LAWRENCE COUNTY, Illinois — Tens of thousands of gallons of fluid spilled from the open pit, urged on by heavy spring rains and unencumbered by an emergency pump disabled by a power failure.

The toxic mix of oil and an underground water called brine, several times saltier than the ocean, poured into a ditch along Petrolia Lane and crept ...Read more

Vanessa Barahona received a call this past spring from Angelica at Kern Family Health Care in Bakersfield, California, telling her it was time to renew her coverage under Medi-Cal, the state's version of Medicaid.

Angelica helped Barahona, 41, schedule an appointment to complete her paperwork in person at Kern Family's offices before she ...Read more

LONDON — At King’s College Hospital in the south of London, anyone who has blood drawn in the emergency department is automatically tested for hepatitis B and C.

Posters throughout the facility inform patients that the screening is routine, part of a new approach helping find and treat thousands of people who might otherwise never know they...Read more

MIAMI — The drones zip through school hallways, buzzing loudly like a swarm of bees. They can shoot puffs of pepper spray, flash dizzying lights and hurl themselves at 60 miles per hour at their target: a school shooter.

These non-lethal drones are designed to reach a gunman in 15 seconds. Soon, they’ll be available in a Broward County high...Read more

CHICAGO -- For three years, Chicago police officers accused of serious misconduct have had to sit and wait for the Illinois Supreme Court to decide the future of officer discipline.

Bad cops are not being fired, and good cops who may be wrongfully accused are stuck in professional purgatory.

And as the city and the Fraternal Order of Police ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — On the night of her murder, Robert Blake took his new wife to dinner at Vitello’s Italian Restaurant in Studio City. It was a place where diners squinted at fading celebrity glossies on the wall and said, “Isn’t that the guy who—?”

By May 2001, the 67-year-old actor was becoming one of those hard-to-place faces. People...Read more

In vying for confirmation from the Senate to be the next U.S. ambassador to Colombia, Nate Morris said he’s “proud” of the campaign he ran to replace one of the voters he’s counting on: Mitch McConnell.

During that campaign, Morris became known for making scathing comments about and dishing out harsh critiques of McConnell, Kentucky’s...Read more

Iran said it reached an agreement with Oman on a proposed route for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a potential step toward a reopening of the critical waterway for energy supplies.

A joint statement from Tehran and Muscat is under review and in the final drafting stage, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters ...Read more

CHICAGO — Advocates urged the state to invest in community-based alternatives to nursing homes for people with disabilities before attempting to enter Gov. JB Pritzker’s Chicago office in the West Loop on Wednesday.

More than a dozen activists, mostly those in wheelchairs and on mobility scooters, raised a chant of “let us in” as they ...Read more

A South Florida man has pleaded guilty to federal charges after he posted online threats against Trump administration officials Marco Rubio and Kristi Noem, including one in which he wrote, “Both of you will be executed,” court records show.

Jon Christopher Enriquez, 47, of Miami, entered an agreement with federal prosecutors on Friday, ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Cal Fire has arrested a Valley Springs man on suspicion of starting the Gann fire, the fast-moving wildfire that has burned more than 9,300 acres in Calaveras County, forced hundreds of evacuations and was 10% contained Wednesday morning.

Herbert Wayne Smith, 65, was arrested Monday evening near the fire’s reported ...Read more

A 19-year-old fisherman was bitten on the leg by a beaver in Cunningham Falls State Park in Frederick County on Wednesday morning, a Maryland Department of Natural Resources spokesperson said.

This is the second beaver attack at Cunningham Falls in the past two weeks. The incident occurred in the South Beach Day Use area of the park at about 9:...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Like Wyclef Jean’s hit song, North Carolina lawmakers are gone til November.

The state House of Representatives adjourned Wednesday after passing a flurry of bills over two days, as well as making time to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary with a session in the historic State Capitol building a block away from the ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — President Donald Trump addressed a crowd at Red Rock Resort on Wednesday afternoon to promote his administration’s tax policies.

The event, intended to highlight the Working Families Tax Cuts from the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, was Trump’s second in Las Vegas this year.

His visit began Tuesday night when Air Force One ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A former Los Angeles Police Department officer was sentenced Tuesday to life plus 15 years in state prison for his role in a 2024 home invasion robbery in Koreatown in which he and a group of co-conspirators stole $350,000 worth of cryptocurrency from a teenager.

The ex-officer, Eric Halem, made a last-ditch request for new ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For nearly a decade, Jeanine John Taele was a U.S. Marine with tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Until July 2025, the Downey resident was licensed to work as an armed security guard.

Then, over the last few days, authorities allege he twice roamed the grounds of Trump National Golf Club in advance of a presidential visit, ...Read more

CHICAGO — Just a year after his career took off, Omar David Panqueva, known as DJ TUNJO, made it to one of the largest music festivals in Chicago earlier this summer. It was a dream come true for the Colombian native to play a set at Sueños Music Festival at Grant Park in May. He had arrived in the U.S. with his husband, Santiago Paez, just a...Read more

SEATTLE — Firefighting crews are making progress containing wildfires burning hundreds of square miles across Washington, including the catastrophic trio of fires in Spokane.

But winds are predicted to pick up this weekend while temperatures rise, increasing fire risk even as containment percentages have grown among the largest and most ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was in Lexington Wednesday to announce the federal government is ending its contract with Kentucky’s organ donation organization.

Network for Hope has come under scrutiny in recent years after a Health Resources and Services Administration investigation in ...Read more