When Cynthia Ruiz turns on her kitchen faucet, she hears a slight squeak before cloudy fluid bursts out of the spout. The water in her Central Valley town of East Orosi is clean enough most of the time to wash dishes, flush toilets, and take showers, but it’s not safe to swallow. Drinking water is trucked in twice a month.

“There are times ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Whether its lead from old buildings, arsenic from contaminated food or strontium fallout from a nuclear explosion, heavy metals that enter the body pose a serious health threat.

With chemical properties exceedingly similar to typical nutrients like iron and calcium, toxic metals look virtually the same to thef body. So, it ...Read more

Exactech, a Florida device manufacturer that faces more than 2,000 state and federal lawsuits from patients who allege the company sold defective hip and knee implants, filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday.

The Gainesville-based company said in a statement it was restructuring and would be sold to an investor group of private equity and “...Read more

For many, the best thing about this weekend’s time change is the chance to gain an extra hour of sleep.

It’s officially “fall back” time at 2 a.m. Sunday.

But after you set the clocks back one hour, officials are hoping you’ll use some of your weekend time to prepare yourself and your residence for potential dangers as winter ...Read more

In another push to win Nevada’s vote days before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris rallied thousands of attendees in North Las Vegas.

“Las Vegas, are we ready to do this, are we ready to vote, are we ready to win?” Harris said to an enthusiastic crowd.

She noted that Friday was Nevada’s last day for early, in-person voting ...Read more

President Xi Jinping highlighted pressures facing China’s employment market in a newly published speech that painted a turbulent time for the world’s No. 2 economy, as officials try to arrest a growth slowdown.

“China is entering a period where strategic opportunities as well as risks and challenges coexist, and unexpected factors are ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — None of the 64 protesters arrested at the University of California, San Diego, last spring after police tore down a large pro-Palestinian encampment will face criminal charges, the San Diego City Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

The decision followed “a months-long review by the City Attorney’s Office of substantial body-...Read more

NEW YORK — Negotiations at Columbia University between administrators and a pro-Palestinian encampment went further than previously thought — with students pressuring the university to divest from Israel, according to a 325-page U.S. House committee report on allegations of campus antisemitism.

Last semester, negotiators under former ...Read more

Donald Trump and his allies are telling supporters that they’re on pace for a runaway victory barring fraud — setting the stage for outrage and legal challenges if the election doesn’t break in favor of Republicans.

The Republican nominee’s efforts have ramped up in rally speeches since early voting began. By conflating polls and early-...Read more

ATLANTA — After nearly two and a half years behind bars, Atlanta rapper Young Thug left the Fulton County Jail Thursday night after a judge sentenced him to time served and 15 years on probation.

The stunning development upended the sweeping gang and racketeering case, which has become the longest trial in Georgia history. Earlier in the day,...Read more

An invasive mussel that poses a significant threat to other bivalves and the health of statewide water conveyances has been detected for the first time in North America in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Golden mussels were recently discovered in the Port of Stockton by wildlife ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — A rapidly growing brush fire chewed through canyons of thick brush and palm trees in the San Diego College Area and Talmadge neighborhoods Thursday afternoon, damaging homes and prompting widespread evacuations.

The fire was reported about 1:40 p.m. and was burning on both sides of Montezuma Road, just east of Fairmount Avenue, ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — A week after the Bureau of Land Management approved Nevada’s third lithium mine, environmentalists and a Western Shoshone group filed a lawsuit alleging that the agency rushed the environmental review process and violated federal laws.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, is the latest in a long line of ...Read more

CHICAGO — A sexual harassment scandal had erupted in Springfield in the summer of 2018 and Kevin Quinn, a longtime aide to House Speaker Michael Madigan, was toxic.

Quinn, the brother of Madigan’s handpicked 13th Ward alderman, had been dumped from the speaker’s organization after a campaign worker accused him of sending her a relentless ...Read more

Former Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson claims he had a violent demonic experience about 18 months ago.

The 55-year-old fabulist told his story in a YouTube clip posted on Halloween advertising an upcoming Christian documentary. He calls what allegedly happened “a direct experience” with evil.

“(It happened) in my bed at night and I got ...Read more

CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s handpicked school board president resigned Thursday after coming under fire for social media posts from critics, including Gov. JB Pritzker and the mayor, deemed antisemitic, misogynistic and conspiratorial.

“Today, I asked Chicago School Board of Education (BOE) President Reverend Mitchell ...Read more

ATLANTA — After nearly two and a half years behind bars, Atlanta rapper Young Thug is set to be released from jail on Thursday after pleading guilty and being sentenced to 15 years on probation.

The stunning development upends the sweeping gang and racketeering case, which has become the longest trial in Georgia history.

Sheriff Pat Labat ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan wants you to know that Proposition 36 is about more than just cracking down on retail crime.

Mahan — one of the statewide ballot measure’s most vocal supporters — argues passing the initiative to toughen penalties for low-level theft and drug crimes would also help solve California’s ...Read more