Sandhya Somashekhar
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Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump contraception rule
A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked a Trump administration rule that allows virtually any business to cite religious or moral objections and opt out of a federal requirement that...

States prepare to shut down children’s health programs if Congress doesn’t act
Officials in nearly a dozen states are preparing to notify families that a crucial health insurance program for low-income children is running out of money for the first time since...

FBI’s gun background-check system lacking records of millions of cases
The FBI's background-check system is missing millions of records of criminal convictions, mental illness diagnoses and other flags that would keep guns out of potentially dangerous hands, a gap that...

Death toll in California wildfires reaches historically grim heights
The horrific scale of death and destruction is coming into focus, even as wildfires continue to rage throughout Northern California.

Gunman was a high-stakes gambler who “kept to himself” before massacre
Before he opened fire late Sunday, killing at least 58 people at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, gunman Stephen Paddock was living out his retirement as...

Puerto Rico entirely without power as Hurricane Maria hammers island
Hurricane Maria delivered a destructive full-body blow to this U.S. territory on Wednesday, ripping off metal roofs, generating terrifying and potentially lethal flash floods, knocking out 100 percent of the...

Harvey takes aim at Louisiana as Trump plans to survey stricken Texas
The remnants of deadly Hurricane Harvey spilled toward Louisiana on Tuesday with more potentially disastrous flooding and emergency evacuations as President Donald Trump planned to survey the ongoing devastation in...

Texas officials say at least nine dead as Hurricane Harvey flooding continues
In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Houston and an ever-expanding swath of cities and towns in the region remained under siege Monday by torrential rain and surging floodwaters that showed...

At least one dead, buildings destroyed as Harvey drenches central Texas coast
Hurricane Harvey flattened buildings in the small city of Rockport and slowed to a crawl Saturday, gradually losing hurricane status but remaining strong and potentially deadly as it inundates communities...

Gang member who killed transgender woman he was dating is first to be sentenced under federal hate crime law
A Mississippi gang member was sentenced Monday to 49 years in prison in the first federal hate-crime prosecution against the killer of a transgender person.