The California Supreme Court has unanimously ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return approximately 650,000 ballots that his department seized during an investigation into alleged voting irregularities, ruling that the operation violated state election law. The September 24 decision resolves a major legal confrontation over who has the authority...
U.S. Accelerates Shift Away From Animal Testing as AI and Human-Based Models Reshape Drug Research
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is accelerating a major transformation in biomedical research, launching new initiatives intended to reduce reliance on animal testing while expanding the use of human cells, organoids, organs-on-chips, artificial intelligence and computational models in drug development. The effort represents one of the federal...
U.S. Seeks $30 Billion Aviation Overhaul After Major Failures Expose Aging Air Traffic System
The Trump administration is preparing to ask Congress for another $30 billion to modernize the U.S. aviation system, dramatically expanding an effort to replace aging air-traffic-control technology after a series of failures disrupted thousands of flights and exposed vulnerabilities in critical national infrastructure. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the additional...
Los Angeles Needs Thousands of Apartments, but Developers Say Building Them No Longer Pays
Los Angeles is confronting a striking contradiction in its housing crisis: the city desperately needs more apartments, but many developers say constructing them has become financially unattractive. Despite persistent housing shortages and high rents, multifamily construction is slowing as developers confront elevated interest rates, falling apartment values, rising construction expenses,...
Potent Kratom Products Drive a New Wave of Addiction and Severe Withdrawal Across the U.S.
Addiction treatment centers across the United States are reporting a sharp increase in patients seeking help for dependence on kratom and, increasingly, highly concentrated products containing 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH. Kratom comes from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia and has been available in the United States for...
Pablo Ferrer Saez and Capital Street Are Bringing Institutional-Level Market Expertise to a Wider Audience
As artificial intelligence continues to reshape the financial sector, veteran market professional Pablo Ferrer Saez is betting that the future of investing will be defined by a combination of technology, experience and greater accessibility. Ferrer Saez, founder of Capital Street, has spent more than 20 years working in financial markets,...
California’s Insurance Crisis Spreads Beyond Wildfire Zones as Homeowners Run Out of Options
California’s property insurance crisis is expanding beyond the mountainous and heavily wooded communities traditionally considered most vulnerable to wildfires, leaving homeowners in relatively low-risk suburban neighborhoods struggling to obtain conventional coverage. An analysis of insurance data found that major insurers are increasingly declining to write policies across large portions of...
Telix Makes $2.35 Billion Bet on ITM to Build a Global Powerhouse in Cancer Radiopharmaceuticals
Telix Pharmaceuticals has agreed to merge with Germany’s ITM Isotope Technologies Munich in a transaction potentially worth $2.35 billion, a major expansion designed to strengthen Telix’s position in the rapidly growing market for radioactive medicines used to diagnose and treat cancer. The combination brings together two complementary businesses. Australia-based Telix...
Trump Transforms U.S. Refugee Office Into a $410 Million Global Deportation Network
The Trump administration has dramatically transformed a State Department bureau historically dedicated to refugees and humanitarian assistance into a central component of its immigration enforcement strategy, building a global network of agreements that allows the United States to deport migrants to countries where they have never lived. At the center...
Disney’s Discount Strategy Pays Off as Theme Parks Grow While Rivals Lose Visitors
Disney is bucking a broader slowdown in the U.S. theme-park industry, attracting more visitors to Walt Disney World and Disneyland by combining carefully targeted discounts, family promotions, seasonal events and new attractions. Attendance at Disney’s U.S. theme parks increased 3% from a year earlier in the most recent quarter, its...