Alicia Victoria Lozano

Abortion providers in Arizona faced chaos and confusion after the state’s highest court on Tuesday ruled that a 160-year-old abortion ban is enforceable, throwing abortion access into question. Dr. DeShawn Taylor, founder and president of the Phoenix-based Desert Star Institute for Family Planning, said she was initially unsure how quickly the change could go into effect, so she rushed her staff to call seven patients with appointments on Tuesday to ask them to come in earlier in the day. “We j…

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed a bill Monday restoring criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of hard drugs, reversing a first-in-the-nation law that advocates had hoped would help quell a deepening addiction and overdose crisis. Under the new law, the possession of small amounts of drugs such as heroin or methamphetamine will be classified as a misdemeanor and punishable by up to six months in jail. Drug treatment will be offered as an alternative to criminal penalties. Ensuring full c…

An Idaho inmate who led police on a two-day manhunt was described by a former prosecutor as a “bright individual” who came out of his first prison sentence with neo-Nazi tattoos on his face and body. “I was actually disappointed that he had fallen into that group, but I wasn’t shocked,” said Stan Holloway, a former prosecuting attorney in Twin Falls, Idaho, who handled two cases involving Skylar Meade, 31. “Prison can change a guy.” Meade and his alleged accomplice, Nicholas Umphenour, were capt…

PORTLAND, Ore. — The war on drugs, once a weapon in the nation’s fight against substance abuse and related crimes, is making a comeback on the West Coast. Fueled by increasingly visible signs of homelessness and drug use in Oregon and San Francisco, officials are restoring punitive measures for drug-related offenses amid a worsening fentanyl crisis. The laws are meant to rein in dangerous street drugs and curb their use on public sidewalks and parks, but advocates say they will only fill jails w…

The rainbow Pride flag and other nongovernmental banners will no longer fly on city property in Huntington Beach, California, an oceanside side community that has become a hotbed for broader culture wars. More than 58% of voters cast ballots in favor of Measure B, according to the latest tally provided by the Orange County Registrar of Voters. Measure B prohibits the display of Pride, breast cancer awareness and religious flags, in what is believed to be the first time voters have directly cons…

LOS ANGELES — As the California election approaches, many Black and Latino voters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza say the humanitarian crisis unfolding thousands of miles away is swaying which Democratic Party candidates they support in the U.S. Demonstrators at a Los Angeles rally in support of the Palestinian people, one of many organized in U.S. cities Saturday, said their solidarity with Gaza was an extension of the struggles they experience every day. It is a sentiment, some say, they wi…

Hawaii officials released maps Tuesday detailing new evacuation routes that will be built in Lahaina, Hawaii, to help prevent the type of roadblocks that trapped people in their burning neighborhoods during the wildfires on Maui. An opening in a sound wall in the Kelawea Mauka neighborhood will be created to allow cars to pass through and provide more access to the Lahaina Bypass, a main highway, during emergencies, the state Transportation Department said. The sound wall is currently used to mi…

LOS ANGELES — Few people walking around downtown could look away from the spray-painted towers that have become an unlikely attraction in a city known for spectacle. Crowds surrounded the popular Kobe Bryant statue outside Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday, and dozens of concertgoers lined up early for a rock show inside. But the real draw for many near the intersection of 11th and Figueroa streets was the colorful graffiti decorating 30 floors of an abandoned real estate project. “I saw it on TV,…

The families who lost loved ones in Hawaii’s deadliest wildfire could receive up to $1.5 million each from a victims’ compensation fund if they agree not to pursue litigation, Gov. Josh Green said Thursday. The announcement came on the six-month mark of the Lahaina wildfire on Maui that killed 100 and displaced nearly 10,000 residents. Some 4,961 people are still living in hotel rooms, according to the state. “Though we have not completed the recovery, of course, we have begun to heal,” Green s…

LAHAINA, Hawaii — A shrill smoke alarm startled Manny Ceralde awake from an afternoon nap in his West Maui home. Manny looked out the window and saw part of his neighbor’s roof break off and disappear into the swirling blackness swallowing the sky. He screamed to run to the truck, prompting his daughter, 14; his sister, 50; and his mother, 75, to scramble out the front door. But the shouting meant little to Manny’s autistic son, 19, who wandered back into his bedroom. As Manny guided his son…