LOS ANGELES (AP) — Firefighters scrambled Sunday to make further progress against wildfires that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed 24 people in the Los Angeles area as forecasters again warned of dangerous weather with the return of strong winds this week. At least 16 people were missing, and authorities said that number was expected to rise.

As the fire roared down a hillside toward their Altadena home, Vanessa Prata and her parents hurried to pack their car. They focused on saving irreplaceable items, like family photographs and a baby doll from Vanessa's childhood. But they didn't leave.

After a freezing winter storm shut schools, cut power and cancelled or delayed flights, the South was slowly thawing Sunday. Crews worked furiously and by Sunday morning power had been restored to parts of North Carolina and South Carolina where tens of thousands of customers lost electricity over the last few days, according to Duke Energy.

In the winter months, it seems few are safe from some kind of illness — flu, COVID-19, norovirus, colds. While many of the germs that cause this misery can circulate throughout the year, scientists think that the winter surge of flu and cold activity may be because we spend more time indoors and the cold, dry air may weaken our defenses.

ATLANTA (AP) — Snow and ice across the U.S. South are expected to relinquish their grip only slowly as the weekend continues. Major airports including Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, continued to report disruptions Saturday, while temperatures are expected to plunge after sundown Saturday, raising the risk that melting snow will refreeze, turning roadways treacherous.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Arianna Buturovic kept a wary eye on distant smoke from the rescue shelter she runs outside Los Angeles for dogs at risk of being euthanized. Within hours, nearby mountains were ablaze and fire began encircling her. “I stuffed 15 dogs in a black Prius and two cats,” Buturovic said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Anita Bryant, a former Miss Oklahoma, Grammy-nominated singer, and prominent booster of orange juice and other products who became known over the second half of her life for her outspoken opposition to gay rights, has died. She was 84.

NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday to no punishment in his historic hush money case, a judgment that lets him return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine.

DALLAS (AP) — A powerful winter storm brought heavy snow and icy conditions to parts of the U.S. South on Thursday, forcing officials to close schools, cancel flights and warn residents in some of the worst-hit areas to stay off roads as it lumbered eastward through Oklahoma and Texas.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The two biggest wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area this week burned at least 10,000 homes, buildings, and other structures, officials said Thursday as they urged more people to heed evacuation orders after a new blaze ignited and quickly grew.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration’s Title IX rules have been struck down nationwide after a federal judge in Kentucky found they overstepped the president’s authority.

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Flames and pillars of smoke rose from both sides of the road and a woman yelled in panic as firefighters ushered a crowd of fleeing residents along. Aaron Samson positioned his 83-year-old father-in-law behind his blue walker, and they began shuffling down the sidewalk.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wildfires that ravaged some of the most picturesque neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area continued to grow Wednesday as fire crews battled three major out-of-control blazes that killed at least five people.

The water system used to fight the Palisades fire in Los Angeles buckled under the demands of what turned out to be the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history. Some hydrants ran dry, hindering the fight against the flames, local water officials said Wednesday.

ATLANTA – The U.S. House of Representatives has passed Republican-backed legislation named in honor of Georgia murder victim Laken Riley as the first act of the new Congress.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wildfires tore across the Los Angeles area with devastating force Wednesday after setting off a desperate escape from burning homes through flames, ferocious winds, and towering clouds of smoke.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A developing winter storm threatens to drop snow, sleet, and freezing rain on parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas as frigid air that escaped the Arctic plunges temperatures to subfreezing levels in some of the southernmost points of the U.S.

The highly decorated soldier who exploded a pickup truck outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI including ChatGPT to help plan the attack, Las Vegas police said Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A wildfire whipped up by extreme winds swept through a Los Angeles hillside dotted with celebrity residences Tuesday, burning homes in Pacific Palisades and prompting evacuation orders for tens of thousands. In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways were clogged and scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The next round of bitter cold was set to envelop the southern U.S. on Tuesday, after the first significant winter storm of the year blasted a huge swath of the country with ice, snow and wind.

NEW YORK (AP) — The first U.S. bird flu death has been reported — a person in Louisiana who had been hospitalized with severe respiratory symptoms. State health officials announced the death on Monday, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed it was the nation's first due to bird flu.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress certified President-elect Donald Trump as the winner of the 2024 election Monday.  Lawmakers convened under heavy security and a snowstorm to meet the date required by law to certify the election.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A major winter blast of snow, ice, wind, and plunging temperatures in the U.S. stirred dangerous travel conditions from central and southern states all the way to the East Coast early Monday, prompting schools and government offices in several states to close.

A blast of snow, ice, wind, and plunging temperatures stirred up dangerous travel conditions in parts of the central U.S. on Sunday, as a disruptive winter storm brought the possibility of the heaviest snowfall in a decade to some areas.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans mourned, wept, and danced at a vigil Saturday evening along the famous thoroughfare where a supporter of the Islamic State terrorist group rammed a pickup truck into a crowd, killing and injuring revelers who were there to celebrate the new year.