COLUMBIA, S.C. — Fifty years after the federal government saved the Congaree swamp from industrial scale logging, the 27,000 acre nature preserve faces a rash of other threats that have the attention of scientists and conservationists.

The swamp, protected in 1976 and elevated to national park status in 2003, is downstream from factories that...Read more

LOS ANGELES — When the Eaton fire raged through neighborhoods in Altadena, the flames leveled three-quarters of the homes served by the tiny Las Flores Water Co. It also destroyed the roofs of two covered reservoirs where the utility stored drinking water.

The company soon restored clean water to those homes left standing. But the disaster ...Read more

Data centers siphon huge amounts of energy to power artificial intelligence. But their environmental footprint starts to balloon even before the first server switches on due to the immense amount of carbon-intensive concrete needed to build them.

As the U.S. data center buildout surges, with construction beginning on multibillion-dollar ...Read more

Thousands of Danish veterans and supporters protested at the U.S. embassy in Copenhagen on Saturday over recent remarks by Donald Trump that allied NATO troops “stayed a little back” from the front lines during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The U.S. president’s comments have sparked widespread anger in Denmark, a country of 6 million ...Read more

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced his appointment of five new city agency commissioners Saturday afternoon — including the first-ever formerly incarcerated person to serve as head of the Department of Correction.

Mamdani entrusted Stanley Richards, an ex-Rikers Island inmate and former executive vice president at The ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Damian Kevitt spent Saturday afternoon on a 10-mile bike ride with hundreds of other cyclists, a sticker displaying Alex Pretti's photo stuck to his jersey.

"These are just cyclists, clubs, bike shops and individuals who have come together and said, 'Hey, Alex was one of us,'" said Kevitt, while riding on Broadway in Santa ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho State Police may have to eliminate its only SWAT team. The Idaho Department of Correction could be forced to furlough all of its prison staff, leaving inmates locked in their cells and potentially leading to increased violence and riots.

Because of midyear budget cuts Gov. Brad Little called for in August, Idaho State...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Champlin Mayor Ryan Sabas, a Republican and supporter of President Donald Trump, is trying to keep track of immigration enforcement operations in his northwest Twin Cities suburb.

So when he heard federal agents were in the parking lot of a Champlin restaurant, he spoke with the general manager to figure out what happened. ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — An anonymous letter asking Congress to investigate “serious and systemic” failures within Minnesota’s Department of Human Services is the latest in years of efforts by whistle-blowers to raise concerns about the agency.

The letter’s unnamed authors, who describe themselves as current and former state employees, said they...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Rady Children’s Hospital said Saturday that it is reviewing a new lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta that alleges violation of the conditions his office placed on the organization’s merger with Children’s Hospital of Orange County in 2024.

Among those conditions is an alphabetized list of 36 medical ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Francisco Public Health Department has launched a “large-scale TB contact investigation” after a tuberculosis outbreak this week at Archbishop Riordan High School infected at least three students, prompting administrators to cancel classes and basketball games in an attempt to stop its spread.

In addition to the...Read more

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order Saturday directing Chicago police to collect evidence, investigate and potentially refer for felony prosecution criminal charges against federal immigration agents accused of misconduct.

Johnson’s decree — dubbed the “ICE on Notice” order — also states that any Chicago Police...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The young Muslim woman was shackled at the ankles. For 24 hours, she was locked inside a bathroom with three men at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, she said. They were given no bedding or pillows. Meals consisted of one sandwich a day.

The sink faucet did not work, but the single toilet did. When the men pulled down ...Read more

DENVER — Faced with a barrage of complaints, Xcel Energy used a legislative committee hearing Friday to explain and defend its decision to preemptively cut power in spots along the Front Range in December to minimize wildfire risks.

Robert Kenney, president of Xcel Energy-Colorado, told members of the legislature’s Joint Energy Committee ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Travelers hoping to fly in or out of Charlotte Saturday won’t have much luck, as most air traffic has been halted amid Winter Storm Gianna, with up to 11 inches expected to fall in the city by Sunday.

Roughly 1,077 flights have been canceled and another 77 delayed at Charlotte Douglas International Airport at about 5:45 p....Read more

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. are treading carefully as they weigh President Donald Trump’s call to invest $100 billion to rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry against the disciplined spending model that’s sent their stocks soaring on Wall Street.

The chief executive officers of both companies talked up the long-term opportunities in ...Read more

NEW YORK — A Bronx man was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison for the cold case killing of a pregnant woman, whom he strangled in front of her 5-year-old son, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark announced.

Gregory Fleetwood, 69, was sentenced by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Ralph Fabrizio 29 years after he choked the life out of 36-year-...Read more