The rise of artificial intelligence has Minnesota faith leaders wrestling with questions that feel both ancient and newly urgent: How should they respond to a force rapidly reshaping daily life?

And where is the line between using technology to, say, streamline church work and allowing it into relationships and spiritual practices long defined ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The statewide adoption of remote work for government employees was politically advantageous for Gov. Gavin Newsom early in the pandemic.

His administration set up a public-facing dashboard tracking how much carbon dioxide commuting state workers were not adding to the atmosphere by working from home. The administration ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — New state laws implementing sweeping reforms to the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, expanding absentee voting to all eligible voters, preventing armed security officers with records of misconduct from serving in the public school system and providing greater oversight for nonprofits that receive millions of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- A plant extract that's gaining popularity as a pain cure-all and has been associated with multiple California deaths in its concentrated, synthetic form has been approved for research as a treatment for opioid addiction by the federal government.

Kratom is derived from the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa, a tree native to Southeast ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can no longer arrest undocumented immigrants at courthouses solely for civil immigration violations under an order issued Tuesday by a federal judge in San Jose.

The order by U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts bars the government from enforcing two key policies that had ...Read more

Despite lingering inflation and economic uncertainty brought on by the Iran war, supporters of President Donald Trump who showed up for his appearance at Mack Trucks’ Lower Macungie Township production facility Tuesday said they feel he is putting the country on the right track.

Edward Xavier Young from Brick Township, New Jersey, travelled ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday unanimously advanced an ordinance to halt new oil and gas drilling and phase out all existing production over the next 20 years. L.A. is home to more than 2,000 active oil wells.

The measure revives a similar ban passed in 2022, which was struck down by a judge following legal challenges ...Read more

A former New Hampshire state representative was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison for involvement in a child exploitation case — almost double the mandatory minimum.

Stacie Marie Laughton, 42, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation of children after soliciting and receiving nude photos of three toddlers from an ex-...Read more

Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown filed an amicus brief Tuesday in three lawsuits opposing a decision by the Trump administration to allow oil and gas development in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The three lawsuits specifically have to do with the coastal plain of the refuge and were filed by Alaska Native villages and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Unified School District will ban classroom screen time before second grade and has enacted limited use for older students, under a pioneering policy approved Tuesday by the school board that reflects growing backlash from parents and educators concerned about an over-reliance on computers and technology in K-12 ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — President Donald Trump’s administration is closer to getting its way after a Boston-based appeals court said it doesn’t have to restore exhibits it removed — at least for now.

The Boston-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit ruled the National Park Service does not have to restore all exhibits it removed as part...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Anchorage Superior Court judge on Tuesday agreed to expedite a lawsuit whose outcome will determine whether the namesake challenger of U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan will appear on the state’s Aug. 18 primary ballot.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews, in a status hearing Tuesday, said the case was moving at a “very, very...Read more

Chicago health officials are investigating a case of measles in a traveler who arrived at O’Hare International Airport on June 17.

The person likely caught the measles outside of the U.S., according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. It’s possible members of the public may have been exposed to the illness at O’Hare in terminal 5 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After hearing weeks of evidence about Jonathan Rinderknecht’s loathing of the kinds of wealthy elites who inhabit the Pacific Palisades, jurors on Tuesday began deliberating whether he should be convicted of setting a fire that grew to swallow the opulent enclave and became the worst blaze in Los Angeles history.

Prosecutors ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to spend a Wednesday excursion to the U.S. Capitol demanding divisive voter ID legislation. Frustrated Republican senators have other ideas.

Over lunch in a wood-paneled room on the Capitol’s second floor, several GOP senators plan to try to impress on Trump that his targeting of fellow Republicans,...Read more

Reports of a 23-year-old man falling from a nearly 600-foot waterfall at Yosemite National Park are under investigation by the National Park Service, according to authorities.

A Yosemite spokesperson offered minimal details about the Saturday incident at Nevada Fall except to confirm that a 23-year-old male was involved and that "emergency ...Read more

BALTIMORE — After erroneous ballots were mailed to Maryland residents earlier this year, Tuesday’s primary election was not just a referendum on candidates, but on how to vote as well.

At Bel Air High School, Michael Peters said people should vote in person, and mail-in ballots should only be sent to those who are unable to come to the ...Read more

The U.S. Department of Justice is appealing the dismissal of criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant from Maryland who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last year.

In a notice filed Monday, U.S. Attorney Braden Boucek informed the court that the Justice Department would formally appeal a federal judge’s ...Read more

DENVER — Disgraced former Colorado Bureau of Investigation scientist Yvonne “Missy” Woods pleaded guilty to four felonies Tuesday, closing a chapter in a years-long DNA testing scandal that continues to reverberate through the state’s criminal justice system.

The 65-year-old former CBI analyst will be sentenced to between 8 and 16 years...Read more

WASHINGTON — Top Democratic appropriators are calling on the Government Accountability Office to probe the Trump administration’s release of nearly $400 million of taxpayer funds for a White House East Wing modernization project that includes a ballroom.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who is the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations ...Read more