Typically, when people hear about nitrates, it involves runoff from farm fields, sewage systems and cities that can fuel harmful algae blooms and raise the risk of a serious illness in infants known as “blue baby syndrome.”

But a river can also run through a sparsely populated landscape with little farming and still contain ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The 20th class of the California Hall of Fame — and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s last — was announced Thursday morning, with a slew of icons in sports, film, arts, activism and cuisine etched into the state’s canon.

A group of 19 Californians, including legends such as Barry Bonds, Metallica and Guillermo del Toro, will be...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday shut down his administration’s on-again-off-again talks with Iran, saying he would not seek a deal to formally end the nine-month-old conflict with Tehran.

The possible end of the pursuit of a diplomatic solution came nine days after Trump and congressional Republicans suffered massive losses ...Read more

NEW YORK — A contractor involved in construction at the site of the deadly Brooklyn collapse had been cited by New York City for problems related to demolition at the Bedford Avenue location, including violating a stop-work order aimed at halting problematic work, city records reviewed by the Daily News show.

The records reviewed by the Daily...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina State University leaders gathered Thursday for Board of Trustees committee meetings — their first since police search warrants revealed evidence of horrific hazing at the school’s Sigma Nu fraternity. Fraternity brothers, according to search warrants, were being forced to eat one another’s vomit, put ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Public health officials in Santa Cruz County this week closed Capitola Beach — a popular stretch of sand lined with cheery pastel-colored homes and cozy waterfront cafes — amid an E. coli outbreak.

The E. coli O157 outbreak has sickened at least nine children, the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency said in a statement....Read more

President Donald Trump on Thursday was facing major questions about his cozy financial and political ties to Jensen Huang after the disgraced Nvidia CEO resigned over reports of affairs with a fellow executive and an alleged Chinese spy.

Critics, including Democrats who will control the next Congress, are asking if Trump looked the other way ...Read more

United Launch Alliance is set for the return of its Vulcan rocket Friday after nine months of delays on a mission that looks to reinvigorate Amazon’s game of catchup to SpaceX’s lucrative Starlink satellite program.

Flying for only the fifth time, the replacement for ULA’s Atlas V and Delta IV family of rockets, is targeting liftoff from ...Read more

NEW YORK — A 26-year-old immigrant construction worker with a wife about to give birth has been identified as among the at least eight dead in the Brooklyn building collapse.

José Luis Caguana Cosquillo emigrated from Ecuador about six years ago and leaves behind a 4-year-old son and pregnant wife.

“She’s heading to the hospital ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Two more members of Gov. Wes Moore’s Cabinet are leaving their posts before the end of the year, including the heads of the Maryland departments of the Environment and Emergency Management.

Department of the Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain will leave the position on Dec. 31, with Deputy Secretary Adam Ortiz taking over as ...Read more

NEW YORK — Despite backing away from a controversial contract for an AI-enhanced cellphone tracking device, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing increasing pushback over his administration’s surveillance approach.

In a letter Thursday, 45 nonprofit and civil rights organizations called for the Mamdani administration to stop pursuing the ...Read more

U.S. envoys left Moscow for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after meeting with President Vladimir Putin, as Kyiv warned restrictions had reappeared on the Starshield air-defense system used by frontline troops.

U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Putin in the Kremlin for more than two hours, according to...Read more

President Donald Trump said the U.S. doesn’t need a deal with Iran and instructed Vice President JD Vance to focus on domestic issues rather than negotiations with Tehran.

The directive, posted on social media on Thursday, threw cold water on ongoing back channel talks and dampened prospects for a diplomatic breakthrough to end the war. It ...Read more

MIAMI — Alina Garcia, Miami-Dade’s elections supervisor, now has a cartoon avatar who stars in a tax-funded coloring book about democracy and, this fall, looked out from lapel pins that were distributed to poll workers.

Like Garcia, “Super Ali” has long blonde hair, but Super Ali has a red cape and a star-spangled ballot box for a body....Read more

An open letter from several Texas Republicans in what had been known as the largest red county in the nation demands new leadership at the helm of the county party after voters swept Democrats into office in last week’s midterm.

Democrats won all of the statewide races in Texas and all of the countywide races in Tarrant County, deserting its ...Read more

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven wealthy nations are throwing their support behind the United Nations-authorized Gang Suppression Force in Haiti as a massive buildup of Salvadoran military troops in the country raises concerns about coordination, accountability and protection of civilians during the stepped-up fight against powerful ...Read more

As communities around the world shore up their infrastructure in anticipation of one of the most powerful El Niños on record in late 2026 and early 2027, they need to think about rising health risks, too – and include them in early weather warnings.

El Niño is part of a natural climate phenomenon that shifts global weather ...Read more

With vaccines and regular screening, cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers.

Yet women living in rural areas of the United States have a 25% higher rate of cervical cancer – and a 42% higher rate of death from the disease compared to urban women.

In Colorado, rural counties such as Prowers, Moffat and ...Read more