LOS ANGELES — A San Luis Obispo County judge ruled that Paul Flores will be tried for murder in the 1996 disappearance of Kristin Smart and that his father must also answer to charges that he was an accessory to the crime.

Judge Craig B. Van Rooyen on Wednesday made the decision there was probable cause to try both father and son after ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida parents can now decide if their children should quarantine or stay in school after exposure to someone who tested positive for COVID-19, according to an emergency rule the state’s new surgeon general signed Wednesday, the day after he was tapped for the job.

The new rule wipes out a previous one that required ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — With some state hospitals on the brink of having to ration care because of an influx of COVID-19 patients, as they observe crisis standards of care protocols, Idaho added 1,829 new cases on Tuesday and 13 deaths, according to data from the Department of Health and Welfare.

Hospital beds and intensive care units are filling with...Read more

A southeastern disturbance has a 90% chance of becoming the next tropical depression, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 8 a.m. update.

Meanwhile, tropical depressions Peter and Rose seemed to almost be joined together at the hip as they entered the Atlantic together, they degenerated together and they may dissipate together as well...Read more

CLAYTON, Mo. — The St. Louis County Council on Tuesday delayed a vote to confirm Dr. Faisal Khan as county health director until after they meet with him to discuss a possible new mask mandate as well as fallout from a contentious public meeting in July where he lost his composure.

Khan, as acting health director, appeared before the council ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — As misinformation spreads about the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin — which has not been approved as a viable treatment for COVID-19 — calls to the Palmetto Poison Center about the medication have increased, the center's director said.

As of Monday, seven South Carolina residents have called the Palmetto Poison Center — ...Read more

CHICAGO — Chicago area doctors are pleading with parents not to bring their kids to hospital emergency rooms unless necessary, saying that an unusual surge in respiratory illnesses is flooding ERs with children and leading to long wait times.

University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital is seeing 79% more patients in its ER compared with...Read more

WASHINGTON — The United States will double the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses it is donating to the global inoculation effort, President Joe Biden plans to announce Wednesday.

The commitment will bring to more than 1 billion the total number of doses the U.S. has pledged to other countries in hopes of bringing the pandemic to a close and ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Federal agencies this week will submit plans to the White House on ways to increase voter registration and participation as the deadline approaches for one of President Joe Biden’s key voting rights initiatives.

The White House has been tight-lipped on the specific plans that federal agencies are developing, but voting rights ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Mild cases of COVID-19 among vaccinated individuals are becoming increasingly common as the highly contagious delta variant barrels through communities, but physicians and public health experts say that shouldn’t be a cause for significant concern.

A breakthrough case of COVID-19 occurs when a person contracts COVID-19 at least...Read more

Early treatment with Gilead Sciences Inc.’s remdesivir kept high-risk COVID-19 patients out of the hospital in a late-stage international trial that supports administering the medicine to individuals recovering at home.

A three-day course of the injectable antiviral, also known as Veklury, was associated with an 87% reduction in ...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — To deliver the message, he drove from his home in East Tampa, over the Howard Frankland Bridge and down Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street.

The corner where Maress Scott stopped was unusually quiet that May afternoon. It’s known for blaring music and smoke spewing from the grill charring the “best food in town.”

...Read more

President Joe Biden’s failure to name someone to lead the Food and Drug Administration, more than 10 months after the election, has flummoxed public health experts who say it’s baffling for the agency to be without a permanent leader during a national health crisis.

The pandemic has taxed the FDA, an 18,000-person agency whose chiefs have ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A group of centrist House Democrats is united in ensuring their chamber won’t vote on a reconciliation package unless it can pass the Senate. But they have individual policy priorities that could divide them on the final product.

Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrader, for example, is reluctant to support a package that’s even half the ...Read more

Melissa Barrera hopes her movie “All the World Is Sleeping” serves as a wake-up call about substance abuse.

The “In the Heights” actress explores the depths of addiction in the new drama, starring as a young mother whose daily struggle with drugs jeopardizes her health and custody of her daughter.

Barrera’s character, Chama, is based...Read more

CHICAGO — Many parents and children are eagerly awaiting news from vaccine manufacturers and the Food and Drug Administration on progress toward authorizing vaccines for children younger than 12.

Though children are generally less affected by COVID-19, they can still be vectors to transmit the virus in the community. They are key for ...Read more

Months after Kyle Dixon died, his old house in Lanse, Pennsylvania, is full of reminders of a life cut short.

His tent and hiking boots sit on the porch where he last put them. The grass he used to mow has grown tall in his absence. And on the kitchen counter, there are still bottles of the over-the-counter cough medicine he took to try to ease...Read more

As voting wound down last week during the California recall election, Natalie Adona, the assistant registrar of voters in Nevada County, got an irate phone call.

A voter, driven by disinformation that Republican politicians had pushed for weeks, berated Adona over the state’s lack of a photo ID law, saying election officials exposed the ...Read more

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recall victory aside, Democrats have had a difficult few weeks and now find themselves in an increasingly tricky political position.

No, I’m not referring to President Joe Biden’s job approval in national polls, which has dropped noticeably over the past few weeks. Those survey data reflect the impact of the...Read more