ORLANDO, Fla. — Keaidy Bennett, a single mother of three, relied on $936 a month in food stamps to buy groceries for her family — until the freelance writer was cut from the program last month.

Her efforts to get reinstated, or even answers about why she lost benefits, have so far proved fruitless, with calls to a local office rarely ...Read more

MISSOULA, Mont. — Bethany Zulick went back to school in January to become a high school English teacher.

Years ago, she taught English as a second language overseas and loved it.

“It’s so exciting to me to watch someone learn a new word or have that spark of understanding,” she said.

Zulick knew she could earn enough money as a ...Read more

WE BUY HOUSES. CASH 4 HOMES. FA$T CA$H.

The signs, text messages and mailers promise cash, quick sales and a seamless means of unloading unwanted homes.

But advocates say the business of buying homes for cash can confuse vulnerable homeowners and rob them of home equity. And now, many states are cracking down.

Wholesalers often solicit ...Read more

MIAMI — Ken Griffin’s record-breaking $2 billion gift to establish a Carnegie Mellon University campus in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood was lauded as the single largest donation to a higher education institution in history.

Closer to home, some wondered: why not gift it to one of the established universities in South Florida?

Florida ...Read more

Cal Fire has issued evacuation orders for the area around the Bouquet fire in Angeles National Park, saying the fire posed an immediate threat to life.

The agency issued the order late Saturday afternoon, saying the fire, in a remote mountainous area northeast of Santa Clarita, had spread to more than 1,000 acres with 30% containment.

The ...Read more

Cal Fire has issued evacuation orders for the area around the Bouquet fire in Angeles National Park, saying the fire posed an immediate threat to life.

The agency issued the order late Saturday afternoon, saying the fire, in a remote mountainous area northeast of Santa Clarita, had spread to 843 acres with 0% containment.

The wildfire started ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Beginning this month, states are required to shoulder a higher portion of the costs associated with administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

It’s the latest change to the federal food aid program resulting from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” signed by President Donald Trump last year. A local legal ...Read more

NEW YORK — Recently released NYPD drone and body-worn camera footage is providing new details about the dramatic, fatal confrontation between a Bronx man and Emergency Services Unit cops who spent an hour high up on the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge pleading with him to come down before the man raised a knife against the officers and was shot....Read more

WASHINGTON — A new White House task force will produce a report assessing risks posed by artificial intelligence and what responsibility the U.S. federal government should have over the technology, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The task force will be led by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, who confirmed his role to the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — On a sweltering Saturday, around 100 people gathered in Culver City for a rally and march to deliver a message to several major media companies: Help us protect our democracy.

Spotlighting Sony Pictures Studios, Apple, Pinterest and Amazon MGM Studios, all with local offices, protesters demanded that the companies sign on to the...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Debra McCaslin, the judge in Alex Murdaugh double murder case, has given prosecutors a deadline to reply to most defense lawyers’ concerns.

Prosecutors in the State Attorney General’s office must reply to issues raised by the Murdaugh’s defense lawyers by noon on Thursday, Oct. 8, according to an email by Judge ...Read more

BOSTON — A Boston-bound medical plane carrying six people suffered a terrifying “one-two punch” as it lost contact with air traffic control before vanishing off the coast of Nantucket, a leading aviation expert told The Boston Herald.

Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said flight tracking ...Read more

BOSTON — Attorneys general from every New England state have joined most of their colleagues in calling for full funding of the U.S. Supreme Court’s security needs in next fiscal year’s budget amid higher reported rates of security incidents against judges.

“As the chief legal officers of our respective states, we have witnessed an ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul gathered with other local pols at Rev. Al Sharpton’s weekly rally in Harlem Saturday morning to celebrate the civil rights leader’s 72nd birthday.

Also in attendance at the National Action Network’s headquarters on Hancock Place near 124th Street, were Manhattan District Attorney ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Republican legislative leaders are calling for a special General Assembly session to “provide relief from high gas and diesel prices.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall said in a post on the social media website X Saturday afternoon that they would call legislators back ...Read more

Kyiv’s latest battlefield success has frustrated Vladimir Putin’s hopes of quickly seizing all of Ukraine’s Donetsk Region, a goal for the Russian president since he launched the full-scale invasion nearly five years ago.

The local counteroffensive, dubbed Vivaldi and first disclosed on Sept. 15, has already helped Ukraine regain 125 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — In a city that was built on oil and remains home to over 2,000 active wells, zoning officials are considering a first: shutting down an oil production site.

Residents of the Jefferson Park neighborhood just south of the 10 Freeway have been fighting for more than decade to close the 32 closely-packed oil and gas wells at the ...Read more

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro remain locked in a tight race as Brazil prepares to vote in Sunday’s election, according to a pair of new polls.

Lula would receive 45% to Bolsonaro’s 42% of valid votes, excluding blank and invalid ballots, in a first round scenario, a Datafolha survey ...Read more