SACRAMENTO — Frustrated by out-of-control increases in drug overdose deaths, California's leaders are trying something radical: They want the state to be the first to pay people to stay sober. The federal government has been doing it for years with military veterans and research shows it is one of the...
Supreme Court Orders ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy Reinstated
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Biden administration likely violated federal law in trying to end a Trump-era program that forces people to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S. With three liberal justices in dissent, the high court refused to block a lower court...
Feds Report Most Rental Assistance Has Still Not Gone Out
BOSTON — States and localities have only distributed 11% of the tens of billions of dollars in federal rental assistance, the Treasury Department said Wednesday, the latest sign the program is struggling to reach the millions of tenants at risk of eviction. The latest data shows that the pace of...
EXPLAINER: What’s Happening With Afghanistan Evacuations?
WASHINGTON — Since the Taliban seized the Afghan capital on Aug. 14, more than 70,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan in the largest U.S. airlift evacuation in history. While the pace has picked up in recent days, it’s still a chaotic scramble as people seek to escape. Afghans trying...
Crews Struggle to Stop Fire Bearing Down on Lake Tahoe
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — A wildfire that gutted hundreds of homes advanced toward Lake Tahoe on Wednesday as thousands of firefighters tried to box in the flames and tourists who hoped to boat or swim were enveloped in a thick yellow haze of the nation's worst air. The Caldor Fire...
Audit: Housing Agency Bungled COVID-19 Funds for California Homeless
California's state housing agency didn't properly distribute federal relief funds meant to help homeless residents during the coronavirus pandemic, and the mismanagement was so prolonged that local organizations may lose the money because of missed deadlines, auditors said Tuesday. After receiving $316 million under the federal CARES Act to reduce...
Passed Out Man Found With 300 California Recall Ballots
TORRANCE — California authorities are investigating why a man found passed out in a car had more than 300 unopened mail-in ballots for the gubernatorial recall election. The man was arrested Aug. 16 after being found in a store parking lot in Torrance, police said. Investigators with the Torrance police...
G-7 Leaders Can’t Sway Biden to Delay Afghanistan Withdrawal
WASHINGTON — Sharply divided leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies clashed Tuesday over U.S. President Joe Biden’s insistence on withdrawing from Afghanistan by August 31 in the face of the Taliban takeover of the country. “The president conveyed that our mission in Kabul will end based on the...
House Passes $3.5T Biden Blueprint After Deal With Moderates
WASHINGTON — Striking a deal with moderates, House Democratic leaders muscled President Joe Biden’s multitrillion-dollar budget blueprint over a key hurdle Tuesday, ending a risky standoff and putting the party’s domestic infrastructure agenda back on track. The 220-212 vote was a first step toward drafting Biden’s $3.5 billion rebuilding plan this...
9 Women Now Serving as Governors in US, Tying a Record
With Kathy Hochul officially taking the reins as New York's governor, a historic number of women are currently leading U.S. states — a push towards equality and representation that could continue into next year’s midterm elections. There are now nine women serving as governor in the U.S. That ties a...