An attorney for California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa is threatening “legal remedies” if ABC and the University of Southern California do not include the former Los Angeles mayor in an upcoming debate, a move that comes amid criticisms that candidates of color were not invited to participate in the event later this month.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A majority of the Sacramento City Council declared support for renaming Cesar E. Chavez Plaza after allegations of sexual abuse were published Wednesday against the civil rights leader.

Mayor Kevin McCarty and Council members Karina Talamantes, Phil Pluckebaum, Caity Maple, Eric Guerra and Mai Vang in comments to The ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Mamdani announced Wednesday that he is reversing a controversial Adams-era policy that allowed the NYPD to issue criminal summons to e-bike riders and bicyclists for infractions that were not considered criminal when committed by drivers.

“Every New Yorker on our roads, whether driving or biking, deserves to be treated ...Read more

CHICAGO — The respiratory illness RSV is still going strong in Chicago — an unusually late showing for the virus, which can strike infants especially hard.

RSV activity has moved from moderate to high in Chicago, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. Though it’s typical for RSV to spread more widely in the winter — ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Labor leader Cesar Chavez is accused of sexually assaulting two underage girls in the 1970s as well as fellow farmworker leader Dolores Huerta in the 1960s, according to an investigation from The New York Times.

The allegations have sparked public outcry from elected leaders and spurred a wider reckoning of a towering figure in ...Read more

The fate of two oil tankers believed to be carrying desperately needed fuel to Cuba is emerging as a key test of Washington’s escalating pressure campaign — and of Havana’s ability to withstand it.

At the center of the uncertainty is the Sea Horse, a Hong Kong-flagged tanker whose unusual movements have raised questions about whether it ...Read more

DETROIT — Federal prosecutors found more than $13,000 in a Comerica Bank account during an ongoing hunt for money that could be applied toward $823,649 former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick owes taxpayers as part of the disgraced politician's public corruption conviction, according to a court filing Wednesday.

In the filing, a bank official ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court twice last year cleared the Trump administration to end protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants fleeing violence and instability. In the months that followed, current and former judges repeatedly called out the justices for failing to explain their reasoning.

The issue is before the ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The Chula Vista City Council voted 4-0 Tuesday to adopt an ordinance adding Chapter 2.19, known as the “Safe Neighbor Ordinance,” to the Chula Vista Municipal Code. Mayor John McCann recused himself from the vote, citing his position as a U.S. Navy Reserve officer.

The measure, which passed on the consent calendar as its ...Read more

NEW YORK — An immigration judge denied New York City Council staffer Rafael Rubio’s asylum case and ordered his removal from the U.S. on Wednesday.

Judge Charles Conway ordered Rubio removed because of a missing signature on his asylum paperwork, Council Speaker Julie Menin said, adding that Rubio’s lawyer plans to appeal the decision.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California political establishment reacted with outrage and sadness to a report from The New York Times Wednesday detailing how Cesar Chavez, one of the nation’s most storied labor leaders and a civil rights icon, sexually abused women and girls for years.

The Times interviewed 60 people who corroborated the ...Read more

BOSTON — The Boston City Council is weighing legislation that would grant immigrants with “legal status” but without full citizenship the right to vote in local elections.

Councilor Julia Mejia introduced a home rule petition Wednesday that would extend voting rights to noncitizens with “legal status” — a number she put at roughly ...Read more

NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione, who is scheduled to go before a New York state jury in June on charges that he murdered UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive Brian Thompson, is seeking to delay a subsequent federal trial until 2027.

Defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo told U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett in Manhattan Wednesday that it will be ...Read more

FRESNO, Calif. — Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval said the university will remove its statue of Cesar Chavez, prominently displayed in the campus Peace Garden, amid “profoundly troubling claims” against the civil rights icon emerged Wednesday in a New York Times investigation.

Jiménez-Sandoval said Wednesday afternoon in a ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith appeared to downplay a question about rising beef prices last month by saying Americans have “so many proteins to choose from.”

Fellow Republican Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio told a conservative podcaster last week that people living in poverty lack the experience to handle the “real world.”

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In an abrupt and unexpected gesture, the government of Costa Rica announced Wednesday the closure of its embassy in Havana and told Cuban diplomats to leave San José, the country’s capital, citing the Cuban government violations of human rights and lack of legitimacy.

“We must rid the hemisphere of communists,” Costa Rican president ...Read more

Dolores Huerta, who co-founded United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez, says she was sexually abused and impregnated by the late labor leader, whose legacy the union will no longer celebrate this year.

The civil rights advocate, who was 66 when he died in 1993, typically is commemorated on March 31, which in 2014 was dubbed Cesar Chavez Day, a ...Read more

Last October, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick sold his multibillion-dollar ownership interest in Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial services company he led for more than three decades, to trusts benefiting his four children — a move designed to comply with federal ethics rules.

At about the same time, one of the trusts did something ...Read more

A congressional candidate in Arizona is leading a campaign to recall Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, whose department is heading up the Nancy Guthrie investigation.

Tucson GOP hopeful Daniel Butierez is hoping to turn the city’s 7th Congressional District red after Adelita Grijalva finishes the term started by her dad prior to his death in ...Read more