New Orleans plans to revamp the commission that oversees city parks and playgrounds and is seeking $5 million in federal aid after an investigation published by Verite News and KFF Health News found high levels of lead contamination in playgrounds throughout the city.

Mayor Helena Moreno signed an executive order on April 7 that creates a task ...Read more

For months, a cloud of fear has hovered over the immigrant community in San Bernardino, California, making it hard for María González to do her job as a community health worker in this city where almost a quarter of residents are foreign-born.

It started building over the summer, fed by news of immigration raids across Southern California, ...Read more

North America’s largest coke plant hugs the west bank of Pennsylvania’s Monongahela River, belching out emissions from turning superheated coal into a carbon-rich fuel.

Researchers say the children at Clairton Elementary School about a mile away pay the price. They discovered the students there and at other elementary schools near major ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — As spring slowly creeps in across Minnesota, Sophie Hortman is thinking about trips to the garden center with her mother, Melissa Hortman.

It’s the first legislative session without the former Minnesota House DFL leader, who was shot killed in her home with her husband, Mark Hortman, last June. For Sophie and her brother, ...Read more

DENVER — Manuel’s months in a federal detention center began when his brother’s dog got loose.

Manuel went after the dog in their Colorado Springs neighborhood. A stranger ran with him, trying to help, and when they reached the startled animal, the dog bit the stranger.

Law enforcement showed up. Manuel was given a court hearing for the ...Read more

Some anti-abortion state lawmakers are pushing to revise the definition of “abortion” so abortion bans don’t apply to cases in which the death of an “unborn child” is the result of medical care provided to the pregnant woman.

In the four years since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to ban abortion, stories continue to emerge of...Read more

Last year was a record year for hate crimes directed at Latinos in the U.S., FBI data show.

The findings — which come from preliminary FBI data that were first reviewed by Axios and later reviewed by the Los Angeles Times — showed that the number of 2025 incidents the agency labeled as anti-Latino hate crimes nationwide increased 18%, from ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Here it comes, the annual flood of migratory birds returning to their summer homes across Minnesota, or even farther north. At this time of year, billions of birds are on the move, from South America, Central America and the southern U.S. They have two things on their minds: arriving early enough to stake out a rich nesting ...Read more

BOSTON — Boston officials, organizations and residents came out for One Boston ceremonies and acts of service on Wednesday to begin the commemoration of tragic events of the marathon bombings 13 years ago.

“One Boston Day recognizes the resiliency, generosity, and strength demonstrated by the people of Boston and those around the world in ...Read more

The Kentucky Senate censured a state Supreme Court justice and filed a judicial ethics complaint over his opinion in a case that terminated the impeachment effort against a Lexington judge.

Senate President Robert Stivers introduced Senate Resolution 305 late Wednesday — the final day of the 2026 General Assembly — censuring Supreme Court ...Read more

The war in Iran and President Donald Trump’s rhetoric have driven U.S. alliances with Europe near the breaking point.

The U.S. has offered a diplomatic version of the silent treatment to many European partners, refusing to loop them in about its plans for the conflict and progress in peace negotiations, officials on the continent say. That�...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California Assembly committee on Wednesday advanced a ban on law enforcement officers from coming near polling places unless they’re responding to a public safety threat — a bill supporters say is designed to insulate the state’s elections from intimidation tactics by federal agencies under President Donald Trump�...Read more

CHICAGO — The federal government is looking to stop a controversial Illinois law banning certain credit card fees, a move that appears to favor financial institutions that have fought the state law in court for more than a year.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, plans ...Read more

The U.S. Senate is voting today on an unprecedented move to strip mining prohibitions from an area near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Lawmakers are considering a measure under the Congressional Review Act. If passed and signed by the president, the measure would remove a 20-year ban on mining federal lands in the Superior National ...Read more

John Eastman, the former Chapman University law dean who became the legal architect of President Donald Trump’s push to hold office despite losing the 2020 election, is no longer allowed to practice law in California.

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday, April 15, declined to hear Eastman’s appeal of a lower court ruling recommending ...Read more

DETROIT — Heavy spring rainfall and lingering melt-off of winter snow and inland lake ice have left much of Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula awash in water this week, wreaking havoc on up north roadways.

Multiple roadways and small bridges were washed away by floodwaters from Grand Traverse County on Lake Michigan to Presque Isle County on...Read more

The top U.S. derivatives regulator is investigating a series of suspiciously well-timed trades in the oil futures market ahead of recent policy pivots by President Donald Trump related to the war in Iran, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is leading the probe into trading of oil futures ...Read more

Donald Trump’s bid to block Iran from using the Strait of Hormuz chokes a key Chinese energy supply and risks a showdown with Xi Jinping a month before the two leaders are set to meet in Beijing.

Xi broke his near seven-week silence over the Iran war on Tuesday, warning the world order is “crumbling into disarray,” while pledging to play ...Read more

The U.S. and Iran are considering a two-week ceasefire extension to allow more time to negotiate a peace deal, according to a person familiar with the matter, reducing the risk of a resumption of fighting despite an intensifying standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.

With the initial truce due to expire next week, mediators between the warring ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday delayed a planned special session on redistricting by one week, while simultaneously expanding the agenda to include a revived push for artificial intelligence regulations and vaccine discussions.

In a proclamation issued Wednesday evening, DeSantis said he was pushing back the special ...Read more