The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a new clash involving religion and the rights of LGBTQ people in the case of a Colorado web designer who says her religious beliefs prevent her from offering wedding website designs to gay couples. The high court said Tuesday it would hear...
California Bee Thefts Prompt Keepers to Deploy Trackers to Protect Hives
For a few frenzied weeks, beekeepers from around the United States truck billions of honeybees to California to rent them to almond growers who need the insects to pollinate the state's most valuable crop. But as almond trees start to bloom, blanketing entire valleys in white and pink flowers,...
Russia Pushes Into Ukraine, West Hits Back With Sanctions
President Joe Biden ordered heavy U.S. financial sanctions against Russian banks and oligarchs on Tuesday, stepping up the West's confrontation with Moscow, even as Russian lawmakers authorized President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside their country. Biden, in a brief address from the White House, accused Putin of...
RIP, Dr. Paul Farmer, 62. He Healed the Poor Around the World.
BOSTON — Dr. Paul Farmer, a U.S. physician, humanitarian, and author renowned for providing healthcare to millions of impoverished people worldwide and who co-founded the global nonprofit Partners in Health, has died. He was 62. The Boston-based organization confirmed Farmer’s death on Monday, calling it “devastating” and noting he...
Rents Go ‘Insane’ Across US With No End in Sight
Krystal Guerra’s Miami apartment has a tiny kitchen, cracked tiles, warped cabinets, no dishwasher, and hardly any storage space. But Guerra was fine with the apartment’s shortcomings. It was all part of being a 32-year-old graduate student in South Florida, she reasoned, and she was happy to live there for...
Bill Would Let Citizens Sue to Enforce CA Weapons Ban
DEL MAR — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed letting private citizens in his state sue gun makers to stop them from selling assault weapons just as Texas lets its residents sue abortion providers to stop the procedures, then essentially dared the U.S. Supreme Court to treat both issues...
Home Prices Rise 15% as Buyers Rush to Beat Expected Rate Hikes
Sales of previously occupied homes rose in January as a surge in buyers with cash and others eager to avoid higher mortgage rates snapped up properties, leaving the number of available houses on the market at a record low. Existing home sales rose 6.7% last month from December to...
In GOP Embrace of Protesting Truckers Clogging Streets, Some See Racist Double Standard
Former President Donald Trump, who repeatedly called Black Lives Matter protesters “thugs” and “anarchists,” said there's “a lot of respect” for the overwhelmingly white truckers who blocked streets in the Canadian capital and shut down border crossings with the U.S. to oppose COVID-19 restrictions. To Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, the truckers...
Newsom Announces California Shift to ‘Endemic’ Virus Policy
California became the first state to formally shift to an “endemic” approach to the coronavirus with Gov. Gavin Newsom's announcement Thursday of a plan that emphasizes prevention and quick reaction to outbreaks over mandated masking and business shutdowns. The milestone, nearly two years in the making, envisions a return...
Charges: Current, Former California Officers Faked Overtime
Dozens of current and former Highway Patrol officers have been charged with racking up more than $226,000 in phony hours in an overtime fraud scheme, California’s attorney general said. The charges announced Thursday stem from a criminal investigation of officers in the East Los Angeles station. More Than 50...