LOS ANGELES >> The Metro board of directors is scheduled to vote today on whether to move forward with a November ballot measure calling for a half-cent sales-tax hike to raise money for public transit projects and maintenance in Los Angeles County. If the board approves, voters will be asked to inc...

VATICAN CITY >> Pope Francis is making his first foray into the former Soviet Union with a weekend visit to Armenia, a year after he riled Turkey by declaring the Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians genocide and amid fresh tensions with rival Azerbaijan. The Vatican has long cheered the Armenian caus...

LONDON >> Financial markets and bookmakers put their money on Britain’s voting to remain a part of the European Union on Thursday in a historic referendum that threatens to undermine the experiment in continental unity launched in the aftermath of World War II. More than 46 million people were regis...

A 35-year-old man died after a fire at his Long Beach home, officials said today. Authorities responded to reports of a structure fire in the 500 block of West 7th Street, east of the 710 Freeway, about 10:20 p.m. Wednesday, said Jake Heflin of the Long Beach Fire Department. Twenty-one firefighters...

Wrestling fans joined WWE stars Wednesday night in Redondo Beach to celebrate the extraordinary life and pioneering career of the late Joan Laurer, better known as wrestling icon Chyna. For fans in attendance, the night wasn’t about how Laurer died, but rather what she achieved and how she achieved ...

Led by Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, four dozen Democrats took control of the floor of the House of Representatives early Wednesday in an attempt to demand more gun control in the aftermath of the Orlando shootings. Instead of calling for a vote, House Speaker Paul Ryan shut off the cameras that broad...

WASHINGTON >> Democrats carried a remarkable House floor sit-in into a second day, disrupting the business of Congress with demands for gun-control votes in an unruly scene broadcast live to the world. Republicans branded the move as a publicity stunt before summarily adjou ing the chamber until aft...

With another potential grocery strike looming in Southe Califo ia, shoppers are likely wondering how things will play out. When will the strike happen? What supermarkets will be affected? Will people have to cross angry picket lines to shop at their favorite stores? Valid questions, to be sure. But ...

Wrestling fans joined WWE stars Wednesday night in Redondo Beach to celebrate the extraordinary life and pioneering career of the late Joan Laurer, better known as wrestling icon Chyna. For fans in attendance, the night wasn’t about how Laurer died, but rather what she achieved and how she achieved ...

WASHINGTON >> Rebellious Democrats staged an extraordinary all-day sit-in on the House floor Wednesday to demand votes on gun-control bills, shouting down Speaker Paul Ryan when he attempted to restore order as their protest stretched into the night. The stu ing and unruly scene was broadcast live t...

The Kevlar helmet that saved an Orlando SWAT officer from a gunshot wound during the nightclub massacre this month is proof of why police need sophisticated equipment, say local unions representing law enforcement agencies. The issue was raised Wednesday after George Hofstetter, president of the Ass...

You can’t get more Pedro than the Fish Market. As the family ya goes, it all started with a couple of Italian immigrants selling fish, what else, out of ice chests from a tiny shop at Ninth and Meyler streets in the 1950s. Today, the sprawling market and restaurant business run by four generations o...

The Los Angeles County District Atto ey’s Office will ask a judge today to order a convicted murderer to be released from state prison, after new evidence was uncovered that prosecutors say raises doubts about his conviction for the shooting death of an 18-year-old woman in a Palmdale park-and-ride ...

A lawsuit has been filed against rock star Eddie Money by a former drummer for his band, Gle Symmonds, and Symmonds’ fiancée Tami Landrum. Among the accusations, the first amended complaint filed May 20 alleges that the “Two Tickets to Paradise” singer discriminated against Symmonds based upon age, ...

Jack Qu’emi is a writer and self-described “queer, non-binary femme,” who among other terms identifies as Afro-Latinx. That’s Latinx. Not Latino. Not Latina. The term (pronounced: la-teen-ex) is gaining traction in Spanish-speaking communities. But many are still asking, “What’s the meaning of the ‘...

St. Joseph Health and Providence Health and Services have received regulatory approval for a merger that will create the nation’s third-largest nonprofit health system, officials said Wednesday. The Califo ia Atto ey General’s Office signed off on the deal between the two nonprofit Catholic hospital...

Cal State University a ounced Wednesday a landmark energy project expected to cut costs by millions and provide a boost to the electric grid. The 23-campus university and San Francisco-based Advanced Microgrid Systems will install advanced battery storage facilities at several locations — starting a...

Bayan Bibi was walking with a friend along a busy shopping street in Beirut when she suddenly felt a strange pain. “I felt something come into my back, as if there is a stone from above,” she says, standing on the spot where the incident occurred three years ago. “I felt like my spine cut into two p...

It’s time to climb on the high-flying Welsh, um, dragon if you’re not there already at Euro 2016 in the wake of the U.S. and Mexico exits at Copa America. One of the European Championship’s most welcome and unlikely participants is now an even more surprising contender as much for its entertaining, ...

Several Southland legislators were among dozens of Democrats taking part in a sit-in at the House of Representatives today, bringing congressional activity to a halt while they demanded a vote on a gun- control measure in the aftermath of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. “The American people a...