WASHINGTON — About 1.4 million fewer people have signed up for Obamacare plans so far compared to last year as a federal tax credit expires and consumers confront significantly higher premiums.

While the dropoff is less severe than projections by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and others, experts warn more attrition is likely in...Read more

The damage from December's storms and flooding will cost between $40 million and $50 million, Washington transportation officials say.

The estimate, which has yet to be finalized, came Monday, on day one of the legislative session, minutes into the first House Transportation Committee meeting.

The legislators heard from John Himmel, the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Actor Kiefer Sutherland was arrested early Monday after police said he assaulted a ride-share driver in Hollywood.

Sutherland was arrested on suspicion of criminal threats after officers responded to reports of an assault on a driver in Hollywood in the early hours of Monday.

The “24” and “Stand by Me” actor, 59, was ...Read more

The federal spending bill passed by Congress last July known as the One Big Beautiful Bill is set to reshape Medicaid, which provides health coverage to more than 3 million North Carolinians.

State Health and Human Services officials told state lawmakers Tuesday that one of the most urgent questions is how to pay for the new work requirements ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Leonard Glenn Francis, the Malaysian contractor known as “Fat Leonard” at the center of the worst bribery and corruption scheme in U.S. Navy history, must serve the remainder of his 15-year prison sentence, according to an appeals court ruling that became official Monday.

The 61-year-old Francis, who pleaded guilty in San ...Read more

Roughly 80% of immigrant owned businesses along key corridors in Minneapolis and St. Paul have closed in the past week as employees and customers stay home in fear of ICE agents detaining them.

Both Latino Economic Development Center on the east side of St. Paul and the Lake Street Business Council both said businesses have lost at least half ...Read more

California lawmakers Tuesday moved forward a bill that would allow residents to sue federal officials in state courts for constitutional violations.

Although it was first proposed in November, the bill came up for a hearing amid nationwide protests following the shooting death of an unarmed motorist in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he would cut off federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities at the end of the month in the latest escalation over immigration policy with Democratic jurisdictions.

Trump said his administration had also given “90-day notices” to states like California who would bill the federal government to ...Read more

The Newsom administration said Friday that it does not plan to use state employee compensation costs as a means to shore up the state’s budget as it did last year when California faced a larger-than-expected deficit.

When asked what actions California might take in the event positive revenue projections don’t hold in the coming months, ...Read more

DENVER — A Denver County Court judge violated ethics rules when he paid a defendant’s $1 bail during an August court hearing, an investigation by the Denver Judicial Discipline Commission found.

Mayor Mike Johnston publicly censured Judge Barry Schwartz on Friday and ordered that the judge serve a one-week suspension without pay.

The judge...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — They rallied outside the state Capitol Monday yelling “Lower the rent!” They occupied the office of Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas for an hour later in the day, telling stories of rising prices.

And more supporters of a bill that would strengthen and expand a state rental protection law filed into the Capitol Tuesday ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — The state’s Division of Human Resources warned lawmakers and Gov. Brad Little that things weren’t looking good for state employee pay.

In a December memo, the division told leaders that state salaries were well behind the market, and that the turnover and vacancy rates for state jobs, including teachers, were higher than ...Read more

ALBANY, N.Y. — Ahead of a tough reelection fight, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled an agenda aimed at bridging the divides in the Democratic Party — moving to fight President Donald Trump and capture progressive excitement surrounding Mayor Zohran Mamdani, while also tending to anxiety among moderates about public safety and protests ...Read more

Pre-filed ahead of the 2026 legislative session by Del. Gary Simmons, an Anne Arundel County Democrat, House Bill 101 says broadcasters must “invite all candidates who are certified to the ballot in the general election” for statewide office. The bill, which will receive its first reading in the House’s Government, Labor and Elections ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court sounded ready Tuesday to uphold conservative state laws that forbid transgender athletes to compete on school sports teams for girls.

But the ruling may not directly affect California and the liberal-leaning states, at least for now.

Idaho, West Virginia and 25 other Republican-led states say a student’s ...Read more

CHICAGO — Chicago’s new plan to legalize video gambling terminals — finally passed last month as part of the 2026 budget after years of debate — is not a done deal as Mayor Brandon Johnson and key aldermen say negotiations must continue.

The ongoing discussions between Johnson’s administration and aldermen over the gambling terminals ...Read more

The Venezuela government has started releasing prisoners with U.S. citizenship, people with knowledge of the situation said.

The authorities on Tuesday released at least one U.S. citizen who already left the country, the people said, declining to identify the individual for security reasons.

The release marks the first known release of a U.S. ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A thousand new federal agents could soon be operating in Minnesota, joining what the Department of Homeland Security has already called the largest immigration enforcement operation in history.

The new forces come as President Donald Trump vowed “reckoning” and “retribution” against Minnesota in a social media post ...Read more