The U.S. Supreme Court will test how flexible the EPA and states can be in regulating water pollution under the Clean Water Act when it hears oral argument in City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency on Oct. 16, 2024. This case asks the court to decide whether federal regulators can issue permits that are ...Read more

About 23 million U.S. households depend on private wells as their primary drinking water source. These homeowners are entirely responsible for ensuring that the water from their wells is safe for human consumption.

Multiple studies show that, at best, half of private well owners are testing with any frequency, and very few households ...Read more

With the 2024 election just weeks away, former President Donald Trump continues to spread false claims of fraud in the 2020 election. He also insists without evidence that the same may happen this year.

In a Sept. 7, 2024, post on Truth Social, Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, repeated the claims he has made over the past ...Read more

Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.

Evidence-Based Happiness for Teachers

I was discouraged. For nearly three decades, as a clinical psychologist, I trained mental health professionals on suicide assessment. The work was good but difficult.

...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Halim Evans didn't want any more children.

So when the then-20-year-old learned that his girlfriend was pregnant, he told her there was only one option.

"We gotta get the abortion jawn," Evans texted Teryn Johnson, 17, in July 2022. "I ain't ready for no more kids."

Johnson made an appointment to terminate the pregnancy, and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — It's not your imagination: The ground beneath Southern California has been particularly unsteady as of late, with the region experiencing more moderate-sized earthquakes this year than it has in decades.

What precisely is fueling the sequence of shakers is not entirely clear, and officials warn that prior seismic activity does ...Read more

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te indicated in a speech that he would stand up to the challenges posed by China, comments that elicited a sharp response from Beijing.

While delivering his first National Day address on an overcast Thursday in Taipei, Lai said he’d work to “resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty,” and added that...Read more

SAN DIEGO — An estimated 423 homeless people are now living along the San Diego River, putting them at increased risk of drowning as well as creating new challenges for outreach workers, first responders and surrounding wildlife.

The most recent tally from the San Diego River Park Foundation was the nonprofit’s highest count in years. The ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Kathryn Tapper was worried about the havoc Hurricane Milton could bring to her home in Naples, so she drove to a friend’s house in Wellington to try to find safe shelter.

Instead, she ended up hiding in the bathroom from a tornado that hit close to 5 p.m. Wednesday. The twister heavily damaged her friend’s house in...Read more

Despite multibillion-dollar deficits projected for future state budgets, several Maryland lawmakers are championing planned increases in education spending, including publicly funded pre-K.

“We know that we have a structural deficit. There’s no hiding that,” said Del. Jared Solomon, a Montgomery County Democrat, speaking on Thursday to a ...Read more

DENVER — Twelve people were rescued after roughly seven hours trapped 1,000 feet underground in a Colorado gold mine on Pikes Peak following a deadly elevator malfunction, according to the Teller County Sheriff’s Office.

Emergency responders were able to use the elevator to evacuate 12 adults from the bottom of the mine shaft on Thursday ...Read more

BOSTON — The Boston City Council held its first hearing Thursday on a home rule petition that seeks to overhaul municipal elections by replacing the traditional approach of electing city politicians by popular vote with a ranked-choice voting system.

A trio of progressive councilors, composed of the body’s president Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia...Read more

BOSTON — The cases of Karen Read and pro-Read blogger Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney could have been more tied up together than they already are if a prosecutor had his way with a grand jury earlier this year.

Special prosecutor Kenneth Mello, a Fall River-based attorney brought in to handle multiple cases against Kearney including felony ...Read more

ATLANTA — The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office has filed a motion seeking to revoke the probation of a former co-defendant of Young Thug, alleging that he “knowingly and willfully” violated his plea agreement when he testified last month.

Antonio Sledge, also known as Mounk Tounk, entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to violate ...Read more

The Princess of Wales stepped out on Thursday for her first public appearance since completing her chemotherapy.

Kate Middleton surprised royal watchers when she joined Prince William to meet the families of the young victims killed in the July stabbing attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England.

The private meeting with...Read more

Insurance analysis firm Fitch Ratings said on Thursday that losses from Hurricane Milton will further weaken the “precarious position” of Florida’s property insurance market and possibly lead to “hardening” of premiums for policyholders next year.

Hardening is an insurance term that means premiums could rise.

Milton spawned high ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Amid criticism of his handling of the case, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón announced this week that he is considering new evidence in the sexual abuse probe of singer Marilyn Manson.

"New evidence has emerged within the last few weeks, adding to an already extensive case file presented to our office" by the Los ...Read more

Over the past two weeks, two massive hurricanes have killed more than 240 people and caused tens of billions of dollars of damage in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and other states.

California struggles every year with plenty of disasters — including devastating earthquakes, wildfires and floods. But it doesn’t have hurricanes. Why not?

...Read more