Democratic Senator Joe Manchin delivered a list of changes he wants in voting rights legislation in a bid for a compromise on an issue that has put him at odds with the rest of his party.

Manchin is the only Senate Democrat who hasn’t signed on to the Senate version of a sweeping overhaul of election laws that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer ...Read more

Former Pennsylvania Gov. and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was rushed to the hospital by ambulance Wednesday after suffering a stroke, his family said.

“The Ridge family wishes to share the following news about Tom,” the family announced on his Twitter feed Wednesday.

“Tom Ridge, the 43rd governor of Pennsylvania and first U...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — Following more than seven hours of debate and a veto threat by Gov. Ned Lamont, the Connecticut House of Representatives approved a revised bill that would legalize marijuana in the state.

The measure cleared the House by a largely party-line vote of 76-62. Twelve Democrats joined all but one Republican in voting no. The ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Several pieces of gun evidence were recovered from in and around the vehicle Winston Boogie Smith Jr. was sitting in when he was fatally shot by members of a federal task force earlier this month, according to newly filed court documents.

Search warrant affidavits filed earlier this week in Hennepin County District Court show ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — In the 2020 elections, North Carolina was one of the last states to finish counting its votes and declare the results in a handful of closely contested races, including president and U.S. Senate.

Now Republicans in the N.C. General Assembly want to stop similar situations from happening in the future, by requiring elections ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Tinhorn Flats, a Burbank restaurant that repeatedly defied shutdown orders during the pandemic, has been evicted from its Western-themed storefront, just as California fully reopens.

The eviction is the latest twist in a monthslong saga pitting the restaurant’s operators against Burbank officials and, apparently, their own ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — A state appeals court has ordered California to move disabled inmates found mentally incompetent to stand trial out of jails and into treatment.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal in San Francisco set a deadline of 28 days for the state to move mentally ill and intellectually disabled defendants into ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Two days before a South Carolina death row inmate was scheduled to die in the electric chair, the state Supreme Court granted him a stay.

It would have been the state’s first execution in nearly a decade.

Brad Sigmon, 63, was initially scheduled to be executed Friday but was granted a stay by the state’s highest court ...Read more

Antitrust scholar and Big Tech critic Lina Khan was sworn in as chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday after President Joe Biden unexpectedly elevated her to the agency’s top post.

Khan, 32, was confirmed by the Senate to serve as a commissioner Tuesday. She’ll take the agency’s reins from acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday passed legislation designating June 19 as a new federal holiday, just a day after the Senate voted unanimously to approve a mirror bill commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S.

The rare bipartisan legislation, which passed 415-14, will now go to President Joe Biden’s desk just days before the date ...Read more

At Biosero's San Diego headquarters, a mobile robot named Yoda wheels down the hallway to personally escort visitors to the company's Acceleration Lab.

Then Yoda gets to work — picking up and delivering biological assay trays between scanning instruments scattered throughout the lab in a demonstration of how the Biosero's technology helps ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he’s sending state and local law enforcement officers to the U.S. border with Mexico, answering a request from the governors of Arizona and Texas for help from other states to prevent illegal immigration and deport those here illegally.

DeSantis blamed President Joe Biden for undoing many...Read more

Iran said it may renew a key nuclear monitoring agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, potentially buying more time for world powers to broker an arrangement between Tehran and Washington to revive their landmark 2015 atomic deal.

Mahmoud Vaezi, chief of staff for President Hassan Rouhani, said the extension of the temporary ...Read more

AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill Wednesday to allow holstered handguns to be carried in Texas without a permit, delivering a victory for gun advocates and the conservative wing of the party.

Beginning Sept. 1, House Bill 1927 will allow anyone 21 years old or older who can legally possess a firearm in Texas to carry a handgun in...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Roy Cooper has pardoned Charles Ray Finch, declaring him innocent of a 1970s murder for which he spent more than four decades in prison.

Freed from prison in 2019, Finch is now eligible to file a legal claim and seek compensation for his wrongful conviction.

Now 83, Finch might have been executed if the NC Supreme Court ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Illinois House on Wednesday approved a comprehensive gun safety measure aimed at modernizing Illinois’ 53-year-old Firearms Owner Identification card law while also requiring background checks on private sales of firearms.

The bill passed by a 75-40 vote and now goes to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The action comes almost two weeks ...Read more

CHICAGO — Chicago police believe two people entered an Englewood home early Monday and shot eight people — four fatally and seven in the head, according to a police report.

About 5:45 a.m. Tuesday, officers received a call of shots fired from the second-floor residents of a house in the 6200 block of South Morgan Street on the South Side, ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Members of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community plan to apply for recognition by the federal government as a sovereign nation, a designation that could give them a seat on the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council and possibly help them obtain land.

The move also would earn the Mendota Dakota community respect from other ...Read more