WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump minimized the prospect of immediate talks with Iran as the two sides exchanged strikes and Houthi militants in Yemen threatened shipping in the Red Sea.

Trump vowed on Tuesday to respond if the Iran-backed group disrupted that waterway, but didn’t specify how.

His comments came after the 10th day ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Crews battled several wildfires Tuesday across Northern California, including the Biscar Fire in Lassen County, which has grown to nearly 59,000 acres, the Rumsey Fire near the Colusa-Yolo county line and the Chute Fire in Yuba County.

The Biscar Fire burning northeast of Susanville in Lassen County grew to 58,878 acres, ...Read more

NEW YORK — A federal appeals panel on Tuesday overturned a lower court’s decision to release Columbia University and Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi from immigration detention.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled 3-0 that a federal district judge in Vermont lacked the authority to let go of Mahdawi, deciding his case ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Convicted former Philadelphia labor leader John Dougherty has taken a variety of steps to try to cut his six-year prison term short, including taking the witness stand this spring to tell a federal judge about the unique health challenges faced by his wife.

But one other avenue he pursued last year — an appeal to the White ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — An expected vacancy on Kentucky’s federal bench after the hiring of the University of Kentucky’s new law school dean makes way for President Donald Trump to further cement the state’s conservative judiciary.

Gregory Van Tatenhove is still a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, according...Read more

WASHINGTON — The late Sen. Lindsey Graham will be honored with a ceremony in the Capitol’s Rotunda ahead of a funeral at the National Cathedral next Tuesday.

“For so many of us in the Senate and the House, myself included, Lindsey was more than a colleague, he was a friend,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a statement...Read more

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld a contempt of Congress conviction against Trump ally Peter Navarro tied to his defiance of subpoenas from the panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously upheld Navarro’s two-count...Read more

Israeli troops have withdrawn from parts of southern Lebanon under a U.S.-mediated ceasefire agreement, which aims to keep Iran-backed Hezbollah away from the Israeli border and end nearly five months of conflict.

The move comes after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun traveled to Washington for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday...Read more

LOS ANGELES — New Los Angeles schools Superintenddent Andrés E. Chait made a calm official entry Tuesday into a school system that faces a projected financial crisis, declining enrollment and legal attack from the Trump administration, citing student test scores that continue to rise and “a sense of belonging” that binds school ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Officials have made progress in fixing a massive water system rupture on the Sunset Strip that sent 17 million gallons of water into surrounding neighborhoods.

But Sunset Boulevard has been closed for six days so far. And officials still won’t say when it will reopen.

Thursday’s break was on a riveted steel pipe from 1916 ...Read more

NEW YORK — The daredevil couple who got engaged after climbing to the top of the Empire State Building on July 1 says the NYPD still has their bling.

“My engagement ring is still with the police,” Angela Nikolau wrote on Instagram Monday night. “So is the banner we handmade and hung from the Empire State Building.”

Nikolau and her ...Read more

NEW YORK — A fourth New Yorker has died due to the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak, city Health Commissioner Alistair Martin said Monday.

“We mourn their passing, and our thoughts are with their family and loved ones,” Martin wrote on social media. A department spokesperson declined to share further details.

More than 70 people have ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For nearly a year, the only thing clear about the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez was that she met a gruesome end.

The missing 14-year-old’s body rotted for weeks until it was found in the trunk of a Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard last September, severed at the limbs and stuffed into black plastic bags, according to medical ...Read more

BOSTON — A new Super PAC that appears to be aligned with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has emerged ahead of the state primary, where two Wu-backed challengers are vying to expel the two senators Wu blames for killing her tax bill.

Boston Leads Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee was formally organized Thursday with the state Office ...Read more

Human Rights Watch is pressing lawmakers in Washington to open an inquiry into America’s growing security role in Ecuador, arguing that joint counter-crime missions have unfolded with far too little oversight and too few guardrails to keep civilians safe.

The watchdog group laid out its case in a nearly 100-page report titled “A Dangerous ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — This week could bring Southern California its most sweltering temperatures of the year — a heat wave made all the more miserable, and dangerous, by oppressive muggy conditions and little nighttime relief.

"This looks to be the hottest stretch so far this year," said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather ...Read more

DETROIT — The number of cyclosporiasis cases in Michigan since June 22 rose to 6,571 as of Tuesday morning, a 6.9% increase over Monday's case count of 6,148.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported 423 additional cases of cyclosporiasis on Tuesday.

The new cases come as the Food and Drug Administration continues to ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — One day after a pair of mass shootings killed one person and injured 13 in Minneapolis, Tarik Asbu and Robert Hobot searched for what was left behind.

The Hennepin County library maintenance workers had been called to the Walker Hennepin Library across from the Reign Event Center to clean up. Earlier, investigators spent hours ...Read more

CHICAGO — As more than 900 wildfires continue to burn across Canada, predicting when air quality conditions will fully return to normal in Illinois and the rest of the Midwest can be tricky.

“Some of these fires in the boreal forest, they don’t end until the rain hits,” said Craig Clements, director of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary ...Read more

Israeli troops have withdrawn from parts of southern Lebanon under a U.S.-mediated ceasefire agreement, which aims to keep Iran-backed Hezbollah away from the Israeli border and end nearly five months of conflict.

The move comes after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun traveled to Washington for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday...Read more