NORFOLK, Va. — This fall, Virginians will vote on whether to adopt three constitutional amendments that would enshrine abortion access, same-sex marriage and voting rights for people who have completed felony sentences. The questions on whether those amendments should be adopted will appear on the ballot in November’s election, where ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Friday’s pretrial hearing for the upcoming second murder trial of Alex Murdaugh is set to feature a host of contentious issues and opposing arguments by prosecution and defense attorneys.

One divisive issue was settled Monday — state Judge Debra McCaslin ruled Murdaugh will be allowed to wear civilian clothes and be ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County election officials are examining steps ahead of the November midterms to respond to the rising popularity of election trading via prediction markets, including a possible ban on wagering for county election workers.

The discussions follow a fracas during the June ballot count, when a handful of influencers ...Read more

Doula Taja Iglesias and her business partner have built a space in Alexandria, Virginia, that’s all things pregnancy, birth, and childcare.

Comfortable couches in one area invite expectant parents to settle in for birth education classes. In another, a colorful pile of toys await the babies and toddlers. And there’s a free supply of diapers...Read more

More than a million times a year, a U.S. surgeon slices open a knee, strips out worn cartilage, caps the leg bones with metal, and drops in a plastic spacer to allow the new joint to glide.

While knee replacement procedures have become standard, however, the prices charged have not.

At Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory, North Carolina, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A few months ago, Pinchas Cohen learned of a thriving online trade in MOTS-c — a peptide that, when injected into mice, seems to mimic the effects of exercise.

The dean of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology was very familiar with this particular short chain of amino acids. His lab identified it years ago as one of the...Read more

Three members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced homelessness policy guidelines for local governments at a news conference in National City on Wednesday.

The Trump administration’s “Best Practices Toolkit” suggests leaders steer away from housing-first and...Read more

Music, chatter and applause filled the Capitol’s front lawn as dozens of Service Employees International Union members from across California gathered Wednesday morning to advocate for immigrant protections.

Attendees of the event championed four bills that currently await legislative approval: Assembly Bills 1655, 1896 and 2379, and Senate ...Read more

NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione’s lawyers are discussing a possible guilty plea to resolve U.S. charges relating to the fatal shooting of UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive Brian Thompson, but no deal has been finalized, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The plea talks come ahead of a Friday hearing that U.S. District Judge ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has asked a federal appeals court to pause a judge’s order imposing sanctions on him and his lawyers for how they handled his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service while he appeals that ruling.

Trump is challenging a Miami judge’s findings that he brought the IRS case in “bad faith�...Read more

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could soon be equipped with gloves that deliver electric shocks to subdue suspected undocumented immigrants or protesters as they carry out President Trump’s controversial mass deportation campaign.

The Department of Homeland Security plans to buy thousands of the gloves capable of zapping suspects ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Mandatory evacuations were ordered Tuesday afternoon for the Yuba fire burning east of Bridgeport near South Yuba River State Park and the Highway 49 corridor in Nevada County, Cal Fire officials said.

The fire had grown to 10 to 12 acres by about 3 p.m. and was burning at a “dangerous rate of spread,” Cal Fire said. ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two state lawmakers from Los Angeles want tougher penalties for disasters caused by industrial companies after a massive fire in Boyle Heights left neighbors struggling with smoky air and the smell of rotting meat.

Assembly member Mark González and state Sen. María Elena Durazo, both Democrats, are seeking a new law ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Gov. Henry McMaster is criticizing a state agency for telling a citizen it would cost $2.4 million to fulfill an open records request for public documents about pollution at an elementary school.

McMaster labeled the Department of Environmental Services estimated cost “ridiculous’’ and unwarranted.

“That should never...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Nevada’s Colorado River czar offered little concrete insight into the status of negotiations at a summit Wednesday as the state braces for the federal government to hand down a final operating plan its water managers aren’t happy with.

“There’s hope that things can change,” said John Entsminger, general manager of the ...Read more

The death toll from Colombia’s earthquake rose to 265 as President Abelardo de la Espriella moved to declare an economic emergency to confront the fallout from the strongest tremor to strike the country in 47 years.

The 7.4-magnitude quake that struck Aug. 10 was the second strongest recorded in Colombian territory in the past century. ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Mayor Jacob Frey proposed a $2.3 billion budget Wednesday that would require a 11.3% increase in the city’s property tax levy, the elimination of 100 positions and the consolidation of several departments.

That would be the biggest levy increase since at least 2000, according to city records. But Frey said the city spending is...Read more

Reality TV personality Joseph Duggar and wife Kendra — who were charged with multiple counts of child endangerment and false imprisonment in March — withdrew their not guilty pleas Monday.

On March 20, Arkansas’ Tontitown Police Department issued arrest warrants for the couple, who were each charged with four counts of endangering the ...Read more

The companies that agreed to pay Maryland $2.25 billion over the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge could ultimately get some of that money back under terms of the settlement obtained by The Baltimore Sun.

The settlement, agreed to in May, calls for Maryland to pursue damages from the Dali’s shipbuilder, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries. ...Read more