SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, have promised to address the state’s high cost of living while steeling the administration against the incoming Trump administration by proposing a $25 million litigation fund to prepare the Justice Department for potential litigation with the White House.

Experts are ...Read more

SpaceX has two Space Coast launches booked for the weekend, but will have to wait at least one day after scrubbing the first launch attempt on Friday night.

A Falcon 9 rocket on the RRT-1 mission carrying an undisclosed payload is now targeting liftoff at 7:59 p.m. Eastern time Saturday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch ...Read more

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces a second impeachment vote on Saturday over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, with the result likely to either throw the nation into months of caretaker rule or give the beleaguered leader a further political lifeline.

The vote, scheduled for 4 p.m. local time at the...Read more

TikTok faces a U.S. ban next month after an appeals court declined to pause the measure, which takes effect if the popular video-sharing app isn’t sold by its China-based parent ByteDance Ltd.

The company’s request for the pause came after a federal appeals court panel in Washington upheld a law that bans the social media platform in the ...Read more

The Port of Oakland, operator of Oakland International Airport, has appealed a district court ruling against changing the name of its airport to the “San Francisco Bay Oakland Airport” — an effort by port officials to attract more travelers to the East Bay transportation hub.

The court filing is the latest chapter in a months-long ...Read more

NEW YORK — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Friday said he had learned of information suggesting Luigi Mangione, the accused assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, won’t challenge his extradition from Pennsylvania to New York.

“Indications are that the defendant may waive, but that waiver is not complete until a court ...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump said Republicans will seek to eliminate daylight saving time, calling the semiannual time changes “inconvenient” and “costly.”

“The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t!” wrote Trump in a post Friday on ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump says renewing tax cuts would turbo-charge investment and boost U.S. economic growth — a pledge that helped propel him to election victory in November.

But new analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group, warns that extending tax cuts set to ...Read more

It was supposed to be a rare victory after a wave of setbacks in Haiti’s war against gangs.

The armored police vehicles, manned by Haitian and Kenyan police, rolled into the small farming town north of the Haitian capital to the sounds of residents cheering, dancing and waving tree branches in elation.

After threats, kidnappings and a ...Read more

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Military aircraft flying over the Dam Neck and Croatan areas of Virginia Beach is not uncommon, but the aircraft John Knight and his son, Benjamin, saw Thursday after dark was unlike any other they’ve seen.

“It was definitely different,” said Knight, who took videos of what he thinks was a drone the size of a small...Read more

The California Coastal Commission, a powerful state agency that regulates development along the state’s 1,100-mile coastline, can deny property owners permits to build seawalls if their homes or businesses were constructed after 1977, a state appeals court has ruled.

The closely watched case, centered on 10 townhouses near Half Moon Bay, ...Read more

ATLANTA — To improve Georgia’s troubled prison system, the General Assembly should hike correctional officer salaries, consider more private-public partnerships to expand capacity, increase mental health services and move to single-person cells to improve safety. Those are among a slate of recommendations that a state Senate study committee ...Read more

For the first time publicly, Crystal Mangum said she lied nearly 18 years ago when she accused Duke University lacrosse players of raping her.

Mangum, now 46, apologized to the men in an interview posted on letstalkwithkat.com and said that she lied about being raped by three players in March 2006.

“I testified falsely against them by saying...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court voted Friday to hear a potentially far-reaching claim of religious freedom and decide whether church-sponsored charities, programs and businesses may refuse to pay state unemployment taxes for their employees.

All states exempt churches and church programs from the taxes if they "operate primarily for religious ...Read more

MEXICO CITY — A California couple with Mexican roots went south for the holidays to visit relatives, an annual tradition among many U.S. residents of Mexican ancestry.

But tragedy struck: Both were shot dead in Mexico's violence-plagued Michoacán state, Mexican authorities said Friday. The couple fell victim to the violence that has been ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court opened the door Friday for a potential challenge to California's long-standing authority to set stricter emissions limits for new vehicles, including its "zero emissions" goal for 2035.

The justices voted to hear an appeal from oil and bio-fuel producers who sued the Environmental Protection Agency, arguing it ...Read more

NEW YORK — The state attorney general’s office has declined to pursue criminal charges against an NYPD police officer who was speeding to an emergency call last year and struck and killed a Queens home health aide who was walking to work, officials said Friday.

A review by the AG’s Office of Special Investigation found Police Officer ...Read more

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is calling on lawmakers to crack down on hemp products like delta-8 THC, saying they let minors get high on untested, mislabeled cannabis — but it’s a move which hemp shop owners say would also close legitimate businesses.

The governor came out Friday in support of legislation that would set a minimum ...Read more