SEATTLE (AP) — This past summer, city of Seattle officials sent a warning to about 60 of its employees: They may have been exposed to toxic chemical compounds during a January cleanup of a Sodo homeless encampment.

It’s not illegal under Georgia state law to fire someone for being gay or transgender. Twenty-eight U.S. states have adopted no laws that prohibit workplace discrimination targeting LGBT employees.

The U.S. Census Bureau is asking states for drivers’ license records that typically include citizenship data and has made a new request for information on recipients of government assistance, alarming some civil rights advocates.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a law that will make the state the first to allow employers, co-workers and teachers to seek gun violence restraining orders against other people.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California voters could decide next year whether to create new county courts to steer homeless people to mental health and drug addiction treatment programs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rising trade tensions are threatening to block a path out of poverty for the world’s poorest countries: their ability to manufacture low-cost parts for multinational corporations.

WINNFIELD, La. (AP) — Tucked away in the dense forest of rural Louisiana is a barbed wire-ringed prison that has quickly grown into a major detention center for immigrants detained at the border.