Bill Gates addressed his connection to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and “took responsibility for his actions” during a town hall meeting of his nonprofit Gates Foundation on Tuesday, the nonprofit said. “Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail,” a Gates Foundation spokesperson said in a statement. Gates appears multiple times in the Justice […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” some Medicaid funding to the state of Minnesota over fraud concerns, as part of what he described as an aggressive crackdown on misuse of public funds. Medicaid is the U.S. health care safety net for low-income Americans. As of […]
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on four commanders of Sudan’s warring paramilitary force suspected of atrocities against civilians that U.N. experts said showed “hallmarks of genocide.” The four commanders in the Rapid Support Forces, which have been at war with the Sudanese military since 2023, were added to the blacklist […]
ATLANTA (AP) — Federal energy officials on Wednesday announced a record $27 billion loan to electric utilities in Georgia and Alabama, saying the loan will save customers money as the companies undertake a huge expansion driven by demand from computer data centers. A total of $22.4 billion will go to Georgia Power and $4.1 billion […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein has hired Luigi Mangione and Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers to represent him at his third New York rape trial, reshaping his legal team after declining to end the matter with a guilty plea. The lawyers, Jacob Kaplan, Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos, confirmed the move in court papers Tuesday. […]
A Rhode Island college football player died from carbon monoxide poisoning after he tried to charge his phone in his car during a massive snow storm in a power outage. The storm knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people across the Northeast. First responders found 21-year-old Salve Regina University student Joseph Boutros unresponsive […]
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota judge has said he will order Greenpeace to pay damages expected to total $345 million in connection with protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline from nearly a decade ago, a figure the environmental group contends it cannot pay. In court papers filed Tuesday, Judge James Gion said […]
Crews in South Florida were trying to contain a wildfire in Big Cypress National Preserve that had burned more than 25,000 acres (100 square kilometers) near the immigration detention facility known as “ Alligator Alcatraz ” as of Wednesday. The fire caused periodic lane closures due to smoke and poor visibility on the stretch of […]
PRESCOTT VALLEY (AP) — “Let’s win not clash” said a sign posted outside a meeting of Arizona Republicans as candidates for governor tried to win over the party’s most ardent supporters inside. The message channeled frustration from a decade of ideological infighting and eroding power in a state where Democrats have been gaining ground. But […]
A massive post-blizzard snowball fight in New York that ended in police officers being pelted is creating a frosty dispute between Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his own police department. Mamdani has downplayed the fracas in Washington Square Park as kids simply having some fun. The New York Police Department and its leader, Jessica Tisch, are […]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge in Texas has ruled that ExxonMobil can bring a defamation lawsuit against California’s attorney general over comments about the company’s plastic recycling efforts. U.S. District Judge Michael J. Truncale in the Eastern District of Texas said in a ruling earlier this month that California Attorney General Rob Bonta […]
NEW YORK (AP) — The World Trade Center’s final office tower will start construction as soon as this spring and become American Express ‘ new headquarters, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the company said Wednesday, marking a milestone nearly 25 years after the Sept. 11 attacks destroyed the site. The 2 World Trade Center building will […]
DETROIT (AP) — China’s government intervened and helped get charges dropped against three Chinese scientists at the University of Michigan who were accused of helping a colleague smuggle biological materials into the U.S., defense lawyers said. The materials turned out to be mostly tiny, transparent worms — nothing dangerous — though U.S. officials last year […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead a new Justice Department division dedicated to rooting out fraud said Wednesday he would pursue prosecutions “without fear or favor” as questions grow about how the new unit will operate free of political influence from a White House that has declared a “war on fraud.” The […]
A West Virginia woman was sentenced to up to life in prison Wednesday in the death of her teenage daughter whose emaciated body was found at their home in a case that prompted scrutiny of the state’s overwhelmed child welfare system. Julie Miller will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years in the April […]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Samsung on Wednesday unveiled its latest Galaxy smartphones, which boast an even bigger toolbox of artificial intelligence technology than the previous two generations and introduce a new privacy shield mode that blocks snoopy bystanders from sneaking a peek at the display screen. The upgrades on the Galaxy S26 lineup — arriving […]
BOSTON (AP) — Firefighters in Massachusetts were investigating an explosion Wednesday that left a house engulfed in flames and at least two people injured, authorities said. Emergency workers responded to the fire at the three-family home about 9:50 a.m., fire officials said. Two injured residents, a 25-year-old mother with severe burns and a 2-year-old child […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump sought in his first State of the Union address to sell Americans on the idea of a booming economy, falling prices, and soaring jobs, yet he faces a skeptical public with a much gloomier view. Barely 12 hours before his speech, in fact, The Conference Board, a business research […]
Candidates and political groups are pouring money into Texas’ hotly contested U.S. Senate race at a record pace, partly fueled by Democrat James Talarico’s fundraising and allies of Republican Sen. John Cornyn trying to save his long career. Heading into Tuesday’s primary elections, the cost of advertising and reserved advertising time had topped $110 million, […]
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Surveillance video captured the dramatic moment a sinkhole opened up on a busy intersection in south-central Omaha, Nebraska, swallowing up two vehicles. The incident happened Tuesday afternoon in a trendy section of the Midwest city, when a sport utility vehicle and a pickup truck waiting at a traffic light dropped into […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The FBI is serving search warrants at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s headquarters and the superintendent’s home. Federal officials in Los Angeles were serving the search warrants Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss […]
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers will resign from teaching at Harvard University amid a campus review of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the university announced Wednesday. Summers, who has been on leave since November and whose name appeared hundreds of times in newly released Epstein files, will leave at the end of the school […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump promoted his immigration and border security record during his State of the Union address, highlighting how the number of migrants arriving at the southern border plummeted since he returned to office in January 2025. But he made scant mention of the fallout from enforcement operations in places such as […]
The Department of Homeland Security would be barred from using a full-body restraint device called the WRAP under a new bill introduced in the House on Wednesday. The “Full Body Restraint Prohibition Act,” sponsored by U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., would prohibit future purchases of the device and create oversight and reporting requirements. In announcing […]
