Massive central California wildfire keeps growing and becomes state’s largest blaze of the year

SANTA MARIA, Calif. — Rising temperatures on Wednesday posed new challenges for firefighters who have made incremental progress against a massive wildfire in central California that injured four people as it became the biggest blaze in the state so far this year. More than 870 remote homes and other structures at the northern edge of … Read more

UCLA says Trump administration has suspended $584 million in grants, threatening research

The Trump administration has suspended $584 million in federal grants for the University of California, Los Angeles, nearly double the amount that was previously thought, the school’s chancellor announced Wednesday. UCLA is the first public university whose federal grants have been targeted by the administration over allegations of civil rights violations related to antisemitism and … Read more

Medical community heartbroken after fatal plane crash on Navajo Nation

ALBUQUERQE, N.M. — Federal investigators on Wednesday were trying to piece together what caused a medical transport plane to crash on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona, killing the four people on board and leaving the medical community in neighboring New Mexico heartbroken. The two pilots, flight nurse and paramedic who were onboard were based … Read more

New Orleans city workers search landfill for mistakenly discarded court records

NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans clerk of court staff stood ankle-deep in a massive landfill, digging through mounds of trash, to salvage court records that the city erroneously discarded. As photos surfaced online — showing city staff scouring for the misplaced documents among heaps of garbage — city and state officials were outraged over the … Read more

Judge rules officials in Georgia’s Fulton County must appoint rejected Republicans to election board

ATLANTA — A judge has ordered elected leaders in Georgia’s Fulton County to appoint two Republican nominees they had rejected to the county’s election board. The county Republican Party sued in June seeking to force the Board of Commissioners to appoint the party’s nominees to the county Board of Registration and Elections, arguing that the … Read more

Jen Pawol will be MLB’s first female umpire. Here are other women who broke officiating barriers

This weekend, Jen Pawol will make history by becoming the first woman to umpire a Major League Baseball game. She’s set to work the series between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves. The 48-year-old from New Jersey has worked spring training games over the last two years and in the minors since 2016. Here’s a … Read more

Military base shootings have ranged from isolated incidents to workplace violence and terrorism

ATLANTA — The shooting of five U.S. Army soldiers at a base in Georgia on Wednesday is the latest in a growing list of violent incidents at American military installations over the years. Shootings have ranged from isolated incidents between service members to attacks on bases to mass-casualty events, such as the shooting by an … Read more

Trump once hailed mRNA vaccines as a ‘medical miracle.’ Now RFK Jr. is halting advancement

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump hailed as a “medical miracle” the mRNA vaccines developed to combat the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Now, his health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is effectively halting the vaccine technology’s advancement. Kennedy announced Tuesday that the federal government is canceling $500 million worth of mRNA research development contracts, putting … Read more