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Citizens attend a City Council hearing in Pocatello, Idaho, to discuss the prospect of a new $2.6 billion data center in their community.  Natalie Behring/Getty Images

How local communities are challenging Big Tech data centers’ noise, pollution and rising electricity bills

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As the race to build data centers across the United States accelerates, local governments worry that the tech industry mantra of “move fast and break things” means their communities are at risk of being broken.

I’m a Harvard researcher studying the relationship between data centers and energy. I’ve closely monitored how local ...Read more

Chemical sunscreens have come a long way since they were first developed in 1891. mihailomilovanovic/iStock via Getty Images Plus

First new US sunscreen ingredient since 1999 approved by FDA – a skin scientist explains how bemotrizinol works

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As summer in the U.S. heats up, people become more diligent about protecting their skin from the Sun. Another option for doing so will soon be available.

On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first new sunscreen ingredient to be permitted for over-the-counter consumer use in the U.S. since 1999 – a ...Read more

Engineered stone, also called quartz, has become the most popular material for kitchen countertops. Guillermo Spelucin Runciman/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Quartz countertops are driving a public health crisis in the US – 2 occupational health experts explain the surge of lung transplants and lawsuits

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If you walk into a Costco, Home Depot or Lowe’s and order a countertop for your kitchen renovation, the store will likely contract with a local fabrication shop, instructing them to make one from a material called engineered stone.

Often marketed as “quartz,” engineered stone is a synthetic product that contains up to 95% finely...Read more

Norway's Erling Haaland celebrates scoring his side's opening goal during the World Cup group match against Iraq on June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) AP Photo/Martin Meissner

How Messi, Mbappe and Haaland use their brains (as well as feet) to gain a psychological edge at the World Cup

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Part of soccer’s beauty lies in its unpredictability.

Already in World Cup 2026, we have seen Morocco tie with five-time champion Brazil and Australia overturn the odds by beating Turkey. But few surprises will top a Cabo Verde team ranked 67th at the start of the tournament holding Spain – many pundits’ pick for the title – ...Read more

U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner speaks to supporters on June 9, 2026, in Blue Hill, Maine. CJ Gunther/Getty Images

Americans keep voting for scandal-prone candidates because they just don’t want the other party to win

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Every election cycle sees its share of controversial, scandal-plagued candidates running for office. But the 2026 midterm elections will feature two such candidates – one from each party – in two of the highest-profile U.S. Senate races.

In Texas, the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, recently secured the Republican Party’...Read more

Trump inks Iran deal, shifting focus to Hormuz, 60-day talks

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U.S. President Donald Trump formally agreed an interim peace deal with Iran, shifting focus to the planned reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a complex 60-day negotiating period over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Trump signed the so-called memorandum of understanding at the Palace of Versailles near Paris on Wednesday evening, at the end of a ...Read more

JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump ally vowing death to cartels closes in on Colombia presidency

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In a victory speech delivered from behind a bulletproof screen, on a barge in a Caribbean river estuary, Abelardo de la Espriella vowed to hunt down Colombia’s worst criminals.

“Here is a tiger who defends the law with claws and teeth,” he told cheering supporters last month in Barranquilla, many dressed like him in the national soccer ...Read more

Record Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow targets refinery

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Russia’s capital faced a record air bombardment overnight, with drones reaching the Moscow Oil Refinery, disrupting airport operations and forcing the closure of several major roads in and around the city.

At least 194 drones were downed over Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram. Some drones reached the refinery, a key supplier of ...Read more

Inside the FBI's battle to keep drones out of World Cup sites amid heightened terrorism fears

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LOS ANGELES — As World Cup soccer fans cheer for their teams in Los Angeles and stadiums across the nation, FBI agents are working in command centers, watching out for unauthorized flying objects.

It's a nerve-racking race against time, and one week into the World Cup, the counter-unmanned aircraft centers have been busy.

"We have a short ...Read more

Los Angeles Times/TNS

Bill to limit prison off-ramp for the mentally ill could soon head to California Gov. Gavin Newsom

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LOS ANGELES — A bill to tighten California's rules on mental health diversion — a process that allows certain criminal defendants to avoid prison for arrests linked to mental illness — is now on the verge of being signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Assembly Bill 46, authored by Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk Grove, gives judges much wider ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

The South Side shaped Barack Obama. Can his presidential center reshape the South Side?

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CHICAGO — The threads connecting the Obama Presidential Center to Hyde Park and the South Side began with a hopeful want ad from a Chicago organizer and piqued interest from a recent college graduate searching for something more. It was 1985 and Jerry Kellman needed help. Barack Obama needed a deeper purpose.

And so began a chain of events ...Read more

Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

One US-made drug treats congenital syphilis, and the country is running short

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The United States has a shortage of the only first-line medication recommended for pregnant women with syphilis to prevent passing it to their baby, even as congenital syphilis rates have been skyrocketing.

Last July, drug manufacturer Pfizer issued a voluntary recall of brand name Bicillin L-A, or penicillin G benzathine — a long-acting ...Read more

Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times/TNS

What COVID is teaching doctors about the relationship between viruses and cancer

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LOS ANGELES — In early 2022, around the time the Omicron variant started driving a new surge in COVID-19 cases, researchers at James DeGregori's University of Colorado Anschutz lab noticed something unusual: When lab mice with dormant breast cancer cells were infected with either influenza or SARS-CoV-2, the animals were significantly more ...Read more

Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post/TNS

For Denver students, documenting immigration court at ICE facility is both 'draining' and 'very rewarding'

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DENVER -- As a teenager, Jennifer Gutierrez Marquez sat in federal immigration court in Denver translating the proceedings from English to Spanish to help her undocumented parents along their path to becoming permanent U.S. residents.

Now, the 25-year-old University of Denver graduate student frequents those same courtrooms, hoping the research...Read more

(Andrew Jones/KFF Health News)/KFF Health News/TNS

They're uninsured after Obamacare became too costly. And they're far from alone

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SUGAR GROVE, N.C. — Year after year, Ross and Rebecca Tobiassen saw their healthcare costs rise, having relied on the Affordable Care Act for federally subsidized health insurance since its start in 2014. Year after year, the couple in western North Carolina kept their coverage, believing the peace of mind was worth the cost.

But in December,...Read more

Mandel Ngan/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Trump blows through his Iran red lines in justifying peace deal

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and his team had several red lines that they used to justify the U.S. war against Iran. At a news conference Wednesday, Trump largely brushed them aside.

Explaining his decision to agree to an interim peace deal, Trump repeated his insistence that the country would never get a nuclear weapon. Yet he went on...Read more

Handout/National Hurricane Center/TNS

Tropical Storm Arthur forms in Gulf, hurricane center says

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ORLANDO, Fla. — The National Hurricane Center on Wednesday said Tropical Storm Arthur formed off the Texas coast, making it the Atlantic season’s first named storm.

As of a special NHC 11:30 a.m. EDT advisory, the center of Arthur was located about 60 miles east-northeast of Port O’Connor, Texas and 165 miles west-southwest of Lake ...Read more

John Autey/Pioneer Press/John Autey

St. Paul man charged with threatening Mayor Kaohly Her in wake of political assassinations

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Videos that surfaced online showed St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her and Melissa Hortman with bullet holes in their foreheads, according to charges announced Wednesday.

They were posted on the same day that Hortman, former speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, was assassinated, along with her husband at their Brooklyn Park home.

...Read more

Atta Kenare/Getty Images North America/TNS

US-Iran deal takes effect as focus turns to Strait of Hormuz

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President Donald Trump signed an interim deal to end the war with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, speeding up the timeline for the agreement to go into effect despite blowback from Republicans who said it amounted to a victory for Tehran.

The so-called memorandum of understanding is now in effect, a U.S. official said. It was unclear if ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LA City Council agrees to put noncitizen voting, police oversight measures on Nov. 3 ballot

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LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday moved forward with a wide-ranging package of potential revisions to the city’s constitution, including taking a first step toward giving noncitizens the right to vote in city elections.

The noncitizen voting measure was part of a package of proposed city charter changes that will be ...Read more