WASHINGTON — When China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin sat down together in Moscow on Monday, the trappings were those of imperial power, and the bonhomie hung heavy in the air.

They addressed one another as “dear friend.” They chatted while sitting in ornate chairs in a gilded salon. On Tuesday, the two autocratic ...Read more

Former "Baywatch" star Alexandra Paul and a co-defendant were found not guilty Friday of theft after taking two chickens from a Foster Farms truck in September 2021.

Paul and Alicia Santurio were acquitted of misdemeanor theft charges after a multi-day trial in Merced County.

The two activists took the chickens from a truck outside of Foster ...Read more

ATLANTA — When Gov. Brian Kemp gathered bipartisan lawmakers a few days ago to celebrate the signing of the state budget, it seemed a prime setting to push for his top priorities in the waning days of the legislative session.

He was surrounded by the state’s most powerful legislators as a bank of television cameras captured his every word....Read more

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Abby Zwerner, the first grade teacher shot in January by her student at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, made her first public appearance Monday in an interview with Savannah Guthrie on NBC Nightly News.

Zwerner was in the middle of class just before 2 p.m. on Jan. 6 when police say a 6-year-old student ...Read more

A new bill introduced in the California state Senate aims to lay the groundwork for a state universal health care system, proposing an incremental approach that departs from recent sweeping, and unsuccessful, efforts to reshape how Californians receive care.

Under the measure by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), California would begin...Read more

LOS ANGELES — In a still-unfolding drama that has reached its top ranks, the Los Angeles Police Department accidentally released the names and photos of numerous undercover officers to a watchdog group that posted them on its website.

The controversy began late last week when the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition launched a searchable online ...Read more

Chinese President Xi Jinping touted close ties with Russia on the second day of his state visit to Moscow Tuesday, inviting Vladimir Putin to make a return visit later this year.

“It fits the historical logic that Chinese leaders take Russia as a primary choice for their overseas visits, Xi said, adding that China and Russia are each other�...Read more

WASHINGTON — With massive street protests, a mutiny by elite military reserve officers and outrage from diplomats, academics and former officials, Israel seems steeped in epic crisis.

Shock waves over radical plans by the new right-wing Israeli government are also cascading thunderously in the U.S., alienating Jewish Americans while raising ...Read more

Jeff Watters and his friends weren't sure what to think of the streaking lights that dashed across the Sacramento night sky late Friday.

About seven meteor-like blazes appeared to dart by around 9:30 p.m., diverting attention from ongoing St. Patrick's Day revelry, as evidenced by video that Watters took.

"It looked crazy," Watters said in a ...Read more

As a conservation biologist who studies plastic ingestion by marine wildlife, I can count on the same question whenever I present research: “How does plastic affect the animals that eat it?”

This is one of the biggest questions in this field, and the verdict is still out. However, a recent study from the Adrift Lab, a group of ...Read more

Since returning to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have struggled to contain the Islamic State Khorasan province, or ISIS-K – the official Islamic State group affiliate operating in Afghanistan.

Now, a fresh wave of assassination attempts on top Taliban officials has rocked multiple regions across the country and prompted ...Read more

“Moral hazard” refers to the risks that someone or something becomes more inclined to take because they have reason to believe that an insurer will cover the costs of any damages.

The concept describes financial recklessness. It has its roots in the advent of private insurance companies about 350 years ago. Soon after they began ...Read more

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the opioid epidemic, according to our new research, which finds that opioid overdoses increased in Pennsylvania in 2020 compared with 2018 and 2019.

Yet general trends obscure critical local variations. Specifically, 19 ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Two years ago, Orlando television reporter Mike DeForest requested some routine travel and budget expenses from a state agency that had given him contractor license records within days, but this request took more than three months. He decided to ask why, so he asked for more records.

After months of delays, the WKMG-TV ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom may have been prescient when he acknowledged free speech concerns as he signed California’s COVID-19 misinformation bill last fall. In a message to lawmakers, the governor warned of “the chilling effect other potential laws may have” on the ability of doctors to speak frankly with patients but expressed confidence that ...Read more

The pandemic's formal end on May 11 marks neither victory nor peace: It's a cessation of hostilities with a dangerous virus that is still very much with us.

To maintain such an uneasy truce, Americans will have to stay protected enough to prevent humanity's viral foe from staging a break-out of our shaky accord.

Providing that assurance, in ...Read more

The pandemic accelerated a yearslong decline in the mental health of the nation’s children and teens. The number of young people experiencing sadness, hopelessness and thoughts of suicide has increased dramatically, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In response, states, cities and school districts are using COVID-19...Read more

Nearly 12 years ago, a nonprofit centered on substance abuse prevention in Lyon County, Nevada, broadened its services to dental care.

Leaders with the Healthy Communities Coalition were shocked into action after two of their food pantry volunteers used pliers to pull each other’s abscessed teeth. The volunteers saw no other option to relieve...Read more

When the historic Plaza Live theater in Orlando hosted an event last December called “A Drag Queen Christmas,” the show drew a full house, noisy street demonstrators — and a small squad of undercover state agents there to document whether children were being exposed to sights that ran afoul of Florida’s decency law.

The Dec. 28 ...Read more