As the nation’s physician shortage worsens, some fear the Trump administration’s immigration policies will dissuade or prevent doctors who earned their medical degrees in foreign countries from practicing in the United States.

Among all U.S. doctors, an estimated one quarter were educated abroad. But they make up an even larger proportion ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A white SUV drives past fields of grapes and nut trees and pulls to a stop on the dirt shoulder across the highway from a strange tableau:

Thousands of burned tree trunks stacked neatly to the end of a country block, a mountain range of chipped wood piles rising behind them. Logs dangle like toothpicks from machines with ...Read more

DENVER — Supporters of Colorado’s Amendment 85 say it would simplify the state’s increasingly lengthy and complicated ballots by bringing future proposals’ readability down to an eighth-grade level.

“I think a lot of people right now are opening their ballot and seeing, ‘Oh man, this is a huge ballot, it’s really complicated,’ �...Read more

Bears are having a very bad year.

Across much of the United States, a warm winter and persistent drought have decimated the natural foods that black and brown bears rely on. With nearly every station at the buffet in short supply, the adaptable eaters are turning to human food.

From California to Connecticut, desperate bears have raided ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Republican Lisa Demuth has emphasized her bipartisan credentials during her campaign for governor and portrayed herself as a pragmatic conservative who is focused on affordability and rooting out fraud.

Demuth has an affable style and rarely — if ever — criticizes her political foes with insults or obscenities that have ...Read more

A request by Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney for the court to take a closer look at the holdout juror in her triple murder trial has been denied.

Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan has rejected defense attorney Kevin Reddington’s motions to preserve records and conduct a “limited inquiry into Juror Doe,” citing key ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland voters legalized recreational cannabis, strengthened abortion protections and required state lawmakers to live in the districts they represent. But approving those constitutional amendments did not settle every question about how they would work.

Lawmakers still had to establish rules for cannabis sales. Separate ...Read more

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier petitioned a court to stop the Florida Democratic Party from airing an ad talking about a leaked Hope Florida grand jury report, according to a newly public appellate filing.

His request to the court, which was denied, came on the same day that the Republican Party of Florida filed a separate lawsuit ...Read more

Subtropical Storm Josephine formed off the mid-Atlantic coast on Wednesday and is forecast to strengthen but move northeastward away from the United States, the National Hurricane Center said, and a second Atlantic disturbance is brewing.

As of the NHC’s 5 p.m. tropical outlook, Josephine was located 265 miles south of Nantucket, ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — A former Nye County prosecutor defended Michele Fiore’s work on the bench, describing the suspended Pahrump justice of the peace as “outstanding” during a hearing before a judicial review panel Wednesday.

Jason Gunnell was the final witness in Fiore’s three-day hearing before the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline. ...Read more

Richard Buchanan, a reputed Mexican Mafia from the San Diego area, died in prison Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Guards found Buchanan unresponsive in his cell at Kern Valley State Prison, said Terri Hardy, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The Kern County Coroner's office will determine his ...Read more

Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime personal attorney and accountant were sued by the state of New Mexico for allegedly helping to facilitate, finance and conceal the late financier’s sex trafficking operation.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that former Epstein attorney Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn “knowingly participated” in ...Read more

NEW YORK — New York City is developing a new digital management system to fix payment delays for childcare providers, after some programs nearly struggled to open their doors on the first day of school.

In her first interview as Chancellor Kamar Samuels’ top deputy for early childhood education, Erica Phillips told the Daily News that her ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The balance is tipping more in favor of shutting down automated license plate readers in San Diego.

During a budget committee meeting Wednesday, several San Diego council members backed a proposal to rescind city approval of the use of the controversial technology and end the city’s contract to use ALPR cameras provided by Flock...Read more

By now, most Northern Californians know that there are historically strong El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean which are increasing the chances for a rough and very wet winter.

But some places have more risk than others. Low-lying coastal and bayfront areas — including the beaches at Santa Cruz, the eastern approach to the Bay Bridge, ...Read more

BOSTON — City councilors and parents blasted Boston Public Schools for concealing thousands of sexual assault, misconduct, and bullying cases that involved abuse committed against students by their classmates, and at least one BPS staffer.

The student sex accounts were a hot topic at a City Council Education committee hearing on Tuesday, ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California assembly members began their discussions on the efforts by the state’s major utilities to reduce wildfire risks and the liability those companies face when their equipment starts a blaze. Tuesday’s meeting was the first in what is anticipated to be a series of hearings.

The meetings follow contentious ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down an appeal from President Trump and rejected his order to end hormone treatments and other gender-affirming care for transgender inmates in federal prisons.

The justices denied Trump’s appeal without comment, over dissents by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.

The order ...Read more