National News

By ELLIOT SPAGAT and ANDREW DALTON, Associated Press FALLBROOK, Calif. (AP) — Retirement communities built on golf courses, semi-rural race horse stables and other usually serene sites were engulfed by flames as the San Diego area became the latest front in California's wildfire fight. The fire broke out Thursday amid dry, hot, windy conditions across the…

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS, Associated Press AZTEC, N.M. (AP) — Students hid in their classrooms, some behind locked doors or in closets, as a gunman opened fire Thursday inside a New Mexico high school, killing two classmates before he ended up dead. Authorities and other officials in the small town of Aztec near the Colorado border have…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Al Franken has reluctantly announced he's resigning from Congress, succumbing to a torrent of sexual harassment allegations. But the Minnesota Democrat is firing a defiant parting shot at President Donald Trump and other Republicans. He is pointing out what he calls "some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a…

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — His once-promising political career in shambles, Minnesota Sen. Al Franken appeared on the verge of resigning after fellow Democrats led by female senators abandoned him Wednesday over the mounting allegations of sexual misconduct that are roiling Capitol Hill. A majority of the Senate's Democrats called on the two-term…

By ALAN FRAM and ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite incendiary words from President Donald Trump, Congress seemed on track Wednesday to approving legislation that would avert a partial government shutdown over the weekend as all sides seemed ready to avert a confrontation — for now. Increasingly confident House leaders planned a Thursday vote…