BALTIMORE — Jill Carter, a Baltimore Democrat who served in both the state Senate and House of Delegates, sponsored police reform bills throughout her 20-year political career, including a bill that failed mere weeks before Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Black man, died of injuries he sustained while in police custody.

In Carter’s opinion, had...Read more

For the first half of his career in law enforcement, working as a police officer in South Florida, Chase Fopiano did not think cyberattacks on police agencies were a serious threat.

Many of his law enforcement colleagues were under the same impression — that since they were the most likely to investigate the attacks, there was no way ...Read more

They’re the fixers, the ones who step in when Affordable Care Act enrollees have a problem with their coverage, like a newborn incorrectly left off a policy or discovering that a rogue broker had signed them up or switched their plan without consent.

Specially trained caseworkers help resolve such issues, which might otherwise cause consumers...Read more

As climate change drastically increases the frequency and severity of wildfires, power companies say they’re facing growing risk for payouts that could bankrupt them or require massive rate hikes on customers.

Across the West, electrical utilities are pushing state lawmakers to grant them legal immunity or limit damage payouts if their ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump was welcoming governors to the White House in February when he sought out Maine Gov. Janet Mills, demanding to know whether she would comply with his ban on transgender athletes in women's sports.

"I'm complying with state and federal laws," Mills replied.

Trump responded, "We are the federal law" He ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California has halted a court-ordered medical parole program, opting instead to send its most incapacitated prisoners back to state lockups or release them early.

The unilateral termination is drawing protests from attorneys representing prisoners and the author of the state’s medical parole legislation, who say it ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Medi-Cal, California’s complex, $174.6 billion Medicaid program, provides health insurance for nearly 15 million residents with low incomes and disabilities. The state enrolls twice as many people as New York and more than three times as many as Texas — the two states with the largest number of Medicaid participants ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After nearly a decade of unprecedented taxpayer spending on homelessness with little to show in improvement on the streets, the giant nonprofits behind the measures that secured that funding asked voters to double down.

To assuage concerns that past funds may have been dispensed rashly, leading to waste and abuse, the authors of...Read more

It’s that time of the year when yellow pollen coats everything from windshields to streets. It’s not just from flowers and shrubs. Pollen that piles up under oak and pine trees also add some of the sneeziest allergens to the mix.

Some studies suggest that warmer temperatures — climate change is driving Miami’s temperatures up if you ...Read more

NEW YORK — Five years after producer Harvey Weinstein’s since-overturned landmark #MeToo conviction, a prosecutor unveiled new sexual assault allegations involving a minor in opening statements Wednesday at his Manhattan retrial.

The ailing and jailed Weinstein was once a Hollywood power player who preyed upon young women in a “profoundly...Read more

About 300 people packed U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs’ town hall this week in El Cajon, California, many looking for answers and reassurance from the Democratic congresswoman about how to push back against President Trump’s agenda.

Constituents wanted to know: What can we realistically do to fight Trump administration policies? Are recent protests ...Read more

SEATTLE — A group of residents from the Denny Blaine neighborhood is suing Seattle over its management of Denny Blaine Park, a 2-acre plot on Lake Washington that the lawsuit argues has been home to frequent public masturbation and indecent exposure.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, is the latest step in a multiyear fight over the park and its ...Read more

A World War II bomber has been discovered 3 miles deep in the Pacific Ocean, and it’s still fully armed with an 83-year-old bomb fixed to the wing, NOAA Ocean Exploration says.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber fell to the seafloor trapped inside the USS Yorktown, which was sunk by a Japanese submarine after the 1942 Battle of Midway.

...Read more

DEDHAM, Mass. — A key witness in the defense’s theory of a conspiracy to frame Karen Read is all over the retrial before she’s even been called.

Jennifer McCabe was the focus of one of the most hotly contested factors in the first trial, and if Wednesday’s continuing testimony from her friend Kerry Roberts is any indication, McCabe will...Read more

CHICAGO — With his announcement Wednesday that he would not seek reelection next year, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois set into motion an upheaval of Democratic politics involving current officeholders looking at the potential risks and rewards of seeking a coveted U.S. Senate seat and its potential for long-term job security.

Even before ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass returned to Sacramento Wednesday to lobby state leaders for money to help close the city’s nearly $1 billion budget hole.

This is Bass’ second visit to the state Capitol in as many months — a homecoming of sorts for a former Assembly speaker who helped navigate the state’s 2009 budget ...Read more

The Trump administration is considering reducing tariffs on auto parts ahead of a May 3 deadline that has drawn the ire of global carmakers, according to the Financial Times.

The proposal would exempt car parts from tariffs President Donald Trump has levied on imports from China to stop fentanyl production, people familiar with the plan told ...Read more