From the air, Wainwright, Alaska, looks like a perfectly stable band of homes and roads between the Chukchi Sea and a vast, flat tundra. But just below the surface, the frozen ground that this town was built on contains large bodies of ice. Along the eroding coastal bluffs, that hidden ice is becoming exposed and literally melting away.

...Read more

In 2023, the International Energy Agency predicted that by 2028 the world’s oil companies would produce more oil than people wanted to buy. Prices responded to that and similar projections of slowing oil demand, dropping too low to attract investment for new wells and refineries.

No forecast anticipated that the Strait of Hormuz, ...Read more

People are increasingly turning to AI for advice. A 2026 Pew report found that 10% of Americans are using chatbots for emotional support or companionship. Some even find a charismatic leader in AI.

More broadly, a large-scale study of 1.1 million ChatGPT conversations found that 49% of the messages involved users seeking “...Read more

Iranian officials have privately expressed pessimism about reaching a deal to end hostilities with Washington and reopen the Strait of Hormuz before U.S. midterm elections in November, according to people familiar with the matter.

Iran and the U.S. made little progress during talks in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General ...Read more

The likely return to power of a separatist political party in Quebec is set to create a new challenge for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, just as he tries to hold the country together in the midst of a trade war with the U.S.

Residents of the French-speaking region will vote on Oct. 5, and surveys show they’re poised to choose the Parti ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Somehow, a Gaboon viper — whose home is the tropics of central and western Africa — was on the loose Monday in a Southern California neighborhood, police say.

The sighting of the extremely venomous viper, which has the longest fangs of any snake in the world, spurred the Santa Ana Police Department to issue a public advisory...Read more

PINEY POINT, Fla. — The end may finally be near for cleanup of a toxic industrial site that triggered a public emergency and environmental crisis on Florida’s Gulf Coast five years ago.

Piney Point, an abandoned fertilizer processing plant in northern Manatee County on the edge of Tampa Bay, is approaching the end of a state-supervised ...Read more

This fall, voters in at least nine states will decide whether to cut, cap or raise taxes through ballot measures that will give them a direct hand in steering state tax policy in a conservative or progressive direction.

Some states, such as California, will weigh whether to tax — or untax — their wealthiest residents. Others, such as ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — When Nelson Contreras-Gelves arrived at an immigration appointment in June, he worriedly "already saw myself being back in Venezuela."

The threat of deportation had loomed ever since he arrived in the United States in March 2022, surrendering at the border and requesting asylum. It hung over conversations he and Ariel Whaley ...Read more

OAK HILL, W.Va. — Each day at New River Health in Oak Hill, Lisa Emery finds disheartening signs of what she describes as a slow-motion repeat of the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster.

Emery is director of New River’s Breathing Center and chair of the National Coalition of Black Lung and Respiratory Disease Clinics.

The disaster she’s reminded ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Nearly 300 new laws will take effect Oct. 1, changing rules for Marylanders involving housing, gun ownership, grocery pricing and other areas of daily life.

The measures were passed during the 2026 legislative session and were signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore. Some laws are entirely new, while others update existing laws.

The ...Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court returns from summer break Oct. 5, 2026, and begins hearing a new year of cases.

Soon after what’s known as the “first Monday in October” among court watchers, we will start to see stories in the media about something called “originalism.”

Originalism is the judicial philosophy followed by most ...Read more

OpenAI on Tuesday apologized for its AI models breaching Australian government websites and promised to set up a new task force as part of reforms after the incident.

The San Francisco-based company said it will fund cyber defenses in Australia and help manage the risk of increasingly capable artificial intelligence, as it navigates the fallout...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After dividing lawmakers and barely clearing the Legislature last month, a bill pushing for greater transparency on the implementation of campus protest rules at California’s public universities has been vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Assembly Bill 2551, authored by Assemblymember Sade Elhawary, D-Los Angeles, would have ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed two bills targeting the health effects of the Tijuana River sewage crisis. One orders the state’s first update in more than a half-century to its hydrogen sulfide air standard. The other requires workplace protections for lifeguards, park rangers and others working outdoors in the Tijuana River Valley.

Senate Bill...Read more

NEW YORK — Cornell University said it supports a decision by prosecutors to reopen a criminal investigation into allegations of sexual assault and rape at a campus fraternity, pushing back on criticism of how it handled the case.

The Ivy League school defended its handling of the allegations, which first surfaced two years ago, after Tompkins...Read more

Gov. Bob Ferguson announced Monday the state was submitting a request to issue a major disaster declaration for Washington’s summer wildfires — including the Spokane Complex fires — saying federal assistance is needed to help thousands of residents recover from $188 million worth of damage.

A state’s assessment found 649 primary ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A suspect believed to have shot and killed a Kentucky State Police trooper Monday has been taken into custody, according to law enforcement.

Trooper Hayden Phillips, Unit 369, was shot and killed Monday afternoon while patrolling Interstate 65 near the 38-mile marker. Police issued a BLUE Alert shorty after the shooting, ...Read more

Police in Northern California are investigating the circumstances around the killing of a 40-year-old New York Times executive who was fatally shot by his in-laws in a parking lot over the weekend, officials said.

Officers found Jonathan McKinsey, a resident of Dublin, Calif., in the parking lot with gunshot wounds and pronounced him dead at ...Read more