U.S./World category, Page 148
Older people in crosshairs as government restarts Social Security garnishment on student loans
NEW YORK — Christine Farro has cut back on the presents she sends her grandchildren on their birthdays, and she’s put off taking two cats and a dog for their shots. All her clothes come from thrift stores and most of her vegetables come from her garden. At 73, she...
Those who’ve worked with Pope Leo XIV are optimistic he’ll elevate women’s roles — with limits
VATICAN CITY — Before becoming Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Prevost presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms of Pope Francis’ pontificate by having women serve on the Vatican board that vets nominations for bishops. But he also has said decisively that women cannot be ordained as priests, and...
Missouri lawmakers approve referendum to repeal abortion-rights amendment
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Six months after Missouri voters approved an abortion-rights amendment, Republican state lawmakers on Wednesday approved a new referendum that would seek the amendment’s repeal and instead ban most abortions with exceptions for rape an incest. The newly proposed constitutional amendment would go back to voters in...
Beauty influencer fatally shot during her TikTok livestream at a Mexican beauty salon
MEXICO CITY — A social media influencer was shot to death while doing a TikTok livestream at a beauty salon in the central Mexican state of Jalisco, state authorities confirmed Wednesday. The stark show of violence fueled shock in the Latin American nation at a time when rival cartels have...
Nationwide or nowhere? Supreme Court weighs power to block Trump’s citizenship crackdown
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Thursday in a case that will help frame President Donald Trump’s power to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States whose parents didn’t enter the country legally. The emergency appeal hearing stems from a January executive order...
Wisconsin judge argues prosecutors can’t charge her with helping a man evade immigration agents
MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin judge charged with helping a man who is in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration agents who were trying to detain him at her courthouse filed a motion to dismiss the case Wednesday, arguing that there’s no legal basis for it. Attorneys for Milwaukee County...
EPA announces rollback for some Biden-era limits on ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking waterVideo
The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it plans to weaken limits on some “forever chemicals” in drinking water that were finalized last year, while maintaining standards for two common ones. The Biden administration set the first federal drinking water limits for PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, finding they...
Georgetown student released from immigration detention after federal judge’s ruling
ALVARADO, Texas — A Georgetown University scholar from India who was arrested in the Trump administration’s crackdown on foreign college students was released from immigration detention Wednesday after a federal judge’s ruling. Badar Khan Suri said he was glad to be released as he left a federal detention facility in...
Virginia boy swept away as heavy rains and flooding hit several states
The body of a 12-year-old boy has been found after he was swept away by rushing water on a Virginia roadway, while a dozen students stayed overnight at a Maryland high school as heavy rains led to flooding in several states, officials said. A 911 caller reported Tuesday night that...
U.S. overdose deaths fell 27% last year, the largest 1-year decline ever seen
There were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before — the largest one-year decline ever recorded. An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Wednesday. That’s down 27% from the 110,000 in 2023....
End of universe sooner than once thought, research says
This just in: The end is near(er) than we thought. Turn back the ultimate doomsday clock by more than a thousand megaannum — that’s the millennium equivalent of 1 million years — so 1,000 megaannum would be 1 billion years. If research by Dutch scientists published this week meets muster,...
Newark problems and recent crashes put focus on air traffic controller shortage and aging equipment
The recent chronic delays and cancellations at New Jersey’s largest airport have highlighted the shortage of air traffic controllers and the aging equipment they use, which President Donald Trump’s administration wants to replace. The Federal Aviation Administration is working on a short-term fix to the problems at the Newark airport...
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 70 people, including 22 children, health officials say
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes pounded northern and southern Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 70 people, including almost two dozen children, according to local hospitals and health officials, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was “no way” he would halt Israel’s offensive in...
Trump meets with Syria’s insurgent-turned-leader in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — U.S. President Donald Trump met with interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, the first encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years and one that could mark a turning point for Syria as it struggles to emerge from decades of international...
Flash flooding forces evacuation of elementary school in western MarylandVideo
BALTIMORE — Flooding in rural western Maryland forced the evacuation of an elementary school Tuesday afternoon as water began to breach the second floor, according to local officials. Homes and businesses in downtown Westernport were also inundated with floodwaters as a result of hours of heavy rain. Officials reassured the...
Federal grand jury indicts Wisconsin judge in immigration case, allowing charges to continue
MADISON, Wis. — A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities, allowing the case against her to continue. The arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan escalated a clash between President Donald Trump’s administration and local authorities over the...
More than 200 firefighters battle massive warehouse blaze in Baltimore. No injuries reported
BALTIMORE — More than 200 firefighters battled a massive blaze that broke out at a west Baltimore warehouse, disrupting Amtrak service in the area and prompting officials to move dozens of area residents. Commuter rail service was canceled Tuesday amid fears the building could collapse onto railroad tracks. Firefighters were...
Newark mayor returns to immigration detention center days after trespassing arrest
NEWARK, N.J. — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka briefly returned Tuesday to the gates of the federal immigration detention center where he was arrested last week on trespassing charges. Baraka, a Democrat running for governor in the June 10 primary, was turned away from Delaney Hall, the facility where he was...
3 die in North Cascades National Park climbing fall
NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK, Wash. — Three climbers from suburban Seattle were killed in a fall over the weekend in North Cascades National Park, sheriff’s officials said. Sheriff’s personnel and county search and rescue volunteers responded to the accident late Sunday morning about 16 miles west of Mazama in an...
Judge reduces Menendez brothers’ murder sentences, putting them a step closer to freedom
LOS ANGELES — Erik and Lyle Menendez will have a new shot at freedom after 35 years behind bars for murdering their parents, a judge ruled Tuesday. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic reduced the brothers’ sentences from life without parole to 50 years to life. They’re now...
Florida State student accused in a mass shooting on campus to remain jailed
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A judge on Tuesday ordered the Florida State University student accused of killing two people and wounding six others in a mass shooting on campus last month to remain jailed without bond. During 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner’s first court appearance since the April 17 attack, Leon County Judge...
FDA, RFK Jr. aim to remove ingestible fluoride products used to protect kids’ teeth
WASHINGTON — U.S. health regulators announced an effort Tuesday to phase out ingestible fluoride supplements sometimes used to strengthen children’s teeth, opening a new front in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s effort against a mainstay of dental care. The Food and Drug Administration said it will conduct a scientific...
U.S. egg prices fall for 1st time in months but remain near record highs
U.S. retail egg prices fell in April from the record-high prices they hit earlier this year, according to government data released Tuesday. The average price for a dozen Grade A eggs declined to $5.12 last month after reaching a record $6.23 in March, according to the Consumer Price Index. It...
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says he will be waiting for Russian leader Putin in Turkey on Thursday for talks
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he will be waiting for Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Turkish capital this week to conduct face-to-face talks about the more than three-year war amid heavy pressure from the U.S. and European leaders to reach a settlement. Putin hasn’t...
Former UPMC doctor accused of trying to kill his wife on Hawaii hiking trail denied bail
A judge on Tuesday denied a Maui doctor’s request to be released on bail while he fights an attempted murder charge on allegations that he tried to kill his wife on a Honolulu hiking trail. Gerhardt Konig previously pleaded not guilty. His wife wrote in a petition for a temporary...
