The Trump administration took another step Tuesday to weaken protections for Americans with medical debt, issuing new guidance that threatens ongoing state efforts to keep that debt off consumers’ credit reports.

More than a dozen states, including Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, New York and most of New England...Read more

DENVER — Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser sued the Trump administration Wednesday to challenge the president’s decision last month to move U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama.

At the top of his list of reasons for taking the legal action, Weiser said during an online news conference, was President Donald ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said this week that the state’s General Assembly will not move forward with efforts to redraw congressional maps before the 2030 U.S. Census, citing steep legal and political risks tied to a mid-decade redistricting.

In a letter to his fellow Democratic lawmakers Tuesday, Ferguson said the...Read more

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he wants to “pull the plug” on H-1B visas at state universities, arguing the program meant to recruit top talent wrongly takes jobs away from Floridians.

Almost 400 employees from foreign countries currently work at Florida public universities under that visa program, according to data from U.S. Citizenship ...Read more

Hurricane Melissa pulled away from Cuba on Wednesday morning, leaving a trail of devastation that stretched through Cuba’s second most populous region and Jamaica, where it was the strongest storm to ever strike the island nation. Next in its sights is the Bahamas.

In Jamaica, Prime Minister Andrew Holness issued a disaster declaration not ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is pledging that the United States will help the island nations of the Caribbean on a “humanitarian basis” as Hurricane Melissa continues to ravage the area.

“We’re watching it closely, and we’re prepared to move,” the president told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to South Korea. “...Read more

Halloween is shaping up to be a test for the chocolate industry, as high cocoa costs threaten to accelerate a consumer shift toward cheaper and trendier sweets such as sour gummies.

For candy makers, Halloween remains crucial — the holiday made up nearly 18% of annual U.S. candy sales last year, second only to Christmas. But chocolate makers ...Read more

Hurricane Melissa barreled over eastern Cuba on Wednesday morning as a powerful Category 3 storm, bringing torrential rainfall and heavy flooding to the island’s eastern provinces after making landfall near Santiago de Cuba, the second-largest city.

The hurricane’s center struck near the coastal town of Chivirico in the municipality of Guam...Read more

BALTIMORE — Leaders in Baltimore City and Baltimore County are proposing a review of artificial intelligence security systems under contract after officers recently pulled their weapons on a teenage student whose bag of Doritos was mistaken for a firearm.

In the last two years, school systems in both jurisdictions have signed multimillion-...Read more

NEW YORK — A fashion photographer died after being “doored” by a Nissan Maxima as he rode an e-bike in Queens, police said Wednesday.

Jose Luis Mora died Oct. 11, nearly three weeks after the crash in South Richmond Hill, cops said.

Mora, 56, was riding west on 103rd Avenue when a 30-year-old man behind the wheel of a 2011 Nissan Maxima ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rows of shelves inside a warehouse at Harvesters’ Kansas City headquarters are nearly bare, no longer full of canned vegetables, soup and rice or protein drinks for seniors.

They’re refilled each day as best as they can be. But in recent days, as the nation suffers through the fourth week of a government shutdown, it’...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A new report from the city controller's office questions the effectiveness of the LAPD's signature crisis response program, saying clinicians trained in de-escalation too often are forced to defer to armed patrol officers.

For years, Los Angeles Police Department officials have touted the success of the Systemwide Mental ...Read more

NEW YORK — In the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel, Mayor Eric Adams privately compared pro-Palestine protests to Ku Klux Klan rallies, claims a new lawsuit accusing him and other members of his administration of discriminating against Muslim employees.

The suit was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court late Tuesday night by ...Read more

Industries and individuals around the world burned record amounts of oil, gas and coal last year, releasing more greenhouse gases than ever before, a group of leading scientists said in a new report, warning that humanity is hurtling toward “climate chaos.”

The surge in global use of fossil fuels in 2024 contributed to extreme weather and ...Read more

Israel said it’s re-enforcing a ceasefire in Gaza, after conducting a series of air strikes overnight that threatened to upend a U.S.-brokered deal less than a month after it was put in place.

The Tuesday offensive — which followed Israeli accusations of a Hamas attack on its soldiers — was the most serious flare up in hostilities since ...Read more

President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung finalized a trade deal Wednesday, capping months of negotiation over implementation of a framework agreement struck in July.

The deal will see Seoul make $150 billion in shipbuilding investments, with an additional $200 billion earmarked for an investment pledge designed to look ...Read more

After ravaging Jamaica most of Tuesday, Hurricane Melissa made its second landfall around 3 a.m. in Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane.

The National Hurricane Center said Melissa came ashore in Santiago de Cuba with 120 mph winds, marking the strongest storm to make landfall in Cuba since Hurricane Irma in 2017. It’s expected to bring up to 20 ...Read more