FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Secret Service is planning for a stepped-up presence in Palm Beach County starting on Jan. 20 — when President Donald Trump adds "former" to his title and begins spending much more time at his Mar-a-Lago Club.

Former presidents and former first ladies get Secret Service protection for life (although security ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Champion Ken Jennings is going to succeed the late Alex Trebek as "Jeopardy!" host — at least in the short term.

Jennings will be the first in a series of "interim guest hosts" of the classic game show when it resumes production Nov. 30, the show announced Monday. Those episodes will air the week of Jan. 11.

"Alex believed in...Read more

NEW YORK — New York City's iconic Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade has been scaled back once again over coronavirus concerns.

The parade will still be broadcast to millions of Americans on television this Thursday, but New Yorkers hoping to catch a glimpse in person, for the most part, will be out of luck.

Earlier this month, Macy's announced ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia mob has limped along on life support for the past decade, its former leaders, Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, out of the picture after high-profile federal prosecutions.

But reports of La Cosa Nostra's demise have been greatly exaggerated, according to a federal grand jury ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced a new set of mask requirements Monday, calling them the state's "best weapon" against a "dire" spread of COVID-19.

He said the state now has 20 counties considered "red" under the state's coronavirus alert system — double what it was when the color-coded alerts were introduced last ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein will not pursue leadership of the high-profile Senate Judiciary Committee or any other committee next year, taking a dramatic step back following pressure from progressives who questioned her willingness to use tough, partisan politics to confirm Biden administration Supreme Court picks and other judicial ...Read more

Although health officials and agencies have urged Americans to limit Thanksgiving gatherings to household members only, one in three parents say the benefits of holiday celebrations outweigh the risks of spreading or getting the coronavirus, one poll found.

University of Michigan researchers behind the survey said families should consider safer...Read more

Could anyone have doubted that Donald Trump would go out like this?

Having lost the election decisively — by 74 votes in the Electoral College, and by 6 million and counting overall — he has availed himself of every imaginable scheme to undermine the vote's legitimacy and obscure what was plainly a fair and square victory for his opponent, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration yielded to the reality Monday that the presidential election will not be overturned, finally authorizing the start of formal transition proceedings as President-elect Joe Biden moved to make good his vow to appoint a historically diverse Cabinet.

Soon after Michigan certified its vote for Biden, a major ...Read more

SEATTLE — Customs and Border Protection officials have never fully explained what happened on a January weekend when hundreds of people born in Iran were held for as long as nine hours at the Blaine border.

An apparent memo leaked later that month appeared to show Seattle Field Office leadership directed officers to send individuals born in ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom and his family are under quarantine after learning that three of his children were exposed to a California Highway Patrol officer who tested positive for the coronavirus, the governor's office said late Sunday.

The governor's office said Newsom and his family learned about the potential exposure Friday evening and were tested ...Read more

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Jamarion Delancy was blind, developmentally disabled and needed braces to walk. Last week, the 5-year-old boy was beaten to death while his mother was away giving birth to her third child.

Detectives were so shaken by the crime that they've taken the unusual step to raise money for his funeral.

The St. Louis County ...Read more

NEW YORK — Days ahead of the holiday season, Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned New Yorkers about the ongoing dangers of COVID-19 on Monday as the state continues to battle rising coronavirus test rates and hospitalizations.

Warning against a return to the dark days of the pandemic, Cuomo proclaimed fast-rising rates in upper Manhattan and especially ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden will nominate former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen for Treasury secretary.

Yellen was the first woman to run the Fed and, if confirmed by the Senate, would make history as the first woman to run the Treasury Department. The Biden transition team did not respond to a request for comment, but The...Read more

BEIJING — The biggest emitter of planet-warming pollution managed to take almost the whole world by surprise. In a September speech to the United Nations, Chinese President Xi Jinping put a 2060 end date on his country's contribution to global warming. No other nation can do more to keep warming below the 1.5C threshold set in the Paris ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Last spring was the busiest season Michael K. Donohue can remember for his family's six funeral homes in the Philadelphia suburbs. COVID-19 was the primary reason, of course, with 160 funerals in April alone — double the usual number.

But this fall, even as the daily totals of new infections have surged past where they were ...Read more

Duke University is sometimes referred to as a pretty good knock-off of fancier schools farther north. But while those ivy-clad universities with smart students, prestigious medical schools and big endowments stayed closed this fall, Duke invited its freshmen, sophomores, some upperclassmen and all of its graduate students to its Durham, North ...Read more

Far fewer people are riding buses and trains during the COVID-19 pandemic, but in this month's election voters still approved more than a dozen proposals to increase spending on public transit.

From California to Virginia, voters supported sales or property tax hikes and bond issues to pay for maintenance, improvements or expansion of mass ...Read more