CHICAGO — For the past year, three days a week for four hours, Alfredo Pacheco, 37, has been undergoing dialysis. Most days, even if he feels ill, he pushes himself to work after the procedure, thinking of his three young children who wait to see him again one day back in Venezuela.

As time passes, however, he feels weaker and a bit more ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — To stand in Greg Gill's frontyard in Altadena is to straddle two worlds: The Eaton fire burn zone. And normalcy — or, at least, the appearance of it.

Look to the east down Crosby Street, and there's his neighbor Tina Kardos' house. Still standing. As are houses all down the block. Across the street, there's Mariya Mazarati's ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Wielding his veto pen nine months ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis wiped out state arts and culture grants, sparking a bipartisan outcry — and forcing hundreds of Florida theater, visual art, dance, music and other cultural organizations to scramble to close unexpected budget shortfalls and salvage their programs.

Arts and ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine regulator abruptly resigned Friday, citing what he called Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to spread misinformation about the safety of immunizations, according to a letter obtained by Bloomberg.

Peter Marks, who was a key figure in Operation ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Seven weeks after pro-Palestinian students vandalized a University of California regent's Brentwood home during a protest against UC's financial connections to Israel, UCLA this week banned a campus organization involved in the demonstration.

Students for Justice in Palestine was notified Thursday of an "indefinite revocation" ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Ozy Media co-founder Carlos Watson, who was set to begin serving his nearly 10-year prison term for lying to investors in his startup, had his term commuted by President Donald Trump on Friday, according to a senior White House official.

Watson was convicted last July by a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, of a wire fraud ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump can fire members of two independent agencies, a divided federal appeals court in Washington ruled, boosting the president’s efforts to dramatically reshape the U.S. government.

In a 2-1 order issued Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit halted decisions by lower court judges that blocked Trump’s ...Read more

NEW YORK — The temporary leader of Columbia University resigned Friday evening after less than a full school year at the helm — a decision that was praised as an “important step” to restore federal funding by the Trump administration.

In an email to students and faculty, interim President Katrina Armstrong said she would return to her ...Read more

MEXICO CITY — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived in Mexico on Friday to meet with President Claudia Sheinbaum and members of her Cabinet in a delicate moment in U.S.-Mexico relations.

Noem came to the Mexican capital on the final leg of a three-nation Latin American trip that included stops in Colombia and El Salvador.

It is ...Read more

NEW YORK — Lawyers for Long Island serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann sparred with prosecutors Friday over the admissibility of DNA evidence that could put him away for life for the murders of seven women whose remains were found on a stretch of beach in Suffolk County.

Heuermann’s lawyers asked a judge to disqualify much of the DNA ...Read more

DENVER — Colorado lawmakers on Friday sent three gun-control measures regulating the sale of ammunition and firearms to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk for passage into law.

The bills now waiting to be signed include Senate Bill 3, which would limit the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms to only people who’ve passed a background check and ...Read more

When it comes to the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests that the nose knows.

Mass General Brigham neurology researchers have created a smell test that shows promise as a tool for identifying risk of cognitive impairment.

They found that test participants could successfully take the test at home, and that older ...Read more

BOSTON — The attorney for the Tufts graduate student who was grabbed off the street by ICE agents and shipped to a Louisiana facility is continuing to push for her release from the “unconstitutional” detention.

Rumeysa Ozturk’s legal team, which now includes the ACLU, on Friday filed an amended habeas petition and complaint in ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — A federal judge indicated at a Friday hearing that she is considering whether the man accused of lighting Teslas on fire in Las Vegas can be released from custody with conditions to ensure community safety.

Authorities have identified Paul Hyon Kim, 36, as the person who vandalized at least five Teslas around 2:45 a.m. on March 18...Read more

DENVER — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement violated Jeanette Vizguerra’s First Amendment rights by detaining — and planning to deport — the Colorado immigration advocate, her attorneys argued in federal court in Denver on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Nina Wang held a short hearing on the high-profile immigration case, but did not ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in his effort to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members using a 227-year-old wartime law.

A brief filed by acting Solicitor General Sarah H. Harris on Friday asks the nation’s highest court to vacate the order issued by a U.S. District Court, which ...Read more

NEW YORK — Columbia University has largely maintained the size of its application pool — despite campus protests over Gaza and scrutiny by the federal government that have besieged the university over the last year, according to newly released undergraduate admissions data.

Overall, 59,616 students applied to Columbia, down by just more ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Matthew Muller was sentenced to two lifetime state prison terms Friday for holding women captive during two Santa Clara County home invasions in 2009, six years before he gained worldwide infamy for a 2015 Vallejo kidnapping that inspired a fervent true-crime media following and would turn out to be just a slice of his ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and that the two would meet after Canada’s election, amid an intensifying tariff war between the neighboring allies and major trading partners.

“It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Agency for International Development will be merged into the State Department by July 1 and “substantially all” of the aid agency’s remaining personnel will be fired, according to a congressional notification sent Friday.

The State Department will assume responsibility for the aid agency’s programming and new ...Read more