LOS ANGELES — With coronavirus cases spreading rapidly throughout the nation, reports of infections among those who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 are increasingly drawing attention.

But while these “breakthrough” cases are sometimes highlighted as a precautionary tale — a signal of the shots’ shortcomings — the reality is that ...Read more

FORTH WORTH, Texas — At a packed Fort Worth school board meeting in mid-June, 48 speakers walked to the front of the auditorium and argued against what they called “critical race theory,” which included the school district’s racial equity work.

Of those 48 speakers, nearly a quarter invoked a powerful persuasive tool: God.

As the ...Read more

BUDAPEST, Hungary — It started with a book of kid’s fairytales, and is culminating in a defining test of a nation’s democracy and even its future in the European Union.

Hungary’s weaponization of gay rights has led to a showdown rarely seen between the bloc and a member state. Brussels is threatening action over an LGBTQ law that could...Read more

SAN DIEGO — An appeals court Friday ruled that state leaders violated the rights of parents by forcing private schools to stay closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However the 9th Circuit appeals court essentially upheld the state's decision to keep public schools closed to in-person instruction during the pandemic.

The appeals court ruling ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — San Diego Customs and Border Protection officers are canceling appointments meant to allow particularly vulnerable asylum seekers into the United States while pandemic border policies continue to limit who can enter the country.

For some migrants who were initially scheduled to enter the United States this week, the last-minute ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County reported 3,058 new coronavirus cases Friday, as a troubling surge of the delta variant continued to worsen and officials urged people to take precautions.

New infections have exceeded 2,500 each of the past three days, levels the county has not seen since the winter surge in February. Officials said Friday the...Read more

CHICAGO — Federal prosecutors filed a motion late Friday seeking to admit evidence of uncharged crimes at singer R. Kelly’s upcoming trial in New York, including new allegations of abuse involving at least 10 girls dating back to 1991 in Chicago.

Kelly, 54, is scheduled to go on trial in Brooklyn Aug. 9 on racketeering charges alleging he ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A young Republican political operative who is also the subject of a public corruption investigation into former Republican state Sen. Frank Artiles made an offer to a recent college graduate last September: He would pay her $1,500 to chair a political committee and in exchange, she would have to do nothing.

At the time, 25...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Attorneys for Norhan Askar, the woman who was with Winston Smith in his car when he was killed by federal task force officers in June, have sued Hennepin and Ramsey counties, their sheriff's departments, and the two officers who fired the shots into Smith's car.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Hennepin County District Court, claims...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The state has given the University of California, San Diego $35 million to build a coastal research vessel that will focus on such pressing topics as sea-level rise, the health of marine fisheries, ocean acidification, El Nino and the atmospheric rivers that periodically bring damaging storms to California.

The university's ...Read more

The Justice Department moved in recent days to drop charges against four researchers at California universities accused of hiding their ties to the Chinese military, a blow to U.S. efforts to battle Beijing’s efforts to steal U.S. national security and business secrets.

On Thursday, federal prosecutors in Sacramento, California, asked a judge...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — An investigation is underway into how Texas firefighter Elijah Snow died Monday while vacationing in Cancun, according to Mexican authorities.

On Twitter, Mexican authorities said an “investigation folder” has been started in the death of a man from Texas in the municipality of Benito Juárez in the Mexican state of ...Read more

DETROIT — A federal judge in Detroit cannot punish Lin Wood because the election conspiracy-peddling attorney has never practiced in her jurisdiction and technically did not meet the dictionary definition of "broadcast" when he shared a video of a recent court hearing in a way that would violate local rules, Wood's attorney wrote in a filing ...Read more

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — More than 80 people sat in the middle section of the Sandler Center’s theater to recognize four officers for their involvement in responding to the mass shooting two years ago in Virginia Beach.

For the first time since the shooting, city and state officials publicly recognized sergeants Peter Koepp and Mark Laino, ...Read more

CHICAGO — In the second day of his Chicago visit, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland met with top law enforcement officials Friday morning to discuss how they’re going to use a new team of federal agents and local police to curb gun trafficking in a city where gun violence has persisted.

“I’m not here from Washington to tell you what...Read more