A growing number of states are making an equal split between parents the default child custody option in divorce cases.

Louisiana and Mississippi this year joined at least five other states that have adopted the so-called 50-50 standard — four of them since 2021, as more legislators rework divorce-related laws that remained mostly unchanged...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — For more than two decades, Omar Jamal has cultivated influence as a high-profile go-between — connecting politicians, regulators and law enforcement officials with members of Minnesota’s Somali community. Since 2020, he has also held a civilian job with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office.

That public standing and private ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — With the deadline for mailing out millions of California ballots nearing, Los Angeles County's top election official welcomed the U.S. Postal Service's recent assurance that it will process those ballots as normal — not under the untested new vetting system backed by President Donald Trump and rejected as unworkable by the U.S....Read more

SEATTLE — Even as fewer Washington parents chose to have their kindergartners vaccinated last year, the overall percentage of K-12 students receiving required shots held steady.

According to recent data from the state Department of Health, about 90% of all students met vaccine requirements during the 2025-2026 year, less than 1% higher than ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — In the heart of Skid Row on a hot summer afternoon, Amber Willard pushed a skinny brown and white pit bull named Athena on a rolling office chair.

Victoriah Bech Parker, founder of the Starts With One Today animal rescue group, offered the dog a bowl of wet food.

“You don’t look too good,” Bech Parker cooed as she bent ...Read more

The California High-Speed Rail Authority wants early access to the $20 billion state lawmakers have committed, as the project faces a potential cash shortage by the end of next year.

It’s not yet clear how early access to the money would work, but the rail authority has submitted a request to the California Department of Finance to start the ...Read more

Famed comedian Carrot Top is accused of giving alcohol to a 19-year-old at his Winter Park home and engaging in sexual conduct with him when the young man was too drunk to consent, according to a court filing.

The allegation against the comedian, whose real name is Scott Thompson, was recently mentioned in a lawsuit filed against him by a ...Read more

The United Kingdom has agreed to support Saudi Arabia’s military in countering the Houthis, as the kingdom comes under frequent attack from the Iran-backed militants.

“We have received a request from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for military support, and on the advice of the defense secretary and the foreign secretary, last night I agreed to...Read more

Lindsay Clancy’s attorney is asking the court to take a closer look at the one juror who held out for a conviction in her triple murder trial deliberations.

The motion filed by Clancy’s lawyer Kevin Reddington asked the court to preserve certain records and conduct a “limited inquiry into Juror Doe.”

Reddington refers to the holdout by...Read more

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Monday reinstated a Republican-preferred congressional map for Missouri, setting up a likely third Supreme Court fight over the district lines for the “Show-me State.”

The ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit found that, because the state used a map drawn ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed on Sunday a Republican lawmaker’s bill to make theft by a police officer in the line of duty a career-ending ethical offense, saying it was duplicative to existing law.

Assembly Bill 2337 was authored by outgoing lawmaker and former California highway patrolman Assemblymember Tom Lackey, R-...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday headed into a week full of high-stake meetings with world leaders after spending a 72-hour period banning reporters from the White House, mulling whether it was time to “blow ... up” Iran, and proposing to house military drones and snipers in his triumphal arch in the nation’s capital.

The ...Read more

MIAMI — A group of 22 newly indicted defendants in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse made their first appearance in a Miami federal court on Monday, where the charges against them were read and court-appointed attorneys were assigned.

Federal prosecutors, arguing they were flight risks, sought pretrial detention ...Read more

With the twin goals of meeting local workforce needs and boosting access to higher education, community colleges across California advocated for legislation this year that would allow them to offer more bachelor’s degree programs. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the package of bills Friday — but community colleges are not celebrating.

Following ...Read more

The Trump administration has proposed a $5 billion fund to help rebuild critical infrastructure across the Middle East damaged in the war with Iran even though the seven-month conflict continues.

The so-called Partnership for Allied Construction & Trust would be led by the U.S. Development Finance Corporation with the goal of encouraging ...Read more

NEW YORK — Air traffic into New York City’s major airports suffered heavy delays Monday after crews working on the Northeast Corridor rail line severed a fiber optic cable linking two major air traffic control centers.

Around 9:45 a.m. on Monday, contractors working for NJ Transit accidentally severed a fiber optic line while working on a ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Mamdani and President Trump said Monday they’d advance a plan to build housing at Sunnyside Yards after meeting at Gracie Mansion, although they didn’t give any specific commitments.

Mamdani said they also spoke about “affordability,” the importance of the New York Police Department and the president’s decision to ...Read more

A new study from researchers at the University of South Carolina could be the first to show a link between crime reduction and the spread of Flock license-plate reading cameras.

The study by USC professors Ian Adams and Scott Mourtgos shows that, at least when looking specifically at motor vehicle thefts, cities that adopt Flock Safety cameras ...Read more

CHICAGO — Standing in Chicago Union Station on Monday, authorities from the National Transportation Safety Board announced the launch of a national railroad safety campaign geared towards protecting railworkers’ lives and safety.

“There’s no better place to launch this campaign than Chicago, the nation’s rail capital,” said NTSB ...Read more