After the initial crush of personnel announcements for President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, now the nominations process officially begins. Senate hearings are scheduled this coming week for several of Trump’s picks for the Cabinet. Many have met with senators individually. Now, they will go before the committees overseeing the agencies that Trump wants them to […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is about to have a lot more free time. He need look no further than past presidents for ideas on what to put on his retirement to-do list. At age 82, Biden is the oldest U.S. president. In a recent interview with USA Today, he acknowledged uncertainty about his […]

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sharon Sprung, the Brooklyn artist who painted the iconic official portrait of former first lady Michelle Obama, has a new powerful female subject: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Yellen, 78, met with Sprung at the Treasury Department shortly after the Nov. 5 presidential election, to discuss the portrait and […]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to 16 as crews battled to cut off the spreading blazes before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward some of the city’s most famous landmarks. Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire […]

For Irina Contreras, a program manager for Los Angeles County’s Department of Arts and Culture, outdoor education was a refuge for both her and her daughter during the pandemic. Now, much of that refuge has been burned in the raging wildfires around Los Angeles. Her 7-year-old daughter, Ceiba, hikes with a kid’s adventure group called […]