Tesla says it will cut the cost of its next generation of vehicles in half, largely by using innovative manufacturing techniques and smaller factories. CEO Elon Musk and other executives outlined the goals during a 3 1/2-hour investor day presentation at Tesla's Austin, Texas, headquarters Wednesday as they presented the...
RFK Killer Sirhan Sirhan, Now 78, Denied Release in Latest Parole Bid
A California panel on Wednesday denied parole for Robert F. Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan, saying the 78-year-old prisoner still lacks insight into what caused him to shoot the senator and presidential candidate in 1968, Sirhan's lawyer said. That contradicted the decision by a different parole board two years ago when its...
Classroom Fight at High School Leads to Fatal Stabbing in N. California
A 16-year-old student involved in a fight at a Northern California high school was fatally stabbed Wednesday inside a classroom full of students, authorities said. Another student also suffered a stab wound and the suspect, a 15-year-old freshman, is in custody, according to Santa Rosa police. All three students are...
TikTok Plans to Set Default Time Limits for Users Under 18
TikTok said Wednesday that every account held by a user under the age of 18 will have a default 60-minute daily screen time limit in the coming weeks. The changes arrive during a period in which there are growing concerns among different governments about the app's security. Families have struggled with...
Iran’s President Orders Probe of Poisoning at Girls’ Schools
Iran's president on Wednesday ordered authorities to investigate a series of incidents in which noxious fumes have sickened students at girls' schools, which some officials suspect are attacks targeting women's education. Hundreds of girls at around 30 schools have been sickened since November, with some winding up in hospital beds. Officials...
Supreme Court Seems Ready to Reject Student Loan Forgiveness
Conservative justices holding the Supreme Court's majority seem ready to sink President Joe Biden's plan to wipe away or reduce student loans held by millions of Americans. In arguments lasting more than three hours Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts led his conservative colleagues in questioning the administration's authority to broadly cancel federal student loans...
McCarthy Defends Giving Tucker Carlson Jan. 6 Trove Access
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is defending his decision to give Fox News' Tucker Carlson “exclusive” access to Jan. 6 security footage of the Capitol attack, despite the conservative commentator's own work raising false claims and conspiracy theories about the 2021 riot over Joe Biden's election. McCarthy vowed Tuesday to eventually make roughly 42,000 hours of sensitive Capitol...
Chicago Dem Mayor Ousted in Election Dominated by Crime Worries
Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson will meet in a runoff to be the next mayor of Chicago after voters on Tuesday denied incumbent Lori Lightfoot a second term, issuing a rebuke to a leader who made history as head of the nation’s third-largest city. Vallas, a former schools CEO backed by the...
3 Years After Newsom’s ‘Stay at Home’ Order, Pandemic Emergency Ends
California's coronavirus emergency officially ended Tuesday, nearly three years after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the nation's first statewide stay-at-home order and just days after the state reached the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths related to the virus. As California's emergency winds down, such declarations continue in just five other states — including...
To the Rooftops: Staggering Snowfall in California Mountains
Fresh snow fell in the California mountains on Wednesday, adding to a staggering total that has blocked roads, stranded visitors for days, and left thousands of homes and businesses in the cold without electricity. The Sierra Nevada range in the north and Southern California mountains were under blizzard warnings for a...