Smoking is really bad for you. Most people know that. Even smokers think smoking is bad for one’s health. But most people don’t know just how bad it is.

More people in the United States die every year from smoking than from alcohol, illegal drug use, car accidents, suicides and murders combined. Cigarette smoking costs an ...Read more

As the risk of measles remains an ongoing concern, herd immunity in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, is already slipping. According to data obtained via The Washington Post in January 2026, 1 in 3 Allegheny County kindergartners were in a classroom too far below adequate vaccination coverage to stop a measles outbreak during the 2023-24 school...Read more

An increasing number of U.S. states have passed laws that allow health care providers – including doctors, nurses and pharmacists – to refuse to treat patients based on their personal or religious beliefs. While these conscientious objection laws have long existed for issues such as abortion, their effects on LGBTQ+ people have not been ...Read more

For much of his political career, dishonesty has been without cost for Donald Trump. He entered into national politics with the birther lie, claiming that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S., and that did not prevent Trump from winning the 2016 GOP nomination.

His persistent false statements about crowd sizes, electoral outcomes and...Read more

President Donald Trump on April 7, 2026, announced a ceasefire between the United States and Iran, after more than a month of war marked by U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iranian military leadership, Iranian retaliation against regional oil infrastructure and a global energy crisis.

As a former U.S. diplomat, I have found there are ...Read more

As Blue Origin prepares for the next launch of its New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral, the company appears to have experienced unexpected damage at its rocket manufacturing facility in Merritt Island, Florida.

Photos posted to social media show a damaged roof to what is know as the 2CAT facility, a vertical building used for tank cleaning and...Read more

Ukraine’s top negotiator with Russia said he sees progress toward a potential peace deal with the Kremlin, adding that a resolution to the war may not take long to achieve.

While negotiations to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II have publicly yielded few results, Kyrylo Budanov expressed optimism that the talks are evolving...Read more

MIAMI — Being raised in South Florida, Barron Trump knows about scorching hot summers.

And now President Donald Trump’s youngest son, 20, has started a beverage line to help folks quench their thirst in the warmest season.

Called Sollos, a play on the word “sol” for Spanish, it’s a yerba mate —a naturally caffeinated herbal tea ...Read more

The U.S. and Iran prepared for direct talks in Pakistan with the Strait of Hormuz still effectively shut and Israel and Hezbollah exchanging fire, complicating efforts to turn a fragile truce into lasting peace.

The two-week ceasefire announced by President Donald Trump and Tehran was broadly holding across the Middle East on Friday. The ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky’s one-time spending bill looks drastically different now, as it waits on the governor’s desk, than when it was first filed in March.

It started as a one-page bill to allocate around $800 million for various projects across the commonwealth , though it was short on details of where the money would go.

About a ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The disciplinary files of Los Angeles police officers are closely guarded secrets, protected by some of the nation’s strictest confidentiality laws.

But now, many of those secret files have been splashed across the internet, along with tens of thousands of other sensitive records from the L.A. city attorney’s office.

The ...Read more

A Kansas bill encouraging local coordination with federal immigration authorities and empowering police to arrest anyone who distracts officers by getting too close for comfort will become law over the objection of Gov. Laura Kelly.

The House overrode the veto 85-38 on Thursday afternoon, and the Senate followed suit several hours later by a ...Read more

Four days after astronauts flew around the moon for the first time in a half-century, ground crews across Southern California are making final preparations for their high-energy reentry and splashdown off the coast of San Diego, expected around 5 p.m. Pacific time Friday.

Southern Californians likely won't be able to see reentry or splashdown ...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump demanded Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz while Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire, complicating upcoming talks aimed at turning a fragile ceasefire into lasting peace.

The truce announced on Tuesday remains shaky, with Kuwait reporting large-scale drone attacks on “vital” facilities overnight and accusing Iran ...Read more

Ukraine’s top negotiator with Russia said he sees progress toward a potential peace deal with the Kremlin, adding that a resolution to the war may not take long to achieve.

While negotiations to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II have publicly yielded few results, Kyrylo Budanov expressed optimism that the talks are evolving...Read more

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban addressed the nation two days before pivotal elections, telling voters that he was the safe bet and that ousting him after 16 years in office, as independent polls suggest may happen, would imperil the nation.

“We are now facing the danger of losing everything we have built together,” Orban said on ...Read more

Roads blocked by shipping containers, armed soldiers out on patrol, and luxury hotels quietly asking guests to vacate: the leafy Pakistani capital Islamabad has transformed into a security fortress as officials prepare for high-stakes peace talks between the U.S. and Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump is dispatching Vice President JD Vance, ...Read more

Records were set. History was made. Now all that’s left is to get the four Artemis II astronauts home safe.

NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen are in the final run of a 600,000-mile trip that began on April 1 when they launched from Kennedy Space Center on the first...Read more

U.S. companies eyeing Venezuela’s vast mineral wealth may find themselves entering one of the world’s most opaque and dangerous supply chains — a gold economy dominated by armed groups, criminal syndicates and corrupt military-run networks that experts say could expose foreign firms to money laundering, human-rights abuses and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Along the shores of the shrinking Salton Sea, desert winds regularly kick up dust and send it drifting through nearby neighborhoods. New research indicates that living there may affect kids' lungs.

Scientists from the University of Southern California tested the lung capacity of 369 children between the ages of 10 and 12 for ...Read more