MEXICO CITY — Mexico has been a major oil producer for more than a century, but its lack of refining capacity creates a quandary: The country must import much of its gasoline and diesel from the United States.

That's a boon for U.S. refineries and related industries on both sides of the border, but U.S. and Mexican authorities say Mexican ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — In Orange County, California, an email landed in attorney Sabrina Rivera's inbox in April, from a Colorado man panicked about the status of his immigration case.

He told Rivera that she was his lawyer. But Rivera had never heard his name before, never represented him and had no idea why he thought she had.

The man sent ...Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. — The criminal case involving Sheng Thao has extended through the former mayor’s entire orbit, leading federal prosecutors to name 68 witnesses who are expected to testify in the corruption case involving Thao and her romantic partner Andre Jones, along with father-and-son business partners David and Andy Duong.

Thao, ...Read more

DENVER — In January, Brea C. Burgie told an Aurora courtroom that an official in Washington, D.C., had emailed her and the rest of the nation’s immigration judges.

The judges weren’t bound, the email said, by a California court that had ruled it was illegal for the Trump administration to deny bail hearings to many immigrants sitting in ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Declining enrollment in California public schools is spawning a new and growing partnership that is helping to keep childcare centers in business — vacant classrooms are being filled with toddlers and babies.

From Los Angeles to Solano counties, nonprofit day-care operators see underused facilities already centered on children...Read more

CHICAGO -- On a recent summer Saturday evening, María and her 6-year-old daughter sat at a bustling intersection in the West Loop with a large bucket filled with flowers wrapped in ribbon and decorative wrap. While María stayed on the street corner, the young girl wandered solo a short distance away.

As diners rushed to reservations at the ...Read more

MIAMI — A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the federal case of a Florida Keys parasailing boat captain, who is accused of voluntary manslaughter and seaman’s manslaughter, court records show.

Daniel Couch was operating a boat on May 30, 2022, when he cut the tow-line to three parasailers during a thunderstorm. An Illinois mother was ...Read more

SEATTLE — A man suspected of intentionally starting one of three major wildfires that have forced tens of thousands to evacuate and burned more than 10,000 acres across Spokane County since Saturday was previously contacted by authorities in at least two other arson investigations in the same area.

The 37-year-old was stopped twice by Spokane...Read more

In a major victory for supporters of abortion rights in Kansas, a Johnson County District Court judge on Monday granted a permanent injunction blocking a bevy of state laws that imposed strict requirements for abortion providers and patients.

“Today’s ruling allows me to do my job the way I was trained to and focus on what’s most ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump touched down in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening and headed directly to his Rancho Palos Verdes golf course to headline a fundraiser for the Republican Party.

Though the visit was for a standard campaign benefit in the run-up to November’s elections, it was not without drama.

While the president was en ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee favorably reported Todd Blanche’s bid to be attorney general after some Republican senators delayed the vote over the Trump administration’s controversial “weaponization” fund.

Key GOP holdouts on the committee, Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., voted in favor of advancing...Read more

WASHINGTON — The prospect of an interim deal focused on the Strait of Hormuz appeared to be gaining traction on Tuesday, with Qatar saying a proposal had been drafted and both American and Iranian officials sounding hopeful about an agreement to reopen the crucial waterway.

President Donald Trump discussed efforts to deescalate U.S.-Iran ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s legal campaign against the Trump administration has preserved more than $200 billion in threatened federal funding, Attorney General Rob Bonta said Tuesday. During the first 18 months of President Donald Trump’s second term, the state filed 82 lawsuits and submitted 120 friend-of-the-court briefs in other ...Read more

Austin Scott James continues his recovery days after he was critically wounded Saturday while confronting the killer in a mass shooting at an Idaho In-and-Out that left three dead including a Stockton woman who trained workers at the restaurant.

More surgeries are ahead for James, the Antelope High School graduate and son of a Sacramento County...Read more

A California federal judge held the Trump administration in civil contempt for violating a court order requiring them to forensically image any cellphone used by agents present at 15 identified immigration operations.

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ordered the government to pay $500 per day until they complied. The July 28 ...Read more

The U.S. Southern Command has activated a new military headquarters to coordinate operations against drug cartels and other transnational criminal organizations across the Western Hemisphere, marking a significant reorganization of the military’s regional security mission.

The new Joint Task Force-Western Hemisphere, activated Monday, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Out-of-service equipment managed by Southern California Edison started the deadly Eaton fire that killed 19 people and destroyed much of Altadena in January 2025, according to a long-awaited report by state and county fire officials.

The report, released Tuesday by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — A budget bill is likely to soon be on its way to the governor’s desk, with a variety of funding changes and power shifts. It’s much smaller than the comprehensive, long-delayed $34 billion budget bill Democratic Gov. Josh Stein signed into law in July.

But what is known as a budget technical corrections bill has more than ...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The University of Alaska Board of Regents voted Tuesday to eliminate higher tuition rates for students with out-of-state residency.

Regents voted unanimously in favor of the change, but final approval will not occur until November, when regents vote on tuition rates for the 2027-28 school year.

University finance ...Read more