California Sets Nation’s First Wildfire Smoke Safety Rules for Homes That Survive the Flames
California is establishing the nation’s first standards for determining when homes contaminated by wildfire smoke are safe to occupy, addressing a major problem exposed by the devastating 2025 Los Angeles fires: thousands of houses survived the flames but remained contaminated by hazardous smoke, ash and toxic materials. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two complementary measures, Assembly […]
American Consumers Defy Inflation Fears as Retail Spending Powers a Stronger Economy
American consumers delivered another sign that the U.S. economy remains remarkably resilient, with retail spending surging in August despite persistent inflation, elevated interest rates and renewed pressure from higher energy prices. Retail and food-service sales increased 1.2% in August, the strongest monthly advance since March and significantly above economists’ expectations. Total sales reached approximately $773.9 […]
Record El Niño Keeps Atlantic Hurricanes at Bay Despite Exceptionally Warm Oceans
The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season has produced one of the most unusual weather contradictions in recent history: ocean waters remain unusually warm—normally an important ingredient for powerful hurricanes—yet the Atlantic has reached the heart of hurricane season without producing a single hurricane. The primary explanation is an exceptionally strong El Niño developing in the tropical […]
Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Latest Effort to Put His Name on the Kennedy Center
A federal judge has again blocked an effort to place President Donald Trump’s name on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, ruling that the institution’s board cannot alter the presidential memorial without authorization from Congress. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled on September 15 that the Kennedy Center could not add an […]
Driscoll’s Helped Create China’s Blueberry Boom—Then Local Rivals Turned Its Success Against It
About 15 years ago, California-based Driscoll’s entered China with an ambitious plan: transform blueberries from a relatively unfamiliar fruit into a mass-market favorite. The company succeeded spectacularly—but that success also helped create a powerful Chinese industry that would eventually become one of its fiercest competitors. Driscoll’s focused its expansion on Yunnan province, where sunny days […]
Anthropic’s Latest Threat Report Reveals How AI Is Being Tested for Bioweapons, Cyberattacks and Espionage
Anthropic says it has disrupted a series of attempts to use its Claude artificial-intelligence models for potentially dangerous activities, including biological research that could contribute to weapons development, sophisticated cyberattacks, surveillance and political influence operations. The findings provide one of the clearest real-world examples yet of a concern AI researchers have warned about for years: […]
Georgia’s Voting System Faces New Scrutiny as AI Makes Secret Ballots Easier to Trace
Georgia is facing renewed concerns about the privacy of its elections after security researchers demonstrated that a known weakness in the state’s voting technology could potentially allow individual voters to be matched with their ballots—with artificial intelligence making the process substantially easier. The vulnerability does not allow anyone to change votes and does not call […]
Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration’s Plan to Cut FEMA Workforce in Half
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration acted unlawfully in developing a plan to cut the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s workforce by roughly half, delivering a significant victory to federal employee unions challenging efforts to dramatically reshape the government’s disaster-response system. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California concluded […]
Ancient Mastodon Tooth Discovered in California Creek Offers a Remarkable Window Into the Ice Age
A routine habitat restoration project in California has produced an extraordinary glimpse into North America’s prehistoric past after a scientist discovered an exceptionally well-preserved fossilized tooth belonging to a Pacific mastodon. The discovery was made by geomorphologist Brigid Lynch while she was working along a wooded creek in a mountainous section of the San Francisco […]
America’s Empty Offices Are Becoming Homes as Developers Turn a Post-Pandemic Problem Into Opportunity
The post-pandemic collapse in demand for traditional office space is creating an unexpected opportunity in some of America’s largest cities: turning underused commercial buildings into places where people actually live. Remote and hybrid work fundamentally altered the economics of downtown office districts. Millions of employees who once commuted five days a week now spend significantly […]
