MIAMI — When the architect of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new voting maps sat down to draw new congressional boundaries, he started with the goal of blowing up a majority Black district in South Florida.

Jason Poreda, a staffer in the governor’s office, told lawmakers this week that breaking up the Broward and Palm Beach district first ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Shoppers and employees at a Hyattsville shopping center were potentially exposed to measles on April 24, health officials say, when a Washington resident confirmed to have measles visited.

In addition to several locations in the nation’s capital, including parts of Dulles International Airport and several buses, the measles ...Read more

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te arrived at Eswatini on Saturday after an earlier trip was derailed by several China-friendly African countries closing their airspace to his aircraft.

The trip follows Eswatini Vice Prime Minister Thulisile Dladla’s visit to Taiwan on April 30 as a special envoy after flight restrictions forced the ...Read more

MIAMI — For decades, Black Floridians organized block by block to claim a right long denied to them — the vote.

Civil rights leaders like Harry T. Moore and Mary McLeod Bethune built statewide networks to register Black voters, while Miami activists such as Charles Hadley led door-to-door campaigns that transformed political participation ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Monroe Mayor Robert Burns thanked the community Friday after he said a venomous copperhead snake bit his wife, Lauren.

“Thank you all for your support and prayers,” Burns said on social media site X. “We cherish all the love. Keep praying!”

The mayor revealed the bite on social media Thursday. “Word has gotten out...Read more

Dramatic temperature jumps marked this March and April in the U.S. Northeast, making it hard to know what to dress for: chilly or sweltering conditions? Researchers have concluded that wild temperature swings are becoming more common as the world heats up.

That’s changing how we experience spring, with plants blooming sooner and consumers ...Read more

MIAMI — For decades, Black Floridians organized block by block to claim a right long denied to them — the vote.

Civil rights leaders like Harry T. Moore and Mary McLeod Bethune built statewide networks to register Black voters, while Miami activists such as Charles Hadley led door-to-door campaigns that transformed political participation ...Read more

Sweeping new U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba could chase international companies off the island as Donald Trump’s administration continues to threaten military force to dislodge the 67-year-old regime.

On Friday, Trump unveiled measures that would allow Washington to target almost any non-U.S. citizen or entity involved in business on the ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA said it was not ready to nail down Boeing Starliner’s next flight to the International Space Station as it continues to work through the problems found during its beleaguered Crew Flight Test mission in 2024.

NASA had since last year been targeting Starliner’s return to flight as early as April 2026, but that month ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — With the Colorado River’s giant reservoirs declining toward critically low levels, negotiators for California, Arizona and Nevada announced Friday that they have agreed on a water-saving plan for the next two years.

Representatives of the three states said in a written statement that their plan aims to “stabilize the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — More than 60 days into his war with Iran, well past public deadlines he had set for its end, President Donald Trump sat through a briefing from U.S. Central Command outlining yet another set of options for a fresh round of strikes.

On offer Thursday were unpalatable choices for a president eager to move on from the conflict he ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For the nine years they've been together, Anthony and David Vulin saw West Hollywood as their safe space.

They had their first date at a Mexican restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard and eventually moved in together at a nearby apartment in the famously inclusive city. Married in 2022, the couple recently welcomed their first ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Every one of the bicycles had a story — a brief one with a beginning and middle but no end.

A small white sticker on its frame gave its owner's name, date of birth and date of admission to Los Angeles General Medical Center. It didn't say what happened after that. All that is certain is that the owner arrived at the hospital ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In his earliest days in the governor’s office, Democrat Gavin Newsom huddled with his advisers to consider how to realize a key campaign promise: transforming a healthcare system replete with insurance company intermediaries into the nation’s first state-run single-payer model providing comprehensive coverage to all ...Read more

For more than 50 years, the U.S. civil rights law known as Title IX has been a bulwark against sex discrimination in education. Covering students from kindergarten through university, it’s been the basis for landmark cases involving campus rape, gender bias in standardized testing and unequal funding for women’s athletics.

Conservative ...Read more

In one respect, the soaring national debt is a lot like the weather. Everybody complains about it, but nobody does anything about it.

Nobody, that is, but Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican.

Eight years ago, Sen. Paul introduced his “Penny Plan Balanced Budget,” an effort to balance the federal books within five years. Under his ...Read more

Right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones said his infamous Infowars platform has stopped broadcasting and shuttered its Austin, Texas, headquarters.

Jones, in a video posted on X on Friday, blamed a court-appointed receiver who allegedly told him and his crew that they must leave the premises by midnight Thursday. Jones, on a Thursday Infowars ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Thousands of people took to the streets in Los Angeles on Friday to mark International Workers’ Day amid heightened concerns about affordability, immigration sweeps and the Iran war.

The demonstration, dubbed “May Day Strong,” kicked off in MacArthur Park, where a coalition of community, labor and immigrant rights groups ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department’s bureau of internal affairs has opened an investigation into two officers who searched Alphanso Talley last weekend before he was taken to Swedish Hospital, where he allegedly shot and killed Officer John Bartholomew and critically wounded his partner.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation ...Read more