Births continued a historic slide in all but two states last year, making it clear that a brief post-pandemic uptick in the nation’s birth numbers was all about planned pregnancies that had been delayed temporarily by COVID-19.

Only Tennessee and North Dakota had small increases in births from 2022 to 2023, according to a Stateline analysis ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Fatal overdoses in the U.S. fell for the first time in five years in 2023, according to preliminary estimates recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but UCLA researcher Joseph Friedman warns that the new findings should not be interpreted to mean that the nation's drug and mental health crises are ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Late last year, a group of whistle-blowers submitted a report to the National Institutes of Health that questioned the integrity of a celebrated University of Southern California neuroscientist's research and the safety of an experimental stroke treatment his company was developing.

NIH has since paused clinical trials for 3K3A-...Read more

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Outside the Mi’kmaq Nation’s health department sits a dome-shaped tent, built by hand from saplings and covered in black canvas. It’s one of several sweat lodges on the tribe’s land, but this one is dedicated to helping people recover from addiction.

Up to 10 people enter the lodge at once. Fire-heated stones —...Read more

SAN DIEGO — For the better part of the past half-century, Baja California has beckoned to surfers from across the globe, offering peeling point breaks without crowded lineups to those willing to travel and camp in remote and barren areas.

For many Southern California surfers, such excursions are the stuff of legend, a cherished ritual that ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For years, Missouri lawmakers have redirected millions from a federal grant program intended to help low-income families to a state program aimed at steering women away from receiving abortions despite the state’s strict ban on the procedure.

Each year, the state receives millions in federal dollars through Temporary ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California high school students may have an additional course added to the eight that are needed to graduate. These courses, such as the ethnic studies requirement passed in 2021, all entered the school curriculum at the direction of the State Board of Education. This proposed new requirement — a financial literacy class...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Turtle skulls, elephant toenails and sea cucumbers were among the thousands of animal and plant products seized at Los Angeles International Aiport's mail facility over the last seven months.

More than 4,220 products sent via air mail have been confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The United States has softened its earlier resistance to a broader Israeli military operation in Rafah following efforts by Israel to reduce the civilian toll of the assault, a U.S. official said.

The shift followed weeks of warnings by President Joe Biden that a full-scale attack on the Gaza Strip border city where hundreds of ...Read more

Georgia Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson staved off a challenge Tuesday from a former Democratic lawmaker who sought to make the nonpartisan race a referendum on abortion rights by leaning on support from Gov. Brian Kemp and other top Republican officials.

John Barrow, who served five terms in the U.S. House, called Pinson to concede defeat ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — A San Diego federal judge on Tuesday blasted the U.S. Attorney's Office for its "significant misconduct" in the prosecution of the U.S. Navy's "Fat Leonard" bribery and corruption scandal, saying the continued crumbling of the case is an "embarrassment to the government."

U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino said during a hearing ...Read more

University of California officials are seeking a court order to end immediately an ongoing strike by academic workers that is underway at UC Santa Cruz and could spread to others campuses in the system.

The request for injunctive relief was filed Tuesday afternoon with the California Public Employment Relations Board, which oversees labor-...Read more

After several failed attempts, California lawmakers are once again working to mandate that children attend kindergarten, with the state Assembly passing a bill to make it compulsory Tuesday.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration and, if passed, heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk.

Newsom vetoed a similar bill in 2022, calling the ...Read more

NEW YORK — Donald Trump rested his defense Tuesday after one day without taking the stand — despite claiming he “absolutely” would — ushering the historic hush money trial into the home stretch and paving the way for a Manhattan jury to begin deliberating as soon as next week.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche announced that the defense had ...Read more

A coalition of UNLV students and community organizers decried gun violence Tuesday morning near the site of a campus shooting that killed three professors in December.

“Today we are here not to recount that dark day,” said Imer Cespedes-Alvarado, founder of the Youth Voice of Nevada, which organized the event.

“Instead, we stand before ...Read more

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd, is facing fresh allegations that accuse him of using excessive force in a similar manner in another case.

Patricia “Patty” Dawn Welch Day filed a lawsuit against Chauvin and fellow Minneapolis Officer Ellen Jensen on Tuesday over actions they ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Monarch High School’s principal, assistant principal and athletic director have been cleared after an investigation into possible violations of a 2021 state law by allowing a transgender girl to play on the girls’ varsity volleyball team.

Principal James Cecil, Assistant Principal Kenneth May and Athletic Director ...Read more

NEW YORK — A number of pro-Palestinian demonstrators inside and outside an occupied academic building at Columbia University said they were hurt after last month’s Hamilton Hall raid — despite assurances by Mayor Adams and the NYPD there were no injuries or “violent clashes” during the operation.

Students documented injuries among ...Read more