LOS ANGELES — Tensions in Boyle Heights reached a fever pitch Thursday evening as residents — fed up with exposure to toxic smoke, the smell of rotting food, and a lack of answers after the Lineage warehouse fire — made their frustrations known at a feisty town hall meeting.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass struggled to open the meeting over ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump fired two Democratic members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, an agency charged with helping states facilitate accurate elections, and the Republican member resigned, a White House official said Thursday night.

The departures mark the latest move by the president to put his stamp on how U.S. ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After Daniel Flores secretly recorded his LAPD colleagues making racist, sexist and homophobic comments on the job, he turned the evidence over to his superiors, according to an internal affairs complaint he filed with the department last year, which said he hoped the evidence would be used against those responsible.

But now, ...Read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed rolling back emission standards for new heavy-duty trucks, including buses, garbage trucks and semis.

Under the proposal, EPA is looking to scale back future warranty mandates from 10 years to 5 and to delay requirements to extend the period in which the vehicles are subject to ...Read more

California’s first storms of the monsoon season are expected to arrive this weekend, raising concerns about heightened wildfire risk.

The storms could reach Central California as early as Sunday, bringing gusty winds across the Sierra Nevada and a 10% chance of lightning but producing very little rain, said Carlos Molina, meteorologist with ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — George J. Cotliar, who served as managing editor of the L.A. Times for 19 years during a 40-year career at the paper, has died.

Cotliar's daughter, Sharon Cotliar-Zweifach, confirmed that Cotliar died in his sleep early Monday at his home in Newport Beach. He was 94.

"Our dad's first love was journalism, and as much as he was ...Read more

NEW YORK — Thanks to a young union member who spotted shockingly buckled support beams in the Midtown East high-rise that suffered a partial collapse Tuesday, a major catastrophe may have been averted. His union is now hailing the hard hat as “The Hero of 42nd Street.” Meanwhile, slamming the project’s developers as reckless, the union ...Read more

CHICAGO — For lawyer Brian Orozco, it’s personal. When federal agents deployed tear gas at protesters in Brighton Park on Oct. 4, after they had shot a woman, the gas hit Orozco’s face as he stood on a sidewalk. Orozco said it was like he couldn’t breathe.

“My eyes were burning, but my lungs were burning more,” Orozco said.

Now, he...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Thousands of formerly homeless people whose housing subsidies will expire in December are no longer at risk of eviction, local housing officials announced Thursday.

An infusion of new funds approved by Congress this year and a waiver of eligibility procedures have staved off a potential crisis that would have left 4,200 back on ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State employees reported asbestos, bedbugs, waterborne bacteria and other “hazardous conditions” in government workplaces after returning to offices under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate.

In a press release Thursday, Service Employees International Union Local 1000 said that workers reported “unsafe, or potentially ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — The USS Nimitz docked Thursday at Naval Station Norfolk, one of the last steps in its 51 years of commission.

The aircraft carrier will remain in Hampton Roads to train Navy sailors and aviators for a year or two before it is officially retired. But its captain said he isn’t convinced this is the finale for the Nimitz.

“As...Read more

A two-day exchange of airstrikes and the reimposition of U.S. oil sanctions have left the truce President Donald Trump reached with Iran last month in a kind of limbo: not officially dead, but showing few signs of life.

In its initial phase, the memorandum of understanding that took effect June 18 was supposed to end all hostilities, provide ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A deported Sunnyvale carpenter and his U.S. citizen family are suing the federal government and two private prison companies, alleging ICE agents beat him during a violent arrest last year before he was denied proper medical care for months in immigration detention.

The arrest spurred South Bay protests of the immigration ...Read more

A committee that’s challenging a proposed voter ID law in California has already received a high-profile endorsement.

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who has been a longtime advocate for the expansion of voting rights, threw his weight behind the group Thursday morning.

Californians for Voting Rights, a committee backed by the ...Read more

A dangerous parasite that causes explosive diarrhea is spreading throughout the Midwest, as federal health officials investigate the still-undetermined source of the outbreak.

Michigan — the state with the highest infection count — recorded 1,251 total cases of Cyclosporiasis on Thursday, a 26% jump from the previous day. The infections ...Read more

A strong El Niño is virtually certain to develop this year, federal scientists say, and may end up being one of the strongest such events on record.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center said Thursday that there's a 97% chance El Niño will be either "strong" or "very strong" over a three-month period ...Read more

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Thursday against Maryland and Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown over the state’s sanctuary policies, which it says interfere with the federal government’s enforcement of immigration laws.

“When sanctuary jurisdictions enact laws to shield illegal aliens from federal law enforcement, it is ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As Cal Fire describes being understaffed and overworked, and local departments grapple with vacancy rates of almost 25%, droves of trained firefighters remain barricaded from the workforce.

Over 1,800 incarcerated firefighters across California live in “fire camps,” operated by the California Department of Corrections...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Lawmakers in North Carolina agree that a state property tax loophole is costing municipalities millions in tax revenue loss, but the legislature has yet to close it. Two state House members say that lobbying of the state Senate has contributed to the holdup.

The tax break is called the “Blue Ridge Housing” loophole, which ...Read more