NEW YORK — The New York City Democratic Socialists of America — a group closely aligned with Mayor Zohran Mamdani — issued a rebuke of his move to drive up the Police Department’s headcount despite his campaign trail pledge to keep NYPD numbers flat.

In rare public criticism of Mamdani, the group called on him to reverse that decision, ...Read more

A reported possible case of hantavirus in an inmate at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in California was determined to be a false positive after further laboratory testing, officials said Friday.

Authorities investigating a potential case of the rare-but-deadly disease initially sent a sample from an inmate to a commercial lab for ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A central element of President Donald Trump’s emerging Iran deal is a step-by-step approach that would see the Strait of Hormuz reopened followed by Tehran getting economic rewards each time it meets U.S. demands.

That sequencing, described to reporters by a senior U.S. official on Friday, formalizes a cautious approach ...Read more

Authorities have identified the suspect in a mass shooting Friday in Midland, Texas, as a man who was wanted by police after he fired shots at officers earlier in the week.

One victim was killed and at least 10 were injured in Friday’s active shooter incident, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The suspect, 45-year-old Victor...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. said an interim peace deal that reopens the Strait of Hormuz and ends Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions looks increasingly likely and could be signed within days, though conflicting messages between Washington and Tehran continued to cast doubt on that timeline.

A senior Trump administration official briefing reporters...Read more

The Washington National Opera has filed a federal breach-of-contract lawsuit in Washington claiming that the opera company is owed $17 millions in donations and endowment funds by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The complaint, which was filed Thursday, says the opera’s leaders are filing the suit “reluctantly” against ...Read more

“Top Gun: Maverick” and “Jumanji” actor James Handy’s grisly cause of death has been confirmed after he was fatally stabbed by his girlfriend’s son last week.

The New York native, 81, was attacked June 3 at the Los Angeles home of his girlfriend Wendy Gledhill and her 44-year-old son Michael. Handy was ultimately pronounced dead at ...Read more

David Hockney, the innovative and prolific British artist who arrived in Los Angeles in 1964, soon celebrating its sun-drenched life and landscapes in colorful, wildly popular paintings, died Thursday at his home in London. He was 88.

His death was confirmed in a statement by his publicist Erica Bolton.

Calling himself “an English Los ...Read more

NEW YORK — Columbia University is reinstating a SAT or ACT requirement for undergraduate admissions, college officials announced Friday — only a few years after the Morningside Heights school formally adopted a pandemic-era policy of dropping the tests.

It’s the latest elite university to do so as the political tides turn again on ...Read more

MIAMI — During the final minutes of the fifth day of George Pino’s vessel homicide and manslaughter trial, tension erupted between the Doral real estate broker and lead prosecutor Laura Adams.

There was also a confrontation between Pino, 55, and someone supporting the family of Luciana “Lucy” Fernandez, the 17-year-old girl who was ...Read more

An anonymous tip pertaining to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie sent a Mexican volunteer group looking for the missing Arizona woman‘s remains just south of the U.S. border.

The nonprofit organization Buscando Corazones de Nogales Sonora told local media that it received a call on Mother’s Day, pointing volunteers to an unmarked grave ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The Maryland State Board of Elections will continue working with printing company Taylor Print and Visual Impressions Inc. despite the vendor mailing the wrong party ballots last month and recently sending duplicate ballots.

State Election Administrator Jared DeMarinis said that because ballot-printing for the November election ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge on Friday declined to allow testimony that the defendant on trial for the Palisades fire had at one point burned a Bible and threatened to burn down his sister’s house, while warning the defense attorney “to tighten up your questioning.”

U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang said Jonathan Rinderknecht’s prior ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — When he pleaded guilty on Thursday, Vance Boelter revealed, sometimes in graphic detail, how he killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and shot state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

But it isn’t fully known why Boelter chose them and the other lawmakers whose homes he targeted that night.

Similarly, ...Read more

The 32-year-old son of slain filmmakers Rob and Michelle Reiner appears close to receiving inheritance money from his parents’ estate as he prepares his criminal defense.

Nick Reiner was to have received cash from a trust fund when he turned 30 in 2023, according to TMZ.

He’s charged with killing his parents in their southern California ...Read more

Officials are investigating a potential case of hantavirus, a rare but deadly disease that attacks the lungs, in an inmate at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in Marin County, California.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which manages the state’s prison system, “is waiting for more lab test results for an ...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Planned Parenthood affiliate is challenging Alaska’s ban on providing medication abortion via telehealth.

Alaska’s state constitution has been interpreted to provide sweeping protections for abortion access under its privacy clause. But a longstanding Alaska statute has been interpreted by the administration of Gov. ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The United States and Iran moved closer to an interim peace agreement meant to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and help end a war that has damaged the global economy and caused chaos in the Middle East, but conflicting messages from both sides have caused lingering uncertainty.

U.S. President Donald Trump canceled what he ...Read more

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. — Maria Williams was up as the sun rose early Friday morning, inspecting the damage at her family’s home in her blue scrubs. Broken wood and foam insulation scattered the front lawn, and a large tree torn out by its roots rested in the grass. The roof was in shambles.

“Four of my five kids have grown up in this house,�...Read more