LAKE PARK, Georgia — In the early-morning darkness of Sept. 27, the day Hurricane Helene barreled through their South Georgia farmworker community, Gloria and Ramón huddled with their three children in the living room of the family’s trailer home, as roaring 130-mph winds downed a tree onto one of the bedrooms with a terrifying crack. In a ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Prison was Samuel Villalba’s domain.

On the inside, he was Negro from Artesia, a Mexican Mafia member whose word was the law to the thousands of Latino gang members who fall under the syndicate’s influence.

Outside prison, he was an ex-con with a failing liver and a dark past. His once muscular body, tattooed with the black ...Read more

One of the most common elements on Earth, fluoride is naturally present in human bodies and water, and common in toothpaste and mouthwash. And for decades, the mineral has been added to the water supplies of thousands of communities across the United States to help prevent dental cavities and decay. Dental professionals believe this practice is ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Donald Trump has promised to arrest thousands of homeless people sleeping in American streets and move them to large tent cities on "inexpensive land," one of several planks of his agenda that would upend a national strategy that focuses on finding people housing on a voluntary basis.

"We will use every tool, lever...Read more

The final round of United Nations-brokered talks aimed at tackling plastic pollution are opening in South Korea with deep divisions over the need to stem the rising flood of the material, a rift that threatens to scupper a two-year long quest for a deal.

Plastic production will jump about 60% to 736 million tons a year by 2040, according to the...Read more

Romania’s presidential election was upended by a nationalist who has voiced admiration for Russia’s Vladimir Putin, setting up a likely runoff with an establishment candidate in one of the country’s biggest upsets since the end of communism.

Calin Georgescu took 22% of the vote with more than 80% of ballots counted, putting him ahead late...Read more

When University of Pennsylvania researcher Christina Roberto set out to study Philadelphia’s soda tax, she wasn’t convinced she would find much health impact.

“We know that it is really hard to shift a person’s weight and keep that weight off, and it’s a really tall order to ask a policy like this to produce a health effect,” she ...Read more

Gas prices continue to fall in Minnesota with stations selling a gallon of gas for less than $3 on average ahead of peak Thanksgiving travel.

On Sunday, the average price for a gallon of gas in Minnesota was about $2.86, according to GasBuddy.com and AAA, which both track daily gas prices. Gas prices have fallen for the past six weeks in ...Read more

This is the season for California lawmakers to travel across the globe, some to lush beachside resorts with schmoozing lobbyists, at no cost of their own.

A hand-selected group of elected officials spent the last few weeks traveling — gratis — to Hawaii, Vietnam and Taiwan to discuss big-picture policy ideas.

But these trips continue to be...Read more

TALLAHASSEE — Matt Gaetz’ knack for courting controversy has finally caught up with him.

The right-wing firebrand, political prankster, steadfast Trump defender and party animal stepped down as the president-elect’s choice for Attorney General once it was made clear to him he didn’t have the needed support in the U.S. Senate.

Senators ...Read more

During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump pitched an idea to quickly reduce the number of tents on the nation’s streets: Offer up other places for people to camp.

He’d start with a big plot of land. Then his team would hire social workers, psychiatrists and other medical staff which together could “create tent cities where the ...Read more

Amid a national educator shortage, the number of Philadelphia School District teachers hired who lack full certification has surged.

Nine years ago, 9.2% of Philadelphia teachers held emergency certification.

In the 2022-23 school year, the last year for which state data are available, that percentage more than doubled, to 22.4%. That means ...Read more

The dead zone in the Chesapeake Bay, where there’s low oxygen for underwater life, was near its average size in 2024, according to new data from the Chesapeake Bay Program.

The dead zone is the area in which there is a relatively low amount of oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia. Typically, this means that polluted runoff has brought in ...Read more

He got out on good behavior.

Then Ramon Rivera, a troubled, homeless man with a history of arrests and mental problems, went on a vicious daytime stabbing spree across Manhattan on Monday, killing three people at random using a pair of large kitchen knives, authorities said.

Almost immediately, Rivera became every New Yorker’s nightmare ...Read more