WASHINGTON — The arrival of a U.S aircraft-carrier strike group in the Middle East has given President Donald Trump new, more forceful options to carry out his threats to attack Iran, but the choices carry serious risks of retaliation from Tehran.

At the same time, Trump’s shifting messages about his goals — removing Iran’s leaders, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — In January, promotional posters for "Melania," a documentary film about the first lady, were installed at bus stops across Los Angeles.

But soon, the posters began to accumulate graffiti, photos show: devil horns scribbled atop her head, a Hitler-style mustache and scrawled expletives referring to her husband's association with ...Read more

Hundreds of organizations from across the country are staging a nationwide economic shutdown on Friday to protest the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies and demand an end to ICE operations.

Activists are calling for a day of “no work, no school (and) no shopping” in response to the fatal shootings of at least four ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles police solved more than two thirds of all homicides citywide in 2025, a year that ended with the fewest number of slayings in six decades, according to statistics presented by local authorities on Thursday.

Of the 230 homicides logged in areas patrolled by the LAPD, officials said that 156, or 68%, were considered ...Read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said he had successfully appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the bombing of cities and towns in Ukraine as the country prepares for an extreme cold snap.

“I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week, and he agreed to do that,” Trump ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — For years, the city of Sandpoint in Idaho’s Panhandle had an ordinance that said everyone could enjoy the “full benefits of citizenship” and equal opportunity “regardless of sexual orientation” or “gender identity/expression.”

The city defined the latter term as a “gender-related identity, appearance, expression...Read more

WASHINGTON — Thom Tillis has always said that he hates the camera. Then he announced his retirement last year.

Now, the moderate Republican from North Carolina cannot stop making headlines.

In a fiery floor speech earlier this year, Tillis said he was leaving the Senate to remove himself from any “boundaries I should have in expressing my ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani upped the ante in a simmering showdown with Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday, threatening budget cuts if she does not move forward with his plan to raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers or fork over to the city a larger share of state money.

If Hochul doesn’t grant any of those asks, then “all it leaves the city ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — School officials in Fairfield canceled a planned visit by U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon after the district said there was pushback from parents about her visit.

McMahon, a Connecticut resident, was scheduled to visit McKinley Elementary School on Friday morning as part of the U.S. Education Department’s “...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Even before two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot and killed protester and nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, California lawmakers were lining up bills to push back on the agency for the second year in a row.

With Pretti’s death, however, and the earlier killing of protester Renee Good by ...Read more

NEW YORK — A man pretending to be an FBI agent showed up at the Brooklyn jail holding Luigi Mangione and claimed he had an order to r elease the alleged CEO killer, according to law enforcement sources.

The fake fed, identified as Mark Anderson, 36, walked into the intake section of the MDC Brooklyn jail in Sunset Park Wednesday night, ...Read more

The Indiana legislative session has almost reached the halfway point with major bills advancing at quick pace this week and shifting from one chamber to the other for consideration.

The Senate concluded its session Thursday with all bills on third reading passing. The House took the day off Monday, due to the inclement weather, so its deadlines...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A widely shared image of federal agents surrounding ICU nurse Alex Pretti as one agent holds a gun to the back of his head appears as real as it does horrific.

But a closer look at the photo reveals a headless agent. Such bodily distortion is a red flag that an image used artificial intelligence. In this case, AI enhanced a low-...Read more

Bitter disagreements and fiery exchanges marked a Michigan Senate committee hearing Thursday as lawmakers considered bills that could impede deportation efforts being carried out by President Donald Trump's administration.

One of the measures would limit officers' ability to conduct immigration enforcement actions in places like schools, ...Read more

President Trump's border policy adviser, Tom Homan, said Thursday that federal authorities would wind down immigration crackdowns in Minnesota only if agents were given access to jails to seize undocumented immigrants for deportation.

Speaking to reporters publicly for the first time since arriving Minnesota on Monday after Border Patrol agents...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Teresa Fox and Arwyn Birch were on a Costco run the morning of Jan. 24.

The owners of Nicollet Avenue’s Glam Doll Donuts were walking the aisles when they got a message from the staff: ICE agents were on their street. They ditched their half-filled carts and ran to their car. As they were on the way to the store they opened ...Read more

Melania Trump says her adult son Barron, who turns 20 in March, still requires full-time motherly love.

The first lady made the comment while promoting her new documentary, “Melania,” which features her in the weeks leading up to her husband’s second inauguration last year.

“You need to be there for a child nonstop, especially when ...Read more

WASHINGTON — California officials, Democrats and civil rights groups told the Supreme Court on Thursday the state should be able to use its new congressional map in the midterm elections this fall, arguing the lines were drawn for political rather than racial reasons.

The filings were in response to an appeal from the state Republican Party ...Read more

From coast to coast, groups of people are springing up to protect members of their communities as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents threaten them with violent enforcement.

In Portland, Oregon, community volunteers have delivered food boxes to migrant families scared to leave their homes. In Portland, Maine, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — An Anaheim woman, after five months on the run, has been captured in Mexico and returned to Orange County to face murder charges in the decapitation of her boyfriend.

Alyssa Marie Lira, 23, faces charges of murder and felony enhancement of personal use of a weapon in the slaying of 55-year-old Enrique Gonzalez-Carbajal, whose ...Read more