SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Elizabeth Williams could not understand why the city threw away her tent, her laptop and all her medications — twice. Now, the meticulous receipt-saver is suing Sacramento for $12,239.43 in small claims court.

Trashing her belongings, she argued in court filings, was a violation of her Fourth and 14th Amendment rights, ...Read more

In the summer of 1868, the 14th Amendment was ratified, granting birthright citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States.”

Crafted in the aftermath of the Civil War, the landmark legislation was aimed at providing citizenship to formerly enslaved people. The amendment directly undid the ruling of the 1857 U.S. ...Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. — City leaders made clear earlier this month that speeding drivers clocked by dozens of new cameras surveilling Oakland’s streets would face real penalties, following a brief stretch in which those individuals received only warnings.

All along, however, they have quietly acknowledged that the city currently lacks the ability...Read more

WASHINGTON — It was a beautiful, warm Sunday in Washington, D.C., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski was leaving the Capitol to go “pot some plants.”

The Alaska Republican, along with her Senate colleagues, were in town that day for a rare weekend session to continue extended debate on the GOP’s voter ID bill pushed by President Donald Trump.

...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Earlier this month, scientists at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, issued an “El Niño Watch” for this summer. They said there is a 62% chance that El Niño conditions will appear from June through August, growing to 83% by October.

That triggered a lot of hype about “Super El Niños,” “...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For decades, Dolores Huerta told an inspiring story about the union she and César Chávez built and how it changed the lives of farmworkers.

The two activists famously formulated a plan for what would become the United Farm Workers in a kitchen in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of L.A. They were partners in decades of labor ...Read more

The U.S. and Israel bombed Iranian nuclear and steel facilities on Friday, while Iran retaliated across the Persian Gulf including a reported hit on a base in Saudi Arabia, as markets reacted to fears of the conflict’s drag on the global economy.

Airstrikes on Friday targeted a heavy water research reactor that’s part of the Arak nuclear ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky Court of Appeals judge ordered a Jefferson family court judge to recall an arrest warrant Friday for former Gov. Matt Bevin after ruling that judge did not have the authority to issue the warrant.

Bevin’s warrant was issued Tuesday after Judge Angela Johnson held him in contempt of court for repeatedly failing to...Read more

CHICAGO — A Cook County judge on Friday denied the release of a man accused of killing Sheridan Gorman, the 18-year-old Loyola University, Chicago student whose shooting death became a lightning rod in the polarizing debate over immigration policy.

José Medina, 25, who is charged with murder and other felonies, appeared remotely for a ...Read more

NEW YORK — Bank of America Corp. agreed to pay $72.5 million to settle a lawsuit on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein victims claiming the bank aided in the late financier’s sex-trafficking.

The parties on Friday presented details of the previously announced settlement to U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan. Rakoff, who must approve the ...Read more

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll will be attending two of several No Kings rallies scheduled across Massachusetts on Saturday as the governor continues to increase her criticism of and actions against President Donald Trump and his policies ever since launching her reelection campaign in January.

“On Saturday, March 28th...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A federal judge has dismissed the remaining charges against two Louisville Metro Police Department officers in the Breonna Taylor case.

Senior District Judge Charles Simpson on Friday issued an order dismissing the case against former Louisville Officers Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany, one week after the Department of Justice ...Read more

Gulf countries are increasingly frustrated with the U.S. over the Iran war, privately questioning American security guarantees and expressing concern about the Trump administration’s apparent lack of strategy, according to people familiar with the matter.

One month into the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran that they spent a year lobbying ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge on Friday dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit against Minnesota targeting the state’s policies that allow in-state tuition benefits to undocumented students.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, argued the state is “flagrantly violating” federal law by allowing ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A Santa Clara County judge late this week ordered the district attorney’s office to turn over records sought by defense attorneys trying to remove District Attorney Jeff Rosen from retrying a felony vandalism case against five pro-Palestinian activists.

The motion was filed earlier this month as part of an effort to bar ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Old Dominion University officials declined to say Friday how many students answered a questionnaire disseminated by the university asking them to disclose their criminal histories.

The university sent the two-question form to its roughly 24,000 students last week, a few days after the fatal shooting on campus, and asked them to...Read more

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Group of Seven counterparts traded barbs over the wars in Iran and Ukraine, casting doubt on Europe bowing to Donald Trump’s demand for military help in the Persian Gulf.

“The United States is constantly being asked to help in a war,” Rubio said, referring to Ukraine, before taking off for the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After years of demonstrators repeatedly shutting down freeway traffic around downtown Los Angeles, Caltrans has installed large metal swing gates onto freeway ramps ahead of this weekends "No Kings" protests.

Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol finished installing swing gates early Friday morning on Los Angeles Street ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s $7 billion city budget proposal includes two tax-raising measures that will require state approval, meaning she will have to win over Harrisburg Republicans who control the state Senate to make her plan a reality.

It turns out Parker will also need to convince at least one notable ...Read more