The Supreme Court has paved the way for TikTok to be banned in the U.S. on Sunday.

The highest court on Friday upheld a new law that requires the social media app's Chinese owner to sell off TikTok's U.S. business or face a nationwide ban.

"Given just a handful of days after oral argument to issue an opinion, I cannot profess the kind of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Former Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners President Steve Soboroff will lead the city’s wildfire rebuilding effort, Mayor Karen Bass said Friday afternoon.

Soboroff, a real estate developer and longtime civic leader, will serve as chief recovery officer for the city.

“Our absolute priority is to return Angelenos to ...Read more

Jimmy Donaldson has compiled quite the resume since he began making videos as a teenager in his Greenville, North Carolina, bedroom. The world’s most popular YouTube channel. A successful snack line. A new Amazon reality competition that (despite mixed critical reviews) has been watched more than 50 million times in the past month.

A content ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that calls for the shutdown of the U.S. operations of social media app TikTok because of privacy and security concerns related to its Chinese owner.

The justices in a unanimous opinion said the 2024 law does not violate the First Amendment or its protection for freedom of speech. The ...Read more

JERUSALEM — Israel’s full Cabinet approved a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, clearing the way for a six-week pause starting Sunday to the 15 months of war in Gaza.

After the high-level security Cabinet accepted the deal earlier, it gained the approval of the full Cabinet despite opposition by some far-right members ...Read more

NEW YORK — An MTA bus driver lost control of an empty city bus Friday morning and broke through a retaining stone wall in the Spuyten Duyvil section of the Bronx, leaving the vehicle dangling over the street.

The incident occurred shortly after 8:30 a.m., when the unidentified driver crashed through a stone retaining wall over Kappock St. ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — State insurance regulators and county prosecutors are deploying teams to areas affected by the disastrous fires in Los Angeles County to prevent — and prosecute — insurance fraudsters targeting wildfire survivors.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman are partnering to ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — California Attorney General Rob Bonta has sent more than 200 letters to landlords and hotels warning them that they’ve been accused of wildfire-related price gouging, his office announced Friday.

“The price gouging that we’re seeing and hearing about needs to stop now,” Bonta said in a release. “These letters are just ...Read more

Over the past half-decade, the state of Texas has been pushing an evolution in the administration and enforcement of immigration law. Stepping into a traditional federal role, state lawmakers in 2023 passed Senate Bill 4, allowing Texas police to arrest those illegally crossing the border from Mexico.

But that law, which survived ...Read more

WASHINGTON — If confirmed to be U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi would oversee the U.S. Department of Justice.

That could pit one of her attorneys against a company that Bondi lobbied on behalf of last year.

As a lobbyist for Ballard Partners, Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, represented the Tampa-based refrigerant company iGas ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando hotel has agreed to institute new anti-discrimination policies after abruptly canceling a planned conference by an Arab American group in the wake of the outbreak of hostilities in Gaza in 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Managers at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Orlando at SeaWorld claimed they were...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed 13 bills sent to her by the Democratic-led House and Senate at the close of session in December, including legislation that would set up parolee ID programs, expedite petition signature verifications and create penalties for businesses that don't inform the state of plans to outsource a call center...Read more

Members of Congress scrambled to get tickets to as many constituents as possible for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Some held ticket lotteries because demand overwhelmed supply.

Then came word on Friday that the swearing-in was moving indoors because of the anticipated extreme cold.

Suddenly, House offices had to tell...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal prosecutors on Friday unsealed an indictment charging Oakland’s former Mayor Sheng Thao, her longtime romantic partner and the owners of a waste company in a bribery scheme that allegedly influenced city government behind closed doors.

Sheng Thao, Andre Jones and father-and-son Andy and David Duong were indicted on ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump got the last laugh, beating a slew of criminal charges without punishment and defeating his political foes. His reward: dealing with often-clashing Republicans in Congress.

The president-elect is scheduled to return to Washington this weekend to kick off the capital city’s quadrennial pomp and circumstance around a...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal probe has found that drones meant to dazzle holiday season viewers on the shores of Orlando’s Lake Eola didn’t have the most updated flight path programming installed, triggering a chain of mishaps in which some of the aircraft collided with each other, fell from the sky and, in one case, dived into a crowd of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — With fire containment improving and winds dying down, some residents are being allowed back into neighborhoods devastated by the Eaton and Palisades fires.

Los Angeles County officials say as many as 11,000 people will be able to return home as crews continue to get a handle on the deadly Palisades and Eaton fires that started ...Read more

Will she or won’t she?

Palm Beach gossip watchers can’t help but wonder if Donald Trump Jr.’s new girlfriend is going to attend the inauguration in Washington, D.C., on Monday.

There’s a good chance Bettina Anderson may be front and center as she and Jr., though not Instagram official, have been dating for a hot minute.

The two were ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday declared the Equal Rights Amendment the law of the land, creating a constitutional quandary three days before leaving office and after years of warning that his successor would shred the rule of law.

At question is a 1982 deadline for state ratification of the amendment, which the Biden White House ...Read more