CHICAGO — When reports surfaced over the weekend that mass deportations could potentially begin in the Chicago area Tuesday, Martin Ramos informed his boss that he was taking time off from work, stocked up on groceries and decided his kids would skip soccer practice this week.

Ramos — who emigrated from Guadalajara, Mexico, without the ...Read more

Los Angeles is burning, but it isn’t alone. In recent years, fires have blasted through cities in Colorado, the southern Appalachians and the island of Maui, along with Canada, Australia, Portugal and Greece. What wasn’t burned was smoked in.

Is this another case of a future not only dire but strange, without a narrative to join ...Read more

President Donald Trump aims to upend the immigration system in the United States in his first few days in office. On Jan. 20, 2025, Trump signed various executive orders that temporarily prevent refugees from coming to the U.S. and block immigrants from applying for asylum at a U.S. border, among other measures.

Another executive ...Read more

Incarcerated people in Colorado are exposed to climate-related extreme heat and cold, plus flooding and wildfires. Because they’re unable to escape these hazards, their health suffers and some die.

“I remember it being summer, and there’s no way to get away from the sun. And I remember people just burning,” said one formerly ...Read more

Donald Trump’s polarizing political rise in the past decade has driven many groups – and some families – apart.

But a long-running pickup basketball game that I play in, made up of people with various political leanings, including Trump supporters, remains intact. I explored the group’s dynamics in my 2020 memoir. In March ...Read more

The concept of Christian nationalism has taken center stage in many Americans’ minds as either the greatest threat to democracy or its only savior.

Political scientist Eric McDaniel defines Christian nationalism as the belief that the United States was founded to be a Christian nation. “In this view,” according to McDaniel, “...Read more

In some circumstances, a president’s official Farewell Address to the Nation may be an occasion for sunny reflection. President Joe Biden’s, delivered five days before he left office, began that way, with a celebration of America’s promise and of its progress under his tenure.

But midway through, Biden’s tone shifted abruptly,...Read more

After four years of U.S. progress on efforts to deal with climate change under Joe Biden, Donald Trump’s return to the White House is swiftly swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction.

On his first day back, Trump declared a national energy emergency, directing agencies to use any emergency powers available to boost oil and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Amid firestorms and extended red flag warnings, the idea of a weekend rainstorm is a balm for Southern California's soul. And the rain could help with the firefight, but forecasters say it probably will not end what has been a devastating fire season.

The rains will bring "a very beneficial wetting rain," but "it will not end ...Read more

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they have released the crew of a commercial vessel that they hijacked over a year ago, the latest step in the easing of risks to ships in the Red Sea region.

The Galaxy Leader was among the first vessels to be targeted by the Houthis in the southern Red Sea, a major trade passageway between Asia and Europe. The ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As Los Angeles rebuilds from a devastating wildfire that destroyed swaths of Pacific Palisades, the city's access to federal money could be imperiled by one of President Trump's first-day immigration actions targeting "sanctuary cities."

An executive order that Trump signed Monday, shortly after he was sworn in, directs federal ...Read more

Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. newspaper group apologized to Prince Harry over allegations journalists at its tabloid newspapers used unlawful information gathering, as it settled a long-running lawsuit that threatened to dredge up decades-old accusations of wrongdoing.

News Group Newspapers Ltd. will pay “substantial damages” and give a “full ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Leticia Jimenez expects to graduate from Cal State San Bernardino this spring with a degree in business administration.

She came to the country without authorization when she was 2 years old and grew up working the fields of the Coachella Valley with her parents when school was out.

She would be excited about the new ...Read more

FRESNO, Calif. — Weeks before Matias Bernal migrated to the United States from Mexico City in 2002, he and his younger sister were held at gunpoint by three strangers who ambushed them on their way to school.

The would-be abductors forced the siblings to get inside their vehicle and drove away, releasing Bernal’s sister about 15 minutes ...Read more

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Abby Jones’ first stop of the day delivering medication was the home of 90-year-old Sarah Campbell Kier.

“Come in!” yelled Kier. Jones didn’t have to knock. Kier had the screen door open and was waiting for the Barnes Drug Store driver, who also had delivered Kier’s thyroid medication the day before.

“I appreciate...Read more

Psychedelic therapy is set to launch in Colorado this spring, with the state considering licenses for healing centers, psilocybin mushroom cultivations, a product manufacturer and a testing lab.

Regulators recently began accepting applications from those interested in getting in on the ground floor of the state’s nascent industry, and while ...Read more

COLUMBIA FALLS, Mont. — Over two years ago, Kim Hilton and his partner walked out of their home for the final time. The house had sold, and the new landlord raised the rent.

They couldn’t afford it. Their Social Security payments couldn’t cover the cost of any apartments in northwestern Montana’s Flathead Valley.

Hilton’s partner was...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The ongoing hemp controversy in Sutter County comes down to two issues: shortfall and smell.

Six-figure losses are at stake on both sides of the debate between the county and its local hemp farmers, as officials weigh whether to continue their ban on industrial hemp production.

Sutter County has only a handful of ...Read more