WASHINGTON — Former special counsel Jack Smith, who supervised two prosecutions of President Donald Trump over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and retention of classified documents, defended his work before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

The hearing, which became heated at times and included an extended tangent about ...Read more

Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has filed for divorce from her husband, months after it was revealed that he was a part of the “bimbofication” fetish community.

The 54-year-old former Trump administration Cabinet member formally asked for a divorce from Bryon Noem in a South Dakota court on Monday, according to local ...Read more

Oil fell Tuesday as top exporter Saudi Arabia boosted flows through a key pipeline, overshadowing concerns over a U.S.-Iran stalemate.

Brent futures slid near $104 a barrel. The kingdom was said to have restored about half the capacity of its East-West pipeline following drone attacks. The conduit has been a crucial route bypassing the Strait ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After adding more than a million acres in the last year, California is on track to meet its goal of conserving 30% of its land by 2030, officials announced Tuesday.

However, the state lags in its efforts to conserve 30% of its coastal waters in the same time frame. Since Gov. Gavin Newsom established the “30x30” initiative ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto of two homeowner insurance-related bills have renewed tensions with the wildfire survivor advocacy groups who fought his recent bid for sweeping reforms to how much liability electric utility companies face after their equipment starts destructive infernos.

Senate Bills 877 and 878 would have ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — With a strong El Niño increasing the odds of big storms this fall and winter, California is on alert for possible flooding. But if it delivers a wet punch, it will also bring an upside: a bonanza of water.

How prepared is the state to capitalize on El Niño? And what more can it do to take advantage of an extremely wet year?

...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- With California’s coast getting pounded by strong waves amid a strengthening El Niño, residents and government leaders are turning to big rocks and seawalls to protect homes and keep a railroad from falling into the sea.

But there is growing concern this defensive strategy will end up harming California’s famed sandy ...Read more

DETROIT — The University of Michigan is pausing its proposed pilot program that would "cover" first-semester grades of freshmen in the university's College of Literature, Sciences and the Arts, the Ann Arbor university said.

"The first-semester grade covering pilot program in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts has been paused," ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — A group of state representatives asked Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday to whether investigate whether a “systemic pattern of discrimination” against Jewish students occurs in the Philadelphia School District.

Citing a congressional investigation into Philadelphia and other districts, and reports of antisemitic ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- In May, when Samuel Gonzalez Terrones was diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia, he started seeing a therapist and taking medication that he hoped would finally alleviate the dark thoughts that had begun creeping up so frequently he would sometimes seek help by calling the police on himself.

A month later, his mom, Minerva ...Read more

SEATTLE — An initiative seeking to repeal Washington's new income tax on $1 million-plus earners trails badly in a new poll when voters are shown legally required ballot language summarizing its potential impacts on the state budget.

The statewide poll by Portland, Oregon-based polling firm DHM Research tested support for Initiative 645 with ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a raft of bills designed to push back on the Trump administration's immigration enforcement in California, including bans on electric shock gloves and a revamped ban on law enforcement face coverings after a previous law was blocked by a federal judge.

The more than 20 bills approved by the ...Read more

A four-hour class with range shooting will be required of new California gun owners under a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The stricter rules for a firearm safety certificate will apply to gun owners moving to California starting in 2028 and to Californians buying new guns starting in 2029.

Previously the certificate required only a written ...Read more

On a tarmac in Texas, federal agents repeatedly ordered a group of shackled immigrants off a bus and onto an airplane that they had heard was destined for Africa.

Many complied, but some men refused. They had sought protection in the U.S. after fleeing repressive governments and asked to speak to lawyers before being deported to a faraway ...Read more

MIAMI — Miami-Dade’s Democratic mayor says President Donald Trump is wrong to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 global summit in Doral.

In a statement, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Putin’s invasion of Ukraine makes him the kind of brutal dictator that immigrant families in Miami-Dade fled, adding to the mistake of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Six Flags Magic Mountain's famous X2 rollercoaster ride is permanently closed, following a history of injuries, including some that led to deaths, park officials announced on Tuesday.

The ride was first closed temporarily in July following reports of back-to-back brain injuries.

"While X2 consistently passed a multitude of ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando officials signed off Monday on a spending plan about $82 million higher than last year as the city braces for a potential reckoning on local budget revenues at the ballot box this fall.

Like the vast majority of Central Florida cities and counties, Orlando also kept its property tax rate flat at $6.65 per $1,000 of ...Read more

Elizabeth Holmes either feels emboldened by or worried about some recent major developments in her life and public image because she got on X on Sunday to lament that she has been “silenced” as she remains behind bars in federal prison.

But the convicted Theranos fraudster said she won’t stop “fighting to prove my innocence and come ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani, facing criticism over views on Israel seen as fostering antisemitism, is unveiling a plan that would expand educational efforts and beef up security at synagogues as part of a new “Strategy to Combat Antisemitism” report released by City Hall Tuesday.

The report’s release is slated to be accompanied by a...Read more