There is just about every shade of politics you can imagine represented by the people who run for president.

There is Vermin Supreme, the perennial candidate who wears a boot for a hat and wants to give everyone free ponies. Or 89-year-old Mike Gravel, a former senator from Alaska who allows two teens to run his antiwar candidacy. And there's ...Read more

The seizure of a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is the latest example of how tensions between the U.S. and Iran have spilled into one of the world's most strategic and vital waterways for oil. Since May, Iran has been accused of harassing and attacking oil tankers in the strait.

As the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Police officers in Los Angeles wrongly ticketed motorists on streets with expired speed limits, violating a law that bans the use of speed traps in California cities, according to a lawsuit filed this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The lawsuit, which is seeking class action status, says the Los Angeles Police ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- When Alex Villanueva appeared onstage in December to be sworn in as Los Angeles County sheriff, his son was standing nearby cheering him on.

Now, 33-year-old Johannes Jared Villanueva is working for the department as a deputy sheriff trainee, on track to graduate from the academy in November.

The son, an Army veteran, was hired ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Trump administration officials want the Supreme Court to help them hurry up and spend up to $2.5 billion to construct a barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border before Congress thwarts them with new spending legislation on Oct. 1.

The administration argues it needs a ruling from the Supreme Court by July 26 so it can spend money on ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA--The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, one of Pennsylvania's largest newspapers, will cut its print edition to three days as it grapples with declining advertising and digital threats, according to newsroom sources and widely published reports.

A Post-Gazette memo distributed to employees said the newspaper would be printed only for ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Robert S. Mueller III wanted to keep a low profile.

The former special counsel -- who famously avoided cameras for nearly two years when he led the Russia investigation -- made clear he did not want to testify to Congress beyond what he wrote in his 448-page report.

"It is important that the office's written work speak for itself...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump will push Pakistan's prime minister, Imran Khan, to pressure the Taliban into signing a permanent ceasefire in Afghanistan, an administration official said.

Trump will also demand that Pakistan's government free Shakil Afridi, a physician imprisoned after helping the U.S. government locate and kill Osama bin...Read more

ASPEN, Colo. -- The U.S. State Department is setting up a 13-person Venezuela unit that will be based in Colombia for now and deploy to Caracas once security allows, as the Trump administration continues to exert pressure on President Nicolas Maduro to step down.

The Venezuela Affairs Unit, based at the U.S. embassy in Bogota, will allow the ...Read more

BOGOTA, Colombia -- The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on four senior officials of Venezuela's military intelligence agency, DGCIM, following the death of a navy captain who was allegedly tortured to death.

The four were named as Division Gen. Rafael Ramon Blanco Marrero, Col. Hannover Esteban Guerrero Mijares, Major ...Read more

LONDON -- The British Foreign Office has confirmed that a second naval vessel has been seized in the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian authorities.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Friday he was "extremely concerned" by the incident, the latest in weeks of tensions centered on the key shipping lane in the gulf.

Earlier Thursday, Iran's ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A divided University of South Carolina board of trustees voted Friday to hire retired Army Gen. Robert Caslen as its next president.

After a rare contentious meeting, the school's board of trustees rejected protests from faculty, some students and several politicians in choosing Caslen, the former superintendent of the U.S. ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Thursday morning's riot was the second in two days at Pleasant Valley State Prison, where 142 inmates rioted at noon Wednesday, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The two riots, which were in different facilities at the prison, were unrelated, said Lt. Jose Benavides, a corrections ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- The San Ysidro High School valedictorian whose graduation speech went viral -- calling out a supposedly intoxicated teacher and absentee guidance counselor -- was celebrated by some for offering a frank moment of truth instead of a litany of platitudes.

But how true was it?

A U-T Watchdog request under the California Public ...Read more