Philadelphia is poised to launch the nation’s first city-sponsored retirement plan for workers whose employers don’t offer them.

Voters on Tuesday sanctioned the city council’s PhillySaves program by adopting a change to the city charter. The move will require employers without retirement benefits to enroll their workers in the new plan. ...Read more

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte welcomed an abrupt announcement by President Donald Trump to send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland even as the alliance’s top envoys braced for cuts in U.S. military resources.

As allies process the latest White House policy shift, Rutte said focus remained on boosting spending to be able to defend ...Read more

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was “slight progress” in mediated negotiations with Iran, as the prospect of a deal to turn a fragile ceasefire into a lasting peace agreement remains uncertain.

“I don’t want to exaggerate it, but there’s been a little bit of movement, and that’s good,” Rubio said at a meeting of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — It's OK to pack medical marijuana when heading to the airport in California, but whether those products will still be with you when you land remains somewhat of an open question, experts say.

At the end of April, the Transportation Security Administration quietly updated its "What Can I Bring?" web page to reiterate that medical...Read more

SAN DIEGO — In the moments that gunmen opened fire at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the actions of three men staved off an even more extensive tragedy.

Authorities say that, before they were killed, they slowed the shooters, sent out a warning and alerted police, allowing dozens of schoolchildren inside the mosque to scramble for safety. ...Read more

MEXICO CITY — Federico Crespo was tired of President Donald Trump’s bullying. Of his punishing tariffs, his threat to bomb cartels in Mexico and his ruthless campaign against immigrants in the United States.

Crespo was also tired of the American tourists and remote workers who had flooded his native Mexico City, driving up rents, ...Read more

Rice feeds more than half the world. From terraced paddies in Southeast Asia to irrigated fields in China and India, it underpins daily meals for billions of people.

But the same flooded soils that help rice thrive also create ideal conditions for microbes that release climate-warming gases.

In a new study, our team of ...Read more

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Researchers at the University of California, Irvine believe a new public health study they’re helping to run – the first of its size to focus solely on Asian Americans – will help unravel some mysterious and troubling new trends linking race and cancer.

Over the next four years, UCI researchers hope to recruit 1,800 ...Read more

BORREGO SPRINGS, Calif. — A planned high-voltage power line in the San Diego County desert has sparked outrage over its proposed path through the heart of California’s largest state park.

At nearly 650,000 acres, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is known for its sprawling solitude: miles of lunar rock faces and sandy washes frame spindly ...Read more

When the World Wide Web launched into the public domain in 1993, it came with the great promise of a so-called global village, where people could come together over niche interests and earnest observations. Now, we get algorithms that bombard us with anger-inducing slop.

Hans Lehmann, who is 94 and lives in the artsy little town of Carmel-by-...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Sandy fire is burning near a toxic waste area in the Simi Valley where a partial nuclear meltdown once took place, sparking concerns about the potential for contaminants to be released should the area catch fire.

The Ventura County Fire Department announced Wednesday evening that air quality monitoring is being conducted ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — More than 1,000 Los Angeles school workers are expected to lose their jobs after the Board of Education on Thursday approved layoffs and, separately, after district management quietly terminated the employment of workers without tenure or other union job protections.

The termination of the workers who lack due process job ...Read more

Thousands of people came together to offer traditional Islamic funeral prayers for three men killed by teenage gunmen at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday, while a smaller group gathered later in the day to bury them in a National City cemetery.

Such a large crowd of mourners showed up for the Janazah prayer service at a park next to ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Sandy fire is burning near a toxic waste area in the Simi Valley where a partial nuclear meltdown once took place, sparking concerns about the potential for contaminants to be released should the area catch fire.

The Ventura County Fire Department announced Wednesday evening that air quality monitoring is being conducted ...Read more

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she’ll call a referendum on whether the energy-rich province should stay in Canada or start a legal process that could eventually lead to its independence.

The vote will be held Oct. 19 and is a response to a bid by separatist activists to break away from Canada.

A group called Stay Free Alberta tried to...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council signed off on a $15 billion budget for 2026-27 on Thursday, preserving Mayor Karen Bass’ police hiring plan while socking away more money for potential emergencies.

The council voted 12 to 1 to approve Bass’s spending plan, which called for the hiring of 510 Los Angeles Police Department officers...Read more

In hopes of passing new congressional districts in the state before South Carolinians start going to the polls, senators are planning a key procedural vote to accelerate debate.

But that vote to invoke cloture early on a White House-backed congressional map requires a two-thirds majority, as questions remain on whether enough senators in the ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani is moving forward with an expansion of New York City’s curriculum reforms started under ex-Mayor Eric Adams, including changes to how math is taught in elementary schools and reading in high schools, he said Thursday.

Mamdani and his schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels, announced the next phase of the two ...Read more