CHICAGO — Annette Prince peered between glossy downtown buildings: ”There’s a bird in that grate.”

Sure enough, sitting very still in the rain was a tiny white-throated sparrow, so drenched you could barely make out its canary-yellow face markings. The bird was too dazed to move — an easy target for the hungry seagulls that were ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California crime victims groups and state lawmakers are pushing for $200 million in ongoing funding amid fears of impending deep federal funding cuts for victims’ services.

Dozens of organizations across California including Sacramento’s WEAVE and Sacramento LGBT Community Center, Yolo County’s Empower Yolo and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — In a city of multimillion-dollar houses and celebrity estates, Cesar Augusto’s home stands apart.

The walls consist of discarded fencing and wood paneling repurposed by Augusto, a tarp serves as a roof, and the front yard is the industrial backdrop of a city’s flood channel.

Balanced on a thin slice of land between the 110 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- A monthly payment of $750 to $1,000 would allow thousands of the city's homeless people to find informal housing, living in boarding homes, in shared apartments and with family and friends, according to a policy brief by four prominent Los Angeles academics.

Citing positive preliminary results of pilot studies in several cities, ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Families of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities say Gov. Gavin Newsom is reneging on a scheduled raise for the workers who care for their loved ones, and advocates warn of potential lawsuits if disability services become harder to get.

Citing California’s budget deficit, the Democratic governor wants...Read more

Around half of the global population could need corrective lenses by 2050 — a health care burden that already costs Americans an estimated $7.2 billion annually. It’s because myopia, also known as nearsightedness, is at epidemic levels, according to Rochester Institute of Technology professor Andrew Herbert.

With May being Healthy Vision ...Read more

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — For many years, Rose Sims had no idea what was going on inside a nondescript brick building on Florida Street a couple of miles from her modest one-story home on the southwestern side of town.

Like other residents, she got an unwelcome surprise in October 2022 at a public forum held by the Environmental Protection Agency at ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Supporters of a Florida amendment that would protect abortion access have already passed several hurdles, including getting nearly one million petitions and a signoff from the state’s conservative Supreme Court.

But getting 60% of Florida voters to approve the amendment in November will likely still not be the last ...Read more

State Sen. Norm Needleman championed the 2021 legislation designed to lure major data centers to Connecticut.

The Democratic lawmaker hoped to better compete with nearby states, bring in a growing industry, and provide paychecks for workers tasked with building the sprawling server farms.

But this legislative session, he’s wondering if those...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Five people have been transported to hospitals after they were shot at an apartment complex in west Fort Worth on Wednesday night.

One patient reportedly was in critical condition, one in serious condition and three in good condition, according to MedStar.

Several of the injured were taken to Cook Children’s Medical ...Read more

Should Big Tech be taxed to pay for more California journalists?

A California lawmaker has introduced a bill that would levy a “data extraction mitigation fee” on companies such as Google and Meta in order to provide media outlets in the state with a tax credit meant to pay for more journalists.

Senate Bill 1327, by Sen. Steve Glazer, D-...Read more

Billionaires Howard Lutnick, John Paulson and Woody Johnson are among the wealthy donors hosting a Manhattan fundraiser for Donald Trump later this month as the presumptive Republican nominee looks to build his 2024 war chest while a criminal trial limits his campaigning.

Lutnick, the chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald, is heading up...Read more

A bill aimed at barring landlords from using algorithms to set rents died in the Colorado Senate on Wednesday after a group of moderate Democrats joined Republicans to reject a more forceful House version of the measure.

The crux of the disagreement was an adopted amendment that bill backers charged had been written by a software company ...Read more

The U.S. and Saudi Arabia are nearing a historic pact that would offer the kingdom security guarantees and lay out a possible pathway to diplomatic ties with Israel if its government brings the war in the Gaza Strip to an end, people familiar with the matter said.

The agreement faces plenty of obstacles but would amount to a new version of a ...Read more

NEW YORK — The pro-Gaza encampment at Columbia University that had exploded into a national phenomenon has been dismantled, leaving an unsettling quiet on campus Wednesday and questions about how the school can move forward.

NYPD cleared the tent city as part of an operation to stop the student occupation of Hamilton Hall. A total of 109 ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Some congressional Democrats said this week the Biden administration's move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug would not stop them from pressing for further changes.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., heralded the development in a statement, promising to continue work on legislation to permit banking...Read more

LAS VEGAS — The executor of OJ Simpson’s estate began probate proceedings on Wednesday afternoon.

Malcolm LaVergne, Simpson’s longtime Las Vegas attorney, filed a petition to name himself as special administrator of the estate, formally starting probate proceedings following Simpson’s death at his Las Vegas home in early April.

...Read more

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois House Democrats approved legislation Wednesday aimed at boosting turnout by party faithful in the Nov. 5 election by offering voters nonbinding advisory questions on securing in vitro fertilization, protecting election workers and targeting those earning $1 million a year or more with higher taxes to pay for property tax...Read more

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Angela Alsobrooks is testing how far money can go in a Senate race.

“Ask yourself: Would you spend $47 million trying to fight somebody who you didn’t think was a formidable candidate?” the Democrat asked supporters at a get-out-the-vote event last week at a bar here, referencing what she says her opponent, Rep. ...Read more