WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said “the land is going to be next” in his campaign to halt the flow of drugs into the U.S. from Venezuela, the clearest indication yet that he’s preparing to broaden strikes that have so far been limited to targets at sea.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump directed Defense ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The man accused of igniting the deadly Palisades fire was back in California on Thursday, making his first appearance in a federal courtroom in downtown Los Angeles.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is charged with destruction of property by means of fire; one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce; and one ...Read more

A federal judge in Seattle this week blocked the Trump administration’s termination of more than $9 million for work in Washington state intended to help adapt to climate change.

The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges Tribal Steward Program received about $9.3 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to train more than 2,000 ...Read more

CHICAGO — Attorneys in an ongoing federal lawsuit Thursday accused Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino who, according to recent testimony is the head official leading “Operation Midway Blitz,” of violating a temporary restraining order by personally throwing tear gas toward a crowd of protesters during an immigration enforcement operation ...Read more

Harvard University reported admissions data showing that the share of Asian American students in its freshman class rose while the percentage of Black students fell for the second straight year.

Asian American students make up 41% of the latest group of first-year students at Harvard College, up from 37% a year earlier, according to a report ...Read more

Highly anticipated federal immigration raids in San Francisco were paused after a phone call between Mayor Daniel Lurie and President Donald Trump, the mayor said Thursday.

“Late last night, I received a phone call from the President of the United States. I told him the same thing I told our residents: San Francisco is on the rise. Visitors ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — More than 80 new billboards encouraging the public to report violent crimes went live on Thursday as a result of a partnership between local and federal law enforcement.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Delzotto and Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill announced a new campaign to target violent crime in ...Read more

A Washington, D.C., man is suing after he says he was wrongfully detained for playing a “Star Wars” song at military troops.

Sam O’Hara, 35, filed the lawsuit against an Ohio National Guard member, several individuals with the D.C. Office of Attorney General, and the District of Columbia on Thursday.

The District of Columbia declined a ...Read more

A federal judge in Mississippi has admitted that his staff used artificial intelligence to draft a flawed court order, after months of speculation and an inquiry from a U.S. senator.

U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate sent a letter on Tuesday to the director of the Administrative Office of the Courts in response to an inquiry from Senate ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Leading Senate Republicans want to vote within the next month on a package of bills to pressure Russia to compromise in Ukraine peace talks, but it’s not clear if President Donald Trump will back the legislation.

A White House official said any such bills must not tie Trump’s hands.

“The White House is working with ...Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had called off a planned federal “surge” into San Francisco after speaking with Mayor Daniel Lurie and other city leaders — a detente that officials and activists in the East Bay said they were not welcomed into and viewed with some suspicion, as potentially enlarging the ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency Thursday to prevent a lapse in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for Virginians beginning Nov. 1 as a result of the ongoing government shutdown.

The shutdown has left the U.S. Department of Agriculture roughly $3 billion short in its multi-year contingency fund ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is readying a proposal to open almost all U.S. coastal waters to new offshore oil drilling despite opposition from state governors and the president’s previous efforts to close off some of the territory.

The draft plan for selling oil leases includes waters near the southeast U.S. that President Donald...Read more

NEW YORK — Independent mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo came under fire Thursday over his role in an exchange during which conservative talk show host Sid Rosenberg said Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, who is Muslim, would be “cheering” for a second 9/11.

As he sought to make a point about Mamdani’s lack of experience, Cuomo posed ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — One University of Pennsylvania faculty member was called into a university office to answer for assigning “a pedagogically-relevant reading about conflict in Palestine,” others for political posts on personal social media accounts.

One faced questions for wearing a stole with the Palestinian flag at an off-campus event.

...Read more

The son of Republican candidate for Illinois governor Darren Bailey, along with two of Bailey’s grandchildren and daughter-in-law, were killed in a helicopter crash in Montana, the former state senator’s campaign announced early Thursday.

“On Wednesday evening, Darren and his wife, Cindy, received the heartbreaking news no parent ever ...Read more