LOS ANGELES — It was a little after 8 a.m. when the owner of Sun Packing and his employee rolled up the metal door of their narrow storefront on Pico Boulevard in L.A.’s Fashion District.

The neighborhood is home to hundreds of merchants selling everything from neckties to quinceañera dresses to bright swaths of fabric. Neighboring vendors...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Look at the armpits — or, technically, the “wingpits.”

That’s what Scott Mehus, education director at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minn., told a group of bird watchers recently as they prepared to scan the winter skies for a majestic raptor that’s especially tricky to identify: the golden eagle.

It’s easy ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — U.S. Rep. Summer Lee sent a congressional inquiry last week to Immigration and Customs Enforcement demanding the agency provide justification for the arrest of a man in Brentwood.

Lee, D-Swissvale, said the man, Maklim Gomez Escalante, 35, had a valid work permit and no criminal record when he was arrested in mid-January. He is ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump and his allies are questioning ballot security. Democrats are warning of unconstitutional federal intervention. Experts and others are raising concerns about partisan redistricting and federal immigration agents intimidating people at the polls.

Voter trust in the upcoming midterm elections, meanwhile, has...Read more

President Donald Trump said that U.S. government officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, are in discussions with Cuba’s Communist regime as the island nation faces worsening economic conditions.

“We’re talking to Cuba right now, and Marco Rubio is talking to Cuba right now,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

Cuba should “...Read more

The CEO of the embattled California High-Speed Rail Authority was arrested this month at his Folsom home on suspicion of domestic battery, hours after appearing beside Gov. Gavin Newsom at a rail event in Kern County.

According to Folsom police logs, Ian Choudri, 57, was arrested just after midnight Feb. 4 following a domestic disturbance call ...Read more

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held talks with the head of the U.N.’s atomic watchdog in Geneva on Monday, ahead of a second round of nuclear negotiations with the U.S.

During his meeting with Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Araghchi discussed “proposals” he’ll present at ...Read more

President Donald Trump said that he’s discussing future weapons sales to Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping and teased that he would soon make a decision about future defense support for the self-governing island.

“I’m talking to him about it. We had a good conversation, and we’ll make a determination pretty soon,” Trump told ...Read more

DETROIT — Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison said he plans to fire two officers who in recent months called Customs and Border Patrol at traffic stops, leading to detentions.

At a Board of Police Commissioners' meeting on Thursday, Bettison said he had suspended with pay an officer and a sergeant who called CBP at the two traffic stops. He ...Read more

Frederick Wiseman, a preeminent documentary filmmaker, has died. He was 96.

The filmmaker's death was announced by his family Monday in a statement released by Zipporah Films, Wiseman's distribution company.

In a career that lasted nearly 60 years, Wiseman produced and directed 45 films beginning in 1967 with "Titicut Follies," a documentary ...Read more

Idaho lawmakers fiercely debated a proposal to allow people to sue businesses and local governments that allow transgender people to use the restrooms aligning with their gender identity.

For sponsor Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, it boiled down to a question of safety in women’s bathrooms and locker rooms after he received “numerous” phone ...Read more

A bill requiring Washington state employers to warn immigrant workers of potential federal immigration enforcement action passed the state House Friday and now heads to the Senate.

The Immigrant Workers Protection Act, proposed in October by state Attorney General Nick Brown, would require employers to notify workers within 72 hours of ...Read more

Colorado Department of Corrections officials forced inmates to work prison jobs through coercion that ultimately amounted to involuntary servitude, a Denver judge ruled Friday.

The state’s prisons unconstitutionally coerced labor by levying severe punishments — including solitary confinement — against prisoners who refused to work, Denver...Read more

Tributes poured in Monday as friends, fans and Hollywood contemporaries fondly remembered Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall following his death on Sunday.

Duvall’s wife Luciana Duvall announced his death on his official Facebook page, stating the actor and filmmaker “passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort.”

“It ...Read more

CHICAGO — After a snow-steeped and sometimes bone-chilling January, Chicago is enjoying a downright balmy — even record-setting — start to the week.

But don’t pack up your sweaters just yet.

The glimpse of spring will remain just a preview as temperatures dial back down this weekend to the brisk conditions more typical for this time of...Read more

A suspect shot five people at a Rhode Island ice rink Monday afternoon, as a “family dispute” turned deadly during a high school hockey game.

Two victims were killed and the suspect was dead following the apparent targeted family shooting at Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, according to police.

Three other people were shot and were ...Read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler married Fox News reporter Brooke Singman over the weekend in a Valentine's Day wedding at the iconic St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

The Republican congressman — who serves in House leadership and represents the southwestern corner of the state — had been engaged to Ms. Singman since June...Read more

Murder is not a crime of violence — at least not as a matter of federal law, a Brooklyn judge has ruled as he dismissed two charges in a possible death penalty case against a terrorism suspect.

Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Brian Cogan made the head-scratcher of a pre-trial ruling Feb. 6 in an international terrorism case where the suspect is ...Read more

Federal authorities will respond to the 300-plus-gallon sewage spill in the Potomac River, President Donald Trump said Monday in a Truth Social post where he blamed Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and other Democrats for the spill.

“There is a massive Ecological Disaster unfolding in the Potomac River as a result of the Gross Mismanagement of Local ...Read more