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Trump's national parks proposal: Cut $1 billion, transfer many sites to states

The new budget proposal from President Donald Trump would reduce the budget for the nation's national parks, monuments, historic sites, seashores and trails by nearly 25% and hand over many of those to the states.

The proposal suggests cutting more than $1.2 billion from the $4.8 billion park service budget. It quickly sparked outrage from leaders of organizations devoted to national parks and recreation lands, who had already voiced concern about the staff cuts ordered by the Department of Governmental Efficiency and other plans raised by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Coins are literal cash. Why do Americans treat them like trash?

Learn to love your coins.

That’s the message from Kevin McColly, CEO of Coinstar, the company behind those coin-cashing machines you see in supermarkets.

American consumers made only 16% of their payments in cash in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve. A 2022 Pew survey found that two-fifths of consumers never use cash at all.

President Trump has ordered the Treasury to stop minting pennies, because their production cost exceeds their value. (Intriguingly, the same is true of nickels.)

RFK Jr.'s MAHA movement is coming to a state near you

Texas is looking at bills to bring back exercise. West Virginia is taking soda out of food stamp programs and outlawing chemical dyes. Utah is removing fluoride from water. Arizona has banned ultra-processed food in public school cafeterias.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement, which focuses on ending what President Donald Trump's health secretary calls the “chronic disease epidemic,” is finding success in state capitals as lawmakers and governors take up or oppose health-related measures ranging from vaccine "advisories" to food safety.

H5N1 bird flu virus has experts fearing new pandemic amid spread to 50 states

Experts warn about the possibility of a new pandemic in 2025 as the H5N1 bird flu virus spreads across all 50 states, impacting US dairy farms and leading to human infections. Here's what to know.

While bird flu has been around for decades, the discovery in 2024 that the deadly pathogen spread from a wild bird to a cow came as a surprise to virus watchers, according to news officials. In just over a year, the virus has ravaged America's dairy herds, poultry flocks and other mammals — humans.

Vandals attempted to start fire in Town Park pavilion

BLOOMSBURG — Someone set fire to an item inside a park pavilion overnight Friday, damaging a bench and frustrating town laborers who had already spent part of the week cleaning up messes made by vandals.

Public Works Director John Fritz said the latest act of vandalism could have burned down a pavilion next to the lagoon that has been in the park for 45 years.

Chronic illness can be hard on marriage. Studies show it's worse when the wife is sick.

Jennifer Whitlock married her husband, Ronnie Whitlock, in rural Texas in 2021, weeks after he was diagnosed with stage 4 blood cancer.

They'd talked about getting married before he got sick, she said, but it came down to logistics: Her employer at the time wouldn’t grant Whitlock family leave unless they officially tied the knot.

“That was obviously never how I expected to get married," Whitlock said.

Gulf War vet Jeff Hutchinson executed for family's murder; veterans say combat broke him

Florida has executed Gulf War veteran Jeffrey Hutchinson for the shooting deaths of his girlfriend and her three children despite a letter from 129 veterans arguing that Hutchinson's mind was a casualty of war.

The 62-year-old former U.S. Army Ranger was convicted for the 1998 murder of 32-year-old Renee Flaherty, and her three children: 9-year-old Geoffrey, 7-year-old Amanda, and 4-year-old Logan.

Army soldier arrested in Colorado nightclub raid charged with distributing cocaine

A U.S. Army soldier who was present at an illegal nightclub in Colorado where over 100 people suspected of being in the country unlawfully were detained has been arrested on federal drug charges, authorities said.

Staff Sgt. Juan Gabriel Orona-Rodriguez was assigned to Fort Carson, an Army post south of the underground nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Denver said. FBI special agents arrested Orona-Rodriguez, 28, on April 30.

Senate rebuke on President Donald Trump's tariffs narrowly fails

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump narrowly avoided a rebuke from the U.S. Senate on his tariffs due to one Democratic senator's absence.

The resolution, defeated with a 49-49 tie on April 30, reflects discontent with Trump's 10% across-the-board tariffs and now-paused "retaliatory" tariffs that rattled Wall Street and contributed to a shrinking GDP as four Republicans joined with all present Democrats in supporting it.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., both missed the vote but had intended to vote for the resolution.

'Two dolls instead of 30': Trump acknowledges prices will force consumers to cut back

WASHINGTON – He wasn’t wearing a green suit and hat, but President Donald Trump sounded a Grinch-like warning, suggesting American children may have to settle for fewer toys at Christmas because of his tariffs on products from China.

Trump, who has argued that China will bear the brunt of his tariffs, acknowledged during a Cabinet meeting on April 30 that the duties may mean fewer – and more expensive – products available for American families.