As Donald Trump’s second inauguration fast approaches, concerns he threatens American democracy are rising yet again. Some warnings have cited Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric, willingness to undermine or malign institutions meant to constrain any president, and a combative style that strives to stretch executive power as far as possible....Read more

A blast of extreme cold is poised to descend on the central U.S. this weekend before spreading to New York and the rest of the East Coast, testing power grids and threatening to break temperature records.

Frigid conditions will sweep the Midwest and South, including Texas, starting on Saturday and then shift east early next week. The low in ...Read more

DENVER — An October elevator malfunction in a Colorado gold mine that killed a tour guide and stranded nearly two dozen people underground for hours was caused by “operator error,” Teller County sheriff’s officials said Wednesday.

The elevator breakdown, which happened while it was lowering 11 people into the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A Senate panel voted Thursday to approve a resolution in support of the “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy, after a two-hour hearing about the border enforcement approach implemented in first Trump administration.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-6 along party lines to approve the ...Read more

SEATTLE — This week, mother orca Tahlequah may have surpassed her 2018 tour of grief, when she carried her dead calf for 17 days and more than 1,000 miles.

Tahlequah was last seen still carrying her latest calf — dead since at least New Year’s Eve — on Jan. 10 off San Juan Island. That evening the southern resident family, part of J pod...Read more

NEW YORK — Gov. Hochul’s plan to put police on every overnight subway train starts next week, she told reporters Thursday.

The plan, which Hochul first announced in her State of the State address earlier this week, is meant to bolster the visibility of law enforcement officers on city mass transit for the next six months

“People want to ...Read more

NEW YORK — Rudy Giuliani reached a tentative settlement agreement with the Georgia election workers he defamed on Thursday, walking away in a stunning turn of event with all of his belongings as he was thought to be on the cusp of total financial ruin.

A filing posted to the docket hours after Giuliani was due to appear in Manhattan federal ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Republicans and Democrats sparred over whether to increase funding for affordable housing or use existing funding better as they pushed Eric Scott Turner, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to take a side.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in her debut as the top ...Read more

A blast of extreme cold is poised to descend on the central U.S. this weekend before spreading to New York and the rest of the East Coast, testing power grids and threatening to break temperature records.

Frigid conditions will sweep the Midwest and South, including Texas, starting on Saturday and then shift east early next week. The low in ...Read more

CHICAGO — Lawyers for former House Speaker Michael Madigan formally rested their case before the jury on Thursday after calling 12 witnesses, most notably Madigan himself.

And prosecutors also rested after a short rebuttal case. With that, the evidence phase of the trial – which began back in October – has concluded.

Jurors were released...Read more

Since 1983, when President Ronald Reagan signed Martin Luther King Jr. Day into law, many Americans have observed the federal holiday to commemorate the life and legacy of the civil rights leader, Baptist minister and theologian.

MLK Day volunteers typically perform community service that continues King’s fight to end racial ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Unable to sleep around 2 a.m. last Wednesday, Sean St. John got out of bed and drove from his Pasadena home to check on his Altadena pizzeria, Pizza of Venice. He'd just been at the restaurant around 9 p.m., when the Eaton Canyon flames were visible on the mountain but still seemed a fair distance away.

"I hike these ...Read more

NEW YORK — Amid mounting legal bills, Mayor Eric Adams’ defense trust is nearly $1 million in the red after raising just over $2,000 in the latest reporting period — most of it from a convicted businessman pardoned by former President Donald Trump during his first White House term, a new filing reveals.

The trust, which Adams uses to ...Read more

Southwest Airlines removed a pilot from duty after he was extracted from the cockpit of a Chicago-bound plane and arrested for DUI in Georgia.

“The Employee involved in the situation on Flight 3772 Wednesday morning from Savannah has been removed from duty,” the airline said in a statement emphasizing passenger safety. “Customers were ...Read more

Cuban authorities on Thursday released prominent opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer, who had been in prison since 2021, as part of a deal cut with the Biden administration and the Vatican.

Cuban activist Rosa María Payá confirmed his release to the Miami Herald. Payá said she spoke to Ferrer at his home in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba’s ...Read more

ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp is determined to pass a measure to limit lawsuits and curb giant jury verdicts this year, even if it takes dragging Georgia lawmakers back to Atlanta for a special legislative session.

Kemp delivered that warning in unambiguous terms Thursday to hundreds of lawmakers during his annual State of the State address, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody will become the second woman to represent the Sunshine State in the Senate, after Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he would appoint her to succeed Republican Marco Rubio, who is expected to be confirmed as secretary of State.

“I will bring the same persistence and passion and tenacity as a ...Read more

ATLANTA — Outgoing U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan, whose tenure is defined by the high-profile federal investigations into Georgia’s prisons and the Fulton County Jail, is stepping down from the state’s most prominent federal law post on Sunday — a day before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.

And while Buchanan won’t ...Read more