Millions of Americans enjoy feeding and watching backyard birds. Many people make a point of putting food out in winter, when birds needs extra energy, and spring, when many species build nests and raise young.

As a wildlife ecologist and a birder, I know it’s important to understand how humans influence bird populations, whether ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Space Coast is set for another busy year in 2025 with new moon missions, new spacecraft and the debut of a new rocket.

Meanwhile, NASA could see billionaire Jared Isaacman confirmed as its new administrator while prep continues for the Artemis II human spaceflight to orbit the moon in 2026.

Coming off a record 93 launches...Read more

DENVER — Colorado’s Democratic leaders promised Friday to keep plugging away at the state’s affordability crisis when they gavel the legislature back into session next week — but the cost of living is just one of a slew of issues they’ll contend with in the coming months.

The majority Democrats are also bracing for challenges during a...Read more

DENVER — A new law decades in the making could finally lead to the cleanup of some of the thousands of abandoned mines in Colorado that leak toxic metals and acid into the headwaters of the rivers that sustain life across the West.

The Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden on Dec. ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A few days before winter break, Lynda McGee, a college counselor at Downtown Magnets High School in Los Angeles Unified, got an unexpected visit from a student's father.

The man, a warehouse worker who emigrated from Guatemala 28 years ago, wanted to make sure that McGee knew his wishes firsthand.

"My daughter going to college ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Fluorescent-colored sand sprinkled on San Diego County beaches could help reveal the complicated patterns of erosion that plague the region’s coastline.

A so-called “tracer study” would use environmentally benign grains of bright material to show the movement of sand carried by ocean currents. The technique is recommended in ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Shortly after George Floyd was murdered blocks from her home in Minneapolis, Mihesha Gibbs-Lumpkins decided to return to Pembroke Township with her husband and two children.

Her 13-year-old son was the one who voiced a need to escape the chaos. Walking to school, past the corner store where Floyd was suffocated by a police officer, ...Read more

SEATTLE -- When he came to the United States a few years ago from South Africa, Galiyano felt he was struggling to achieve the American dream he’d heard so much about.

Adjusting to a new climate and culture were difficult for Galiyano, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but life got even worse when he found himself ...Read more

Aubrey Plaza’s husband, screenwriter and director Jeff Baena, was found dead Friday of suicide at the age of 47.

An assistant made the grisly discovery at a Los Angeles-area home, to which emergency services responded around 10:30 a.m. local time, law enforcement sources told TMZ.

Authorities pronounced Baena dead at the scene. A medical ...Read more

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni flew Saturday to Florida and met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Meloni’s visit comes days before she is scheduled to receive President Joe Biden, who begins a trip to Rome and the Vatican on Jan. 9, in what will likely be his final presidential mission overseas.

Trump walked in to a ...Read more

A baby spider monkey discovered by the California Highway Patrol this week is in critical condition — suffering from malnourishment, skin and coat issues and an upper respiratory infection. But the Oakland Zoo is hopeful that the plucky young primate will make a full recovery.

The baby monkey is being housed in a humid environment to help ...Read more

ATLANTA — Jimmy Carter’s casket departed from the community hospital that he helped build.

National and global health leaders overflowed with praise this week for the public health accomplishments of the former president, whose programs have saved and restored tens of millions of lives worldwide, and broadened the public understanding of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Rescue crews searched Mount Whitney on Saturday for a Texas man who went missing this week while attempting to summit the notoriously challenging peak in frigid and snowy conditions.

Taylor Rodriguez, a 29-year-old from San Antonio, set out alone Monday, according to the Inyo County Sheriff's Office, despite trails slick with ...Read more

Investigators looking into Credit Suisse’s connections to Nazi-era account holders uncovered new evidence that the bank failed to disclose during earlier probes, U.S. Senate Budget Committee leaders said Saturday.

Neil Barofsky, an independent ombudsman overseeing the review, found new documents during the first comprehensive examination of ...Read more

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump hit out at the U.K.’s windfall tax on oil and gas producers in a social media post Friday, adding to criticisms from his incoming administration of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s agenda.

“The UK is making a very big mistake. Open Up the North Sea. Get rid of Windmills!” Trump wrote on Truth Social early ...Read more

Prime Minister Keir Starmer had clear instructions for his team going into the new year: keep calm, drown out the naysayers and focus on delivering for the British public. But some in Labour question whether that steady-as-she-goes approach will be enough to weather the headwinds coming their way in 2025.

The premier, who swept to power last ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — California is entering the fourth month of what is typically the rainy season, but in the Southland, the landscape is beginning to show signs of drought.

The last time Los Angeles recorded rainfall over a tenth of an inch — the threshold that officials typically consider helpful for thirsty plants and the reduction of wildfire...Read more

NEW YORK — New York Police Department detectives have released images of the four Queens gunmen who turned a New Year’s Day “celebration of life” for a murdered teen into a bloody shooting gallery, officials said Saturday.

Two of the masked gunmen were caught on surveillance cameras with pistols in their hands, police said.

The masked ...Read more

CHICAGO — Heading back to classes Monday, Chicago Public School students will return to a district different from the one they left for winter break.

It’s been just over two weeks since the Chicago Board of Education unanimously voted to oust CEO Pedro Martinez. The monthslong conflict reached a boiling point on the last day of school ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — An armed man previously convicted of murder and shot by Orlando police Friday outside an Orange County gas station has died, according to a news release from the Orlando Police Department.

The agency identified the man Saturday afternoon as Marvin Martin, 63, in an emailed news release. The release said he died of unknown ...Read more