Three varieties of cottage cheese sold under Walmart’s Great Value brand got yanked from stores in 24 states on potential pasteurization problems.

Manufacturer Saputo Cheese USA said while doing “pasteurizer troubleshooting exercises” with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the company and agency found “there’s the ...Read more

Anthropic PBC, which for years billed itself as a safer alternative to artificial intelligence rivals, has loosened its commitment to maintaining its guardrails, one of the most dramatic policy shifts in the AI industry yet as startups once focused on helping humanity turn their attention to profit and success.

The company in 2023 said in its ...Read more

The H5N1 bird flu virus that devastated South American elephant seal populations has been confirmed in seals at California's Año Nuevo State Park, researchers from the University of California, Davis and the University of California, Santa Cruz announced Wednesday.

The virus has ravaged wild, commercial and domestic animals across the globe ...Read more

MEXICO CITY — President Donald Trump telephoned his Mexican counterpart after the takedown of the cartel leader known as "El Mencho" and the ensuing violence south of the border and asked: "What's going on in Mexico? How are things?"

The cordial conversation Monday lasted about eight minutes, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told ...Read more

The federal government may stop TSA PreCheck during the ongoing partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday.

Noem previously said the department would suspend PreCheck operations last weekend but quickly reversed course and kept the faster, prescreened security lanes open.

However, she put the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Federal authorities raided the home and office of Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on Wednesday morning, the FBI confirmed.

Law enforcement sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, told the Los Angeles Times that the federal investigation specifically...Read more

New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport marked her first official day in the office exchanging lawsuits with President Donald Trump’s administration.

Davenport, appointed by Gov. Mikie Sherrill, had already been waging legal battles against Trump as acting attorney general before her unanimous confirmation Tuesday by the New Jersey ...Read more

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts and Nevis — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio began a day of talks with Caribbean leaders here telling them he wants to reinforce the long-term relationship between the United States and the region.

The statement, though brief, was encouraging, Caribbean leaders said as they prepared for longer closed-door discussions ...Read more

DENVER — Colorado forensic officials have slashed the turnaround time for sexual assault kit testing, but it still takes analysts more than six months to process and complete a test, a new state audit found.

The 190-day testing lag is well outside the 60-day goal set by the legislature in state law, and it’s more than twice as long as the ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down Wednesday on his belief that the mass snowball fight in Washington Square Park that left two cops hospitalized should not result in criminal charges — drawing a deeper line in the snow between himself and NYPD officials looking to make arrests.

Speaking at an unrelated press conference, Mamdani ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Outrage over parole being granted to a convicted serial child molester who lured children with candy has renewed calls to reform California’s elderly parole program under which violent offenders and sexual predators as young as 50 can become eligible for release.

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported that David Allen ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida House on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill that would prohibit the diversion of money to a third party in a state settlement— a direct response to the DeSantis administration’s maneuvering during the 2024 election.

State Rep. Alex Andrade, a Republican Pensacola lawyer who runs the House budget committee,...Read more

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is tapping a Pennsylvania administrator to lead his Department of Social Services, he announced Wednesday.

Erin Dalton, who previously led the Allegheny County Department of Human Services in Pittsburgh, will start in her role as commissioner on Monday.

Mamdani’s Department of Social Services ...Read more

The H5N1 bird flu virus that devastated South America’s elephant seal populations has been confirmed in seals at California’s Año Nuevo State Park, researchers from the University of California, Davis and the University of California, Santa Cruz announced Wednesday.

The virus has ravaged wild, commercial and domestic animals across the ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — House Speaker Matt Hall is proposing a targeted 6% sales tax on certain discretionary services that he hopes will generate about $4.7 billion and partially offset nearly $5 billion in property tax cuts that the Kalamazoo County Republican is floating.

Hall's service tax proposal, first reported by WLNS-TV, would target ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Despite Republicans’ repeal of much of the 2022 landmark climate reconciliation law, former Sen. Joe Manchin III stands by the legislation despite the price he paid in his home state of West Virginia.

Manchin spoke Tuesday at the National Press Club about his book, “Dead Center: In Defense of Common Sense,” in which he ...Read more

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California delivered a forceful rebuke to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, accusing him of lying about the economy, trying to manipulate elections and terrorizing communities with aggressive immigration enforcement.

Padilla’s comments were released in a video speech minutes after the president ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Clairemont High School’s new mascot will be the Captains, after a name change process prompted by a state law addressing names and mascots derogatory to Native Americans.

The San Diego Unified school board voted unanimously Tuesday evening to change the mascot from the Chieftains.

The choice of Captains pays homage to the ...Read more