OAKLAND, Calif. — Rosa María Carranza leaned forward to hold a 3-year-old’s back as the girl climbed a rock in the forested hills of northeast Oakland.

Dressed in hiking gear and beaded necklaces, Carranza, 67, maneuvered between trees and children on a sunny morning in December. “Hold on to that branch,” she said in Spanish. “You ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — As data center projects have popped up across the St. Louis region, driven by the growth of industrial-scale computing for artificial intelligence, one of the primary concerns raised by residents is about water — as in, will data centers consume vast amounts of the local water supply?

Data centers — essentially huge warehouses...Read more

MIAMI — Driver’s licenses and ID cards that meet REAL ID requirements in Florida will indicate the legal status of their holders beginning in 2027 under a new state law.

House Bill 991 was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis as part of the Florida SAVE Act legislative package, which focuses on election “security.”

Under the law, new, ...Read more

DONNER PASS, Calif. — After 5½ hours on backcountry skis, traversing the Sierra Nevada’s rapidly melting snowpack beneath a scorching spring sun, the guide at the front of our group stopped and went silent.

He dropped to his knees, bowed his head and folded his hands in prayer.

Out of breath, with my thighs burning from a long, steep ...Read more

MEXICO CITY — The goal, say Mexican authorities, was to bring clarity to one of the nation’s most explosive questions: What happened to the more than 130,000 people officially listed as “disappeared”?

Their faces are pasted on walls and lampposts across Mexico, and demonstrators regularly hoist banners demanding the return of loved ...Read more

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — When Waterford Township Police Chief Scott Underwood asked the township's Board of Trustees earlier this year to approve technology that would improve his department's license plate reader capabilities, he was greeted by a host of residents voicing privacy concerns.

At the Jan. 26 meeting, Underwood asked for the ...Read more

A federal appeals court declined for now Anthropic PBC’s request to pause a declaration by the Pentagon that the artificial intelligence company poses a risk to the U.S. supply chain, even as plans for a broader government ban on its technology remain blocked by a California judge.

In its decision Wednesday, the three-judge panel in ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump lashed out at NATO after meeting with the military alliance’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte, making clear that his anger over the organization’s stance on the Iran war remained acute.

“NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN. REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — The U.S. Army Cadet Command released a video Wednesday night of Old Dominion cadets who were in the classroom when a gunman opened fire, killing their instructor and injuring two of their peers.

The cadets said they were there for a regular Thursday morning meeting of their class: Military Science IV. Some arrived at Constant ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Secret warrants obtained by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department to seize more than 650,000 ballots in a controversial investigation of election fraud allegations were made public Wednesday, raising new questions about whether the probe was based on solid evidence of crimes.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gail O’...Read more

NEW YORK — Donald Trump has asked New York’s highest appeals court to vacate a judge’s finding that he was liable for inflating the value of his real estate assets, arguing that his former lawyer Michael Cohen has since cast doubt on his own testimony against the president.

In a filing Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers cited a January ...Read more

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois House on Wednesday passed a measure meant to encourage public high schools across the state to connect their students to organizations that will help them register to vote when they turn 18.

Dubbed the Jesse Jackson Sr. Young Voter Empowerment Law, the bill “requires a school district” to provide voter ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, now running for governor, defended his judgment when asked if he should have known that his former chief of staff, Deputy Attorney General Sean McCluskie, had stolen campaign funds from him.

Last fall, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento charged McCluskie, former Gov. Gavin ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The White House announced the U.S. would hold direct talks with Iran even as continued fighting in the Middle East, punctuated by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire in the six-week conflict.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Vice President JD Vance would lead an American delegation to ...Read more

MIAMI — Before a swarm of Coral Springs officers descended on the home of Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen last week, discovering her death, allegedly at the hands of her husband, authorities had been called five times to her home, a Miami Herald inquiry revealed.

Officers were called to the home six times from August 2023 to April 2026, the ...Read more

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would levy criminal penalties against those who use tax dollars to advocate for or against a public question on the ballot, such as constitutional amendments, which have to be voted on by residents in order to pass.

Senate Bill 59, introduced by Steve Rawlings, R-Burlington, ...Read more

PLYMOUTH, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday that she won't make endorsements in either the Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate or the Democratic convention contest for secretary of state, a race that features her own lieutenant governor.

After a press conference celebrating the start of the road construction ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier wouldn’t say Wednesday whether he’s asked a judge to keep secret a grand jury report into the Hope Florida scandal, instead asserting during a combative press conference in Miami that he was not a target in the investigation.

Asked whether he had petitioned a court to redact ...Read more