Local government in the United States

A smattering of rain and easing temperatures helped more than 1,000 firefighters battling the largest wildfire in Los Angeles history gain the upper hand on the blaze on Sept. 3, but officials warned that danger remains.

"We've turned the corner, but this is not over," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told reporters. "With winds this strong, anything can happen."

The sentence for a substitute teacher who admitted having sex with underage students was further reduced after pleas to the judge by her family that the woman was sexually repressed due to her Islamic upbringing.

An explosion rocked a crowded Manhattan neighborhood and injured 29 people, and a suspicious device discovered blocks away was safely removed early Sept. 18. The city's mayor, Bill de Blasio, ruled out any terror connections, but called the blast an "intentional act."

An explosion in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday night has left 29 people injured, according to the New York police commissioner. The force of the blast blew-out windows and could be heard several blocks away. None of the injuries is life-threatening but one is serious, New York’s fire Commissioner said.

Authorities on Friday were investigating bomb threats at several schools in New Jersey, in the county of Bergen, the county sheriff’s office said. Englewood, Paramus Catholic, Teaneck, Cliffside Park, Mahwah, Waldwick, Hackensack, Fort Lee and Oradell schools received threats, according to the sheriff’s office.

The fashion of people painting themselves and walking nude in broad daylight turned awry for a woman who some people thought bore too much flesh in Times Squarae. Police were called when the “painted lady” was attacked. A female assailant called her a “nasty whore” and punched her as bemused tourists looked on.

Why can a man go shirtless in a city park during a hot summer afternoon or on the concrete basketball court in a pickup game between “skins” and “shirts” and a woman … cant?

A police officer was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Memphis and a manhunt is underway for the suspect, Tennessee police officials said.

Baltimore lifted a curfew May 3 that was imposed across the US East Coast city following widespread riots, as thousands of National Guard troops began to pull out.

Protesters rampaged through downtown Baltimore on April 25 as the city's biggest demonstration yet over the death of a young African-American man in police custody turned violent.