SAN JOSE, Calif. — Tristan Begg was an anthropology student at UC Santa Cruz and a Beethoven fanatic when he volunteered as a docent at San Jose State University’s Beethoven center in the summer of 2009.

He would pull out the drawer holding a lock of hair and tell visitors, “This is real” and that it once was on the head of the greatest...Read more

DENVER — The East High School staffer who had been checking a 17-year-old student for weapons each morning wasn’t available Wednesday, leaving two administrators to perform the duty instead, according to the Denver Public Schools superintendent.

Police say the student, during the pat-down required under his safety plan, shot and wounded two...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Before the sun rose, Yadira Martinez, a special education assistant at Florence Avenue Elementary School in South L.A., shuttled around her tiny kitchen, sauteing eggs and potatoes to share with her fellow strikers earlier this week on the picket line.

She joked about the tight confines: "You turn around, take one step and you'...Read more

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri lawmakers late Thursday evening moved to strip state funding from public libraries in retaliation for a lawsuit challenging a new state law that bans certain materials in school libraries.

The proposal, approved close to midnight by the House Budget Committee, would cut the entire $4.5 million in state aid that ...Read more

Former President Donald Trump Friday warned of “death and destruction” if he is indicted for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Raising the rhetorical heat, Trump suggested that his supporters will respond with fury if he is criminally charged in the case as early as next week when a grand jury reconvenes to deliberate.

“...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — More than half of Philadelphians think that addressing the opioid crisis should be a top priority for the next mayor — and that city leaders should focus on offering mental health and addiction treatment instead of arresting drug users, according to a Lenfest Institute for Journalism/SSRS poll that surveyed more than 1,200 ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Two Florida state representatives have sent a letter to the city of St. Petersburg threatening to cut off all of its state funding until council members drop a plan to allocate $50,000 to the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund.

Mike Beltran, R-Riverview, and Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, sent a letter Wednesday to Mayor Ken Welch and City ...Read more

History remembers Paul Volcker as the slayer of inflation, and Ben Bernanke as the crisis firefighter. Jerome Powell is in danger of having to play both roles at once — or, what may be worse, to choose between them.

On the face of it, Powell’s Federal Reserve this week pushed ahead with what’s been its policy for the past year — raising...Read more

The U.S. military carried out airstrikes in Syria after an American contractor was killed and five service members wounded when a drone it said was of Iranian origin crashed into a coalition base.

The targets of the airstrikes, according to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, were “facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic ...Read more

As an acclaimed photographer and conceptual artist, Hank Willis Thomas has grown accustomed to criticisms of his unconventional art and concepts of identity.

But even Thomas had never experienced anything like the reaction to his latest sculpture, designed to commemorate the lives of Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr., two of the most...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Movie studios would be eligible for a long-sought perk under Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposal to let them convert a portion of their state tax credits into cash payments, essentially creating a government subsidy for Hollywood that California doesn't offer to any other industry.

If Newsom's plan is passed by the Legislature and ...Read more

As claims and lawsuits pile up against the government related to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune, the number of grievous health outcomes tied to exposure to those toxic chemicals at the Marine Corps base in North Carolina is also rising.

A growing percentage of cases are becoming wrongful death suits rather than damage claims for ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — More than 300 signatures in a petition to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon last year belonged to dead people, according to the county’s Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office.

Now the agency has called on the California attorney general to investigate the possibility of fraud in the failed attempt ...Read more

Ling Ma, Morgan Talty, Boris Dralyuk and Isaac Butler are among the winners of the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Awards announced during a ceremony Thursday night at the New School in New York City.

Ma earned the prize in fiction for "Bliss Montage: Stories," her debut story collection, filled with offbeat stories that nod to her knack for ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina school fired back after a civil rights group blasted its short hair rule as “discriminatory.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina in a letter warned Classical Charter Schools of Leland that it may have violated the law when it told a Native American boy to cut his hair.

“Logan’s hair ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A trio of bills aimed at curbing gun violence received the endorsement of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, a giant victory for supporters of gun safety measures who have seen similar proposals languish for years under Republican control of the Senate.

The sponsor of the bills, Senate Judiciary Chair Ron Latz, DFL-St. ...Read more

Minnesota could become a refuge for transgender people from other states seeking health care that affirms their gender identity, under a bill scheduled for debate Thursday in the state House.

The proposal, which was on the agenda for a session stretching late into the evening, would protect transgender people, their families and medical ...Read more

PARIS — French unions held more strikes against French President Emmanuel Macron’s reform of the country’s pension system on Thursday, a day after he went on television to insist he won’t back down and likened protesters to the rebels who stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Ground transportation, flights and refineries were impacted as anger over...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Senate Ethics Committee has admonished Sen. Lindsey Graham for soliciting campaign contributions for Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker from a Senate office building.

During a Fox News interview in the Russell Building on Nov. 30, ahead of the Georgia Senate runoff election, the South Carolina Republican senator was ...Read more

After Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, native Riley Williams was charged for her role in the Jan. 6 attacks, her lawyers downplayed her actions by saying she went to Washington with nothing but a “cellphone and her fuzzy zebra bag.”

On Thursday, the 23-year-old was sentenced to three years behind bars.

Williams made headlines after federal ...Read more