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Child care, higher ed funding targeted in budget endorsed by Missouri House

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Facing a tightening budget picture, the Missouri House inched toward passage of a $50.6 billion spending plan Tuesday that would slash funding to some state universities and child care programs but reverse proposed cuts affecting developmentally disabled Missourians.

Lawmakers spent nearly seven hours debating the 12 ...Read more

John Leyba/The Denver Post/TNS

Denver Water enacts Stage 1 drought restrictions for the first time since 2013

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DENVER — The Denver Board of Water Commissioners enacted Stage 1 drought restrictions Wednesday across the water provider’s metro service area, becoming the latest utility to limit outdoor watering.

The restrictions, which were put in place immediately, limit residents to using water outside their homes, such as for their lawns, to twice ...Read more

HANNAH RUHOFF/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

California Gov. Gavin Newsom regrets calling Israel 'an apartheid state'

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he regretted calling Israel an “apartheid state,” weeks after criticizing the country’s attacks on Palestinians in the ongoing war with Gaza.

Newsom previously said while promoting his memoir in Los Angeles that the U.S. should rethink its relationship with Israeli while Prime ...Read more

Chandan Khanna/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Defense questions former Haiti first lady's version of events in husband's slaying

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Martine Moïse’s statement to FBI agents in the immediate aftermath of her husband’s assassination inside his Port-au-Prince bedroom has come under scrutiny as defense attorneys raise inconsistencies between her initial comments and her testimony at the federal trial in Miami stemming from his slaying.

After being airlifted to Ryder Trauma ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Can Earth be saved from a future extinction-level asteroid?

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BALTIMORE — In 1998, Bruce Willis saved the world by blowing up an asteroid threat in “Armageddon.” In 2022, NASA did the real thing, crashing a spacecraft into asteroid Dimorphos to prove that we don’t have to end up like the dinosaurs.

On March 6, scientists from Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, and ...Read more

Why hurricane season could bring fewer but stronger storms. See predictions

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MIAMI — Strong winds across the Atlantic could make it harder for storms to form, potentially pushing the 2026 hurricane season below average, according to AccuWeather’s newly released forecast.

The forecasting service predicts 11 to 16 named storms, including 4 to 7 hurricanes and 2 to 4 major hurricanes.

Last year, AccuWeather’s 2025 ...Read more

Decorated 'guevos haminados,' or slow-cooked eggs, are a common Passover food for Sephardic Jewish families. sbossert/iStock via Getty Images Plus

On Passover, some Sephardic Jews revisit not only the story of their ancestors, but also their Ladino language

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When Passover arrives each spring, Jewish families around the world gather at their tables to retell a story passed down for thousands of years. At ritual dinners known as Seders, they recount the Exodus, the biblical story of the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt – asking questions, singing songs and explaining the meaning ...Read more

Russian Baltic oil port on fire after major drone strike

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A drone attack set Russia’s Ust-Luga port on the Baltic Sea on fire as Ukraine carried out the most intense air strike on its foe in more than a year.

The blaze at the port was being contained, local governor Alexander Drozdenko said in a Telegram statement early Wednesday, without specifying which facility was affected. Ukraine’s General ...Read more

Gulf states weigh military options to counter Iran's attacks

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Iran’s biggest Gulf Arab neighbors are considering joining the U.S.-Israeli war against Tehran, and could be pushed to if Tehran attacks their critical infrastructure, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.

The Gulf’s most powerful states, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in particular, are losing patience ...Read more

AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

US awaits response to peace plan as Iran keeps up attacks

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Iran kept up missile and drone attacks on Israel and Arab Gulf states, even after the U.S. floated a plan to end a war that’s wreaked havoc across the Middle East and in global markets.

Saudi Arabia intercepted a drone in the east of the country, while a strike targeting Kuwait set ablaze a fuel tank at its main airport. Iranian media said ...Read more

Across cultures, languages and economic systems, feeling connected to the natural world is consistently linked to living a more hopeful, purposeful and resilient life.  nymphoenix/iStock via Getty Images Plus

A connection to nature fuels well-being worldwide, according to a study of 38,000 people

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When life feels overwhelming, many people instinctively turn to nature. A walk in a park. Sitting by the ocean. Watching a sunset. Is this just a pleasant feeling, or is there something deeper at work?

A multitude of studies have linked spending time in nature with different aspects of mental health and wellness. For example, ...Read more

Abortion pills have been shown to be safe and effective. MementoJpeg/Moment via Getty Images

Teens are driving the demand for online abortion pills via telehealth – new research

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Teens in the U.S. are obtaining medication abortion pills through telehealth, and young people age 18 to 24 are ordering medication abortion at much higher rates than older adults.

Those are the key findings of a new study that my colleagues and I published in the journal JAMA Health Forum.

We examined requests for medication ...Read more

Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump is forcing coal plants to stay open. It could cost customers billions

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In an unprecedented use of federal authority, President Donald Trump’s administration has invoked emergency powers to force a series of retiring coal plants to stay open.

Utilities, states and grid operators have said the aging plants are expensive, in bad repair and no longer needed to meet regional energy needs. But Trump’s efforts to ...Read more

Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images North America/TNS

Lawmakers seek to protect crisis pregnancy centers as abortion clinic numbers shrink

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Conservative lawmakers in multiple states are pushing legislation drafted by an anti-abortion advocacy group to increase protections for crisis pregnancy centers, organizations that provide some health-related services but also work to dissuade women from having abortions.

The legislation would prohibit state and local governments from ...Read more

Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Officials considered warning Altadena before Eaton fire, but no alert was sent

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LOS ANGELES — Almost two hours before the Eaton fire broke out in the San Gabriel foothills Jan. 7, 2025, Los Angeles County emergency management officials had been pushed to send out an emergency alert to warn residents that increasingly high winds would pose a significant risk.

But no such alert was sent.

The residents of west Altadena did...Read more

Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman/TNS

Idaho doctor who treats high-risk pregnancies is suing state over its abortion laws

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BOISE, Idaho — A court case challenging Idaho’s abortion bans under the U.S. Constitution will go to trial in June, where a Boise maternal-fetal medicine specialist hopes to win a carve-out in the state’s restrictive laws for abortion when the health of the mother is at risk.

Dr. Stacy Seyb filed the lawsuit against the members of the ...Read more

Charles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald/TNS

Democrats flip Florida district representing Trump's Mar-a-Lago

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A Democrat is poised to represent President Donald Trump and his Mar-a-Lago residence in the Florida state House of Representatives after Republicans lost a special election in a surprise upset.

The Democratic candidate, Emily Gregory, was projected to defeat her Republican opponent, Jon Maples, in a special election Tuesday, according to ...Read more

Alejandro A Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

'I don't like it': Some Council members are skeptical of Mayor Cherelle Parker's $1 rideshare tax proposal

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City Councilmember Jimmy Harrity said he is worried Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s proposed $1-per-ride tax on rideshare services will hurt residents who rely on Uber and Lyft to get to work.

Council President Kenyatta Johnson questioned why the $1 tax, which will aid the Philadelphia School District, was not included in Parker’s initial budget...Read more

Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Danish premier's party wins vote as tough government talks await

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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s party won a closely contested election by pledging stability in global turmoil, setting the stage for difficult coalition talks to secure a third term in power.

The premier’s Social Democrats emerged as the biggest with 21.9% of the Tuesday parliamentary vote overshadowed by Donald Trump’s threats...Read more

Brian Peterson/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Minnesota moose population remains stable, according to latest DNR survey

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Minnesota’s beleaguered moose population is continuing to hold its own, state wildlife biologists say in their latest update.

The most recent population estimate is 4,470, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said this week after completing its 2026 winter census.

The population sharply declined from some 8,000 animals in 2009, ...Read more