SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After years of lobbying from women’s rights advocates and child marriage survivors, California will ban child marriages starting next year.

Current law allowed exemptions for minors under 18 who obtain parental permission and a court order. Assembly Bill 1267, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wednesday, bans marriages ...Read more

The Trump administration tightened the U.S. embargo against Cuba on Wednesday, further restricting travel to the communist-run island and access to U.S. banking for its private sector.

The new regulations, issued by the Treasury Department and taking effect Wednesday, also prohibits “indirect” transactions with sanctioned entities linked to...Read more

NEW YORK — The Trump administration’s controversial tariffs on imported goods will add $1 billion to the cost of modernizing the MTA’s bus and rail fleet, according to an estimate by the transit agency shared Wednesday — and Gov. Kathy Hochul has written to Washington asking for an exemption.

Trump’s “high and unpredictable tariff ...Read more

DENVER — Colorado Parks and Wildlife will temporarily stop killing wolves that prey on livestock as the state’s population of the controversial canines dwindles.

The state wildlife agency, which announced the change Wednesday afternoon, says officials will still consider requests to remove depredating wolves — but they will act much more ...Read more

NEW YORK — The administration of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to take legal action if Columbia University declines to reopen a campus walkway to the general public, according to a new court filing this week.

The demand marked a major escalation since Mamdani first broke with former Mayor Adams in support of Morningside Heights ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Western High School students rolled out the royal treatment Wednesday as Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, visited Baltimore to celebrate the expansion of his international youth award program to seven Baltimore City high schools.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, available in more than 120 countries and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The University of Southern California has named David Madigan, a statistician and former Northeastern University provost, as its chief academic officer, and he vows to make the university a leader in restoring American trust in higher education and adapting to rapid advances in artificial intelligence.

Madigan, 63, will become ...Read more

A pilot of a jet carrying more than 170 passengers to Tel Aviv stabbed his colleague and tried to crash the plane in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branded a serious security incident.

Catastrophe was narrowly avoided after a passenger and members of crew stormed the cockpit of the FlyDubai plane that had taken off in Dubai and ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed a landmark bill that would give a financial boost to California’s struggling newsrooms.

Assembly Bill 2222 will create refundable tax credits for California local news organizations based on the number of journalists they employ. It passed through both houses. It marks an ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors have charged 10 people with illegally voting or registering to vote in Minnesota elections, according to Department of Justice officials.

Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the grand jury indictments on Wednesday from Washington. The defendants, all green card holders, are alleged to have illegally voted...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A wildfire in Yosemite National Park that resulted in two helicopter pilots dying in a crash was sparked by an abandoned campfire, authorities said.

The Dome fire, first reported on Sept. 15 around 7 a.m. near the southern entrance of Yosemite, about a quarter-mile north of Chilnualna Falls, has grown to 5,585 acres and was 39% ...Read more

President Donald Trump on Wednesday is expected to announce a commitment by South Korea to invest $54 billion in a liquefied natural gas pipeline in Alaska, a White House official said.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said Trump will “announce major energy infrastructure investments that deliver on his day one promises to unleash ...Read more

The remaining two criminal cases related to the hazing death of a 21-year-old fraternity pledge at Michigan State University five years ago have been resolved in a way that will give the men involved nonpublic criminal records.

Ethan Cao and Andrew Nguyen were charged with hazing resulting in death after new Pi Alpha Phi member Phat Nguyen, who...Read more

NEW YORK — Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were due to arrive in Brooklyn on Wednesday to probe the apparent dragging death of a subway passenger earlier this week. Three investigators were dispatched by the federal agency, NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway told the Daily News.

As previously reported by the Daily News,...Read more

California is set to bring back a program aimed at reducing conflict between wild animals and people, as the state’s rebounding wolf population continues to cause concern among ranchers.

Newsom signed a bill restoring the program Tuesday ahead of a “fireside chat” focused on biodiversity and natural resources, during which he described ...Read more

DETROIT — An Ann Arbor nurse helped a Mexican immigrant escape from federal custody by letting him flee Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital, unsealed federal court records alleged.

The case against Chloe Renae Freeman, 29, of Whitmore Lake describes a daring night-time escape during the nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration and an ongoing...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A Hennepin County judge signaled his intent Wednesday to issue a temporary gag order in the state murder case against Vance Boelter, barring the convicted killer and all witnesses from public statements prior to trial.

The decision comes just two days after public defenders Bryan Leary and Raissa Carpenter filed a motion asking ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is urging Michigan voters to oppose a ballot proposal that would call a new constitutional convention to rewrite the state's governing document.

In a webinar Wednesday, the Democratic governor came out in opposition to the proposal largely on the grounds that a convention could be used to "roll back and ...Read more

NEW YORK — A former NYPD sergeant admitted Wednesday that he posed as an ICE agent and demanded a Queens woman report with her family to an immigration facility to settle what prosecutors called a “personal vendetta.”

Atickul Islam, 30, threw away his police career and possibly his freedom with text messages he sent March 29, 2025, when ...Read more