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From hospitals to doctors' offices, the frantic questions women are asking about Florida's new abortion law

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On May 1, reproductive care in Florida will change.

Anyone more than six weeks pregnant will be prohibited by law from getting an abortion.

Obstetricians who work privately, or on a hospital staff, already are fielding questions from patients, while also trying to understand the effect on their practices. A wrong call could lead to criminal ...Read more

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Amid protests over Gaza, Southern California colleges juggle student safety, graduation plans

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As tensions boil at universities across the country amid scattered police confrontations with pro-Palestinian protesters, Southern California colleges are grappling with campus safety issues as graduation ceremonies near in the coming weeks.

Locally, major disruptions have occurred at four campuses — USC, UCLA, UC Irvine and Pomona College �...Read more

Steve Jennings for TechCrunch/Getty Images North America/TNS

Senators wary of sending National Guard to quell campus protests

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WASHINGTON — U.S. senators dismissed House Speaker Mike Johnson’s suggestion to send the National Guard to college campuses to quell growing protests against the war in Gaza and U.S. support for Israel.

“I don’t know if you need to call in the National Guard, maybe you just call in the police,” said Senator J.D. Vance, an Ohio ...Read more

Glen Stubbe/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS

Michigan state Sen. Nicole Mitchell off committee assignments while case under review

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DFL state Sen. Nicole Mitchell, of Woodbury, who was arrested in an alleged burglary this month, will be relieved of her committee work and removed from DFL caucus meetings while her case is under review in the courts and the Senate, DFL Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy said in a statement Sunday.

"This is a tragic situation, and there are ...Read more

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

USC protests remain peaceful Saturday night after campus is closed; LAPD calls off tactical alert

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Tensions rose on the University of Southern California campus Saturday after pro-Palestinian protesters returned with tents and reestablished an encampment in Alumni Park, where 93 people were arrested on Wednesday.

They beat drums and put up banners reading "Free Palestine," "We are all Gaza" and "Stop Funding Genocide."

Shortly after 8 p.m.,...Read more

Eliot Blondet/Abaca Press/TNS

Macron raises Europe defense stakes by suggesting nuclear arms

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French President Emmanuel Macron raised the stakes in his call for a credible European defense by adding nuclear weapons to the discussion.

After setting out the need for Europe to come up with a plan to defend itself in a more hostile world during a speech last week, Macron went a step further in an effort to push ahead on talks with other ...Read more

Miguel Martinez/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Scrutiny over protest arrests looms over end of Emory's school year

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It all changed quickly on the spacious Emory University campus quad shortly after sunrise Thursday morning, student Bella Montealegre recalled.

“(We were) mostly just chanting, dancing, et cetera and then all of a sudden, I see, like, dozens of police officers come from (the north) side of the campus,” Montealegre remembered the day after ...Read more

Pool/Getty Images/New York Daily News/TNS

US pushes for 'last chance' of Gaza truce as Blinken visits

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will step up efforts to secure a truce in Gaza when he arrives in the Middle East on Monday, in what could be a final chance to persuade Israel to call off an attack on the southern city of Rafah.

“If there’s a deal, we will suspend the operation” in Rafah, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz ...Read more

Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Ukrainian Army head says Russia dominates front in several areas

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Fighting has become more heated along the front line in eastern Ukraine, with Russia exploiting its advantage over Kyiv’s forces along several axes, Ukraine’s top soldier said.

“In an attempt to seize the strategic initiative and break through the front line, the enemy has concentrated its main efforts on a number of directions,” army ...Read more

Why can’t we throw all our trash into a volcano and burn it up?

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Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Why can’t we throw all our trash into a volcano and burn it up? – Georgine T.

It’s true that lava is hot enough to burn up some of our trash. When Kilauea erupted on ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Amid crime fears, NYC sees surge in gun permit applications

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NEW YORK — Amid ongoing fear of crime, more than 13,300 New Yorkers applied for licenses to carry guns in the city last year, a near-double increase compared to 2022 — and the New York City Police Department's financial bottom line has been boosted by the permit surge, according to a Daily News analysis.

Spokespeople for the NYPD and Mayor ...Read more

New England stone walls lie at the intersection of history, archaeology, ecology and geoscience, and deserve a science of their own

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The abandoned fieldstone walls of New England are every bit as iconic to the region as lobster pots, town greens, sap buckets and fall foliage. They seem to be everywhere – a latticework of dry, lichen-crusted stone ridges separating a patchwork of otherwise moist soils.

Stone walls can be found here and there in other states, but ...Read more

Las Vegas Review-Journal/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Cicadas will soon descend on Las Vegas -- but not the ones you think

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LAS VEGAS — Every year, when spring bleeds into summer, the desert heat awakes a chorus of Las Vegas singers that rival any residency you’ll find on the Strip — cicadas.

But these critters are not the ones you’ve probably been hearing about.

This year has recently been dubbed the year of “cicada-geddon” as two broods of cicadas ...Read more

Nhac Nguyen/Getty Images of North America/TNS

The path to a better tuberculosis vaccine runs through Montana

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A team of Montana researchers is playing a key role in the development of a more effective vaccine against tuberculosis, an infectious disease that has killed more people than any other.

The BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guérin) vaccine, created in 1921, remains the sole TB vaccine. While it is 40% to 80% effective in young children, its efficacy is ...Read more

Kylie Cooper/Getty Images North America/TNS

Lawmakers hope to use this emerging climate science to charge oil companies for disasters

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A fast-emerging field of climate research is helping scientists pinpoint just how many dollars from a natural disaster can be tied to the historic emissions of individual oil companies — analysis that is the centerpiece of new state efforts to make fossil fuel companies pay billions for floods, wildfires and heat waves.

When a flood or ...Read more

Jose A. Iglesias/Miami Herald/TNS

'The big elephant in Haiti': As country sinks into anarchy, how much is US's fault?

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When a sitting Haitian president was assassinated in 1915, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent in the Marines to protect American interests and secure stability. The military occupation, which lasted 19 years, marked the start of more than a century of close and controversial U.S. entanglement in the volatile internal affairs of Haiti.

Though ...Read more

Paul Morigi/Getty Images North America/TNS

Biden warns of threat to democracy at Washington dinner

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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden poked fun at Donald Trump during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night, while seeking to portray his Republican rival as a threat to democracy six months before their rematch.

Biden’s remarks touched on many of the central themes of his campaign, including that America’s ...Read more

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SpaceX knocks out 1st of pair of Space Coast launches for the weekend

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SpaceX sent up one rocket Saturday and has one more set for Sunday from the Space Coast.

First up was a Falcon 9 on the Galileo L12 mission carrying global navigation satellites for the European Commission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 8:34 p.m.

The first-stage booster flew for a record-tying 20th time, but was expended getting ...Read more

Hollie Adams/Getty Images North America/TNS

UK's Sunak says Rwanda flights plan is having a deterrent effect

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Concerns that asylum seekers are relocating from the U.K. to the Republic of Ireland show that the British government’s plan for deportations to Rwanda is already acting as a deterrent to illegal immigration, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.

In an interview with Sky’s "Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips" program, Sunak said that the ...Read more

Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post/TNS

Bird flu confirmed in Colorado dairy cows as outbreak spreads

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture found bird flu in northeast Colorado dairy cows this week, according to state officials.

This is the first time avian flu has been diagnosed in Colorado cattle, the state Department of Agriculture said in its announcement.

Bird flu in dairy cows has been confirmed in eight other states, the USDA said. Those ...Read more