A federal judge in Los Angeles on Tuesday canceled all future hearings and closed a hotly contested legal case that sought to force California to set aside ballots from some 20,000 people the Trump administration said were likely to be noncitizens.

But U.S. District Judge David Carter did not resist taking a final swipe at the Justice ...Read more

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday opted for a new face atop their ranks, electing Rep. Jim Jordan as the incoming minority leader for the 120th Congress after Republicans suffered massive losses in last week’s midterm elections.

The Ohio Republican defeated outgoing Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., in a closed-door, secret-...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — University police got their first inkling that something was wrong at North Carolina State’s Sigma Nu fraternity on the evening of Sept. 9. And even then, it was only because the fraternity brothers set off the smoke alarm.

Police hadn’t yet seen the videos on fraternity leaders’ phones that would confirm their worst ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Legislation to legalize marijuana in some form could have a better chance of passing next year, with Democrats set to take control of the North Carolina House of Representatives in January.

Republicans lost their House majority in the Nov. 3 election and are one seat away from losing their majority in the Senate.

That means ...Read more

Five months after President Donald Trump passed him over to endorse Ty Masterson in the Republican gubernatorial primary, former Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer has been nominated to join the Trump administration.

Trump on Monday picked Colyer to serve as ambassador to the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.

The Johnson County surgeon was among 22 ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — When Gov.-elect Aaron Ford takes office in January, he’ll have two key gaming regulatory appointments to make in his first month on the job.

The terms of Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Mike Dreitzer and board member George Assad end Jan. 29, according to information provided by Control Board sources.

Dreitzer and Assad ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday were weighing whether to postpone their leadership elections after what several senators described as a “frank” conversation about their midterm losses last week.

But so far, no official candidate has emerged to challenge John Thune, R-S.D., for the post of minority leader in the new Congress.

...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Republican attorneys general in 13 states, including Kentucky, are using a University of Kentucky lawsuit as an example of cases in which universities should be allowed to restrict what professors can say, pushing back on claims UK and other universities have violated the First Amendment, in a court brief to the United States ...Read more

SEATTLE — Opponents of Washington state Initiative 638 are suing in an attempt to block the ban on transgender girls in girls school sports from taking effect.

Attorneys for Legal Voice, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and Pacific Law Group said they filed a lawsuit against the initiative Monday night on behalf of the state ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Did California help Texas turn blue?

One of the biggest stories of this month’s Democratic sweep in the midterms is that a very red Texas elected a Democratic U.S. Senator and governor.

Pundits cite many theories for the surprising results: Anger over the Iran war, high gas prices, Donald Trump fatigue and data centers.

But ...Read more

NEW YORK — More than 138,000 New York City public school students, or about 1 out of every 8 — were homeless during the last school year, according to new data released Tuesday.

While the numbers mark the first sign the student homelessness rate is falling across the five boroughs after reaching consecutive record highs, advocates say the ...Read more

A Penn State fraternity was placed on interim suspension Friday and two more are under investigation for what a university spokesperson described as “allegations of misconduct.”

Zeta Beta Tau, 429 E. Hamilton Ave., in State College, Pennsylvania, is on interim suspension while facing allegations of what Penn State characterized as “...Read more

NEW YORK — New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin wants local university presidents to testify under oath about what their schools are doing to protect students from sexual assault amid outcry over 2024 gang rape allegations at a Cornell University fraternity house.

On Tuesday, Menin, D-Manhattan, plans to announce a Dec. 15 Council ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — An 8-year-old Haitian boy who lost protected status earlier this year was placed in federal custody after an immigration check-in last week in San Diego, according to federal and school district officials.

The boy, who has not been publicly identified, was placed in the government's custody during a routine check-in on Nov. 5, a...Read more

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mounted a combative defense against the impeachment effort against him in Congress, casting the move as a politicized attack on U.S. troops and lawful military operations ordered by President Donald Trump.

“I was proud to execute” Trump’s orders, he said, “and I would do it again.”

...Read more

Ukraine and Russia wrapped up the first day of new U.S.-led peace talks, as Washington and Kyiv’s European allies stressed the importance of credible security guarantees as part of any deal to end the war.

The trilateral discussions in Abu Dhabi ended after more than four hours and will resume on Wednesday. Ukraine regards the talks as ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — A St. Cloud Middle School student was arrested Monday for allegedly threatening to shoot up his school on a social media livestream.

The 14-year-old student made the threats while live on TikTok, the St. Cloud Police Department said in a statement. The school’s resource officer was notified of the alleged threat late Sunday ...Read more

In most races in the midterm elections on Nov. 3, 2026, Americans had only two realistic choices: Democrats and Republicans.

As a scholar of parties and elections, I am often asked why the U.S. has only two major parties, while other democracies offer voters three, four or even five choices. The U.S. system looks weird compared to ...Read more

A family of five is exposed to the flu virus, but only two of them get sick. A lifelong chain-smoker lives 100 years, while a professional athlete in their prime dies of an unexpected heart attack. A drug fails a clinical trial due to harmful side effects in a subset of patients despite showing good results in others.

Could any of ...Read more

Unregulated peptides for weight loss, muscle building, longevity and more are a roaring wellness fad – even though these substances have not been proved safe and effective and have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Until now, consumers were getting wellness peptides online through the so-called gray market,...Read more