OAKLAND, Calif. — Federal prosecutors’ star witness took the stand Friday in the sweeping corruption trial of ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, describing years of illicit payoffs by the city’s recycling contractor to Oakland city councilmembers, and how that habit culminated in a sprawling bribery scheme at the core of the federal government�...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Operation Metro Surge continues to scare crime victims from attending court, according to a new report by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, forcing prosecutors to dismiss some cases and allowing some defendants to evade accountability.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s office publicized the report Thursday after ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A federal appeals court for the second time Friday denied a Trump administration request to block 20,000 ballots from California voters the administration alleges may be noncitizens — ruling that the administration had failed to show that “such extraordinary relief, during an ongoing election, is clearly required by law.”

...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is actively working to secure a grand jury indictment against former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly directing the sharing of secret national defense information, a federal prosecutor said in court Friday.

“We are still going to the grand jury very diligently,” Special Assistant U.S. Attorney ...Read more

CHICAGO — As Chicago’s 50 aldermen scramble to balance the city’s budget, they will have one new cost to pay for: raises they gave themselves.

Every member of the City Council elected to take the 2027 pay bump, according to budget documents. Meanwhile, Mayor Brandon Johnson decided to forgo it.

The widespread move to not opt out of the ...Read more

National Guard soldiers are helping monitor ballot boxes in seven Washington counties amid heightened tensions over voting, including incidents targeting ballot boxes and election workers.

The unarmed soldiers, dressed in plainclothes, are intended to maintain an unobtrusive presence. Still, their deployment underscores the increased security ...Read more

Less than a week before Election Day, The New York Times reported that people with links to Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola’s U.S. Senate campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had recruited a candidate to the race whose name is nearly identical to that of the incumbent Republican senator, Dan Sullivan, whom Peltola was ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Four people have been charged in federal Medicaid fraud cases involving tens of millions of dollars in allegedly fraudulent claims for services intended to help Minnesotans with disabilities.

The cases were highlighted Friday as five senior Trump administration officials gathered in St. Cloud to tout the White House’s efforts ...Read more

MIAMI — For Cubans looking for a way to reach the United States, the offers appeared on social media: help arranging flights, obtaining travel authorizations and filing immigration paperwork. Photos of travelers at airports and messages celebrating arrivals in South Florida helped advertise the services.

Six participants in the network behind...Read more

Big Oil reaped more than $50 billion in windfall profits as conflicts in the Persian Gulf and Russia roiled energy markets and drove refining results to record highs.

ExxonMobil Holdings Corp., Chevron Corp., BP Plc, Shell Plc and TotalEnergies SE all surpassed analysts’ expectations with combined adjusted net income of $56.3 billion in the ...Read more

LONG BEACH, Calif. — For the first sea turtle eggs ever laid on California beaches, hatching day — hopefully — draws near.

At the Aquarium of the Pacific, 204 olive ridley eggs lay packed between layers of sand in the same styrofoam coolers scientists used to transport them to the Long Beach facility in late September — just days before...Read more

SAN DIEGO — A man is facing federal charges in San Diego for allegedly designing and building a sophisticated cross-border tunnel found in Otay Mesa for the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel, U.S. officials said.

On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted Luis Manuel Hernández, 60, on charges of providing material support to a foreign ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The firefighting helicopter that crashed in Yosemite National Park last month had problems with its water bucket during an earlier flight, according to a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report. The report did not determine the cause of the Sept. 20 crash, which killed pilots Greg King and Ryan Cutter as they ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — By the middle of 2000, Jimmy Eat World was adrift. Capitol Records had dropped them from the label after a pair of albums. The band had left its management. They were on their own.

Then, in October 2000, the alternative rock band from Mesa, Arizona, entered Cherokee Studios in Hollywood to try something new, drummer Zach ...Read more

For some, it’s a solution to ensure reliable water for millions of Californians while protecting fish and the environment. For others, it’s a travesty that will deprive the state’s rivers of vital water and push its declining native fish closer to extinction.

A controversial plan that dramatically changes how the state governs the pumping...Read more

Lawyers for the federal government told the Supreme Court in a brief this week that former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s corruption conviction was on solid ground, saying he was “not a low-level or novice official” and noting he testified himself that it was illegal to exchange benefits for official action.

Madigan, who turns ...Read more

The highest tides of the year so far are causing problems along the California coast, producing coastal flooding advisories and warnings from Los Angeles to Eureka to this week. And it’s not just normal tidal action that is to blame.

For starters, the king tides are the strongest tides of the year, occurring during new and full moons in the ...Read more