LOS ANGELES — More than 300 signatures in a petition to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon last year belonged to dead people, according to the county’s Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office.

Now the agency has called on the California attorney general to investigate the possibility of fraud in the failed attempt ...Read more

Ling Ma, Morgan Talty, Boris Dralyuk and Isaac Butler are among the winners of the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Awards announced during a ceremony Thursday night at the New School in New York City.

Ma earned the prize in fiction for "Bliss Montage: Stories," her debut story collection, filled with offbeat stories that nod to her knack for ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina school fired back after a civil rights group blasted its short hair rule as “discriminatory.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina in a letter warned Classical Charter Schools of Leland that it may have violated the law when it told a Native American boy to cut his hair.

“Logan’s hair ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A trio of bills aimed at curbing gun violence received the endorsement of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, a giant victory for supporters of gun safety measures who have seen similar proposals languish for years under Republican control of the Senate.

The sponsor of the bills, Senate Judiciary Chair Ron Latz, DFL-St. ...Read more

Minnesota could become a refuge for transgender people from other states seeking health care that affirms their gender identity, under a bill scheduled for debate Thursday in the state House.

The proposal, which was on the agenda for a session stretching late into the evening, would protect transgender people, their families and medical ...Read more

PARIS — French unions held more strikes against French President Emmanuel Macron’s reform of the country’s pension system on Thursday, a day after he went on television to insist he won’t back down and likened protesters to the rebels who stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Ground transportation, flights and refineries were impacted as anger over...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Senate Ethics Committee has admonished Sen. Lindsey Graham for soliciting campaign contributions for Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker from a Senate office building.

During a Fox News interview in the Russell Building on Nov. 30, ahead of the Georgia Senate runoff election, the South Carolina Republican senator was ...Read more

After Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, native Riley Williams was charged for her role in the Jan. 6 attacks, her lawyers downplayed her actions by saying she went to Washington with nothing but a “cellphone and her fuzzy zebra bag.”

On Thursday, the 23-year-old was sentenced to three years behind bars.

Williams made headlines after federal ...Read more

A measure that would allow multiple occupancy public restrooms to be labeled gender-neutral was passed by the Illinois House on Thursday with the bare minimum of votes.

The bill, which now moves to the Senate, would amend the Equitable Restroom Act of 2019, which required all single-occupancy public restrooms to be available to all genders. The...Read more

BALTIMORE — One man died and five others were injured, including a 15-year-old boy, in a shooting early Thursday morning in West Baltimore’s Mosher neighborhood, police said.

Western District patrol officers responded to the 2800 block of Edmondson Avenue for a ShotSpotter alert shortly after midnight.

Once there, officers located five men...Read more

NEW YORK — A frenzied week that began with Donald Trump’s bad bet he’d wind up in handcuffs is set to end with an indictment against the former president still up in the air.

The grand jury that has been hearing evidence against Trump’s hush money deal with porn star Stormy Daniels since January will not convene again until Monday, a ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump urged a federal appeals court to disregard the Justice Department’s decision to reject his claim of absolute immunity against civil lawsuits seeking to hold the former president responsible for the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack.

In a brief filed Thursday, Trump’s lawyers wrote that the government’s position — ...Read more

NEW YORK — The New York state grand jury weighing criminal charges against Donald Trump over alleged hush money payments is expected to hear at least one witness on Thursday, although it isn’t yet clear on which case.

The grand jury’s Wednesday session was canceled after prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office ...Read more

WASHINGTON — House Republicans came up short in their effort to override the first veto of President Joe Biden’s presidency, meaning Labor Department regulations permitting consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in investing will stand.

The vote, 219-200, on the veto override came after a brief debate, with it ...Read more

WASHINGTON — House Republicans hammered Secretary of State Antony Blinken Thursday over the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, threatening to subpoena a letter that highlighted internal dissent over the episode.

Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the rushed exit from Afghanistan in 2021 a “...Read more

NEW YORK — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has a message for Republican lawmakers conducting a Congressional probe into his investigation of former President Donald Trump: Back off.

If criminal charges are brought against Trump in Manhattan, it’ll be because “the rule of law and faithful execution” of the DA’s duty to uphold ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A group of South Carolina Republican lawmakers are looking to join a handful of other states that have passed restrictions on certain medical care for transgender children.

A Republican-led Senate panel on Thursday held the first of what is slated to be a much longer two-part public hearing next Wednesday, gathering testimony...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s top accountant Richard Eckstrom says he will resign effective April 30 after disclosing to state lawmakers that he inflated the state’s cash balances for a decade, eventually reaching about $3.5 billion.

In a Thursday resignation letter to Gov. Henry McMaster, the comptroller general reiterated his ...Read more

DENVER — Denver’s school board voted unanimously Thursday to allow armed police back into the city’s high schools, a decision that comes a day after two administrators were shot at East High School and nearly three years after the board decided to remove officers from buildings.

The Board of Education suspended its policy barring school ...Read more