MINNEAPOLIS — Gov. Tim Walz spent much of his nearly eight years in office arguing that Minnesota’s most contentious environmental disputes should not be settled by decree.

On Tuesday, with his tenure nearing its end, Walz issued one.

“As far as my administration is concerned, the fight for the future of the Boundary Waters is over,” ...Read more

Police were spotted at the family home of Hayden Panettiere’s boyfriend as investigators wonder if criminal conduct was involved in the 36-year-old actor’s sudden death.

Law enforcement officials were spotted outside a South Carolina property tied to Brian Hickerson on Wednesday morning. That visit came as investigators remain uncertain ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Disneyland has updated signage around Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, warning guests that they will be removed from the park if they stand up while on the log-flume ride.

Matthew Desmond, who shares theme park news on the X account Disney Snoop Guy, first reported the 12 new signs around the attraction on Tuesday. “Failure to stay ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles police officer who faced multiple felonies for recording his colleagues making racist, sexist and homophobic comments will now likely avoid jail time under a new agreement with prosecutors, Los Angeles County’s district attorney said Wednesday.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced he would reduce 16 felony ...Read more

DETROIT — Twenty-two people were arrested Tuesday for a range of misdemeanors during a heated protest in Dearborn involving an anti-Muslim activist who has visited the city multiple times as part of what he calls a Christian "crusade."

Dozens of police from multiple agencies, some of whom were in full riot gear, were in place Tuesday evening...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — To decide where the second Alex Murdaugh murder trial will be, South Carolina state Judge Debra McCaslin must choose among a host of competing variables.

“There’s a lot of other things besides walking into a courthouse and sitting down and trying to try a case,” McCaslin told a pretrial hearing on Friday at the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Democrats’ litany of grievances with the Iran war is growing as scandals have mounted in recent weeks and the war drags on toward the six-month mark.

Reports of unbearable living conditions aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, President Donald Trump’s threat to bomb U.S. ally Oman if it interferes with U.S. plans ...Read more

DEARBORN, Mich. — A tension-filled visit by a prominent anti-Muslim activist to Dearborn on Tuesday evening resulted in 22 arrests, though local officials applauded residents for showing "restraint" and police for keeping the situation under control.

The protest by self-described anti-Islamic activist Jake Lang drew hundreds of people, many ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he will nominate White House domestic policy adviser Heidi Overton to lead the Food and Drug Administration.

If confirmed by the Senate, Overton would oversee an agency that has dealt with massive layoffs after the administration’s widespread reduction-in-force efforts last year. The ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The tentative trade deal between the United States and Canada would lower tariffs on certain Canadian exports of steel and aluminum to 25%, according to people familiar with the matter.

The details have yet to be finalized and are not expected to apply across the board. Different rates could apply to some derivative products that...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman plans to hire the controversial progressive consulting group Fight Agency to produce television advertisements for her mayoral campaign, a spokesperson said Wednesday, drawing a quick condemnation from the rival campaign of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.

Fight Agency is best known for its ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani let a bill he opposed that requires New York City’s public school system to send $10,000 in checks to low-paid teacher aides become law on Wednesday without his signature.

The City Council passed the bill unanimously last month, with enough votes to override a veto if the mayor chose to do so — leaving ...Read more

BOSTON — Harvard Medical School will pay $53 million to settle the “despicable, abhorrent” body parts scandal that shocked the university and resulted in a string of convictions on charges related to the gruesome sale of human remains from the academic morgue.

The class action settlement was preliminarily approved in Suffolk Superior ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has returned to floating a bid for a legally forbidden third term, offering supporters and critics hints that he might try to remain in the White House in January 2029 — but he always stops short of explaining how he might do it or declaring what would be a Constitution-disregarding candidacy.

The pattern...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors are being ordered to turn over to a judge all grand jury material for her review in the case of dozens of people charged with plotting and participating in an anti-ICE demonstration inside a St. Paul church in January.

The order from U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino was issued Tuesday and sets an Aug. 25...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling this week has raised new questions about the legality of tactics used by the Trump administration to keep Bill Essayli atop the federal prosecutor's office in Los Angeles.

The federal appellate court ruled Monday that the Department of Justice cannot keep an official who has not been ...Read more

A group of Bay Area voters filed a lawsuit this week over a November regional sales tax measure that would fund struggling transit agencies, asking a judge to strike what they consider to be “misleading” and “biased” language from the ballot initiative.

In the lawsuit, which was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Monday, the ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Collin County district judge who presided over Karmelo Anthony’s murder trial in June has been removed from a hearing Thursday that is set to determine if the 19-year-old should receive a new trial.

San Antonio Judge Sid Harle ruled to recuse Judge John Roach around 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to KXAS-TV reporting. ...Read more

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s first round of government-opposition talks has brought cautious optimism to a process intended to produce meaningful political change – but what comes next, and what is not on the formal agenda, is also drawing concern.

The White House-backed talks are intended to discuss political reforms and eventually ...Read more

Seven months after President Donald Trump first predicted that Cuba would “fall” in comments shortly after the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro in a U.S. military raid, the prospects that regime change is coming to Cuba soon are receding.

The island’s communist leaders remain firmly in control despite unprecedented U.S. ...Read more