Login | January 07, 2026
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AI agents arrived in 2025 – here's what happened and the challenges ahead in 2026
(THE CONVERSATION) In artificial intelligence, 2025 marked a decisive shift. Systems once confined to research labs and prototypes began to appear as everyday tools. At the center of this transition was the rise of AI agents – AI systems that can use other software tools and act on their own.
While researchers have studied ... (full story)
Montana judge allows 2025-26 wolf hunting and trapping regulations to stand while lawsuit proceeds
A Helena judge has allowed the wolf hunting and trapping regulations the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted earlier this year to stand, despite flagging "serious concerns" about the state's ability to accurately estimate Montana's wolf population.
In a 43-page opinion, District Court Judge Christopher Abbott ... (full story)
Aetna to cover IVF treatments for same-sex couples in national settlement
Like many young girls, Mara Berton and June Higginbotham both knew from an early age they wanted families and to become mothers. But as lesbians, they were excluded from accessing the same fertility treatment insurance benefits offered to heterosexual peers.
Instead, like many other same-sex couples, Berton and Higginbotham, who ... (full story)
California diversion program allows some to keep vehicular manslaughter charge off driving record
In California, you can kill someone with your car and not even have a point on your license.
That's because of a criminal justice reform law passed in 2020, allowing judges to effectively erase a misdemeanor case from existence. It shields people accused of "low-level" crimes from the stigma of having a conviction on t ... (full story)
Court finds judge’s misstatements did not invalidate guilty plea
A trial judge’s misstatement about Ohio’s self-defense law and pretrial ruling to not give a self-defense jury instruction did not invalidate a Hamilton County man's guilty plea, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court affirmed Demarco Gowdy’s conviction for aggravated assaul ... (full story)