A traveler at L.A./Ontario International Airport checks the arrival and departure monitors. The Los Angeles City Council has approved transferring airport ownership to the local Ontario International Airport Authority. The process is expected to be completed in July. (File Photo)

By Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Daily News
and Liset Marquez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 12/16/15 – 12:45 PM PST |

LOS ANGELES >> The Los Angeles City Council approved a landmark $250 million agreement that will lead to the transfer of ownership of LA/Ontario International Airport to a local authority, culminating a five-year battle between Los Angeles and Ontario.

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Ivan Penn
December 16, 2015

California’s stubbornly high gasoline prices in 2015 resulted from state regulations, trouble with imports and an outage at a major refinery, the oil refining industry told regulators Wednesday.

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President Obama speaks on Islamic State in the Pentagon briefing room on Dec. 14. (Olivier Douliery / Getty Images)

Michael A. Memoli
December 16, 2015

President Obama will travel to San Bernardino on Friday to join in mourning the 14 victims of the Dec. 2 mass shooting that he has called an act of terrorism, the White House said Wednesday.

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Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet L. Yellen removes her glasses as she testifies on Capitol Hill on Feb. 25. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

Jim Puzzanghera
December 16, 2015

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark short-term interest rate for the first time in 9 1/2 years, providing a long-awaited vote of confidence for the recovery from the Great Recession by beginning to remove the last of the central bank’s extraordinary steps to boost economic growth.

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Congress released more than 2,200 pages of legislation in the dead of night. | AP

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What’s really in the year-end tax and spending bill?

By Bernie Becker
12/16/15 – 04:24 PM EST

Congress released more than 2,200 pages of legislation in the dead of night — containing $1.1 trillion in spending, about $680 billion in tax cuts and a string of other policy changes.

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By Roll Call Staff
Posted on Dec. 16 at 10:52 a.m.

Both Democrats and Republicans won a few and lost a few in the $1.1 trillion spending bill and package of tax extensions that congressional negotiators agreed on late Tuesday.

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House Speaker Paul Ryan announces the bipartisan budget agreement on Wednesday. (Michael Reynolds / European Pressphoto Agency)

Michael Hiltzik
December 16, 2015

When Congress legislates at night and in haste, you can be sure mischief is being done. Sure enough, the budget deal announced late Tuesday by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), takes an ax to efforts to limit the torrent of big money into politics.

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32-year-old suspected of plundering Retrophin to pay debts. (Martin Shkreli – Photographer: Francesco Nazardo)

By Christie Smythe and Keri Geiger | December 17, 2015

Martin Shkreli, the boyish drug company entrepreneur, who rocketed to infamy by jacking up the price of a life-saving pill from $13.50 to $750, was arrested by federal agents at his Manhattan home early Thursday morning on securities fraud related to a firm he founded.

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