U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said that the independence of the Federal Reserve was based on Americans' trust of the central bank, which it lost because it allowed inflation to get out of control and "ravage" their incomes. Bessent, asked at a House of Representatives Financial Services Committee...
SW Kings County GSA: Register Your Wells or Face $1,000 Daily Fines, Shutoff
The Southwest Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency held its first meeting in six months and covered a lot of ground — including setting a policy to fine landowners $1,000 a day for not registering their wells and vowing to sue a neighboring GSA. It also changed the location of its meetings...
US Supreme Court Allows Pro-Democratic California Voting Map
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed California on Wednesday to use a new electoral map designed to give Democrats five more congressional seats, improving the party's chances of regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives from President Donald Trump's Republicans in the November midterm elections. The justices denied the California...
US Carries out Strikes in Syria Targeting Islamic States, Military Says
U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday that it carried out five strikes against multiple Islamic State targets in Syria, including a weapons storage facilities with 50 precision munitions. The strikes were carried out between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2, it said. — (Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by...
Oil Prices Climb 3% on Report US Officials Reject Iran’s Request to Change Location of Talks
Oil prices climbed about 3% on Wednesday on a report that the U.S. would not agree to change the location and format of talks with Iran planned for Friday. Brent futures rose $2.06, or 3.06%, to $69.39 a barrel at 1:09 p.m. EST (1809 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate...
Man Convicted of Attempting to Assassinate Trump Sentenced to Life
Ryan Routh, a man accused of hiding in the bushes of a Florida golf course with a semi-automatic rifle to try to assassinate Donald Trump less than two months before the 2024 U.S. election that returned him to the presidency, was sentenced by a judge on Wednesday to life in...
Lee H. Hamilton, a Foreign Policy Power in Congress, Dies at 94
Lee H. Hamilton, a former Democratic member of Congress from rural Indiana who became a major voice in foreign policy during the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s and in national security investigations after the terrorist attacks of 2001, died Tuesday at his home in Bloomington, Indiana. He was 94. His...
The Race to Face Valadao and Other Congressional Fundraising Stats
Two Democrats are locked in a fundraising and endorsement battle as they seek to flip the seat held by Rep. David Valadao. Valadao, R-Hanford, has continually defied election odds, winning his congressional district despite a voter registration advantage that favors Democrats. If the current redistricting map holds, he will face...
Kern County Authorities Seek Public’s Help in Sexual Assault on Minor Case
The Kern County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help identifying a suspect in a sexual assault on a minor that authorities say occurred in the community of Lamont. According to the sheriff’s office, a juvenile female was walking home from her bus stop near the intersection of Buena...
OpenAI’s ChatGPT Down for Thousands Again, Downdetector Reports
OpenAI's ChatGPT experienced a possible outage Wednesday, according to Downdetector.com. More than 4,000 users had reported problems with the platform as of 9:26 a.m. PST, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collecting status reports from multiple sources. The platform had an outage on Tuesday where more than 28,000 users...