LOS ANGELES — Nearly two decades ago, on a high desert road in San Bernardino County, Sara Rodriguez was pulled over and arrested with 10 small packets of cannabis in her car. She was convicted of a felony, possession of the drug for sale, and eventually spent more than two years in prison.

In the years since, Rodriguez, 39, became the first ...Read more

NEW YORK — Michelle Alyssa Go spent more than a decade as a volunteer helping the homeless — only to be fatally pushed under the wheels of a Time Square subway train by a mentally ill homeless man, according to police.

On Monday, the New York Junior League, where Go volunteered, urged city leaders to do something about the mental health ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Whenever someone tells Jamie Chong that COVID-19 isn't a serious threat to children, she reminds them that the common cold can send her child to the hospital.

Her son, Asher, who is nearing his third birthday, has cerebral palsy and issues with his respiratory and gastrointestinal systems, putting him at higher risk from the ...Read more

BALTIMORE SUN — It is a familiar scene, a public official at the lectern the day after being indicted or otherwise landing in trouble. But when Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby took to the microphone to defend herself against federal perjury charges, the scene played out in less-familiar fashion.

There was no spouse standing behind ...Read more

North Korea said it tested two tactical guided missiles on Monday, as it ratchets up pressure on the Biden administration with its biggest string of missile launches since August 2019.

“The test-fire was aimed to selectively evaluate tactical guided missiles being produced and deployed and to verify the accuracy of the weapon system,” the ...Read more

The Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida, on Jan. 11 was treating 80 COVID-19 patients — a tenfold increase since late December. Nearly half were admitted for other medical reasons.

The surge driven by the extremely infectious omicron variant helped push the South Florida hospital with 206 licensed beds to 250 patients. The rise in cases came ...Read more

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Hypothetical scenario: A candidate for county executive loses an election, then claims there's been fraud in the county's election office and announces that something needs to be done about it.

"And supporters hear that and they decide, 'Well, I'm going to go and firebomb the place,' " said Sen. David Frockt, D-Seattle. "And ...Read more

Boris Johnson’s former top aide Dominic Cummings accused the premier of lying to Parliament, saying he would “swear under oath” that the premier both was aware of and allowed a drinks party at Downing Street at the height of lockdown during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s the latest tirade by Cummings against his former ...Read more

Anthony Fauci, the top medical adviser to the U.S. president, said it’s too soon to say whether the omicron variant will herald a shift in the COVID-19 pandemic to endemic.

“It’s an open question as to whether or not omicron is going to be the live virus vaccination everyone is hoping for,” Fauci said Monday at the World Economic Forum�...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — In an extraordinary public display of grief, the family of 12 people killed in a rowhouse fire in Philadelphia's Fairmount neighborhood held a funeral service at Temple University on Monday morning, celebrating their loved ones in the embrace of hundreds of mourners.

“God is about community,” preached the Rev. Alyn E. ...Read more

ATLANTA — Vice President Kamala Harris, Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator and the youngest daughter of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. each made passionate calls on Monday for passage of new federal voting rights laws at the annual remembrance for the slain civil rights leader, warning democracy hangs in the balance.

In tributes to ...Read more

The Taliban is seeking China’s assistance in getting its Islamic Emirate government officially recognized by the international community, a crucial step that could help Afghanistan access some $9 billion in frozen reserves held overseas.

“All of the conditions of the international community required for recognition are already fulfilled,�...Read more

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley tested positive on Sunday for COVID-19, according to a statement from the agency.

Milley, who is vaccinated and has received the booster shot, has mild symptoms and is working remotely, said Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs, in a statement. Milley’s last contact with ...Read more

Researchers may have narrowed down the reason some people who contract COVID-19 lose their sense of smell and taste.

A new study published in the journal Nature Genetics points to damaged cells in the olfactory epithelium, a part of the nose that traps odor molecules and submits a response to the brain, as the likely culprit.

However, that’s...Read more

CHICAGO — A lawsuit against Amazon is expected to be filed Monday by the family of a delivery driver who was killed in December after a tornado hit an Amazon warehouse downstate, according to a news release from the law firm retained by the family.

Six people who had been working at an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville died following the Dec. ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — Supporters of former President Donald Trump privately discussed ways they could gain access to the Michigan Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, when the battleground state's presidential electors met, according to four sources with knowledge of the planning.

The conversations reveal some of Trump's Michigan backers were considering ...Read more

Demand for labor is so strong now that there are more job openings than workers officially listed as unemployed in Ohio and across the U.S.

Nationwide, there were 10.6 million job openings at the end of November, according to the most recent federal data. Meanwhile, the number of people listed as unemployed fell to 6.4 million in December.

It'...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Several hundred mourners from across the Philadelphia region gathered Monday for a funeral services for nine children and three adults who died this month when fire and smoke swept through their Fairmount row house.

Family and friends — most wearing white — gathered inside Temple University’s Liacouras Center for a three-...Read more

HILTON HEAD, S.C. — The state Supreme Court’s disciplinary arm is investigating a connection between suspended Hampton attorney Alex Murdaugh and the former owner of Murdaugh’s sprawling hunting property, according to legal documents obtained by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

The South Carolina Supreme Court’s Office of ...Read more