Gas and diesel prices have soared since the start of the Iran war, but the situation could get even worse later this year because of ethanol requirements and problems with fertilizer supply chains.

To help keep a lid on prices at the pump, just days ago, the Environmental Protection Agency waived the summertime cap on the amount of ethanol ...Read more

No one has ever accused me of being overly eager to adopt emerging technologies.

Our house came with an automated irrigation system, but we haven’t used it in years. I write on a word processor, of course, but I keep seven manual typewriters around. I still enjoy the old-fashioned thwack of keys against the platen. I understand that there is ...Read more

President Donald Trump once remarked that his intuition and instincts were the key factors separating him from the mere mortals trying to negotiate good deals. “I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me,” the president said at one point during his first term.

And in many cases, Trump’s ...Read more

As a high-achieving college kid, Alex Vallejo wasn’t surprised by the kind of young people he met at the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers’ national conference in Salt Lake City three years ago. Like him, there were other computer-science students who were in their school robotics clubs. Like him, there were other web developers and...Read more

When someone says a retiree is “living off Social Security,” it’s not usually $100,000 a year. But some U.S. retired couples will be receiving that much in a few years — and a proposal to cap their benefit at that amount has started a painful and much-needed conversation about who should get government benefits and how much.

America’s...Read more

The Chicago suburb of Naperville already has an extensive system of building codes and inspections, so when it began to consider adding another layer earlier this year, area homebuilders were alarmed.

Adopting a “stretch” energy code that goes beyond existing conservation requirements would add thousands of dollars to the cost of a new home...Read more

Most parents are more than happy to receive a tax refund. That money can help pay bills, fund a long-overdue vacation or simply offer breathing room. But for too many families, especially Black families, that refund is not extra. It too often becomes a temporary relief from a child care gap created by school systems that are no longer designed ...Read more

Some things in life are difficult. Predicting the negative consequences of exorbitant and rapid minimum wage hikes isn’t one of them.

In 2023, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $20-an-hour minimum wage law for fast-food workers. It went into effect in April 2024. For all workers, the minimum wage in California is $16.90 an hour.

This ...Read more

As Donald Trump’s war with Iran grows more volatile by the day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bloodthirst and proselytizing risks spinning the conflagration further out of control.

In a war with no clear purpose, Hegseth has celebrated unleashing “death and destruction from the sky all day long.” He also has dismissed international ...Read more

Let’s talk about U.S. Senate candidate Michele Tafoya’s viral quote about Starbucks, war and patriotism.

The Republican podcaster and former TV sports reporter is running to become one of two U.S. senators from Minnesota, succeeding the retiring DFL Sen. Tina Smith.

Her entry into the race has given us a front-row seat to Tafoya’s ...Read more

Let them eat giant turkey legs.

Members of Congress have been spotted at Disney World, home of the enormous treat, at casinos and ballgames during their two-week, so-called “work from district” time. Right after the Senate adjourned, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was spotted at Disney World with a bubble wand. Graham claims he was there to ...Read more

Caskets demand explanations.

Thirteen American service members have been killed and more than 300 wounded since President Donald Trump and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu launched their war against Iran a month ago. For the families who’ve lost sons and daughters, the American commander in chief’s shifting explanations for the war are ...Read more

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco says he'd like to be our governor, but more and more, it's looking to me like the real goal for the far-right provocateur is just to be MAGA-famous.

That's cool. That's fine. Honestly, who in Southern California hasn't dreamed of their 15 minutes? And he certainly has the cop-stache to play the role of rogue...Read more

The Soviets labeled my grandparents “ bezhenets.” It’s the only Russian word my grandmother Peshke uttered in the hours of testimony she gave about the six years she and my grandfather Mottel spent as refugees in the Soviet Union during World War II.

Bezh e nets literally translates to the “ones who run.” But as I researched my ...Read more

It's difficult to imagine that, come the general election, California voters will be asked to choose between two Republicans for their next governor.

Scratch that. It's actually the stuff of nightmares.

We aren't talking Arnold Schwarzenegger-style moderate Republicans who could end up vying to lead this very blue state. We are talking about a...Read more

President Donald Trump asked Congress last Wednesday to pass legislation that “cracks down on rogue judges.”

Trump has repeatedly blasted jurists who issue decisions he doesn’t like, even calling them “criminals” and “a disgrace to our nation.” But demanding that the legislative branch enact laws that punish the judiciary is a ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — An alarming question remains unanswered after the deaths of Minnesotans Renee Good and Alex Pretti earlier this year:

Does the United States now have a federal immigration force that can kill Americans in front of the public yet operates beyond accountability’s reach?

Good, a 37-year-old mom and poet, and Pretti, a 37-year-...Read more

As Easter approaches — a holiday centered on renewal and new life — millions of people are glued to a livestream in Big Bear, California, watching a bald eagle named Jackie tend to her eggs. After ravens destroyed her earlier clutch, viewers mourned alongside her. Now they’re cheering her on, hoping the eggs hatch safely.

It’s moving to...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It’s probably time for California to reform the outdated “reform” that could be leading us into an absurd November election with no Democratic candidate for governor allowed on the ballot.

The absurdity is that Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in California by nearly 2 to 1. But the voters’ choices for ...Read more

As a parent of millennials, I can see firsthand the reality described in a recent Barron’s commentary by Randall W. Forsyth: the financial anxiety many younger Americans feel is not misplaced pessimism. It is a rational response to an economy that increasingly feels stacked against them. The traditional markers of stability, especially ...Read more