NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A panel of three federal appellate judges has ruled that a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in each of the state’s public school classrooms is unconstitutional. The ruling on Friday marked a major win for civil liberties groups who say the mandate violates the separation of church […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — A close ally of fugitive Jalisco New Generation boss known as “El Mencho” for years orchestrated a prolific drug trafficking operation, using a semi-submersible and other methods to avoid detection, and provided weapons to one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels, prosecutors say. On Friday, José González Valencia, was sentenced in Washington’s federal […]
Layoff notices were sent Friday to 639 employees of Voice of America and the U.S. agency that oversees it, effectively shutting down the outlet that has provided news to countries around the world since World War II. They included employees at VOA’s Persian-language service who were suddenly called off administrative leave last week to broadcast […]
BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration’s efforts to keep Harvard University from hosting international students. The order from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs preserves the ability of Harvard to host foreign students while the case is decided. It marks another victory for the Ivy League […]
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Green Party will remain an official party in North Carolina, able to field candidates statewide through the 2028 elections, even though their 2024 nominees for governor and president failed to get the votes required by state law. The Republican-led State Board of Elections voted 3-2 on Thursday to continue recognizing […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former state Sen. Frank Niceley, a farmer and longtime conservative lawmaker known for his colorful comments on Tennessee’s Capitol Hill, died Thursday. He was 78. Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Coffey confirmed that Niceley was found on a tractor on his family farm in Strawberry Plains on Thursday and later died at […]
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A northeast Ohio man was arrested Thursday on allegations that he threatened and spewed antisemitic epithets at Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller while the two were traveling on an interstate highway near Cleveland. Police in Rocky River said Feras S. Hamdan, 36, of Westlake, voluntarily turned himself in with counsel present […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal from an Illinois toy company pushing for a quick decision on the legality of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Learning Resources Inc. had asked the justices to take up the case soon, rather than let it continue to play out in lower courts. The company […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans have suffered a sizable setback on one key aspect of President Donald Trump’s big bill after their plans to gut the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and other provisions from the Senate Banking Committee ran into procedural violations with the Senate parliamentarian. Republicans in the Senate proposed zeroing-out funding for the CFPB, […]
NEW YORK (AP) — A group of Democratic lawmakers in Texas is asking Elon Musk to delay the planned rollout of driverless ‘robotaxis’ in the state this weekend to assure that the vehicles are safe. In a letter, seven state legislators asked Tesla to wait until September when a new law takes effect that will […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sided with e-cigarette companies on Friday in a ruling making it easier to sue over Food and Drug Administration decisions blocking their products from the multibillion-dollar vaping market. The 7-2 opinion comes as companies push back against a yearslong federal regulatory crackdown on electronic cigarettes. It’s expected to give […]
The Associated Press is calling the current conflict between Israel and Iran a war, given the scope, intensity and duration of military activities on both sides. Other news organizations also have decided to refer to the conflict as a war, while some are still sticking with words such as “conflict” or “fighting.” Why does it […]
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A conservation group said Friday it has reached a $60 million deal to buy land outside the Okefenokee Swamp from a mining company that environmentalists spent years battling over a proposed mine that opponents feared could irreparably damage an ecological treasure. The Conservation Fund said it will buy all 7,700 acres […]
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge says he’ll order Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil released from immigration detention. Judge Michael Farbiarz made the ruling from the bench in federal court in New Jersey on Friday. Lawyers for the Columbia graduate had asked a federal judge to immediately release him on bail from a Louisiana jail, […]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California’s challenge of the Trump administration’s military deployment on the streets of Los Angeles returned to a federal courtroom in San Francisco on Friday after an appeals court handed President Donald Trump a key procedural win in the case. The hearing comes a day after the 9th Circuit appellate panel allowed […]
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A high school in the suburbs of New York City will be seeing double on graduation day this weekend: Among the nearly 500 students in its graduating class, 30 are twins. It’s a tight knit group. Some of the students at Long Island’s Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School have […]
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A man has been charged with an attempted kidnapping of the mayor of Memphis after he went to the mayor’s house in a gated community and was later arrested with a Taser, gloves, rope and duct tape in his vehicle, according to police. Memphis police on Wednesday announced that Trenton Abston, […]
TENAFLY, NJ (AP) — Edan Alexander, an American-born Israeli soldier and believed to be the last living American hostage held in Gaza, has returned home to New Jersey. Hundreds of cheering supporters, many waving Israeli flags and holding “Welcome Home Edan” signs, lined the streets of Tenafly on Thursday to greet his passing vehicle. A […]
NEW YORK (AP) — A former Syracuse University basketball player who worked recently for Sean “Diddy” Combs as a personal assistant testified at the music mogul’s sex trafficking trial on Friday that Combs got “extremely creative” when he was on drugs. Brendan Paul, 26, was arrested last year at a Miami airport with cocaine he […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers at cybersecurity outlet Cybernews say that billions of login credentials have been leaked and compiled into datasets online, giving criminals “unprecedented access” to accounts consumers use each day. According to a report published this week, Cybernews researchers have recently discovered 30 exposed datasets that each contain a vast amount of […]
The first big heat wave of 2025 has arrived, coinciding with the official start of summer. More than 40 million people in the U.S. were under heat alerts Friday, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures in the Midwest are expected to crest well into the 90s Fahrenheit (30s Celsius) this weekend. Triple-digit highs could […]
MOCKSVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The pilot of a small plane that crashed near a North Carolina airport this month had raised a wheel after landing to avoid hitting a turtle on the runway, according to a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report. The pilot of the Universal Stinson 108 and a passenger were killed in […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday revived long-running lawsuits against Palestinian authorities from Americans who were killed or wounded in terrorism attacks in the Middle East. The justices upheld a 2019 law enacted by Congress specifically to allow the victims’ lawsuits to go forward against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. […]
BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from withholding billions of dollars in transportation funds from states that don’t agree to participate in some immigration enforcement actions. Twenty states sued after they said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to cut off funding to states that refused to comply with President […]
