TOMALI, Malawi — A pinch in the leg, a squeal and a trickle of tears. One baby after another in Malawi is getting the first and only vaccine against malaria, one of history's deadliest and most stubborn of diseases. The southern African nation is rolling out the shots in an unusual pilot...
Uber, Postmates Sue to Challenge California's New Labor Law
SACRAMENTO — Ride-share company Uber and on-demand meal delivery service Postmates sued Monday to block a broad new California law aimed at giving wage and benefit protections to people who work as independent contractors. The lawsuit filed in U.S. court in Los Angeles argues that the law set to take...
Push to Accelerate Mustang Captures Draws Fire in Congress
RENO, Nev. — Two House committee chairmen are trying to put the brakes on money for a new Trump administration proposal to accelerate the capture of 130,000 wild horses across the West over the next 10 years. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nevada, whose high-desert state is home to about half the...
California Must Stop Relying on the Endangered Species Act to Manage the Environment
In California, state and federal endangered species acts play an important and often outsized role in regulating water and land management. These powerful laws are also often at the center of conflicts between environmental and economic uses of water. The state and federal acts have helped prevent the extinction of...
Conservationists Seek Protection of California Joshua Trees
LOS ANGELES — A conservation organization has petitioned for protection of the western Joshua tree under the California Endangered Species Act due to the effects of climate change and habitat destruction. The Center for Biological Diversity filed the petition with the state Fish and Game Commission on Tuesday. The request...
Health Officials: It's Time to Give Flu Vaccine Another Shot
WASHINGTON — The flu forecast is cloudy and it's too soon to know if the U.S. is in for a third miserable season in a row, but health officials said Thursday not to delay vaccination. While the vaccine didn't offer much protection the past two years, specialists have fine-tuned the...
Yosemite Sets New Wildlife Protection Zones for Motorists
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK — Visitors driving through Yosemite National Park during the Labor Day weekend will see new signs designating wildlife protection zones and advising that speed limits will be strictly enforced. The National Park Service says 11 bears have been hit by vehicles this year and more than 400...
Administration Ends Protection for Migrant Medical Care
BOSTON — The Trump administration has eliminated a protection that lets immigrants remain in the country and avoid deportation while they or their relatives receive life-saving medical treatments or endure other hardships, immigration officials said in letters issued to families this month. Critics denounced the decision as a cruel change...
US Beefing up Forces in Middle East to Counter Iran
WASHINGTON — The U.S. will send hundreds of additional troops and a dozen fighter jets to the Middle East in the coming weeks to counter what the Pentagon said is an escalating campaign by Iran to plan attacks against the U.S. and its interests in the region. And for the...
Some Horse Advocates Buck at New Plan to Save Wild Mustangs
RENO, Nev. — Animal welfare groups have reached a milestone agreement with ranching interests they say would save wild mustangs from slaughter but the compromise has opened a nasty split among horse protection advocates. The Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty...