ORLANDO, Fla. — Tropical Depression Nineteen formed in the Caribbean early Thursday with the National Hurricane Center forecasting it to grow into Tropical Storm Sara. Long-term forecast models show it could enter the Gulf of Mexico and then turn toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.

As of the NHC’s 7 a.m. advisory, TD 19 was located about 250 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — With a sterling record of busting down doors and arresting armed suspects over her decade in SWAT, Los Angeles police Lt. Jennifer Grasso figured she had a strong case to become the tactical unit's next leader when the position opened up this year. Grasso — the department's first woman to serve in SWAT — said she felt even ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The University of California wants to enroll nearly 3,600 more California students in the next academic year but is bracing for a looming budget crunch that could make it difficult to pay for increased enrollment.

UC officials told regents Wednesday that the 10-campus university system could face a $504.7-million financial ...Read more

Do the Ten Commandments have a valid place in U.S. classrooms? Louisiana’s Legislature and governor insist the answer is “yes.” But on Nov. 12, 2024, a federal judge said “no.”

U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles blocked the state’s controversial House Bill 71, which Gov. Jeff Landry had signed into law on June 19, ...Read more

These days, it’s hard to escape news stories discussing how climate change is contributing to extreme weather disasters, including the recent U.S. hurricanes. Aid agencies are increasingly worried about the widespread damage.

A growing question as these disasters worsen in a warming world is how to pay for recoveries, particularly ...Read more

The gentle, slow-moving Florida manatee has no natural predators.

And yet, these charismatic mammals face numerous threats.

Manatees are struck by vessels in busy waterways across the state, and a majority bear scars from these collisions.

Harmful algal ...Read more

When Eliza arrived on her West Coast college campus in the fall of 2020, building community was difficult due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic. Yet over time she forged a network of friends, anchored by her sorority.

Three years later, those relationships were severely tested by events over 7,000 miles away: the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist...Read more

It’s been a whirlwind week for Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto. On Nov. 9, he was breaking bread with Chinese leader Xi Jinping; three days later he was sitting down with President Joe Biden in the White House. In between, Subianto found time to reach out to Donald Trump to congratulate the incoming U.S. president on his election ...Read more

Jason Farned and his team at the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District had spent years preparing for the likely arrival of dengue, a dangerous virus typically found in tropical climates outside the mainland United States.

They’d watched nervously as invasive Aedes mosquito species that can carry the virus appeared in Los ...Read more

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, McLean County, Illinois, was known mostly as the home of State Farm Insurance in Bloomington and Illinois State University in Normal.

Now, the area illustrates a trend that’s bringing more factories to small cities with lower costs of living: It has thousands of new jobs manufacturing Rivian electric vehicles and...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The well-run 1984 Olympics transformed Los Angeles. Not through the Games, which thrillingly came and went, but through the Olympic Arts Festival, which taught us to dream and inspired us to do. Forty year later, we have added Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles Opera, the Getty Center, the Soraya, the Geffen Playhouse, the ...Read more

Before Missouri voted to overturn the state’s abortion ban, House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson said lawmakers should respect the will of voters. And when voters also approved raising the state’s minimum wage, the Lee’s Summit Republican ruled out an effort to repeal that decision.

Patterson’s simple promise to abide by the results...Read more

California voters this month trounced a proposal to lift statewide restrictions on local rent control, signaling to other left-leaning states that similar caps on skyrocketing rents might be an uphill climb.

It was, in fact, the third time Californians have said no.

The measure’s defeat disappointed tenant advocates who argue that rent ...Read more

MOUNTVILLE, S.C. -- Through a tangle of trees separating his land from a neighbor’s, Charles Blackmon stared glumly at the cluster of chicken barns where mountains of putrid waste are generated every year.

It’s a scene he’s gotten used to, but not one he’s happy about.

On summer days, the smell of chickens and manure often drifts ...Read more