BOSTON — Lamar Cook, Gov. Maura Healey’s former deputy director for Western Massachusetts accused of drug trafficking out of state buildings, has been charged with SNAP benefits fraud by federal investigators.

US Attorney Leah Foley’s office announced Wednesday morning that Cook was being charged with one count of SNAP fraud and wire ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — President Donald Trump is losing ground in Minnesota, where a new Star Tribune/KARE 11 Minnesota Poll finds mounting disapproval of his presidency amid frustration over the economy and the war in Iran.

Nearly six in 10 likely voters — 58% — disapprove of Trump’s job performance, up from 56% in June and 54% a year ago. The ...Read more

Iran is battling a surge in attacks by separatist militants in its southeast, compounding the country’s security challenges while it’s on alert amid U.S. threats of renewed airstrikes.

At least eight members of Iran’s security forces have been killed in the past three weeks in the Sistan and Baluchestan province, according to state media....Read more

Ukraine is seeking answers from the U.S. and NATO allies about a sudden restriction of SpaceX’s Starlink service for military use after a wave of Russian missile and drone attacks on energy plants.

SpaceX limited terminal connections that complicated Ukrainian drone interceptions and mid-range strikes, according to a person familiar with the ...Read more

DENVER — An aspen tree fell across power lines around dawn on June 29, sending sparks flying and igniting the Aspen Acres fire, which grew into the seventh-largest wildfire in Colorado history and destroyed hundreds of homes, investigators concluded in a new report.

The tree, blown down by 45 mph winds, stretched across the power lines, ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — What’s it like to vacation with Pope Leo XIV?

Just ask the Rev. Arthur Purcaro, assistant vice president for mission and ministry at Villanova University. He has done it twice at the pope’s summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, a scenic hilltop town southeast of Rome.

“Boring,” he kidded.

The day started with a private...Read more

British comedian-actor Russell Brand will stand before a jury in the United Kingdom this month, in the culmination of a years-long legal saga centered on his alleged history of sexual assault against multiple women in the U.K. spanning from the late 1990s through the late aughts.

The criminal trial against Brand, former star of R-rated comedies...Read more

Four words that parents in the classroom group chat dread to read: ‘My kid has lice.’

Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) are parasites that primarily infest children in childcare, preschool or elementary school. Having lice doesn’t indicate poor hygiene, despite a longstanding misconception driven by stigma, and lice don’t ...Read more

When Hurricane Isaias hit the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 9, 2026, it was just the latest weather disaster for Americans in a year that continues to break records.

The hottest U.S. summer on record left millions of Americans facing life-threatening heat waves. Extreme heat and drought set the stage for wildfires. Flooding from powerful ...Read more

American audiences will be able to watch an English-dubbed version of “Ramayana,” a Hindi film based on a South Asian epic tradition, in theaters in November 2026.

The Sanskrit “Ramayana,” or “Journey of Rama,” is an epic poem that was composed sometime between 400 B.C.E. and 400 C.E. The epic follows Rama, an exiled ...Read more

When Colorado launched its Universal Preschool Program in 2023, the goal was simple: Give every 4-year-old in the state access to free, publicly funded education. To deliver on that promise, the state allowed both public and private providers – including faith-based preschools – to participate, provided they abide by the program’s rules...Read more

The proposed livestream of Nidal Hasan’s execution by a U.S. military firing squad gives an old question a new audience. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist convicted by a military court of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 3, 2026.

Explaining the plan to make his death public, Defense ...Read more

Democrats are gaining momentum in their bid to retake the Senate in November. This has led Republicans to prepare for the possibility that a conservative Supreme Court justice might announce their retirement before the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, 2027.

This would give President Donald Trump his fourth Supreme Court nomination,...Read more

Russia said it attacked Ukrainian electricity plants in a “massive strike” overnight, further undermining U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of an energy truce between the two warring countries.

The Defense Ministry in Moscow said its forces struck six thermal plants and a substation supplying electricity in Kyiv and its surroundings as...Read more

LOS ANGELES — An "aggressive" great white shark was spotted in the waters off Huntington Beach on Tuesday, prompting the closure of a popular surfing spot.

The Huntington Beach Fire Department said in statement Tuesday afternoon that a roughly 10- to 12-foot great white shark exhibiting "aggressive behavior" was seen near Lifeguard Tower 16. ...Read more

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham will host Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in London on Wednesday as Kyiv and its allies scramble to respond to President Donald Trump’s diesel deal with Russia.

Burnham will tell the Ukrainian president that Britain will draw up new sanctions against the Kremlin’s war effort while accelerating delivery ...Read more

María Corina Machado holds a commanding lead in presidential voting intentions in Venezuela even as she remains sidelined from U.S.-backed negotiations between the government and opposition aimed at restoring democratic institutions.

Machado drew 52% support in a presidential voting-intention question, compared with 19% for acting President ...Read more

When many people think of an average lung cancer patient, they often imagine an older man smoking. But the face of lung cancer has changed. Over the past 15 years, more women, never smokers and younger people are being diagnosed with lung cancer.

In fact, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women, and more women die...Read more

DENVER — It’s difficult to visualize what Colorado under a Gov. Victor Marx would look like — and not only because he’s a first-time candidate with no prior political experience.

Since he won the Republican primary in June, he has avoided debates and has not run as a policy-heavy candidate. He built a nonprofit that has grown to $7 ...Read more