WASHINGTON -- Civil rights lawyers suing the state of California over low Medicaid payments say advocates elsewhere should pay attention to a potentially novel legal tactic -- accusing the Golden State of racial discrimination in order to increase funding -- but some health law experts and even sympathetic observers say they're watching with ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A decision on moving Confederate monuments from Raleigh to Johnston County was put off until April.

The North Carolina Historical Commission voted 9-1 Friday to postpone the decision, giving it time to seek legal options on a 2015 law on monuments and statues, and issues related to relocation.

The law requires approval from ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on Friday rescinded controversial Obama-era guidelines that had prodded colleges and universities to more aggressively -- some say too aggressively -- investigate campus sexual assaults.

The decision left women's groups worried that victims of sexual assault will lose protections or face ...Read more

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- As Hurricane Maria continued to cross the Caribbean on Friday, officials in Puerto Rico took stock of the deadly toll the historic storm left in its wake: nearly half of the storm's total death toll of 32.

At least 15 people were killed in Puerto Rico, according to El Nuevo Dia newspaper, including eight drowned just ...Read more

MOSCOW -- A wave of fake bomb threats across Russia has entered its second week in what a senior lawmaker called a "full-scale cyberwar" against the country that authorities are ill-equipped to fight.

About 400,000 people have been evacuated from more than 1,000 shopping malls, airports, and government and other buildings around the country ...Read more

Mosquitoes are more than a spoiler of backyard barbecues. They threaten more than half the world's population with their disease-spreading bites. In fact, mosquitoes are deadlier -- by far -- than sharks and snakes.

They are the incubator and chief disseminator of malaria, dengue and yellow fevers, as well as newer scourges like the West Nile ...Read more

MIAMI -- Hurricane conditions began battering the Turks and Caicos and southernmost Bahamas early Friday as the eye of a strong Category 3 Maria passed to the east.

In their morning advisory, National Hurricane Center forecasters said even though Maria's fierce center will pass offshore, the islands may still get hit with a nine to 12-foot ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- They have a blueprint and principles. They've held countless strategy sessions for what could be the biggest tax overhaul in decades.

They even produced a handy desk calendar with daily inspirational messages and helpful tax statistics to drive home the need for reform.

All Republicans need now is an actual plan.

Despite months ...Read more

SINGAPORE -- Singapore has overtaken nations including the U.S., Russia and China as the country launching the most cyber attacks globally, according to Israeli data security company Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

The company, whose software tracks an average of 8 million to 10 million live cyber attacks daily, said Singapore rose to ...Read more

Think dinosaurs didn't mix things up at mealtime? Think again. Researchers studying fossilized dinosaur feces from about 75 million years ago have discovered that at least some plant-eating dinosaurs also snacked on shellfish.

The discovery of crustacean remains in the droppings, described in Scientific Reports, reveals that large herbivorous ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Rep. Duncan Hunter said that the United States needs to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea in order to prevent the rogue nation from harming the U.S. first.

"You could assume, right now, that we have a nuclear missile aimed at the United States, and here in San Diego. Why would they not aim here, at Hawaii, Guam, our ...Read more

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- The case of a former Lindenwood University wrestler charged with infecting a sex partner with HIV was resolved with a plea deal Thursday after four years.

The case at times drew national media attention because of controversy over the laws and punishments for exposing others to HIV.

Michael L. Johnson, 25, was sentenced to ...Read more

ST. LOUIS -- Billy Joel managed to do on Thursday night what protests had prevented U2 and Ed Sheeran from doing earlier in the week: perform in concert in St. Louis.

Despite hundreds of demonstrators marching outside, the performer known as The Piano Man took to the stage at Busch Stadium as scheduled at 8 p.m. to deliver hit after hit in ...Read more

SEOUL, South Korea -- Pyongyang's foreign minister said North Korea could test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, following Kim Jong Un's warning that his country was considering "highest level" actions against the United States, local media report.

"It could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific," Ri Yong Ho told ...Read more

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Donald Trump is getting bad advice. He's being misled. The D.C. "swamp" is threatening his agenda.

A sampling of the president's most ardent supporters gathered Thursday in a sweltering train shed to puzzle--and vent--over Trump's decision to back Sen. Luther Strange in the Republican Senate runoff here in Alabama, a race ...Read more