In what’s been called a “Friday night massacre” at the Pentagon, President Donald Trump removed six top generals or admirals on Feb. 21, 2025, including Air Force General C.Q. Brown and Navy Admiral Lisa Franchetti. Trump also fired military lawyers who advise senior officers on the legality of their behavior in combat and at home.

...Read more

Florida, the “Sunshine State,” once known as a beacon of government transparency, is growing ever darker, and the clouds are spreading throughout the United States.

From March 16-22, 2025, the nation celebrates the 20th anniversary of national Sunshine Week, which originated in Florida, historically home to the most transparent ...Read more

Strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP suits, are civil claims brought against people or organizations who voice opinions publicly. These lawsuits are intended to intimidate opponents and suppress advocacy efforts by forcing critics to spend time and money on expensive litigation.

The term “SLAPP suit” was ...Read more

The Trump administration has proposed shuttering USAID and cutting some of the State Department’s critical diplomatic programs; it has also announced tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China. As scholar Borja Santos Porras has noted, these measures may lead to modest savings, however, the long-term damage to the reputation of the U....Read more

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people unexpectedly needed critical care such as ventilators but were unable to communicate their end-of-life wishes to their loved ones.

Researchers like me, who study death and dying, hoped that such scenes would spur more Americans to embrace end-of-life planning by discussing their wishes with ...Read more

Five years ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus, dubbed SARS-CoV-2, began as a “cluster of severe pneumonia cases of unknown cause” reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It had spread to 118,000 cases reported in 114 countries by March 11....Read more

If you look at a map of lightning near the Port of Singapore, you’ll notice an odd streak of intense lightning activity right over the busiest shipping lane in the world. As it turns out, the lightning really is responding to the ships, or rather the tiny particles they emit.

Using data from a global lightning detection network, my ...Read more

Top U.S. and Ukrainian officials began talks in Saudi Arabia about the path to a possible peace deal with Moscow amid pressure from Washington on Kyiv to give ground.

“The meeting started very constructively,” the Ukrainian president’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, said Tuesday on the X platform. Walking into the talks in the Saudi city of ...Read more

Top U.S. and Ukrainian officials began talks in Saudi Arabia about the path to a possible peace deal with Moscow, hours after Russia fought off the largest drone attack on its territory in the three-year war.

“Most important is to discuss how to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian president’s top aide, Andriy ...Read more

AITAROUN, Lebanon — The procession of coffins was heard long before it came into view, a chorus of ambulance sirens drowning out the crowd assembled at the main square of this devastated village.

"Arise, Aitaroun! This is the time of martyrs, and blood, and victory," said an announcer, as four flatbed trucks rumbled to the square bearing 95 ...Read more

Russia said its air defenses downed 337 Ukrainian drones overnight, including dozens targeting Moscow, in what seems to be the largest attack on its territory of the three-year-long war.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it downed 91 unmanned aerial vehicles over the capital region alone. There were also attacks in nine other regions including ...Read more

Greenlanders head to the polls on Tuesday in a general election that will determine how and when the semi-autonomous territory may seek independence from Denmark after Donald Trump upended the island’s politics.

While all leading parties are in favor of sovereignty, the winners would get to define the path of the world’s largest island to ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Faced with seven homicides in the first nine weeks of the year, California prison authorities announced they have restricted inmate movement and revoked privileges such as visits and phone calls at high-security facilities across the state.

In a statement dated March 8, officials from the California Department of Corrections and...Read more

As the Trump administration seeks more partners to help round up immigrants living in the United States illegally, some states and cities are eager to step up, despite risks of racial profiling.

Florida, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and even Arizona’s Democratic governor are pursuing statewide plans to help find immigrants ...Read more

As if there’s not already enough going on to disturb your sleep, here’s another nighttime distraction to keep you from counting sheep: A blood red moon rises over Maryland later this week. And you won’t want to miss it.

A lunar eclipse takes place when Earth lines up between the sun and a full moon. The sun casts the planet’s shadow ...Read more

As state legislative sessions grind on, conservative lawmakers have filed a new batch of bills that would grant legal rights to fetuses and fertilized embryos.

Lawmakers in at least eight states — Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas — have considered bills to go even further, to punish women ...Read more

DWIGHT, Ill. — Nature has taken over the vacated Dwight Correctional Center, where a thin forest of spindly trees covers a 160-acre campus that old photos show once featured well-tended lawns and stately oaks.

The decaying old prison has become an unauthorized soundstage for YouTubers. In a video titled “We Got Trapped Inside an Abandoned ...Read more

CHICAGO -- You can heat homes with gas, propane, oil or electricity.

Or you can make use of the virtually endless supply of clean energy that lies right beneath your feet.

The South Side nonprofit Blacks in Green is pursuing the latter option, with a plan for a multibuilding geothermal system that will tap steady, year-round underground ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis is proposing to eliminate property taxes in Florida — a move that could disproportionately harm public schools and give the state more power over local communities.

The idea isn’t new. But in a political climate focused on government efficiency, DeSantis broke with past precedent in saying the $55 ...Read more