SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is sponsoring a bill that would push cities to take homeless residents into account when crafting their housing goals.

But would this legislation actually result in more affordable housing? There are concerns the state is not providing enough money to get it built.

Cities have struggled to ...Read more

BOSTON — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said she’s bringing her children to a climate summit she and the governor are attending in Italy this week on the taxpayers’ dime.

Wu’s office sent an itinerary Monday of the mayor’s six-day trip, which begins Tuesday and includes mention of a stop her two sons will be partaking in that ties back to ...Read more

NEW YORK — House Speaker Mike Johnson and a legion of Donald Trump loyalists appeared Tuesday at the former president’s hush money criminal trial as Trump nemesis Michael Cohen took the stand for a second day.

The conservative congressional leader trashed the trial as a partisan stunt to hurt Trump’s campaign in a brief statement to ...Read more

DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed two marquee land-use reform bills into law Monday, clearing the way for the building of more accessory-dwelling units and denser development in cities and suburbs across the Front Range.

“The success of this bill will be measured in years,” Rep. Steven Woodrow, a Denver Democrat who sponsored the ...Read more

Dozens of wildfires are burning across Canada in May 2024 and sending unhealthy smoke blowing into the northern U.S. again. At the same time, the southeastern U.S. is getting smoke from Mexico, where drought conditions have been fueling fires.

Last year, Canada’s record 2023 wildfire season introduced millions of Americans across ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is investigating an outbreak of the highly contagious liver disease hepatitis A among its homeless population.

Health officials said five cases of hepatitis A have been reported since mid-March among people experiencing homelessness. The virus, which can spread among people even...Read more

NEW YORK — Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s loyal lawyer-turned-chief antagonist, told a jury Tuesday he discussed hush money reimbursement with Trump at the White House upon returning to the witness box at his Manhattan trial Tuesday.

Cohen testified that he discussed the reimbursement payments with the then-president during a visit to the ...Read more

Speaker Mike Johnson joined a cavalcade of top Republicans defending former President Donald Trump on Tuesday amid his New York criminal trial focused on hush money payments over an alleged affair in the leadup to the 2016 election.

Johnson’s appearance outside the Manhattan courthouse, where he criticized the criminal case as a partisan ...Read more

As wars grind on in Ukraine and Gaza, another location ravaged by conflict is taking steps to implement a historic peace agreement. From the mid-1960s through 2016, Colombia was torn by conflict between the government, leftist guerrilla movements and right-wing paramilitary groups. Now the government and rebels are working to carry out a ...Read more

From May 15-17, 2024, American leaders including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy will be attending a global conference on environmental issues. The host? The Vatican.

The summit, “From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience,” will focus on human adaptation, not just trying to mitigate climate change. ...Read more

May is both Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month. Two entirely separate commemorations for two entirely separate communities, right?

Think again. Not only do Asian American Jews exist, but we come from a variety of places and come to Judaism in a range of ways.

...Read more

Researchers have long known that religious teens are less likely to engage in risky behavior. My team’s research explains why.

We surveyed multiple times the religious beliefs and risk behavior of over 1,400 teens from Florida between 2010 and 2012. Although the majority of our sample self-identified as Christian, many of the teens ...Read more

Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince has been under siege for several months, with reports suggesting about 200 gangs have seized control of more than 80% of the city.

The surge of violence has left residents with few options other than to shelter in their homes or seek refuge in other towns or countries.

But finding safety ...Read more

Most Americans don’t know two key facts about pregnancy, including how they are dated and how long a trimester is – and this could matter, as a growing number of states place restrictions on abortion.

Florida enacted a new law on May 1, 2024, that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with a few exceptions – including ...Read more