In January, when President Donald Trump unveiled his one-page outline to address health care spending, dubbed “The Great Healthcare Plan,” he specifically mentioned the Affordable Care Act’s role in driving up costs.

“I call it the unaffordable care act,” he said. He reprised the line in his 2026 State of the Union address, blaming �...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The most destructive wildfires in Southern California history. The region's wettest holiday season. The hottest March heat wave on record.

In the last 15 months, the Southland has seen a trio of extreme weather events, and UC climate scientist Daniel Swain says there's one clear through line connecting them all.

"All of the ...Read more

The Trump administration has signaled a willingness to halt billions of dollars in federal health payments to multiple states, mirroring moves it made against Minnesota.

The specific target is Medicaid, the public health insurance program that pairs state and federal money. Federal officials have announced unprecedented actions in Minnesota ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla — When Nathalia Assaad first heard the bang, bang, bang, bang that would come to haunt her, she mistook the sound for construction.

“Wow,” she thought, pausing in her lush backyard in Lutz, a suburb north of Tampa. “Someone sure is eager to put that roof on.”

Assaad and her husband left on a trip soon after that October ...Read more

Waking up to the dawn chorus of birds – one of the natural world’s greatest symphonies – is a joy like no other. It is not surprising that bird-watching has become an increasingly popular hobby.

A simple way to start bird-watching is to buy a feeder, a pair of binoculars and a field guide, and begin watching birds from your ...Read more

On Easter Sunday, festively decorated churches across the United States will be filled with worshippers eager to celebrate the most important day in the Christian year.

While some will attend services led by pastors who are women, the overwhelming majority of worshippers will not. Women constitute 23.7% of professional clergy in the U...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The Kansas City neighborhood association with a road named after César E. Chávez running through it weighed in Friday on the revelations surrounding the civil rights leader.

A New York Times investigation reported that César E. Chávez, the late United Farm Workers union leader who became a national icon for workers and...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Legislation passed by the General Assembly this year seeks to ban the sale and production of assault weapons and to prohibit carrying them in public. The bans are part of a suite of gun regulations the legislature sent to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk this year.

Virginia last passed sweeping gun reforms in 2020 when ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s decision to curtail the activities of reporters at the Pentagon, which led to the departure of most news organizations from the building, was blocked on Friday by a federal judge in Washington.

The court ruled in favor of a lawsuit brought by The New York Times, which accused the administration of ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The city of Sacramento wrapped black plastic around Cesar Chavez’s statue Friday in the downtown plaza named for him, following a nationwide reckoning over allegations of sexual abuse by the labor leader.

Chavez is accused of molesting or raping young girls and civil rights hero Dolores Huerta, according to a New York ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is closing in on its pick to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the nation’s top public health agency grapples with a barrage of attacks and leadership changes in the past year.

Ernie Fletcher, a family physician and former governor of Kentucky, and Joseph Marine, a ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Sen. Alex Padilla has promised to rework legislation that proposed the creation of a multi-state national park honoring Cesar Chavez, the civil rights icon whose legacy has been tarnished after numerous allegations of sexual abuse surfaced earlier this week.

Padilla’s vow adds to the growing list of leaders, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After several days of protests outside its controversial pop-up in L.A.'s Silver Lake neighborhood, the restaurant Noma responded to a demand letter from workers' rights activists who have led a campaign that resurfaced past abuse allegations and culminated in last week's loss of event sponsors and the abrupt "stepping away" of ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday proposed its framework for a national artificial intelligence policy, pushing for broad preemption of state AI laws and against “open-ended liability” for AI firms.

The proposal urges Congress to take some steps to protect kids, energy costs and copyright holders, while also requesting streamlined ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The five-day heat wave that broke records across California and the West this week is winding down, with temperatures in the Bay Area forecast to fall from the 90s to the 70s in many places over the weekend.

But the effect of the overall hot, dry month of March is likely to be felt all summer, experts say, through increased...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As part of an ICE operation, plainclothes agents on Thursday pulled an accused MS-13 shot-caller out of a downtown federal courtroom, catching attorneys and the judge off guard, and casting uncertainty over the fate of his pending criminal trial.

Mark Sedlander, a defense attorney, said the agents, and at least one deputy U.S. ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky House of Representatives on Friday voted to impeach a Fayette County judge after a committee issued articles of impeachment against her earlier this week.

In a 73-to-14 vote Friday, the House approved the articles of impeachment against Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Muth Goodman, sending the matter to the Senate ...Read more

U.S. officials said the White House is sending more than 2,000 additional Marines to the Middle East as it weighs a plan to seize Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub, a ground operation that would carry huge risks for President Donald Trump.

At the same time, Trump floated the idea late Friday that the war could end quickly — even as he had ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Anti-immigration bills in the Idaho Statehouse are crashing up against political reality, frustrating some proponents.

The lawmakers behind the slate of proposals say the issue is popular among Idahoans — but they’ve acknowledged a string of setbacks.

Rep. Dale Hawkins, a Republican who brought several of the immigration ...Read more