A new COVID-19 variant, XEC, has arrived just before fall.

The new variant has sprouted from the omicron variant that developed in late 2021. Although XEC is new, Francois Balloux, director of the Genetics Institute at University College London, told the BBC that he would be surprised if it became the dominant variant throughout winter.

...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper on Thursday called for the California Legislature to pass stricter laws that punishes those selling fentanyl as a large amount of the deadly synthetic opioid is smuggled into his jail facilities.

The sheriff, who spoke at a news conference at the Main Jail in Downtown Sacramento, said ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The House is gearing up to go first on a bipartisan stopgap funding package early next week after nailing down the particulars this weekend, lawmakers said Thursday.

The measure would extend current funding levels, with some “anomalies” allowing for higher rates, likely through Dec. 13, a source familiar with the talks said. ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday was noncommittal when pressed about whether he plans to campaign against Proposition 36, a controversial anti-crime measure on the November ballot that targets theft and drug offenses and has divided Democrats.

“I fear I can’t do everything,” Newsom said Thursday in San Francisco’s ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The general election voting season starts soon in Maryland, with mail-in ballots being sent out as early as Friday, according to Maryland Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis.

All mail-in ballots requested thus far are due to be sent to voters by Monday. Mail-in ballots can be requested online or by mail by Oct. 29 through the ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — The National Hurricane Center on Thursday increased odds that a developing system could head into the Gulf of Mexico and become a tropical depression or storm — while it also kept tabs on two systems in the Atlantic.

As of its 2 p.m. Eastern time tropical outlook, a broad area of low pressure is forecast to form by early ...Read more

Students across Georgia are planning actions to demand what they say are stronger gun safety measures in response to this month’s fatal mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder.

The Morgan Oliver School, an independent school for students in kindergarten through eighth grade in East Atlanta, held a walkout Thursday morning to coincide...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A 76-year-old Anchorage man was arrested this week on federal charges accusing him of threatening to kidnap and kill six U.S. Supreme Court Justices and their relatives in scores of messages beginning last year.

Panos Anastasiou was arrested Wednesday at his Spenard home on 22 charges tied to more than 465 messages sent ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis said the Legislature would step in before the end of the year to help condominium owners facing financial turmoil as a result of new building safety regulations that go into effect Jan. 1.

“At some point over the next three and a half months, something will be done,” he said at a roundtable meeting with ...Read more

BOSTON — The Boston City Council called for an emergency hearing to address U.S. Postal Service failures that it says have caused residents to miss out on “vital” documents and prescriptions and raised mail-in voting concerns ahead of the election.

Councilors Sharon Durkan, Henry Santana, and Benjamin Weber introduced a hearing order ...Read more

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Top election officials from Georgia and other swing states met Thursday to assure the public their elections are fair and accurate.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger outlined a host of measures the state takes to ensure voting is secure. Election officials from Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and...Read more

More than half the world’s population is not getting enough of seven crucial nutrients. It’s an issue the World Health Organization said is a major threat, especially for children and pregnant women in low-income countries.

Published in the journal the Lancet Global Health, researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, UC ...Read more

NEW YORK — An NYPD inspector has been tapped to become the department’s First Amendment protest supervisor — a newly created position mandated by a federal legal settlement forcing police to overhaul how they handle demonstrations, the Daily News has learned.

The settlement was reached last September after talks between the city, various ...Read more

Multiple sexual assaults facilitated by spiked drinks were reported to UC Berkeley recently, according to school officials.

According to a WarnMe message sent to the community Tuesday, the incident occurred Friday around 11:55 p.m. on College Avenue. WarnMe is an emergency notification system to send warnings from campus police.

There were ...Read more

NEW YORK — A Jewish teacher who was targeted during a protest at a Queens high school over her support of Israel is suing New York City for failing to protect her and allowing antisemitic harassment — despite advance notice of the demonstration.

Karen Marder, who continues to teach at Hillcrest High School in Jamaica, said its former ...Read more

NEW YORK — Winnie Greco, a senior City Hall adviser to Mayor Adams, reported in her latest financial disclosure that she has for decades owned a Bronx house that was raided by the FBI this year — raising questions why she didn’t list the same property on previous financial forms.

Greco owns the property in Pelham Bay with her husband, ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Freddie Owens is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, when he will be brought into South Carolina’s death chamber and given a lethal injection.

Details about how he spends his final day, however, will not be made public due to the state’s shield law and the S.C. Department of Corrections policy.

The...Read more

BALTIMORE — When the gunfire started, Jonathan Chih’s first thought was that the silhouetted figure standing several feet away from him along a dark road in Cockeysville had punched him in the face

It took a moment before Chih, then a detective with the Baltimore County Police Department’s vice and narcotics section, realized the person ...Read more

NEW YORK — Rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, facing federal sex trafficking charges, has been moved out of solitary confinement at the notorious MDC Brooklyn jail, the Daily News has learned.

Combs, who was indicted Tuesday on racketeering and sex trafficking charges, was initially placed in the special housing unit, or SHU, which is SOP for ...Read more