A rash of shootings as the U.S. celebrated the Fourth of July is spiking fears in communities across the U.S. and highlighting the challenges police face at preventing such violence as temperatures warm and festivities move outside.

Scorching heat blamed for at least 13 deaths in Texas and another in Louisiana is blanketing more of the Southeast.

Scorching heat blamed for at least 13 deaths in Texas and another in Louisiana is blanketing more of the Southeast.

A man accused of murdering a beloved Alief ISD teacher in Sugar Land during a domestic violence incident was arrested in Louisiana Wednesday, according to the Sugar Land Police Department.

Days of freezing temperatures in Deep South areas that usually freeze for only hours are threatening dozens of water systems as burst pipes leak millions of gallons of water.

University of Houston Football makes its 30th bowl appearance all-time when the Cougars face off against the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl at 2 p.m., CT on Friday, Dec. 23, from Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Serious pregnancy complications are rare in the U.S., but they still affect thousands of women each year.

For weeks, access to abortion in Louisiana has been flickering — with the state’s three clinics relying on rulings and temporary restraining orders that allowed them to continue operations.

Abortion clinics in Louisiana can continue operating under the latest order from a state court.

The abortion bans taking effect after the nation’s highest court overturned Roe v. Wade vary greatly in how they define when a pregnancy can be ended.

Nearly two weeks after the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was overturned, an abortion clinic in Shreveport, Louisiana, is still providing abortions.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for the homicide of Shamia Little.

Federal data confirms that 2021 was the deadliest year in U.S. history.

Dylan Hopkins broke the Independence Bowl record for completion percentage in wind and driving rain, connecting on 19 of 23 passes for 189 yards and three touchdowns in UAB’s 31-28 victory over No. 12 BYU on Saturday.

The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 has topped 800,000.

The nation's most restrictive abortion law is driving many women from Texas to seek services as far away as Oklahoma and Kansas.

The summer that was supposed to mark America’s independence from COVID-19 is instead drawing to a close with the U.S. more firmly under the tyranny of the virus, with deaths per day back up to where they were in March.

The U.S. is projected to see nearly 100,000 more COVID-19 deaths between now and Dec. 1.

A hospital in northwestern Louisiana thought the COVID-19 pandemic was letting up.

A 2018 survey by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated $473 billion was needed over 20 years to maintain and improve water infrastructure. In Texas, more than 2 million remained under boil water notices Wednesday and 40 public water systems are “nonoperational,” affecting 25,000 people, state officials said. At the height of the problems last week, at least 7 million Texans were told to boil their water. Ad“The wealthy taxpayers left, so they left Jackson to suffer,” the retired public works department employee said. The persistent freezing temperatures exposed problems at pumping stations and other parts of the system, some of which dates to the 1930s.

The official inaugural poem will be read during Wednesday's ceremony by Amanda Gorman, the countrys first Youth Poet Laureate. The 17-year-old has won a contest organized by the Academy of American Poets for which students under 18 wrote their own inaugural poems in anticipation of Wednesday's swearing in of President-elect Joe Biden. Applicants for the Inaugural Poem Project were urged to submit work that reflects “on the country’s challenges, strengths, and hope for its future," according to the guidelines. Knight will receive $1,000, and her work — along with the poems of two runners-up — will be featured on Poets.org and in American Poets magazine. The official inaugural poem will be read during Wednesday's ceremony by Amanda Gorman, the country’s first Youth Poet Laureate.

– A Louisiana investment adviser was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for his part in a $3.5 million fraud in which customers invested money with a Texas megachurch minister who had counseled two presidents. Smith "persuaded multiple victims to invest approximately $3.5 million with his co-defendant, Kirbyjon H. Caldwell," the statement said. Caldwell, like Smith, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and agreed to a sentence of five to seven years. When Caldwell pleaded guilty, prosecutors said he used about $900,000 to maintain his lifestyle and pay down personal loans and mortgages. That earlier news release said Caldwell had made partial restitution to the victims and agreed to pay the remaining $1.95 million before sentencing.

(AP) – Four police officers in northwest Louisiana have been charged with negligent homicide and malfeasance in connection with the death last April of a 44-year-old Black man following a video-recorded altercation, a prosecutor's office announced Friday. The statement said there was evidence of excessive force used on McGlothen, and that officers failed to summon medical help for him. The district attorney's statement said officers used unnecessary physical force and violated department policy regarding use of Tasers. Friday's announcement of charges marks the second time in recent months that a group of Shreveport officers has faced indictment over use of force. In June, eight officers were charged with malfeasance for the use of force against two men following a traffic chase.