JUNEAU — The Alaska Legislature is poised to adopt a balanced budget on the final day of the regular legislative session, sending Alaskans $1,200 in cash payments.

The House voted Tuesday evening to adopt a $12.8 billion spending plan to fund agency operations and state services. The Senate is expected to take up the vote on Wednesday.

The ...Read more

NEW YORK — After years of advocacy, New York lawmakers are changing the state’s primary school aid formula to drive much-needed resources to the city’s growing population of homeless students.

The revised formula, known as Foundation Aid, establishes a new weight for students who are homeless or in foster care, according to an education ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A federal judge on Wednesday denied a motion to delay an upcoming civil trial tied to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, keeping the case on track to begin June 1 in U.S. District Court.

“Staying the current course is the most efficient use of judicial resources,” Judge James Bredar said from the bench, rejecting a ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Gov. Abigail Spanberger took action Wednesday on the last bills before her, including vetoing some immigration protections and signing paid sick leave into law.

Spanberger vetoed legislation that would have prohibited federal immigration arrests at courthouses, schools, hospitals and polling places. In her veto statement, the ...Read more

MIAMI — Two former campus Republican leaders have been barred from stepping foot on Florida International University’s campus, after the school suspended the students for two years over a racist group chat created by the Miami-Dade GOP’s then secretary.

Abel Carvajal, the creator of the group chat and a third-year law student, was found ...Read more

NEW YORK — Donike Gocaj, the 56-year-old woman who was killed falling into an open manhole in Midtown Manhattan, died as a result of the intense heat inside the manhole beneath the streets and trauma from the fall, according to the city’s medical examiner.

An autopsy revealed Gocaj’s cause of death as a combination of scald burns with ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The crack of a gavel late Sunday marked the failed end to a nearly yearlong effort to strengthen Minnesota’s gun control laws.

It began after the assassination of DFL House Leader Melissa Hortman in June and was given urgency by the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis a few months later, but...Read more

The gunmen who killed three people at the San Diego Islamic Center left behind a 75-page document that preached hate, anti-Islam and antisemitism and promoted violence and chaos, law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told the Los Angeles Times.

The manifesto was titled “The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant” and made reference ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A wildfire that forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate Simi Valley jumped to 15% containment overnight, according to officials.

The blaze began around 11 a.m. Pacific time Monday off Sandy Avenue and moved to nearby homes, destroying one, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It had ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The relationship between some Republicans and President Donald Trump could be taking a “pretty sour” turn as some GOP lawmakers primaried out of their congressional seats by White House-backed candidates explore a newfound freedom to vote their minds.

That bodes poorly for Republicans’ efforts to unify and maintain their ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — More than a year ago, federal officials noticed something fishy about a Glendale-based doctor: She had collected more in Medicare Botox reimbursements than any other provider in the nation.

During a four-year period beginning in 2020, Violetta Mailyan pocketed more than $25 million for Botox injections through Medicare payments,...Read more

The Cuban government, reacting to the indictment in Miami on Wednesday of Raúl Castro in the shoot-down of two unarmed planes over the Florida Straits in 1996, ramped up the accusatory rhetoric against the United States and called the federal charges a pretext for a military attack against the island.

“This is a political action, with no ...Read more

MIAMI — Cuban Americans in South Florida celebrated the federal indictment Wednesday of Cuban leader Raul Castro as a long overdue reckoning for his alleged role in the 1996 killing of four Cuban American men — a shoot-down over the Florida Straits that has long lived in South Florida’s collective memory.

“I’m glad there’s a reason ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A Washington federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the Trump administration cannot ignore the Presidential Records Act, and held the law is likely constitutional.

The order, from Judge John D. Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, directed White House staff to comply with the law, which requires the ...Read more

MIAMI — “This one won’t mess around anymore,” one Cuban MiG fighter pilot said after firing on a Brothers to the Rescue plane, according to radio communications released by the United States after the 1996 shoot-down over the Florida Straits.

Federal prosecutors now cite those recordings — along with allegations of Cuban spy ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman unveiled a plan Wednesday to support the rebuilding of Pacific Palisades and reduce the risk of devastating wildfires throughout Los Angeles.

The plan includes financial and procedural proposals widely supported by recovery organizations in the Palisades, including creating a “recovery district�...Read more

MIAMI — Miami Beach police Capt. Steven Feldman was facing serious trouble.

In 2023, the FBI was investigating him for possession of child pornography, a case that began when Dropbox flagged three files that he had allegedly uploaded. He was placed on paid leave. At one point, according to three people familiar with the case, federal agents ...Read more

The gunman who killed three people at the San Diego Islamic Center left behind a 75-page document that preached hate, anti-Islam and antisemitism and promoted violence and chaos, law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told the Los Angeles Times.

The manifesto was titled “The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant” and made reference ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Fresh off defeating a string of Republicans who have defied him, President Donald Trump Wednesday threatened U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R.-Pa., without saying his name when asked a question by Fitzpatrick’s fiancée, Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich.

“Her husband votes against me all the time. Can you imagine? I don...Read more