BALTIMORE — Maryland transportation officials said Thursday that they expect to replace the Francis Scott Key Bridge with a new span in just over four years.

The project to replace the span of Interstate 695 by fall of 2028 is estimated to cost between $1.7 and $1.9 billion, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said Thursday.

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NEW YORK — A judge considered holding Donald Trump in contempt yet again on Thursday for more potential gag order violations as his hush money trial resumed in Manhattan.

Before jurors took their seats for the day, state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan heard arguments from prosecutors and the former president’s attorneys concerning four ...Read more

U.S. District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez, a high-profile jurist known for striking down California gun control measures, was reprimanded for judicial misconduct on Wednesday for a 2023 incident in which he ordered the 13-year-old daughter of a drug defendant to be handcuffed in open court — despite the girl not being accused of any crimes.

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BEIRUT — People across Gaza on Wednesday sent messages of appreciation to demonstrators on U.S. campuses, thanking them for their protests against the Gaza war.

Children, parents and medical staff assembled in the courtyard before Al Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in central Gaza, with many of them unfurling banners carrying university insignias ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — Any remaining grant funding yet to be disbursed to a Metro Detroit businesswoman who spent $4,500 in taxpayer dollars on a coffeemaker will be blocked under a spending bill the Michigan Senate Appropriations Committee approved Wednesday.

The supplemental budget bill includes language directing the State Budget Office to lapse...Read more

NEW YORK — More than 45% of the pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at Columbia University and City College this week were “unaffiliated” with the schools, NYPD sources told the Daily News on Thursday, though it’s unclear how many of the demonstrators were so-called “outside agitators” involved in driving the recent tumult on the ...Read more

Saudi Arabia has stepped up the arrest of citizens for social-media posts related to the Israel-Hamas war as the kingdom signals a readiness to agree to diplomatic relations with the Jewish state — if it commits to Palestinian statehood.

Detaining people for online comments — even those more than 10 years old — and restrictions on free ...Read more

Prince William and Princess Catherine have shared a new photo of their daughter, Princess Charlotte, with the world on her ninth birthday.

People applauded the simplicity of the photo taken by Catherine and the casualness of the outfit Charlotte was wearing. And some couldn’t believe just how much Charlotte resembles her father, the future ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — More than 200 people were arrested Thursday morning as police moved into the pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA, dismantling tents and pushing out protesters in a clash that lasted hours.

The operation capped two days of upheaval that began when the University of California, Los Angeles declared the encampment “unlawful” and...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden defended the right to protest peacefully but demanded that “order must prevail,” as demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war have wreaked havoc on U.S. college campuses.

“There’s the right to protest but not the right to cause chaos,” Biden said at the White House Thursday, his first extended ...Read more

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Former Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield and his wife, Stephanie Chatfield, pleaded not guilty Thursday to criminal charges brought by the Attorney General's office with one of the defense lawyers vowing to fight allegations the Chatfields embezzled from a nonprofit organization.

The Chatfields appeared over Zoom and ...Read more

President Joe Biden will expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Yolo County, a move that aims to safeguard nearly 134,000 acres including a ridgeline known as Molok Luyuk, which holds significance for local Native tribes.

Formerly known as Walker Ridge, the earthen backbone rising east of Clear Lake boasts unique geology and ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A judge could toss out Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho’s lawsuit against the city regarding homeless camps Friday.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Jill Talley is scheduled to hold a hearing at 9 a.m. Friday and could issue a tentative ruling Thursday. During the hearing, she could dismiss Ho’s complaint ...Read more

BERKELEY, Calif. — Three people were injured Wednesday evening in a Sproul Plaza confrontation between opposing groups of protesters and counter-protesters at an encampment set up to protest the war in Gaza, University of California officials said.

No arrests were reported. It was the first violence at the encampment since it was established ...Read more

A majority bloc within Haiti’s new presidential council is doing an about-face on its selection of the country’s next prime minister, saying it will return to the original political agreement to choose the leader of the transitional government from a pool of applicants.

In a press statement issued late Wednesday, the newly emerged political...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Amid criticism of Florida’s six-week abortion ban, state health regulators issued emergency rules Thursday clarifying what medical conditions qualify for exceptions under the new law.

The rules say that if a woman’s water breaks prematurely, inducing delivery is not defined as an abortion, nor is the treatment of an ...Read more

President Joe Biden, in an unscheduled speech at the White House Thursday, tried to walk a fine line between advocating for the free speech rights of pro-Palestinian protesters at college campuses while condemning the occupation of buildings and threats and intimidation reported toward Jewish students.

Biden in his address to the nation said it...Read more

ATHENS, Ga. — On a brief break from studying for his final in evolutionary biology, sophomore A.J. Rizzo sat on a bench under a big oak tree on the University of Georgia’s campus this week and admitted, with some guilt, what he doesn’t know.

He is willing to acknowledge that he is a pretty good student. He got into UGA, right? He’s a ...Read more