Jane Goodall, the trailblazing naturalist whose intimate observations of chimpanzees in the African wild produced powerful insights that transformed basic conceptions of humankind, has died. She was 91.

A tireless advocate of preserving chimpanzees’ natural habitat, Goodall died Wednesday morning in California of natural causes, the Jane ...Read more

Yosemite and other national parks will remain partially open with skeleton crews during the government shutdown, according to a National Park Service contingency plan, a move the National Parks Conservation Association says could cause irreparable damage to the parks.

Open air sites will remain open to the public, but buildings such as visitor ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Six Black and Hispanic workers on the Kansas City Streetcar extension project have filed a lawsuit against their employers, alleging they faced racial slurs and threatening behavior on job sites, including incidents in which other workers allegedly made menacing comments about nooses and referred to Black people as “...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Californians were mailed inaccurate voter guides about the November special election asking them whether to redraw congressional district boundaries, according to the secretary of state’s office. The state agency announced that it would mail postcards correcting the information to voters, which is likely to cost millions of ...Read more

NEW YORK — A New Jersey man was sentenced to four years in federal prison for creating and distributing videos showing monkeys being tortured and abused, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Giancarlo Morelli, of Wharton, pleaded guilty earlier this year in a Cincinnati federal court to participating in online groups dedicated to producing and sharing ...Read more

CHICAGO — Education in Illinois shows promising areas of growth — including improved kindergarten readiness and increased graduation rates — but remains hampered by stagnant reading and math literacy, as well as rising higher education costs, according to a new report.

Other problems plague the state as well, including chronic absenteeism...Read more

ATLANTA — The State Ethics Commission expanded an investigation of political contributions that stemmed from the collapse of First Liberty Building & Loan, casting a fresh spotlight on an ultraconservative organization with close ties to the founder’s son.

In July, the commission charged the Georgia Republican Assembly PAC with 61 ...Read more

Louisiana has issued an arrest warrant for a California doctor for allegedly mailing abortion pills to a Louisiana woman — the latest legal volley in an ongoing fight between states with abortion bans and those that have enacted protections for abortion providers who use telemedicine to send abortion medication over state lines.

The existence...Read more

NEW YORK — The Trump administration opened a new front in what appears to be a financial assault on New York City with an announcement Wednesday it is axing $18 billion tied to two crucial infrastructure projects.

“Roughly $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing based on ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan lawmakers approved a bill early Wednesday morning to fund state government's operations for one additional week, after their push to pass a new annual budget temporarily faltered inside the state Capitol.

The one-week measure that lawmakers signed off on at about 2 a.m. amounted to $1.5 billion in spending, will keep...Read more

NEW YORK — A massive gas explosion tore the corner off a 20-story Bronx NYCHA apartment building, sending debris raining down to the street below, officials said.

The explosion occurred at about 8:15 a.m. on Alexander Ave. near E. 138th St., which is part of NYCHA’s Mitchel Houses in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx.

The blast destroyed...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday asked the Department of Insurance to make recommendations about California’s troubled home insurance market as part of a larger effort to better understand how the state can mitigate damage from natural disasters.

That request came in an executive order, which the Governor’s Office said ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday put off a decision on whether President Donald Trump can fire Federal Reserve Govenor Lisa Cook and said it would hear arguments on the case in January.

The court's action allows Cook to remain in her position, and it prevents Trump from taking majority control of the historically independent ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The sound of bells drifting across the Inner Harbor is a welcome sound to state transportation officials and lawmakers who have championed a new Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Since Saturday, crews have been driving 12 test piles — massive steel posts hammered deep into the riverbed to support the new bridge — into the Patapsco ...Read more

Threats of a federal government shutdown have gone from being an October surprise to a recurring theme. This time around, though, the stakes are higher.

Federal funding ran out at midnight on Oct. 1, after Congress failed to pass even a stopgap budget while negotiations continued.

Now the question is how long the deadlock will last, with ...Read more

DETROIT — Some Michigan parents and students are finding out on Wednesday that there is no longer such a thing as a free lunch, as the state began a new fiscal year without a K-12 budget.

Michigan's leaders missed their midnight deadline Tuesday to approve a new state budget, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said state government operations would ...Read more

Arab and Muslim national leaders are pushing Hamas to accept the Gaza plan unveiled by U.S. President Donald Trump this week, saying the need to end the fighting surpasses concern about the finer details.

While some aspects of the 20-point proposal differ from what Trump agreed with those leaders at a recent meeting in New York, they are united...Read more