KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The Kansas City neighborhood association with a road named after César E. Chávez running through it weighed in Friday on the revelations surrounding the civil rights leader.

A New York Times investigation reported that César E. Chávez, the late United Farm Workers union leader who became a national icon for workers and...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Legislation passed by the General Assembly this year seeks to ban the sale and production of assault weapons and to prohibit carrying them in public. The bans are part of a suite of gun regulations the legislature sent to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk this year.

Virginia last passed sweeping gun reforms in 2020 when ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s decision to curtail the activities of reporters at the Pentagon, which led to the departure of most news organizations from the building, was blocked on Friday by a federal judge in Washington.

The court ruled in favor of a lawsuit brought by The New York Times, which accused the administration of ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The city of Sacramento wrapped black plastic around Cesar Chavez’s statue Friday in the downtown plaza named for him, following a nationwide reckoning over allegations of sexual abuse by the labor leader.

Chavez is accused of molesting or raping young girls and civil rights hero Dolores Huerta, according to a New York ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is closing in on its pick to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the nation’s top public health agency grapples with a barrage of attacks and leadership changes in the past year.

Ernie Fletcher, a family physician and former governor of Kentucky, and Joseph Marine, a ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Sen. Alex Padilla has promised to rework legislation that proposed the creation of a multi-state national park honoring Cesar Chavez, the civil rights icon whose legacy has been tarnished after numerous allegations of sexual abuse surfaced earlier this week.

Padilla’s vow adds to the growing list of leaders, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After several days of protests outside its controversial pop-up in L.A.'s Silver Lake neighborhood, the restaurant Noma responded to a demand letter from workers' rights activists who have led a campaign that resurfaced past abuse allegations and culminated in last week's loss of event sponsors and the abrupt "stepping away" of ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday proposed its framework for a national artificial intelligence policy, pushing for broad preemption of state AI laws and against “open-ended liability” for AI firms.

The proposal urges Congress to take some steps to protect kids, energy costs and copyright holders, while also requesting streamlined ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The five-day heat wave that broke records across California and the West this week is winding down, with temperatures in the Bay Area forecast to fall from the 90s to the 70s in many places over the weekend.

But the effect of the overall hot, dry month of March is likely to be felt all summer, experts say, through increased...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As part of an ICE operation, plainclothes agents on Thursday pulled an accused MS-13 shot-caller out of a downtown federal courtroom, catching attorneys and the judge off guard, and casting uncertainty over the fate of his pending criminal trial.

Mark Sedlander, a defense attorney, said the agents, and at least one deputy U.S. ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky House of Representatives on Friday voted to impeach a Fayette County judge after a committee issued articles of impeachment against her earlier this week.

In a 73-to-14 vote Friday, the House approved the articles of impeachment against Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Muth Goodman, sending the matter to the Senate ...Read more

U.S. officials said the White House is sending more than 2,000 additional Marines to the Middle East as it weighs a plan to seize Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub, a ground operation that would carry huge risks for President Donald Trump.

At the same time, Trump floated the idea late Friday that the war could end quickly — even as he had ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Anti-immigration bills in the Idaho Statehouse are crashing up against political reality, frustrating some proponents.

The lawmakers behind the slate of proposals say the issue is popular among Idahoans — but they’ve acknowledged a string of setbacks.

Rep. Dale Hawkins, a Republican who brought several of the immigration ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The Maryland Senate passed a bill unanimously Friday that would require every local board of education to implement a policy significantly restricting student use of personal cellphones, laptops, smart watches and other devices, and a ban on student social media use during the school day by the 2027-28 school year. The bill, which ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A tidal wave of presidential words does not policy make.

That was the lesson this past week at the White House, the Capitol and on board Air Force Once, where President Donald Trump got out 35,615 words publicly between Sunday and Thursday, according to CQ Roll Call’s Factba.se. His remarks generated dramatic headlines, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States is considering "winding down" hostilities in the Middle East as the Pentagon is sending thousands of California-based Marines to the region and has requested billions in new funding for the Iran war.

"We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senators are sticking around Washington this weekend after a busy week on the Hill highlighted partisan divides, intraparty friction and growing tension between the two chambers. One thing is clear — everyone is ready for spring break.

The Senate has largely been wrapped up in an extended debate on the GOP’s marquee voter ID ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Monday over what the phrase “Election Day” means and whether states can accept ballots in federal elections that arrive after that date.

Republicans challenged a Mississippi state law, passed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, that allows officials to count ballots that arrive up to five ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge this week declined a request by county attorneys to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the mother of 29-year-old Abdul Kamara, who died March 4, 2024, hours after being placed in a restraint device at the Vista jail.

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez ruled that the lawsuit, filed last year by Fredrika Nabbie, provides ...Read more