After years of controversy surrounding the original’s initial dumping into Baltimore’s harbor six years ago, a replica of a Christopher Columbus sculpture was placed on the White House grounds on Sunday, according to numerous reports.

The Columbus sculpture was said to have been placed on the White House campus after The Washington Post ...Read more

Reggaeton boomed in a neighborhood bar in Old Havana on a recent night, when, suddenly, the music stopped and everything went dark.

The customers groaned. Another blackout.

A U.S. blockade on oil shipments to Cuba has plunged the island into its worst energy crisis in modern history. The country's already cratering economy now teeters on the ...Read more

Among the staff at Topgolf, 11th-grader Augustine Fredericks has a rare and coveted skill.

When a customer orders a celebratory dessert, the teenager is often summoned to pipe a fancy “happy birthday” message in chocolate across the plate.

The reason he’s the go-to guy for the job? He’s the only one there who can write in cursive — a...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump gave Iran a two-day deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or have its power plants bombed, upping the ante in a war that’s showing no sign of de-escalation into its fourth week.

Trump, under pressure to bring down soaring oil prices, said Iran must “fully open, without threat,” the vital waterway for energy ...Read more

Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against a Minnesota woman accused of taking part in a January protest at a St. Paul church, after her attorney said she was misidentified and never attended the demonstration.

The dismissal, filed late Friday, March 20, in federal court, ends the case against Heather Danae Lewis, 50, one of 39 people ...Read more

Grieving mother Naomi White walked along Kennywood Boulevard in West Mifflin, Pa., on March 15 with dozens of friends and family members who had gathered to call attention to the December traffic death of her 13-year-old son, Terrel Byars Jr.

Then she was hit with pepper spray. Within moments she was coughing and struggling to breathe.

After ...Read more

Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin advanced toward confirmation as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, clearing a procedural obstacle on Sunday that put his nomination on track for a final Senate vote early this week.

The 54-37 procedural vote signals the 48-year-old first-term Oklahoma senator and former mixed-martial-arts ...Read more

Nearly 9.5 million people across the U.S. Southwest face extreme high temperatures, as an ongoing heat wave continues to topple records and raise the risk of wildfires as far away as the Great Plains.

Las Vegas reached 96F Saturday, a record for the date, while the nearby local National Weather Service office hit 97F for the second day in a row...Read more

Blanca Alvarado is 94 and struggles to catch her breath. But she still remembers the early days alongside Cesar Chavez — when the soft-spoken activist met with her in her garage on Sunset Avenue and knocked on doors in East San Jose’s Mayfair neighborhood to register voters.

Her devotion to the legacy of the civil rights leader — she was ...Read more

A senior Cuban official said the country is preparing for a possible military assault as President Donald Trump increases economic pressure on the government in Havana and suggests it could be the next U.S. target after Venezuela and Iran.

“Our military is always prepared,” Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio said in an ...Read more

ICE agents in Florida have made more immigration arrests so far this year than counterparts in any other part of the country, outpacing even places with announced “surges,” new data shows.

The Miami Field Office for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Office — which covers Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands — is credited with ...Read more

In a cozy room at New Directions Mental Health in O’Hara, Pennsylvania, patients show up with warm blankets or soft pillows they bring from home. They dim the lights or use a provided Northern Lights-like projector to set the mood as they settle in for ketamine therapy, a rapidly growing treatment for stubborn depression.

“We’ve seen it ...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump gave Iran a two-day deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or have its power plants bombed, upping the ante in a war that’s showing no sign of de-escalation into its fourth week.

Trump, under pressure to bring down soaring oil prices, said Iran must “fully open, without threat,” the vital waterway for energy ...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump gave Iran a two-day deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or have its power plants bombed, raising the stakes in a war that’s showing no sign of de-escalation into its fourth week.

Trump, in an indication of the pressure he’s under to bring down soaring oil prices, said Iran must “fully open, without threat,�...Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider upending key election deadlines in as many as 29 states with a case that draws the justices into President Donald Trump’s campaign against mail-in ballots.

The justices hear arguments Monday in a Mississippi clash over laws that allow ballots to be counted even if they don’t arrive until shortly after ...Read more

Evolution has fostered many reproductive strategies across the spectrum of life. From dandelions to giraffes, nature finds a way.

One of those ways creates quite a bit of suffering for humans: pollen, the infamous male gametophyte of the plant kingdom.

In the Southeastern U.S., where I live, you know it’s spring when your ...Read more

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 do I need to sleep for a long time at night? – Sly M., 6, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Just like eating, drinking or breathing, sleep is an essential part of life.

...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Meta, YouTube and Snapchat are already under scrutiny for risks they pose for young people. Now they are facing another hurdle in their home state.

California lawmakers are considering legislation to restrict social media use for teens and children under 16 years old. Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, and others ...Read more

When Raven Kinser walked into a Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles office two summers ago, she completed a driver’s license application that included the option to register as an organ donor. The form provides a checkbox to opt in, but not one to opt out. Kinser left the donor registration box unchecked, reflecting her decision to reverse ...Read more

ARVIN, Calif. — In the southern San Joaquin Valley, where roads cut through thousands of acres of orange groves, grapevines and carrot fields, a canal reaches a linchpin that keeps the farming economy going: dozens of oblong ponds filled with shimmering water.

While many parts of California’s Central Valley are struggling to counter ...Read more