PHILADELPHIA — Sorry, rats. The "Parker piles" of trash found around the city are about to disappear.

Philadelphia’s first major city worker strike since 1986 lasted eight days and four hours before Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Greg Boulware, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33, ...Read more

A new dinosaur fossil at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science was found buried hundreds of feet under the facility’s parking lot in January, making the herbivorous animal’s remains the oldest and deepest dinosaur fossil ever discovered in the city.

Museum crews came across the partial-bone fossil while conducting a geothermal drilling test...Read more

The Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts to weather programs could damage the accuracy of hurricane forecasts, slowing or even reversing progress made in delivering storm warnings needed to keep Floridians safe, a group of retired scientists said Wednesday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s budget request calls ...Read more

The Trump administration made good on its threat of legal action earlier this week and is suing California for allowing transgender athletes to compete in K-12 sports.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit Wednesday, two days after the California Department of Education said it would not strip trans athletes of their medals or repeal a 2013...Read more

The retrial of Jamell “YNW Melly” Demons will get underway with jury selection on Sept. 10 as scheduled, a Broward judge ruled Wednesday, dismissing the objections of prosecutors who say they are still waiting for an appeals court to rule on a slew of important issues.

Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein showed little patience for the state�...Read more

The Senate confirmed airline executive Bryan Bedford to lead the Federal Aviation Administration in a 53-43 vote Wednesday.

One of Bedford’s first tasks at the FAA will be to carry out major air traffic control system overhauls promised by President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and in part funded by the reconciliation ...Read more

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Preston Wells Griffith III to serve as undersecretary of the Energy Department.

The 54-43 vote included Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, joining Republicans in support.

Griffith said at an April hearing that his role would be to use the department’s resources to ensure that “America remains at the top of the ...Read more

Minnesota taxpayers are on the hook for $430,000 in legal costs to outside lawyers who helped Gov. Tim Walz prepare for a U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing where he sparred with Republicans over immigration.

The state tapped the global law firm K&L Gates to prepare Walz for the June 12 congressional hearing, where he was questioned about ...Read more

An Upstate South Carolina resident has the measles, the South Carolina Department of Public Health confirmed Wednesday. It is the first case of the disease in the state since September 2024, the agency said.

The affected resident is not vaccinated and caught the virus during an international trip, according to a press release. They are ...Read more

Former President Joe Biden’s personal physician Wednesday refused to answer a Republican congressional committee’s questions about his health and fitness to serve, citing doctor-patient confidentiality.

Dr. Kevin O’Connor also invoked his rights under the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions during a House Oversight Committee ...Read more

The DeSantis administration is inviting Florida’s state legislators and members of Congress to attend a scheduled, 90-minute tour of Alligator Alcatraz on Saturday afternoon, according to an email shared with the Herald/Times.

The invitation, sent Wednesday, is the first extended to elected leaders since the facility began taking in immigrant...Read more

Crews in central Texas are digging through massive piles of debris, overturned vehicles and shattered homes for a sixth day as the search continues for victims of flash floods that killed more than 100 people over the Fourth of July weekend.

At least 160 people are still missing in Kerr Country, the hardest-hit area of the Texas Hill Country. ...Read more

Grieving families of the 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic believed to have died in the Central Texas flash flood on July 4 have identified some of the girls whose tragic loss has left them “utterly shattered.”

While most of the children lost to the flood at the all-girls Christian summer camp on the Guadalupe River in Texas’ ...Read more

One of the first transfers from the Orange County Jail to Alligator Alcatraz is a 36-year-old who is legally in the United States and was picked up for driving with a suspended license, his attorney told the Orlando Sentinel.

The man is a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, a 2012 program that shields undocumented ...Read more

Surrounded by the low hum of swamp bugs, Anthony Sleiman pointed his camera to the west.

The conservation photographer was more than 15 miles from the state’s newly built immigrant detention center, dubbed Alligator Alcatraz. But just before 10 p.m. on July 1, he could see the site’s glow with his naked eye.

Sleiman, whose night-sky ...Read more

CHICAGO — Dozens of organized Northwestern University postdoctoral researchers marched through campus Tuesday, delivering a petition to formally ask school officials to recognize their new labor union.

The Northwestern University Postdoc Union would represent about 1,300 scientists and academic research staff, who say they’re fighting for ...Read more

Donald Trump’s threat to impose 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods sent the country’s currency plunging as the U.S. leader sharply escalated a dispute with Latin America’s largest nation and leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In a letter posted to his social media account, Trump said he was making the change “due in part to Brazil�...Read more

Senators are set to weigh in this week on Trump administration proposals to overhaul parts of the Justice Department and cut funding for key federal law enforcement agencies.

The administration’s fiscal 2026 budget request seeks to end the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as a separate component, wipe away the Office on ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Josh Stein vetoed legislation on Wednesday that would have given private schools the option to allow teachers or school volunteers to carry concealed handguns on campus.

House Bill 193 would have permitted employees or volunteers at private schools to carry firearms or stun guns on school grounds if they received written...Read more