CHICAGO — A person was sexually assaulted early Sunday morning at an off-campus party near the University of Chicago, officials said.

The victim reported the assault at 2:10 a.m., roughly 30 minutes after it occurred, and did not know the suspect, according to a university incident report. The party was held at 5625 S. University Ave. in Hyde...Read more

Sean “Diddy” Combs was reportedly taken by ambulance for medical treatment early Saturday for a head injury suffered in a fall at the federal prison where he’s serving time.

It was not clear where he had been treated or how exactly he had hurt his head, TMZ reported. Sources at Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institute in New Jersey told ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani, bucking a tradition long observed by previous mayors, declined to march in the Columbus Day Parade on Monday.

The parade, and more broadly, the observance of Columbus Day, have come under controversy in recent years. Italian explorer Christopher Columbus’ hero status has been undermined by his own violent ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday is expected to announce a sweeping review of the NYPD’s use-of-force policies while announcing changes he says will improve police accountability.

The changes include the implementation of a new system that would make sure officers complete any ongoing disciplinary processes before they retire — a...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A trio of storms since early September has put considerable strain on the historic Long Beach boardwalk, which collapsed further between 64th and 65th Place on Seaside Walk during a weekend of heavy surf.

The city's public works team and its Parks, Recreation and Marine bureau were working to secure it, putting up sandbags and ...Read more

Pope Leo XIV will not present an inaugural Villanova University sustainability medal in his name, as he is slated to undergo surgery in the coming days to remove a small growth discovered in his lung.

The 71 year-old pontiff said during his regular Sunday address in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City that doctors had detected a nodule “at a...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel damaged coastal homes in Long Beach and brought flooding and debris flows to the Coachella Valley, National Weather Service forecasters project the worst has passed for Southern California — but threats remain for communities along the coast.

Wind advisories across inland deserts ...Read more

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is on a collision course with President Donald Trump, who is increasingly looking at Kyiv’s battle against Russia primarily through the lens of energy prices ahead of U.S. midterm elections.

Trump sprung an announcement of an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine on Zelenskyy, as the U.S. ...Read more

CHICAGO -- The handwriting is messy, the spelling faulty. Some cried as they wrote. Others were so excited that they struggled with what to say. Some did not know how to write at all, and, in those letters, only a few words are legible.

But, still, the messages are all the same.

“Today they detained me, and I’ve been here for hours. I’m ...Read more

CHICAGO -- By the time one of Chicago’s immigration judges was called in to the court supervisor’s office and asked about a case they had recently shelved, the city’s immigration court had replaced Operation Midway Blitz as the main thrust of the Trump administration’s push to reshape American immigration enforcement.

The judge was ...Read more

BOSTON -- Federal prosecutors are renewing a motion to call three witnesses who allegedly had affairs with ex-Stoughton cop Matthew Farwell to the stand during his federal murder trial.

A judge had ruled against admitting that testimony before the trial began, the government wrote in its Sunday filing, but left open the door for the evidence to...Read more

Mr. V felt tightness across his chest. His deepest breaths felt shallow. He sought help at an emergency department, where a resident physician found several worrying signs, including swelling of his hands and legs as well as heart enlargement on a chest X-ray.

Everything seemed to point to one diagnosis: heart failure, where the heart...Read more

When Belgian American particle physicist Francis Halzen was awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in physics “for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin,” it was a reminder that for more than a century, scientists have treated Antarctica’s environments as ...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.

How much rain can a hurricane make, and how much do big versus small hurricanes make? – Naarah, age 8, Pittsburgh

Hurricanes can produce enormous amounts of rain, adding up...Read more

A wave of anti-transgender legislation has appeared in statehouses across the country over the past few years. Now, transgender issues are a recurring topic on the 2026 midterm campaign trail.

As a scholar of LGBTQ+ politics and history, I’ve noticed surprising trends in how Democrats in key states like Texas and Ohio talk about ...Read more

More than 119 million Brazilians voted on Oct. 4, 2026, in the national elections to select the country’s next president and the governors of all 27 states, among other government officials.

That’s nearly 75% of the approximately 159 million eligible voters. Unlike in the U.S., voting is mandatory in Brazil for all citizens ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Every Tuesday, Naman Shah sees tuberculosis patients at a small public clinic in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. Shah, a physician and epidemiologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, pores over images of battered lungs, listens to labored breathing, and checks medications.

It’s part of an initiative ...Read more

At St. Paul City Hall, October is shaping up to be the autumn of our discontent, to quote the bard, with the “our” in question being the mayor’s office, the police chief, the city council and more. Navigating the twists and turns of what’s become a three-way legal and political dispute can be dizzying.

Here’s a primer to help.

What ...Read more

A federal judge in New York ordered the Trump administration to stop for now running taxpayer-funded television ads lauding the president and to halt any payments of public money related to airing them as legal challenges move ahead.

The order from U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon on Sunday night will last 14 days as she decides whether to ...Read more