SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Friday a handful of legislative bills that will overhaul how California punishes people who repeatedly drive while impaired by drugs or alcohol.

Two of the bills Newsom signed, Assembly bills 1546 and 1687, strengthen penalties against people who repeatedly drive while under the influence...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Tropical Storm Gonzalo formed late Thursday to become the seventh named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, although still one that has yet to produce a hurricane. It joined Tropical Storm Fay in the distant Atlantic, according to the National Hurricane Center.

As of the NHC’s 2 p.m. EDT advisory Friday, the center ...Read more

New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell has resigned after investigators found “credible evidence” of sexual harassment and other wrongdoing, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Sherrill announced his resignation at a news conference Friday afternoon. The governor, who was inaugurated with Caldwell by her side in January, pushed for ...Read more

MIAMI — The gun used by the man who fired four shots toward the terminal at Miami International Airport on Wednesday was stolen from a car parked in a short-term lot this month, court records show.

Francisco Ivan Mendiola, 31, shot toward the terminal while standing on the second floor of a short-term parking lot around 4 p.m., hitting a ...Read more

Former FBI Director James Comey Jr.’s trial in North Carolina has been moved to 2027 after a federal judge granted his request for more time to prepare.

Comey’s arraignment, previously set for Sept. 30 in New Bern, has been moved to January. His trial date has been moved from October to February.

U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan ...Read more

Amid the chorus of voices calling for a slowdown in AI advancement and more government regulation and oversight of the technology, one prominent contrarian voice stands out: that of Donald J. Trump.

The U.S president has repeatedly argued that the introduction of robust regulations to slow down progress on AI threatens U.S. national ...Read more

NEW YORK — New Yorkers are battening down for a brutal weekend, filled with heavy rainfall and intense winds, as a powerful early-season nor’easter threatens to wallop much of the East Coast.

The storm’s track was initially unclear at the start of the week, as was its intensity and its potential impacts. Now, as it barrels ever closer, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A standoff with a suspect barricaded inside a Redondo Beach home ended in bizarre fashion this week when the man bit a police dog sent in to subdue him, police said.

"WHO'S A GOOD BOY?! WOUTER IS!" read the Redondo Beach Police Department social media post, before describing what happened.

"Wouter was deployed to assist ...Read more

Oil eased as U.S. and Iranian negotiators explored a phased deal to reopen the world’s most important energy shipping route.

West Texas Intermediate futures traded below $94 a barrel, retreating slightly from a surge fueled by supply concerns and hawkish rhetoric. The two countries were said to be pushing for a breakthrough that would see ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday upheld President Donald Trump’s expanded use of government data to spot noncitizens who are registered to vote.

The justices granted an emergency appeal from Trump’s lawyers and set aside a judge’s order that blocked use of this data on the grounds it was error-prone, particularly for ...Read more

NEW YORK — Cops have arrested two of the three men spotted popping out of a manhole onto an Upper East Side street, the latest in an alarming trend in which low-rent treasure hunters have been seen scouring the sewers for valuables, police said Friday.

The suspects — Kevin Rodriguez, 26, and Samuel Reveron, 25 — sparked an underground ...Read more

New Jersey’s two senators in Washington echoed Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s call for Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell to resign just hours after she released a report that said he sexually harassed a woman and made advances to others even after he was warned to stop.

Sen. Andy Kim, a Burlington County Democrat, said in a statement on social media that the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Trump administration to restart its effort to create a nationwide database of purportedly eligible voters, setting aside a lower court ruling that found likely privacy and accuracy problems with the database.

The unsigned order from the court’s conservative majority allowed the ...Read more

CHICAGO — Stalking of ex-romantic partners, unauthorized personal surveillance, tracking drivers’ behavior — these are just a few of the ways in which law enforcement officers, outside their official police duties, have been accused in recent months of misusing automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology.

Widely popularized by the ...Read more

CHICAGO — The now-retired prosecutor at the center of the “Broadview Six” scandal penned a fiery resignation letter to U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros this week saying he “personally directed” her to seek felony charges rather than misdemeanors and then “publicly vilified” her in court by blaming her for the way the case melted down. ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Denise Fitzsimmons knew that removing the fast-growing lump above her eyebrow in 2024 didn’t eliminate the possibility that her melanoma could return.

But a clinical trial at Penn Medicine offered the 63-year-old grandmother from Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, hope of a more enduring remission. It tested a novel vaccine, based on ...Read more

CHICAGO — Candidates for city office will have to stand by their campaign ads — in writing or aloud in commercials — by saying “I approve this message” as part of a set of pared-down ethics changes approved by the Chicago City Council.

But while other tweaks around “coercive” emails and use of city seals and logos also passed, a ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A 14-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with an outbreak of killings of horses and goats in rural Oconee County in the northwest mountainous corner of South Carolina.

The arrest was announced by the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Jimmy Watt said the boy has been charged with ill ...Read more

Advances in artificial intelligence and other technologies must remain at the service of people rather than become instruments of domination and injustice, Pope Leo XIV said.

Speaking at the Unesco headquarters in Paris on Friday on the first leg of a four-day visit to France, the American pontiff said many tasks once performed by human beings ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A day after St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry filed a lawsuit claiming Mayor Kaohly Her sexually harassed him, alleging unwanted physical contact and retaliation, there has been near-silence from leaders in the city and in Minnesota about the rare legal action between two top city leaders.

No public statements from officials ...Read more