MINNEAPOLIS — Mature trees are dying. A bridge is swamped. Historic buildings are at risk.

The source of all the mayhem?

A colony of industrious beavers.

Their persistent dam-building is soaking the small town of Scandia northeast of the Twin Cities, causing floodwater to creep up behind City Hall and encroach on the Swedish immigrant ...Read more

The success of the Trump administration’s blockbuster Venezuela oil deal is riding on fields that are aging, degraded or expensive to access.

The agreement last month with Alejandro Betancourt, an energy mogul with a controversial history, includes 17 fields and gives the US majority control of a huge amount of Venezuela’s oil wealth. ...Read more

On a weekday morning in a quiet Boston neighborhood, a kitchen bustled with activity. Volunteers sliced chicken breasts, stuffed bell peppers, filled trays, and carefully labeled each item. It was part of an experiment to offer nutritious and medically tailored meals to Medicaid patients who are unable to shop for groceries and cook for ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — For Blake Fleischer, an early morning jog in Center City last month began like any other.

But it ended in terror, she said as she recalled running into traffic near City Hall, seeking help as a man wearing a Chucky-style horror mask followed close behind.

“I was extremely terrified,” Fleischer, 40, testified Wednesday in ...Read more

At least a dozen illegal immigrants were reportedly rounded up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in New Bedford this week as Gov. Maura Healey and city officials condemn the operation that’s part of President Trump’s ongoing nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration.

Healey released a statement Tuesday morning slamming...Read more

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado tried three times in the past 24 hours to return home but was unable to complete the journey.

Machado sought to travel from Panama to Venezuela by several routes, according to a person with direct knowledge of her plans. The attempts came as acting President Delcy Rodríguez visited New York ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents detained a California state employee working as a field representative for Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, D-San Francisco, on Thursday as he traveled through Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.

The field representative, Ho Yin Mo, was a young member of Stefani...Read more

European Union officials have told Ukraine they need to see progress on new legislation to curb the shadow economy, bolster tax revenue and move closer to EU law before they’ll dispense more funding.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had a tense meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the United Nations in New York Tuesday...Read more

FRESNO, Calif. — The National Park Service just gave a hint to one possible cause of the Dome Fire, which has been burning near the southern entrance to Yosemite since last week.

Officially, the cause of the fire is under investigation, per daily updates online.

But, the park service on Tuesday, put out a request for information from anyone ...Read more

WASHINGTON — At least one Senate Republican is calling for an investigation of wedding after-party celebrations for President Donald Trump’s eldest son, which were financed by a Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin.

The topic created waves on Capitol Hill on Tuesday thanks to a letter sent by Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, to Senate ...Read more

UNITED NATIONS — President Trump threatened to “annihilate” Iran if it fails to negotiate a deal over its nuclear program, delivering a defensive speech justifying the mission at the United Nations on Tuesday.

His remarks come more than six months into a war that has grown increasingly unpopular at home, with fewer than a third of ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Tropical Storm Fay diminished into a post-tropical cyclone on Tuesday as the National Hurricane Center continued tracking a forecast tropical wave and increased the odds it could develop into the season’s next depression or storm.

The NHC issued its final advisory on Fay at 5 p.m. Eastern time, saying the system’s center ...Read more

The Trump administration’s announced Tuesday it would remove roughly 760,000 enrollees from Affordable Care Act coverage. But the move is unlikely to affect many people — if any at all — in California.

Vice President JD Vance, alongside other top officials, said the effort was part of the administration’s crackdown on fraud and would ...Read more

NEW YORK — Cops are hunting a man they say cut down an LGBTQ art banner hung outside a playground in Manhattan’s West Village.

The suspect cut down the banner displayed at the Corporal John A. Seravalli Playground on Horatio Street near Hudson Street around 12:45 a.m. on Aug. 6, police said.

Surveillance images released by the NYPD on ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Gov. Tim Walz took responsibility Tuesday for not stopping fraud in the state’s social services programs sooner, but he said the scandal should not overshadow the investments he made in children and families during his tenure.

In his “exit interview” at the Minnesota Star Tribune’s North Star Summit, Walz expressed ...Read more

When two Massachusetts Institute of Technology students distributed $100 in bitcoins for free to undergraduates in 2014, it was the start of what is now considered to be a landmark study in how early users adopt a new digital currency.

For years during his time as a bitcoin pioneer, one of the two students — Jeremy Rubin — corresponded with...Read more

Another round in the legal battle between California and the Trump administration over offshore wind projects has commenced.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Energy Commission filed a 54-page lawsuit in federal court Tuesday, disputing what they claim was an unlawful buyout that took a major offshore floating wind ...Read more

CHICAGO — Billionaire and Democratic megadonor Michael Sacks sent a cease and desist letter to a company paying social media influencers for videos discussing his involvement in Chicago politics, documents obtained by the Chicago Tribune show.

Sacks sent the letter Sept. 14 to Good Influence, an advertising firm that specializes in connecting...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For the faithful entering Christ Our Savior Catholic Parish in Santa Ana, the statue of Saint John the Baptist placing holy water on the head of Jesus represented a core tenant of Christianity.

But, police say, thieves who arrived at the church under the cover of darkness last month likely saw the artwork as representing ...Read more