Queen Elizabeth II allegedly knew of the unsavory sexual proclivities of her son, Prince Andrew, according to a royal historian.

The long-reigning British monarch is said to have been a part of covering up the former Duke of York’s tawdry behavior — outside of what he was accused of in connection to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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NEW YORK — The U.S. Justice Department urged a New York state appeals court to reverse Donald Trump’s felony conviction, an extraordinary intervention by federal officials as the president seeks to clear his criminal record.

Lawyers in the Justice Department filed a friend-of-the-court brief Friday, arguing that his conviction last year was...Read more

FRESNO, Calif. — A popular restaurant manager in Fresno was granted a pardon by Gov. Gavin Newsom for a crime he committed in his youth, according to the clemency letter released Friday.

Psalm Behpoor, who manages Pismo’s Coastal Grill in north Fresno, has been held in the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield for 138 days after ...Read more

CHICAGO — A federal magistrate said she plans to visit the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview amid a class-action lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions, granting a win to the plaintiffs who want verification that the government is abiding by court-ordered requirements to improve circumstances there.

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LOS ANGELES — The mother of 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard, who has been missing since early October, was arrested Friday by Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies, but officials said the arrest was unrelated to her daughter's disappearance.

Melodee was last seen in August but was reported missing more recently when Lompoc Unified School ...Read more

James Watson, whose co-discovery of DNA’s structure brought genetics to the forefront of scientific research before his remarks about the intelligence of Black people caused public outrage, has died. He was 97.

He died on Nov. 6 in East Northport on New York’s Long Island, The New York Times reported. Citing his son, Duncan, the Times said ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — About $100 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits started reaching Pennsylvanians Friday in a major victory for Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration.

Shapiro, at a news conference Friday at North Philadelphia’s Share Food, credited Department of Human Services Secretary Val Arkoosh for acting ...Read more

BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said SNAP benefits will be paid “IN FULL” starting Saturday, adding that others who haven’t missed a payment will keep seeing the next installment.

The governor posted the announcement on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday afternoon, adding, “people need to eat. We’re making sure they do.”

A ...Read more

The Trump administration spent Friday fighting to avoid restoring $4 billion in food assistance in jeopardy due to the government shutdown, suggesting it might need to “raid school lunch money” in order to comply with court orders.

The claim was part of a break-neck appeal in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, where the government ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Agriculture Department on Friday said it will fully fund November food stamp benefits in compliance with a federal court order but also on Friday asked the Supreme Court to immediately block the order while it appeals.

“This Court’s intervention is urgently needed,” the administration said in its filing to the highest ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Will Rogers State Historic Park, which has been closed since the Palisades fire ripped through it 10 months ago, will reopen to the public on Saturday, providing a sprawling green oasis in the devastated community.

About half of the park’s nine miles of hiking and equestrian hiking trails will open, as will the 99-year-old ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Louisville resident and several businesses filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against UPS and other companies after a fatal cargo plane crash in Louisville this week killed at least 13 people.

The lawsuit claims the crash and fallout was the result of negligent and wanton conduct by UPS, as well as Boeing, which made the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump hosted a potentially term-changing meeting Friday at the White House. No, it wasn’t about ending the longest government shutdown in American history.

Trump did not extend invitations to Republican and Democratic lawmakers to try using the power of his office to reopen the government — even as some ...Read more

NEW YORK — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s reelection this week followed a first term that rarely saw him step out of the national spotlight, securing Donald Trump’s hush money conviction on 34 felonies and those of the president’s namesake real estate company and its top finance executive, indicting Mayor Eric Adams’ right-...Read more

MIAMI — Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States will lose temporary protected status at the end of the day Friday, leaving many of them vulnerable to deportation to a homeland in extreme turmoil.

Losing the protection: a group of about 268,000 Venezuelans who became eligible for TPS in March 2021 under the Biden ...Read more

Sean “Diddy” Combs found himself in hot water this week for allegedly drinking booze behind bars in federal prison.

The 55-year-old Bad Boy Records founder, who last month started serving four years for two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, was caught with homemade alcohol — consisting of fermented Fanta, sugar and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County officials are set to pull kratom and its synthetic extract, sometimes called 7-OH, from shelves immediately.

Inspectors will be sent to retailers next week to begin red-tagging illegal products containing the compounds, the L.A. County Department of Public Health said in a release Friday morning. Shops that ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A fire that burned nearly 250 homes in Ventura County was a rekindling of an earlier fire that officials failed to fully extinguish, according to an investigation by Ventura County fire officials and prosecutors released Friday.

The findings put more focus on the tactics firefighters use in declaring blazes out, especially after...Read more

Foreigners seeking visas to live in the U.S. might be rejected if they have certain medical conditions, including diabetes or obesity, under a Thursday directive from the Trump administration.

The guidance, issued in a cable the State Department sent to embassy and consular officials and examined by KFF Health News, directs visa officers to ...Read more