LOS ANGELES — As wildfires rage across Canada and the American West, the announcement from federal forecasters that an El Niño warming is forming thousands of miles away in the tropical Pacific Ocean may offer some regions relief — next year, at least.

The El Niño climate pattern materializes erratically every two to seven years and can ...Read more

Getting into an airline lounge these days is complicated: Some sell day passes. Others don’t. Some allow guests. Others charge extra. Certain elite-status members qualify automatically for entry while others need a combination of specific credit cards, fare classes or spending levels.

The post-pandemic travel boom, combined with rising demand...Read more

While preparing thousands of meals for people affected by the earthquakes in Venezuela, as well as for rescuers and relatives of those still missing, chef Olivier de Belleroche also listens to the stories of those who refuse to give up the search.

One mother told him she only wanted to recover “a little piece” of her son so she could give ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Over the past decade, the LAPD has received thousands of complaints accusing officers of targeting people solely because of their race, ethnicity or other form of outward appearance.

Only one has been fired for it.

The now-former officer, Edgar Garcia Cancino, was part of a San Fernando Valley anti-gang unit whose members were ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — COVID-19 is on the upswing in California and across a swath of the West and the South, a sign that the virus may be starting its seasonal summer uptick.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that COVID is growing in California, Texas, Florida, Missouri, Alabama, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and Hawaii...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For more than a quarter-century, a lawsuit settlement from a case brought in Los Angeles federal court has dictated conditions for children held in immigration detention.

But now, the long-standing settlement — which set minimum standards for housing, education and medical care for migrant kids in federal custody, while ...Read more

Companies accused of recklessly marketing and distributing prescription opioid painkillers are paying roughly $58 billion to settle lawsuits over their role in fueling the addiction crisis. It’s a pot of gold eyed by addiction treatment providers, companies creating the latest opioid-related products, and government officials struggling to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump headlined a scaled-down White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday, three months after the original event was cut short by a gunman who allegedly sought to assassinate the president.

“Tonight we come back to answer that heinous attack with unwavering resolve,” Trump told hundreds of assembled ...Read more

My first science experiment was in sixth grade for our county’s science fair. Over three months, I tested how my grandfather’s blood sugar responded to green leafy vegetables versus brown rice at dinnertime. My mom would prepare traditional South Indian meals, including those foods, and my dad would supervise as I measured and ...Read more

South Dakota is having trouble enforcing a law banning advertising about abortion pills. On July 17, 2026, less than three weeks after the ban took effect on July 1, U.S. District Judge Camela C. Theeler issued an injunction blocking its enforcement.

She ruled that the ban likely is unconstitutional in response to a lawsuit filed by ...Read more

A dangerous social media trend that started in 2020 has persisted into 2026, with heartbreaking consequences.

In May and June 2026, four American teens died participating in the “Benadryl Challenge.” This trend encourages adolescents and young adults to consume excessive amounts of diphenhydramine – the active ingredient in ...Read more

Pennsylvania’s roughly 100,000 oil and gas wells produce wastewater that’s many times saltier than seawater and contains radium, a known carcinogen. For decades, that saltwater, called brine, was spread on dirt and gravel roads across the state to control dust and also on paved roads to melt ice.

The state Department of ...Read more

When a devastating heat wave, hurricane, flood or wildfire strikes, people often want to know: How much did human-caused climate change influence this event, if at all?

For many years, scientists could answer that question only in general terms. They knew that human-caused climate change was increasing the frequency or intensity of ...Read more

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has issued new grant guidelines that threaten to withhold counterterrorism funds from states that do not comply with President Donald Trump’s election security directives.

The agency told states they must “reconcile the number of voters who voted in federal elections with the number of ...Read more

April Walker, a San Diego resident, was observing federal immigration agents in a Target parking lot in April when she said they boxed her in and pointed a camera at her face and license plate.

She said she never provided her driver's license and the agents only moved their vehicles and allowed her to leave after she called 911. Five days later...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who is running for mayor against incumbent Karen Bass, seized on significant decreases in street homelessness in her district Friday while blasting increases citywide.

Street homelessness — people living outdoors or in their vehicles — went down by 49% in Raman's district compared...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has fined Lineage Logistics for what it called "unsanitary and nuisance" conditions at the company's fire-damaged Boyle Heights warehouse, where residents have for weeks faced rats, swarms of flies and the smell of rotting food.

The agency, which issued its first citation ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Democrats are demanding that the Trump administration release billions in funding for energy projects after a top Energy Department lawyer conceded in court filings that the only reason they were canceled is that they were in “Blue States.”

That concession by Jeffrey Novak, DOE’s principal deputy general counsel, came in ...Read more

MIAMI — Four South Florida men found guilty in May of conspiring with ex-Colombian soldiers to assassinate Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, will be sentenced in early February 2027, according to a Miami federal judge’s order on Friday.

All four face up to life in prison.

U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra pushed back the original ...Read more

Engines were switched and a tropical storm had moved along, so SpaceX was able to launch the Starship and Super Heavy rocket on its 13th suborbital test mission on Friday night.

The heavy-lift rocket lifted off at 6:51 p.m. EDT from SpaceX’s Texas launch site Starbase with a successful booster separation that sent the upper stage Starship on ...Read more