SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For much of this year, progressive lawmakers, labor unions and advocacy groups have pushed Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature to shore up the state’s healthcare system against federal cuts by taxing corporations more.

After all, proponents argued, Republicans in Washington, D.C. cut into healthcare ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — And so it begins. The National Hurricane Center began tracking this week the first system with a chance to form into the season’s initial tropical depression or storm in the Atlantic basin.

By Thursday, chances remained slim for it to form, though. The NHC’s 8 a.m. tropical outlook states a broad area of low pressure is ...Read more

President Donald Trump said the U.S. would strike Iran again Thursday and sought to crank up pressure on the Islamic Republic to reach a deal by threatening to take control of key energy infrastructure in the country.

“The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump said he will continue bombing Iran if it refuses to agree to an interim peace deal, following a second night of clashes between the countries’ forces.

Trump ordered multiple strikes as his frustration over the lack of progress in talks grows. He told Fox News the U.S. would attack on Thursday unless the Islamic ...Read more

Elizabeth Bonker is a silent woman with a loud mission. She wants government agencies to cover the costs of training people with autism in a form of communication called assisted spelling. One problem: Leading professional organizations don't believe it works.

"All nonspeakers above the age of 5 should be given the opportunity," typed Bonker, ...Read more

Carrie Frail was in the process of leaving an abusive relationship when she discovered she was pregnant. Her partner told her he could hit her in the stomach until she had a miscarriage, and it would save some money.

“I firmly believe he would have killed me at some point, whether accidentally or intentionally,” Frail said.

She had a ...Read more

SANTA ROSA ISLAND, Calif. — Just steps above a white sand beach with calm, turquoise waves, the effects of the largest fire in Channel Islands National Park history are particularly stark: Fields of island grasses and chaparral have been reduced to ash, the earth singed to black. Hillsides are colored a rusty red from desperate retardant drops...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas is five months away from its November general election, and Republicans are fighting to keep control in Texas.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn — on the campaign trail in the primary battle of his life — warned that down-ballot GOP seats could be at risk if his Republican opponent Attorney General Ken Paxton were the ...Read more

About a year ago at Erlanger Baroness, the largest hospital in Chattanooga, anesthesia staff noticed that a nurse was slurring his words and struggling to stay awake while on duty in the surgery center, according to a Tennessee Board of Nursing consent order.

In the days that followed, the nurse failed a drug test and was fired, the order ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he would not reauthorize the United States’ trade deal with Canada and Mexico, setting the stage for months or years of negotiations over provisions governing automobiles and other key industries.

The countries are facing a July 1 milestone to extend the pact, which Trump negotiated during his first...Read more

NEW YORK — Brooklyn serial killer Harvey Marcelin won’t get a chance to slay a fourth woman, after a judge sentenced the 88-year-old murderer to life without parole Wednesday.

A jury found Marcelin guilty last month of first-degree murder for beating a Brooklyn woman to death, dismembering her with a saw and then ditching her remains in and...Read more

Following a six-month investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday that it had determined that the UC Davis School of Medicine discriminated based on race in its admissions process. The school disagreed with the findings about its “rigorous, individualized, and merit-based” admissions process and said it remains committed to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military said it had launched strikes against “multiple” targets in Iran for the second day in a row after President Donald Trump accused the country of dragging out talks on an interim peace deal.

U.S. Central Command said it began what it called the “additional self-defense strikes” at 5:15 p.m. New York time ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Behind closed doors on Wednesday, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told lawmakers that his relationship with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was one based in strategic networking and the promise of philanthropy.

U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, and fellow Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee, said ...Read more

DETROIT — Michigan State University Trustee Rema Vassar is threatening to sue the university for years of alleged discrimination she's faced as a board member and as its former chairperson, according to a "pre-litigation demand" document released to The Detroit News through a public records request.

Vassar, through her attorney Martin ...Read more

The Wall Street Journal asked a judge to dismiss President Donald Trump’s revised $10 billion defamation lawsuit over an article on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, arguing that the new complaint isn’t an improvement on the original version that was tossed out.

Trump’s revised lawsuit still fails to explain how the article — about a “...Read more