DENVER — Colorado’s top leaders on Wednesday were not short on adjectives to describe Nebraska’s petition asking the country’s highest court to weigh in on a long-simmering water dispute between the states.

Attorney General Phil Weiser called the Cornhusker State’s filing over the South Platte River Compact “baseless” during a ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court may help the GOP keep control of the House of Representatives next year by clearing the way for Republican-led states to redraw election districts now held by Black Democrats.

That prospect formed the backdrop on Wednesday as the justices debated the future of the Voting Rights Act in a case from Louisiana.

...Read more

MIAMI — The trial of the OnlyFans model charged with stabbing her boyfriend to death in a luxury Miami high-rise will no longer begin in December, a judge said Wednesday.

At a hearing Wednesday morning, prosecutors and defense attorneys for Courtney Clenney, 29, indicated that they were not ready for the Dec. 1 trial date due to several ...Read more

NEW YORK — Women abused by Jeffrey Epstein sued Bank of America in Manhattan on Wednesday, alleging its executives violated banking laws and ignored red flags out of “absolute loyalty” to the deceased financier and disregard for victims of his child sex trafficking ring.

The Manhattan federal court suit, filed on behalf of an individual ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared ready Wednesday to rule against requiring Louisiana to have a second Black-majority district, as conservative and liberal justices clashed at oral arguments over what role race should play in congressional redistricting.

Justices spent more than two hours discussing the state’s congressional map that ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A coalition of mostly Republican-run states has filed a joint brief in support of an effort to immediately block transgender athletes in Minnesota from competing in girls sports while a federal lawsuit debating the matter is litigated through the courts.

Attorneys general in 19 states argued in a brief filed Tuesday that ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell warned Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Wednesday to stop trying to “manufacture a pretext for my removal,” sending unusual letters to him and to Gov. Ron DeSantis that urged the Republican leaders to “set aside the political theater.”

In the 10 months since ...Read more

A majority of Americans support outlawing conversion therapy for minors, according to a new YouGov/Economist survey.

At the same time, most doubt the effectiveness of the controversial practice, saying it cannot change a person’s sexual orientation from gay to straight.

The poll comes as a case is currently before the Supreme Court ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a state of emergency this week that could benefit tenants and others hurt by the Trump administration's ongoing immigration crackdown in Southern California.

The action Tuesday is the latest and one of most sweeping efforts by local authorities to push back at immigration ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — An influential conservative Christian lobbying group in Boise falsely claimed that a drag performer indecently exposed himself during a performance in North Idaho, a judge ruled last week.

But the judge said whether the false statements were defamatory would have to be determined by a jury.

The drag performer, Eric Posey, last...Read more

Mexico might be replacing Venezuela as Cuba’s key economic savior, sending $3 billion in oil between May and August, some of it in a Cuban ship under U.S. sanctions, a Mexican group fighting corruption claims.

The explosive allegations appear in a report by Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad — Mexicans Against Corruption and ...Read more

Two Maryland teenagers who pleaded guilty to assaulting a former Department of Government Efficiency employee in Washington, D.C., earlier this year were back in court Tuesday for sentencing.

The two 15-year-olds, a boy and a girl, were arrested in August in connection with the attempted carjacking and beating of Edward Coristine — a 19-year-...Read more

The United States passport no longer ranks among the top 10 most useful passports after once topping the list.

In 2014, it was the passport that gave U.S. citizens access to more countries than any others without having to be accompanied by a visa.

The Henley Passport Index now ranks it the 12th most powerful passport in a tie with the ...Read more

CHICAGO — A Chicago man has been indicted on charges he solicited the murder of U.S. Border Patrol field boss Gregory Bovino, but the bare-bones document makes no mention of previous allegations that he is a high-ranking gang member.

Juan Espinoza Martinez, 37, of Chicago, was arrested last week and charged with one count of solicitation of ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lance Shockley, convicted in the fatal shooting of a Missouri state trooper, was executed by lethal injection Tuesday evening, marking Missouri’s first state execution this year and the first under Gov. Mike Kehoe, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

In 2009, Shockley was convicted in the March 2005 killing...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court may help the GOP keep control of the House of Representatives next year by clearing the way for Republican-led states to redraw election districts now held by Black Democrats.

That prospect formed the backdrop on Wednesday as the justices debated the future of the Voting Rights Act in a case from Louisiana.

The...Read more

CHICAGO — Chicago inspector general Deborah Witzburg has recommended a top adviser to Mayor Brandon Johnson be fired and placed on a do not hire list for failing to cooperate with an investigation into City Hall’s handling of a negotiation with an alderman.

Johnson declined to fire the adviser, senior Jason Lee, and denied that he failed to...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams told senior officials in his administration Wednesday that he has received at least one offer for a job once he leaves City Hall at the end of the year, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Adams, who last month abandoned his reelection bid amid continuing controversies stemming from his ...Read more