WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in 2024 let lapse the authority for states to reimburse food stamp recipients who lost their benefits to fraud. Several lawmakers want to reverse course.

In the two years the Agriculture Department had the reimbursement authority, it identified 1.9 million fraudulent transactions using stolen Supplemental Nutrition ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A year ago, officials were sounding alarms about a bone-dry winter that days later would combine with wind gusts of up to 100 mph to bring about the worst fires in Los Angeles history.

Now, Southern California just experienced its wettest Christmas in modern history.

This Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the rainiest in ...Read more

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expects to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday in pursuit of a deal to end Russia’s nearly four-year invasion.

Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday that he’d discuss sensitive issues with Trump including the future of the Donbas region in Ukraine’s east and the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A year ago, officials were sounding alarms about a bone-dry winter that days later would combine with hurricane-strength winds to bring about the worst fires in Los Angeles history.

Now, Southern California just experienced its wettest Christmas in modern history.

This Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the rainiest in the ...Read more

A beloved grandfather died in what police are calling a “freak accident” at a Nebraska McDonald’s drive-thru.

Michael Dickinson, 69, suffered fatal injuries after he somehow became trapped between the payment window and his car at the fast food chain’s store in Grand Island, some 24 miles southwest of Lincoln, local authorities said.

�...Read more

DENVER — The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation is suing Colorado for discrimination in federal court, alleging that a recently passed law denies the Tribe equal access to its ancestral lands.

That law, Colorado Revised Statute 33-12-103.8, provides free access to Colorado’s state parks for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe ...Read more

ATLANTA — By New Year’s Eve, the Trump administration is scheduled to award one-time grants to states to “transform” their rural health care, and Georgia is asking for $1.4 billion.

Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration has submitted an application with a long list of proposed pilot projects, including drop-in telehealth “pods,” health...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Hope Florida won’t be providing loneliness services anymore.

The state has scrubbed nearly 80% of the references to Hope Florida — the controversial DeSantis administration effort to move residents off government assistance that became mired in political scandal — in its Medicaid managed care contract.

The original ...Read more

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he plans to meet his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump “in the coming days,” signaling optimism about reaching a peace deal to end Russia’s almost four-year war.

Separately, the Kremlin said its representatives had made contact with the U.S. at President Vladimir Putin’s direction.

“A lot ...Read more

Thailand claimed that Cambodia fired heavy weaponry into its territory on Friday as talks on a possible ceasefire between the two countries continued.

The Cambodian action early Friday “forced the Thai side to take necessary self-defense measures,” according to a statement published at a daily press briefing. One Thai soldier was also “...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republicans in the Florida House are quickly moving forward on a smorgasbord of ballot initiatives that would ask voters to dramatically overhaul the state’s property taxes — deepening the anxiety for local officials who rely on those funds for their budgets.

When the Legislature convenes January 13 for its regular 60-...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

PHILADELPHIA — Leon Harris, 35, is intimately familiar with the devastation guns can inflict. Robbers shot him in the back nearly two decades ago, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. The bullet remains lodged in his spine.

“When you get shot,” he said, “you stop thinking about the future.”

He is anchored by his wife and child ...Read more

Lawmakers in several states are working to expand medical debt protections for patients, even after the Trump administration reversed course and told states they don’t have authority to take action on credit reporting.

In Alaska and Michigan, legislators are nonetheless advancing bills to keep medical debt off consumer credit reports.

The ...Read more

The U.S. launched a military strike in Nigeria against Islamic State targets, President Donald Trump said, citing what he said was the persecution of the country’s Christian population by the militant group.

In a social media post, Trump said he directed American forces to carry out “a powerful and deadly strike” against ISIS. U.S. Africa...Read more

Coastal communities in Southern California braced for more rain and flash floods even as a powerful Christmas storm began to ease on Thursday evening, with a state of emergency still in place for Los Angeles and neighboring counties.

The potential for flooding will be high through Friday, as more showers and thunderstorms pass through the area,...Read more

A victim of last month’s UPS plane crash in Louisville died Christmas morning, bringing the death toll to 15.

Alain Rodriguez Colina suffered severe injuries in the crash and died Thursday, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said in a social media post.

“May Alain’s memory be a blessing,” Greenberg wrote.

“Let’s pray for these ...Read more

The U.S. launched a military strike in Nigeria against Islamic State targets, President Donald Trump said.

In a social media post, Trump said he directed American forces to carry out “a powerful and deadly strike” against ISIS. U.S. Africa Command said in a subsequent statement that the attack came “at the request of Nigerian authorities�...Read more

A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its Justice Department counterpart from "sweeping" civil arrests at immigration courthouses across Northern California, teeing up an appellate challenge to one of the Trump administration's most controversial deportation tactics.

"This circumstance ...Read more