WATSONVILLE, Calif. — The school buses arrived in quick succession, looping past the entrance of the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds and a parking lot packed with cars before stopping near Harvest Building, a low-slung yellow structure usually used for fundraisers.

Araceli Telles stood waiting near the gate for her daughters to arrive at the ...Read more

NEW YORK — Jesus O. was a skilled HVAC technician and business owner in Venezuela who thought his skills would easily secure him work when he came to New York last October amid a flood of migrants flowing into New York.

But now, each day, he wanders the streets looking for work.

“I have the experience. And I have the ability,” he said. ...Read more

Despite Missouri’s sweeping abortion ban, some Republicans are still attacking Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid reimbursements.

Multiple bills attempt to block funding to abortion-affiliated facilities, like Planned Parenthood, from different avenues.

One would prohibit Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements and another ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has united deeply divided lawmakers toward a singular goal: raising money off the news.

Members of Congress and presidential candidates have sent dozens of emails hitting up recipients for money and asking them to sign petitions since the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over the troubled ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Five weeks after Sen. John Fetterman's hospitalization for clinical depression, his staff says the stay is coming to an end soon, though no certain timeline was offered for his return.

"John will be out soon," spokesperson Joe Calvello said. "Over a week but soon. Recovery is going really well. We have an amazing team at Walter...Read more

A growing number of governments are banning TikTok from official phones, as concerns grow over security threats posed by the Chinese-owned social media platform.

On Thursday, TikTok Chief Executive Shou Chew faced hostile questioning during a hearing with U.S. lawmakers — who repeatedly cut off his attempts to answer. U.S. officials are ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department is launching a new effort to win back retired CPD officers and hire sworn officers serving other law enforcement agencies.

The two programs seek to bolster the police force’s ranks by allowing retired Chicago officers and officers from outside the city to get salary credit for their experience and ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho could begin executing death row inmates by firing squad as early as this summer after Gov. Brad Little joined a wave of Republican support to use the method when lethal injection drugs are unavailable.

Little signed House Bill 186 on Friday, tasking the Idaho Department of Correction with creating policies to implement ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A tentative agreement has been reached to end the protracted contract dispute that shut down Los Angeles public schools for three days, officials announced Friday afternoon.

The tentative pact, reached after mediation with Mayor Karen Bass, could, if approved by union members, prevent campuses from being closed again to 420,000 ...Read more

The U.S. military carried out airstrikes in Syria after an American contractor was killed when an alleged Iranian-made drone crashed into a coalition base, sharpening already-fraught tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The U.S. said Friday that Iranian-backed groups later fired 10 rockets at a different coalition base in retaliation. ...Read more

NEW YORK — A top lawyer for former President Donald Trump on Friday testified about the classified documents he stashed at his Mar-a-Lago resort in a major legal breakthrough for prosecutors.

Attorney Evan Corcoran may have been forced to reveal what Trump told him about the scores of sensitive government documents he kept in defiance of a ...Read more

Donald Trump warned there could be violence if he’s indicted in New York in an escalation of verbal attacks on prosecutors as a Manhattan grand jury is expected next week to resume its investigation of him for potential crimes.

In a post after midnight on Friday on his Truth Social platform, Trump asked how a former president could be charged...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After years of extreme drought and dismal snowpack, California has had a remarkably wet winter and is now veering into record-setting territory for snowfall.

As of Friday, the snowpack in the southern Sierra was at 286% of normal — the highest figure ever, easily eclipsing the region’s benchmark of 263% set in 1969.

In a ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said he was confident U.S. regional banks were in good shape and didn’t foresee any major crises on the horizon, downplaying Wall Street angst and lingering fears of broader financial turmoil.

“I think we’ve done a pretty damn good job. People’s savings are secure,” Biden said during a news ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Xcel Energy started shutting down its Monticello nuclear power plant Friday after the company's repair of a leaking pipe did not fully do the job — causing more radioactive water to seep into the ground.

Xcel officials said they plan to do a full analysis of why the pipe sprang a leak once the utility completes the shutdown, ...Read more

NEW YORK — White powder was discovered at the Manhattan district attorney’s office Friday in an envelope marked “Alvin” with a return address for “Donald Trump,” law enforcement sources told the Daily News.

The unknown substance — which was determined to be a bogus threat — was discovered in the DA’s mail room at 80 Centre St....Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A bill that would let people carry concealed firearms without a permit and without training passed out of the House on Friday, putting the bill just a step away from the governor’s desk.

The legislation lets people who are otherwise qualified to purchase and carry a firearm avoid the permitting process to conceal carry ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed gun rights legislation Friday that would repeal the state’s permit requirement for buying handguns, which Republicans argue is outdated and an unnecessary infringement on Second Amendment rights, but which most Democrats vehemently oppose ending.

The bill Cooper blocked passed the GOP-...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Antisemitic incidents involving harassment, vandalism and assaults surged in Southern California and the rest of the state in 2022, according to a new report by the Anti-Defamation League.

The Jewish civil rights organization counted 237 antisemitic incidents reported in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Kern counties, ...Read more