A U.S. appeals court on Friday ruled that California's ban on openly carrying firearms in most parts of the state was unconstitutional. A panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided 2-1 with a gun owner in ruling that the state's prohibition against open carry in...
Jobs Data Could Jolt Stocks from Holiday Calm as 2026 Kicks Off
The first full trading week of the new year could shake the U.S. stock market out of its winter holiday slumber as the monthly jobs data headlines a busy start to 2026 for investors. Stocks slid in the final session of 2025, with the benchmark S&P 500 falling into a...
Fatal Earthquake Shakes Mexico’s Independence Monument, Roads, and Hospitals
MEXICO CITY — A powerful 6.5 magnitude earthquake shook southern Mexico on Friday, damaging roads and hospitals and briefly interrupting President Claudia Sheinbaum's first press conference of the new year. Local media reported that a 67-year-old man died while going down the stairs in Mexico City as he tried to...
A Study Is Retracted, Renewing Concerns About the Weedkiller Roundup
In 2000, a landmark study claimed to set the record straight on glyphosate, a contentious weedkiller used on hundreds of millions of acres of farmland. The paper found that the chemical, the active ingredient in Roundup, wasn’t a human health risk despite evidence of a cancer link. Last month, the...
Oil Prices Settle Lower After Biggest Annual Loss Since 2020
Oil prices settled lower on Friday on the first trading day of 2026 after registering their biggest annual loss since 2020, as investors weighed oversupply concerns against geopolitical risks, including the war in Ukraine and Venezuela exports. Brent crude futures closed down 10 cents to $60.75 a barrel, while U.S....
Transfer Portal: Who Is Staying or Leaving at Fresno State?
The college football transfer portal opened Friday, and several Fresno State Bulldogs say they are staying put. Among the top 2025 players announcing they will remain Bulldogs are tackle Brayden Walton and defensive lineman Deijon Laffitte. "From the Valley, for the Valley, and back to represent it again next year!"...
Stranger Things Left a Strange Taste
Now don’t get me wrong. I am so glad Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) didn’t die. I would have flipped a table, turned off Netflix, and pretended this show ended in Season 4 if they took him out for shock value alone. That said, I am also not entirely sure we...
Grok Says Safeguard Lapses Led to Images of ‘Minors in Minimal Clothing’ on X
Elon Musk's xAI artificial intelligence chatbot Grok said on Friday lapses in safeguards had resulted in "images depicting minors in minimal clothing" on social media platform X and that improvements were being made to prevent this. Screenshots shared by users on X showed Grok's public media tab filled with images...
US Supreme Court Declines to Hear Friant Water Rights Case
The U.S. Supreme Court officially declined to hear a case alleging the federal government illegally stiffed water contractors, including the city of Fresno, when it gave them zero water during the crushing 2014-2015 drought. The Bureau of Reclamation instead gave supplies from Millerton Lake during those years that would have...
New York Mayor Mamdani Vows to Enact Democratic Socialist Agenda
Democrat Zohran Mamdani became New York City's mayor on Thursday, vowing during a public swearing-in ceremony on the steps of City Hall to enact an aggressive agenda aimed at making the nation's largest city more affordable for working people. Mamdani, a member of his party's left-wing democratic socialist faction, was...