Calley Means, a top adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., resigned Thursday, dealing a setback to the administration’s efforts to overhaul the U.S. food system.

Means’ departure is likely to come as a relief to big food companies, who had fought against his efforts to create a federal definition of ultra-processed food. He ...Read more

CHICAGO — A federal judge has sentenced the leader of a brazen scheme to stage armed robberies to qualify for U.S. immigration visas to two years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland sentenced Parth Nayi on Thursday to a year longer than the term recommended by prosecutors. Nayi’s attorney, George Gomez, had asked for probation. The ...Read more

Donald Trump and World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency venture he co-founded with his sons, were sued by a shareholder in a rival crypto firm over claims the president illegally profited from his office in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Benjamin Greenberg, a shareholder in Circle Internet Group Inc., claims illegal competition from ...Read more

NEW YORK — The NYC City Council voted Thursday to ban Central Park’s storied horse-drawn carriages, a NYC tradition cherished by many but under increasing fire over the last several months over issues ranging from the safety of passengers and pedestrians to the well-being of the horses.

The vote to ban, which was expected, is likely to ...Read more

UNC-Chapel Hill’s new deal with the Trump administration — which protects UNC’s federal funding and closes federal investigations into the school — focuses heavily on measures UNC must take to combat antisemitism on campus.

Many of its provisions also touch on how UNC should respond to campus protests.

These requirements are “...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — A GOP operative and key player in the 2020 “ghost” candidate scandal is attempting again to deceive left-leaning voters, this time sending text messages suggesting Democrat Jose Javier Rodríguez, who is running for Florida attorney general, won’t “defend reproductive freedom.”

Alex Alvarado’s political action ...Read more

Pennsylvania lawmakers this week passed a bill banning cellphones in schools, joining states across the country amid mounting backlash to technology in classrooms and social media addiction.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, who previously called for a so-called bell-to-bell ban, is expected to sign the measure into law soon.

“It’s time to get back to ...Read more

Widespread screenings are underway at Lakewood Health System’s hospital and clinics in north-central Minnesota to try to prevent a measles cluster from spreading.

Concerns about the outbreak have increased among residents of Todd County, where one additional measles case was publicly disclosed Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Health. ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — The reproductive healthcare ballot measure before Idaho voters in this general election has been a topic of intense discussion, primarily over how it would change access to abortion. But if Idaho voters approve Proposition 1, also called the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, it would enshrine protections for other aspects of...Read more

The deaths of Canadian geese in South Carolina has prompted an investigation, but people are not suspected as killers. Rather, avian influenza — or bird flu — is suspected, according to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

That suspicion has prompted an investigation, South Carolina DNR said Thursday in a news release.

What ...Read more

A judge ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition by Dec. 11 in his $10 billion lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corp. after he missed an earlier date he’d agreed to.

The date was set Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett in Miami, who last week threatened to sanction Trump if he didn’t follow through on the...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Department of Justice announced a sweeping take-down of doctors and others they say lured vulnerable patients into needless surgical procedures, sham treatment programs and bogus hospice care, bilking taxpayers for nearly $2 billion, according to charges released Thursday.

Among the most chilling allegations, two Angelenos ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla made a surprise visit Thursday to a Sacramento federal immigration holding center to inspect conditions and seek answers about Tuesday’s collision involving an ICE agent and an observer in Woodland.

“I want to see the condition of people, the level of activity, whether (ICE) will ...Read more

The Trump administration must stop sending armed agents to question immigrants it believes may have registered to vote illegally until after the Nov. 3 midterm elections, a federal judge in Oakland, California, has ruled.

The preliminary injunction issued late Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin is the latest development in...Read more

DETROIT — The U.S. Department of Justice plans to send election monitors to polling places in seven Michigan cities this fall, as voters in the battleground state prepare to pick a new governor and decide a series of races that could sway control of Congress.

Less than two weeks before the midterm election, the federal department within ...Read more

The Pennsylvania General Assembly has unanimously approved legislation that improves the state’s ability to investigate and prosecute internet crimes against children, sponsors of the bill said Wednesday.

House Bill 1098, sponsored by Rep. Jason Ortitay, a Republican from Cecil, would expand the investigation and prosecution of internet ...Read more

A 71-year-old man was killed early Thursday morning after a self-driving Tesla struck him as he was crossing Interstate 80 in Vallejo, the California Highway Patrol said.

Officers responded to a report of a crash on the westbound freeway around 2:35 a.m. Thursday, CHP said. When emergency responders arrived, they found the man's injuries had ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The string of El Niño-fueled storms that have closed roads, crumbled boardwalks and eroded beaches in Southern California in the summer and fall may have also brought a silver lining: a potential end in sight to the region's fire season, experts say.

Just a week after a 570-acre fire spread to hillside communities in Orange ...Read more

The late September death of a prominent British banking whistleblower has renewed interest on the expansive network of people connected to Jeffrey Epstein who have died, some under mysterious circumstances.

The latest death happened Sept. 23. Simon Andriesz, 57, a former British banker who exposed financial ties between Epstein and Trump’s ...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — For Alaskans who rely on federally funded services ranging from ferries to weather monitoring to energy projects, the first year of the second Trump administration was riddled with anxiety. Budget cuts, canceled grants and frozen funding streams became the norm, causing many Alaskans to wonder whether critical federal ...Read more