacted limited use for older students, under a pioneering policy approved Tuesday by the school board that reflects growing backlash from parents and educators concerned about an over-reliance on computers and technology in K-12 ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — President Donald Trump’s administration is closer to getting its way after a Boston-based appeals court said it doesn’t have to restore exhibits it removed — at least for now.

The Boston-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit ruled the National Park Service does not have to restore all exhibits it removed as part...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Anchorage Superior Court judge on Tuesday agreed to expedite a lawsuit whose outcome will determine whether the namesake challenger of U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan will appear on the state’s Aug. 18 primary ballot.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews, in a status hearing Tuesday, said the case was moving at a “very, very...Read more

Chicago health officials are investigating a case of measles in a traveler who arrived at O’Hare International Airport on June 17.

The person likely caught the measles outside of the U.S., according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. It’s possible members of the public may have been exposed to the illness at O’Hare in terminal 5 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After hearing weeks of evidence about Jonathan Rinderknecht’s loathing of the kinds of wealthy elites who inhabit the Pacific Palisades, jurors on Tuesday began deliberating whether he should be convicted of setting a fire that grew to swallow the opulent enclave and became the worst blaze in Los Angeles history.

Prosecutors ...Read more