A series of powerful winter storms threatened to slam California with relentless rains, heavy winds and mountain snow as holiday travelers hit the road for Christmas.
A federal judge in New York declared a mistrial in the case of a former aide to two governors who is charged with acting as an unregistered Chinese agent who received kickbacks for influencing the state government.
Senate Republicans kicked off President Trump's second term by confirming his Cabinet faster than any of the three previous administrations, but slogged through the processing of lower-level nominations amid an unprecedented Democratic blockade.
Three inmates who escaped from a jail east of Atlanta, including one who was being held on a murder charge, used jail phones to call friends on the outside who met them and arranged a Lyft ride to whisk them out of Georgia, authorities said Tuesday.
A federal judge ruled that California schools can't conceal students' opposite-sex gender identities from their families, delivering a smackdown of the hotly contested state policy in a landmark victory for parental-rights advocates.