Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm on Sunday after its eyewall skirted Hawaii without making landfall. But it continued to punish the state with hurricane-force gusts and pounding rain, reaching a total of nearly three feet (one meter) in places and sending raging torrents down mountain slopes. A search-and-rescue mission including Civil Defense, the…

Trump orders Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea after he says it declined to help denuclearize Iran

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday to scale back planned joint military exercises with South Korea after the Republican president said South Korea declined to help denuclearize Iran. Trump said in a social media post that the exercises slated to begin this week are costly and “send a signal that is…

ETTRICK, Va. — Authorities were seeking additional people who fired weapons during a shooting at Virginia State University that left five people wounded, police said Sunday, as a 19-year-old suspect remained in custody and investigators sought to unravel what happened. Investigators were trying to determine what led to Saturday’s shooting and if the others who…

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to highlight his record on crime and safety during a visit to New York on Friday, pivoting to one of his strongest issues as he looks to boost Republicans in battleground races ahead of the November midterms. Trump is visiting the Nassau County Police Academy in suburban Long Island,…

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal agents launched a sweeping undercover surveillance operation earlier this year targeting progressive organizations, labor unions and other groups protesting the immigration crackdown then raging through Minneapolis, according to court documents filed Thursday. The program, dubbed Operation Puppet Master, was aimed at what officials called a network of conspirators helping “violent opportunists and…

ORLANDO — Authorities are searching for a trio of modern tomb raiders that they say has stolen family heirlooms and other valuables from cemeteries in at least nine states. The suspects — a mother and daughter, and the daughter’s boyfriend — “went on a tour of the eastern half of the United States,” breaking into…

A court order that struck down regulations on firearm suppressors and certain guns took effect Thursday after the U.S. Justice Department did not file an appeal before a seven-day deadline set by a federal judge in Texas. The ruling allows people to purchase silencers, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and certain other firearms without registration, while…

PHOENIX — Hundreds of Navajos were recruited by the Marine Corps during World War II to create a code based on their native language. Their efforts frustrated the Japanese force and ended up playing a vital role in U.S. victories in the Pacific War. The program remained secret for decades and in 1982, President Ronald…

Tennessee and Oklahoma put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other Thursday and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in one day for the first time since 2010. The Tennessee man was executed for killing a motel maid in 1985 and the Oklahoma man for…