Investigators search for clues in SUV wreck; 8 presumed dead

California Highway Patrol officers and deputy sheriffs from Mendocino and Alameda counties gather after a search for three missing children Wednesday, March 28, 2018, at the site where the bodies of Jennifer and Sarah Hart and three of their adopted children were recovered two days earlier, after the family's SUV plunged over a cliff at a pullout on the Pacific Coast Highway near Westport, Calif. Three of the children, Devonte Hart, 15, Hannah Hart, 16, and Sierra Hart, 12, have not been found.

Judge dismisses Exxon lawsuit to stop climate change probes

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed Exxon Mobil Corp.'s lawsuit seeking to stop New York and Massachusetts from probing whether the oil and gas company covered up its knowledge about climate change and lied to investors and the public about it. U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan rejected as "implausible" Exxon's argument that the states' Democratic attorneys general, Eric Schneiderman and Maura Healey, were pursuing politically motivated, bad-faith fraud investigations in order to violate its constitutional rights.

Trump loses a trusted aide, White House anxiety lingers

President Donald Trump waves with outgoing White House Communications Director Hope Hicks before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 29, 2018, for a short trip to Andrews Air... . Protestors march down a street block an after the funeral for police shooting victim Stephon Clark, in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, March 29, 2018.

NYT: EPA expected to roll back fuel economy rules for cars

The Environmental Protection Agency has handed documents to Congress that show new travel expenses from agency administrator Scott Pruitt, totaling some $68,000 in hotel stays and air travel, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. The Environmental Protection Agency has handed documents to Congress that show new travel expenses from agency administrator Scott Pruitt, totaling some $68,000 in hotel stays and air travel, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

A work in progress

Thursday's revelation from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources that the massive Foxconn complex planned for Mount Pleasant would emit toxins exceeding most other manufacturing plants in the eastern part of the state wasn't a big surprise. Given the magnitude of the complex that will employ up to 13,000 people, one would logically conclude that it will produce more product than any other plant in the region and, therefore, more toxins.

U.S., Mexico team to halt drug traffic at sea

In this March 2, 2017 photo, an unidentified U.S. Coast Guardsman communicates with the pilot of a helicopter during take-off and landing exercises on the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Stratton in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard is teaming up with the Mexican and Colombian navies off South America's Pacific coast to go after seafaring smugglers, opening a new front in the drug war.

Governor yields, sets legislative votes

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker reluctantly issued an executive order Thursday scheduling special elections to fill two vacant legislative seats, as Senate Republicans abandoned their efforts to block the contests amid Democratic criticism that the GOP is afraid of losing more seats. The seats -- one in the state Senate and one in the Assembly -- have been vacant since December, when Walker appointed the Republican incumbents to his administration.

Trump’s topics many in Ohio talk

President Donald Trump pitched a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan on Thursday, using the occasion to also give a campaign-style rally in which he, among other things, touted economic gains and warned his political supporters against complacency in the fall midterm elections. "There's never been an economy like this," he said.

Got in the way of privatization, fired VA chief says

Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is blaming his sudden ouster from President Donald Trump's administration on "political forces" that he says are bent on privatizing the agency and putting "companies with profits" above the care of veterans. Shulkin, the lone holdover from President Barack Obama's administration serving in Trump's Cabinet, blasted a "toxic" and "subversive" environment in Washington that made it impossible for him to lead.

Could enemies sabotage undersea cables linking the world?

Russian ships are skulking around underwater communications cables, causing the U.S. and its allies to worry the Kremlin might be taking information warfare to new depths. Is Moscow interested in cutting or tapping the cables? Does it want the West to worry it might? Is there a more innocent explanation? Unsurprisingly, Russia isn't saying.