LOS ANGELES — The setting looked almost cozy: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and a podcast host seated inside her home in two comfy chairs, talking about President Trump, ICE raids, public schools and the Palisades fire.

The recording session inside the library at Getty House, the official mayor's residence, lasted an hour. Once it ended, the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — It was supposed to be a speech with a clear message of hope for survivors of the Palisades fire.

In her State of the City address in April, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called for a law exempting fire victims from construction permit fees — potentially saving them tens of thousands of dollars as they rebuild their homes.

...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Over a roughly three-year period beginning in March 2020, 1,564 Alaskans died from COVID-19.

That's according to a new report from the Alaska Department of Health, which provides a detailed review of data on how the state fared dealing with the coronavirus between March 2020 and the end of the the federal public health ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Jeffrey Rosenberg is still trying to understand why President Donald Trump would free the man who defrauded him out of a quarter of a million dollars.

Rosenberg, a retired wholesale produce distributor living in Nevada, has supported Trump since he entered politics, but the president's decision in November to commute the sentence...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After steadily gaining power and influence for more than a decade, the watchdogs that provide civilian oversight of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department face an uncertain future.

A recent leadership exodus has left behind gaps in experience and knowledge, and a succession of legal challenges and funding cuts by the county...Read more

Republicans in the 1st Congressional District are vying for President Donald Trump’s endorsement, but he left his speech in Rocky Mount on Friday night without offering one, or acknowledging the candidates.

Candidate filing ended at noon Friday, and five Republicans are hoping to defeat Rep. Don Davis, a Democrat from Snow Hill.

The 1st ...Read more

President Donald Trump began a rally Friday night in North Carolina talking about crime and then highlighted his efforts to combat economic uncertainty — while also steering clear of addressing new disclosures involving the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In front of hundreds of people at Rocky Mount Event Center in eastern North ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A former Brightline conductor filed a federal lawsuit against the company this week, asserting that the job caused him severe PTSD after repeatedly witnessing brutal crashes and violent deaths throughout his five years operating the high-speed passenger trains.

Darren J. Brown Jr. worked as a Brightline conductor ...Read more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government pushed through far-reaching policy reforms in the final parliamentary session of the year, seeking to bolster the economy in the face of trade headwinds.

In one of its most active winter sittings in recent years, the Parliament approved bills to open the nuclear industry to private companies and allow...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador on Friday raised “concerns” about President Donald Trump’s Thursday executive order calling for the downgrade of marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. The administration called for the change to increase access to marijuana for medical uses, the order said.

“The ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Gov. Tim Walz lashed out at federal prosecutors Friday for proclaiming without evidence that the total amount of fraud in Minnesota social services programs could top $9 billion.

“It’s speculating,” Walz told reporters during a news conference at the State Capitol. “To extrapolate what that number is for sensationalism, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department is appealing the dismissal of indictments against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey, after a judge concluded the prosecutor who brought the cases had been appointed to the post illegally when she was handpicked by President Donald Trump.

In separate court ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said Friday, fulfilling President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two U,S soldiers.

“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post on X....Read more

After nearly two decades, the Justice Department on Friday finally released at least a portion of its files on the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein — but a very small one.

The documents are part of the voluminous government files gathered by the DOJ through four presidential administrations, which officials have said number in the hundreds...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. launched large-scale airstrikes on Syria, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday, fulfilling President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two U.S. soldiers.

“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said in a post on X. “Today, we hunted and we ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis is retiring from the Senate after a single term, leaving behind an open seat in a reliably red state.

She’s the fifth Republican senator to decide against running for reelection to the chamber in 2026.

Lummis, 71, a strong ally of the crypto industry, said the decision represented “a change of ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced deals with nine pharmaceutical companies on Friday, the latest in a series of pacts designed to lower drug prices for some Americans in exchange for a three-year reprieve from threatened tariffs.

The most recent pledges mean 14 of the 17 drugmakers targeted by Trump this summer have agreed to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department released a trove of investigative documents on dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein Friday, with the department’s second-in-command indicating the records would only represent a partial disclosure of those available.

The comments from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche quickly drew outrage from ...Read more