Around the world, people plan to plant more than 1 trillion trees this decade in an ambitious effort to slow climate change and reduce biodiversity loss. But if the past is prologue, many of those planted trees won’t survive. And if they do, they could end up as biological deserts that lack the richness and resilience of healthy forests....Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he’s not likely to extend the two-week ceasefire with Iran, increasing the urgency for negotiators to conclude a deal to end the war.

Trump said in a Monday phone interview that the truce, which he announced April 7, expires “Wednesday evening Washington time” — possibly buying more time for ...Read more

FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday sued The Atlantic magazine for $250 million over an explosive article that detailed claims he regularly drinks too much and his binges have caused serious national security risks.

The article by author Sarah Fitzpatrick, which Patel calls a “malicious hit piece,” quoted two dozen colleagues and witnesses ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — “Several people” were shot Monday morning at a city-owned park in Winston-Salem and at least two have died, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of investigation report

It happened just before 10 a.m. in Leinbach Park near Jefferson Middle School, and some of the people involved are juveniles, investigators say. ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orange County judge has denied a request by Tommy Zeigler — who has been on Florida’s death row for nearly 50 years — to throw out his convictions for the brutal murders of his wife, her parents and a customer at his furniture store and grant him a new hearing.

Zeigler, now 80, has long claimed his innocence in the ...Read more

DENVER — Xcel Energy is considering preemptively cutting power to parts of western Colorado on Wednesday as fire danger peaks in the state, utility officials announced Sunday evening.

A combination of strong winds, low humidity and “unseasonably warm and dry” conditions will create critical fire danger in Colorado’s Eastern Plains, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County prosecutors formally charged David Anthony Burke — the 21-year-old music star better known as D4vd — with murder on Monday in the killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose badly decomposed body was found in the trunk of a car in Hollywood last summer.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman said D4vd ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania’s ban on public funding for abortion is unconstitutional, a divided Commonwealth Court ruled Monday.

In reaching that conclusion, the statewide court that oversees government-related matters recognized “a fundamental right to reproductive autonomy” in the Pennsylvania Constitution.

The finding likely sets up...Read more

Embattled U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer apologized for his appointment of Peter Mandelson as the U.K.’s ambassador to Washington, as he criticized civil servants for failing to inform him that the Labour grandee had failed security vetting.

“I should not have appointed Peter Mandelson,” Starmer told the House of Commons on Tuesday. “...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Tuesday in a case that could shrink Congress’ power to let agencies internally decide legal and regulatory violations, as two telecommunications giants challenge the Federal Communications Commission’s power to impose forfeitures.

AT&T and Verizon have contested determinations ...Read more

With 104 matches in 16 stadiums across Canada, the United States and Mexico, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be soccer’s biggest event ever.

It’s our job as turfgrass researchers hired by FIFA, the game’s governing body, to make sure those pitches feel the same for players and that the grass thrives.

That’s not so simple....Read more

Iran expressed reluctance to send diplomats to Pakistan for a second round of peace talks after the U.S. maintained its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and seized an Iranian ship.

Tehran has no plans to attend the potential negotiations — which would aim for an agreement to formally end the seven-week conflict — though a final decision ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — More than 25,000 assaults on Kentucky school staff have been reported in the past five years, according to the Kentucky Education Association, a union that represents teachers statewide.

Now, using a new survey, KEA wants to gather on-the-ground data from thousands of public school employees to help develop related ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — A new UC San Diego study strengthens the growing body of evidence that marijuana use impacts adolescent brain development.

Researchers observed slower gains in cognitive tests that measured memory, focus and thinking speed among middle and high school-age kids who used cannabis when compared to those who abstained.

Scheduled for ...Read more

The market for oil is global, which is why events like the war in Iran affect oil prices – and prices of the wide range of products made from oil – literally everywhere. Federal data shows that the price at the primary crude oil hub in the U.S. was US$66 a barrel in late February 2026 – before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran – and $...Read more

For the past 13 years, Maricopa County in Arizona has attempted to reform its sheriff’s department after Joe Arpaio made it into a national flash point for extreme immigration tactics. After a legal immigrant sued Arpaio and the county Sheriff’s Office, a federal district court ruled in 2015 that Arpaio and his deputies relied on racial ...Read more

On a spring morning in 1914, miners in Ludlow, Colorado, were celebrating Greek Easter when the Colorado National Guard and a private security agency opened fire on their camp with a machine-gun-equipped armored car called the Death Special.

The miners waged a pitched battle with the National Guard for 10 days before President Woodrow...Read more

Dr. Cerina Wanzer Fairfax was an accomplished dentist and a loving mom to two teenage children. On April 16, 2026, she was killed by her estranged husband, former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who then killed himself, according to news reports. This apparent intimate partner murder-suicide has garnered widespread media attention because ...Read more