Use a loyalty card at a drug store, browse the web, post on social media, get married or do anything else most people do, and chances are companies called data brokers know about it — along with your email address, your phone number, where you live and virtually everywhere you go.

But starting Jan. 1, under California's first-in-the-nation ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — When a mental health call came in to St. Cloud police last fall of a man digging into the street with a fixed-blade knife, officers weren’t the only ones to respond.

A drone, deployed and piloted from the real-time intelligence center inside police headquarters, beat the units to the scene and watched as the man put the ...Read more

It seems we’ve decided the humanities have less to give the human race — or more modestly, this country’s future — than the sciences.

This is a serious mistake. The sciences and the humanities are different faces of the human search for knowledge and not the opposites we have turned them into. If you hamstring one, you hamstring the ...Read more

As climate change continues to threaten California in 2025 — from devastating wildfires, declining kelp forests and struggling salmon runs to shrinking snowpack in the Sierra Nevada — the state has rolled out a range of measures to confront the crisis. These efforts come at a time when the federal government has prioritized fossil fuels and ...Read more

Florida’s first bear hunt in a decade ended Sunday, but state wildlife officials still won’t say how many bears were killed.

They also haven’t explained why.

“We’ll provide updates as soon as we’re able to,” a spokesperson, Shannon Knowles, replied by email Monday morning.

The 23-day hunt, which began Dec. 6 and is planned as an...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — A dozen swans have died at Lake Eola in the past week, leaving Orlando officials fearing another outbreak of bird flu at the city’s signature park.

City Commissioner Patty Sheehan posted on Facebook that two dead swans were found on Dec. 23, with the number growing to 12 by Sunday. Due to the holidays the city’s ...Read more

After years of eschewing big mergers, ServiceNow Inc. is on a deal spree. It has spent at least $12 billion this year on acquisitions or strategic investments.

The action has some investors on edge about whether the software company is starting to lean on deals to spur growth, particularly given Chief Executive Officer Bill McDermott’s ...Read more

Everybody has heard about artificial intelligence, but AI is just now starting to hit the mainstream.

AI has started to creep into my online life lately, and it is changing the way I search for things online and converse with virtual assistants. You might find these in your online life as well.

Google

We are all used to searching with Google....Read more

Tessan's Voyager 205 8-in-1 universal travel adapter is a game changer for frequent fliers. This pocket-sized adapter (3 by 2.16 by 2.20 inches; 11.8 ounces) features dual fast-charging modules that allow it to power up to eight devices simultaneously, one of the key reasons it's marketed as the world's most powerful travel adapter.

The eight...Read more

DENVER — A state audit in 2023 painted a grim picture of Colorado’s oversight of natural gas pipelines, but critics say despite the findings and legislation mandating improvements, new rules backed by regulators are inadequate.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday supported most of the recommendations by an administrative law...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Mississippi River snakes below the bluffs at Spring Lake Park Reserve near Hastings, where people stroll or ski along the trails to take in the view of the majestic river.

But some local officials and river lovers are raising alarms about the prospect of that scenic vista changing. A proposal for a new phase of gravel mining...Read more

Google has finally answered users' cries, allowing Gmail users to swap out embarrassing teenage email addresses.

Gmail account holders can now change their existing @gmail.com address while retaining their data and services.

Once changed, old email addresses will remain active, and users will continue to receive emails sent to both the old and...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A 100,000-gallon sewage spill has closed Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro, L.A. County officials said.

Visitors should avoid ocean water and any wet sand for at least three quarters of a mile upstream or downstream from the beach, the county public health department said in a release.

A sewage discharge from a manhole in Carson ...Read more

CHICAGO — Illinois is a top agricultural state, generating billions of dollars annually, but even where stalks of corn and acres of soybean vastly outnumber its 400,000 head of cattle, cows raised for beef and dairy account for an outsize portion of the industry’s methane emissions.

A single cow raised for meat produces between 154 and 264 ...Read more

A Stanford software engineering degree used to be a golden ticket. Artificial intelligence has devalued it to bronze, recent graduates say.

The elite students are shocked by the lack of job offers as they finish studies at what is often ranked as the top university in America.

When they were freshmen, ChatGPT hadn't yet been released upon the ...Read more

The states along the Colorado River are proving the truth of the famous adage often attributed to Mark Twain: “Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over.”

At the end of the year, the current agreement governing water in the Colorado River will end. The agreement includes seven states. The four Upper Basin states are Colorado, New ...Read more

A bald eagle is recovering after being rescued in Mansfield on Monday after striking power lines, officials said.

In a Facebook post by Connecticut State Police, early Monday morning a bald eagle was seen in the area of Ravine Road and Route 32 in Mansfield, when witnesses say that it flew into power lines and fell straight to the ground.

...Read more

From their cozy homes in suburban Burlington, children curiously watch their new neighbors through windows and brainstorm nicknames.

Earlier this month, with their distinctive brown fur, big heads, short horns and back hump, a small herd of six American buffalo — the largest land mammals in the country — exited a trailer and took their ...Read more

DENVER -- Vast swaths of the ponderosa pine forests that blanket Colorado’s Front Range mountains could turn rust-colored and die over the next five years as pine beetles begin to spread aggressively, new federal forecasts show.

Aerial surveys conducted by the U.S. Forest Service over the last year found evidence of rapidly spreading beetle ...Read more