The Senate overwhelmingly approved a US$95.3 billion foreign aid funding package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on April 23, 2024, following months of political infighting that stalled the bill in the House of Representatives. About $61 billion of this aid package will be spent on Ukraine, while $26 billion will go to Israel. Another $8 ...Read more

There is increasing evidence that implicit bias – non-conscious attitudes toward specific groups – is a source of racial inequities in certain aspects of health care, and lawmakers are taking note.

Since the tragic murder of George Floyd in May 2020, wherein a Black man was killed by police, several U.S. federal and state ...Read more

Myopia, or the need for corrected vision to focus or see objects at a distance, has become a lot more common in recent decades. Some even consider myopia, also known as nearsightedness, an epidemic.

Optometry researchers estimate that about half of the global population will need corrective lenses to offset myopia by 2050 if current ...Read more

A Vatican declaration, the “Infinite Dignity,” has brought renewed attention to how religions define and interpret gender and gender roles.

Approved by the pope on March 25, 2024, the Vatican declaration asserts the Vatican’s opposition to gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy. While noting that people should not be “...Read more

The Northeast corridor is America’s busiest rail line. Each day, its trains deliver 800,000 passengers to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington and points in between.

The Northeast corridor is also a name for the place those trains serve: the coastal plain stretching from Virginia to Massachusetts, where over 17% of the country...Read more

CHICAGO — While Chicagoans were alarmed to learn the spotted lanternfly had been found in Illinois last year, experts say spring is the time to take action against that insect — as well as another damaging invasive species that has made far more inroads and gotten less attention.

The spongy moth, formerly known as the gypsy moth, has been ...Read more

Southern California’s rivers and creeks once teemed with large, silvery fish that arrived from the ocean and swam upstream to spawn. But today, these fish are seldom seen.

Southern California steelhead trout have been pushed to the brink of extinction as their river habitats have been altered by development and fragmented by barriers and dams...Read more

My father, who served as a Navy officer in the South Pacific, shared fascinating World War II stories with me. With ensuing history classes, I became troubled by America’s slow response to Hitler’s atrocities in Europe and incredulous that Christians in Germany blindly followed their deranged dictator.

While pursuing a master of divinity ...Read more

As a massive heat dome lingered over the Pacific Northwest three years ago, swaths of North America simmered— and then burned. Wildfires charred more than 18.5 million acres across the continent, with the most land burned in Canada and California.

A new study has revealed the extent to which human-caused climate change intensified the ...Read more

BOSTON — A panel of lawmakers tasked with delivering a compromise on a spending bill that includes hundreds of millions for the state-funded shelter system appears no closer to a deal as the cash left to pay for services dwindles.

Two top Beacon Hill budget writers are privately hashing out the differences between legislation that taps ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — A primary election day that was wall-to-wall splendid around here with unimpeded sun and a generous ration of April warmth was absolutely perfect for voting. And evidently for not voting.

With nominees already essentially chosen for president — and not everyone is happy with them — and U.S. Senate and a general absence of ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Senate cleared a war funding package Tuesday night for President Joe Biden’s certain signature, capping a six-month struggle over Ukraine aid that divided GOP lawmakers, delayed Western weapons deliveries and gave Russia some breathing room in a military offensive against its neighbor.

The 79-18 vote to aid Ukraine, Israel ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Officials shut down the campus of Cal Poly Humboldt on Monday night after masked pro-Palestinian protesters occupied an administrative building and barricaded the entrance as Gaza-related demonstrations roiled campuses across the nation.

Three students were arrested after law enforcement officers wearing helmets and riot shields...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A plan to kill all the mule deer on Catalina Island using aerial sharpshooters from helicopters was strongly opposed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The controversial program as proposed by the Catalina Island Conservancy aims to eradicate up to 2,000 deer on the island that the conservancy says are ...Read more

NEW YORK — The future is looking sunny for Kennedy Airport’s long-term parking lot No. 9.

Construction began Tuesday on a solar array meant to cover some 21 acres of the lot while maintaining the car park beneath.

“If that sounds big, it is,” said Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

“It ...Read more

The interim president and provost of the University of Pennsylvania will host a “community listening session” on campus Thursday as encampments and protests over Israel’s treatment of Gaza have surfaced on college campuses elsewhere, resulting in arrests.

“Our campus is deeply impacted by external events, as the past months have ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The new presidential helicopter has been demoted to backup duty because Lockheed Martin Corp. still can’t figure out how to keep it from scorching the White House’s South Lawn.

The VH-92 Patriot is landing only on paved runways for now, flying missions with White House officials or Secret Service staff instead of carrying ...Read more

NEW YORK — During a devastating day for Donald Trump at his Manhattan hush money trial, a jury heard damning testimony from his decades-long ally David Pecker about a wide-ranging plan to hoist him out of obscurity and into the White House — and the presiding judge said his lead lawyer was “losing all credibility with the court.”

Before...Read more