About two months before Alexander Iniguez Mercado was arrested and charged with obstructing an investigation into a planned attack on President Donald Trump’s Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the White House Lawn, federal prosecutors allege that he shared his intentions in a Signal group.

“Mentally preparing,” he wrote, according ...Read more

The General Assembly passed, and Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed, about 1,000 bills into law this year.

Many take effect July 1. Here are some that might affect your daily life.

Consumer protection

SB183 makes it so restaurants must mark food prepared for takeout or delivery that has been altered due to a food allergy.

HB312/SB767 strengthens...Read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff had positive discussions with regional leaders in Qatar and technical talks with Iran are moving ahead, according to a senior administration official, as the countries seek to ease tensions in the wake of recent attacks that imperiled an already fragile ceasefire.

The two Americans...Read more

The National Hurricane Center on Tuesday halted forecasts a system in the Atlantic off the southeastern U.S. coast could develop into the season’s next tropical depression or storm.

As of the NHC’s 2 p.m. EDT tropical outlook, limited showers and thunderstorms had moved farther offshore of the southeast coast in association with a weak area...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State Sen. Tim Grayson presented a victim privacy bill alongside Denise Huskins Quinn and her husband, Aaron Quinn, before the California Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday morning.

The bill, SB 1056, would require judges to issue protective orders governing sexually explicit evidence involving adult victims. ...Read more

A requirement for anonymous school threat reporting systems, funding for security measures at the Capitol, and a social media health warning requirement are among new laws that take effect on Wednesday, July 1.

Minnesota’s House Public Information Services will often publish summaries of new laws set to take effect.

Here are some of the more...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump reported earning at least $1.4 billion in 2025 from crypto and memecoin-related businesses, according to his latest annual financial disclosure.

Trump reported making more than $588 million from sales by World Liberty Financial, the crypto firm whose co-founders include Trump, his sons, and Steven Witkoff, ...Read more

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — Despondent that rescuers had not arrived to search for his family — buried in the rubble after last week’s twin quakes — Rubén Darío Sillie turned to social media.

“We are alone, men by ourselves picking up stones, beams, totally alone,” Sillie recounted on Instagram.

He broke into tears as he stood in ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — A judge ruled Tuesday that a memoir by the man accused of organizing the killing of iconic rapper Tupac Shakur is admissible evidence.

Authorities have accused Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, in connection with the fatal shooting of Shakur near the Strip in 1996. His trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 10.

The memoir called "Compton ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California on Tuesday moved a step closer to reintroducing grizzly bears, the quarter-ton predators that once roamed the Golden State but have been locally extinct for more than a century.

A bill to study the feasibility of bringing back the omnivorous animals passed the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee 8-2. ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed a controversial Assembly bill that makes it easier for judges to deny mental health diversion to criminal defendants who may pose a safety risk to the community.

Prosecutors statewide backed Assembly Bill 46, saying it removed a loophole that forced judges to order outpatient psychological treatment instead of...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Tuesday imposing a 100% tax on any payments distributed to California residents from President Donald Trump’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

The fund was established to settle Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS following the leak of his tax returns. ...Read more

NASA announced four new contracts for commercial lunar landers for the agency’s moon plans, but dropped news that it’s toying with the idea of sending to the moon a sister rover to the ones currently active on Mars.

“It’s existed. You just didn’t know its name,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman during a Tuesday update. “It�...Read more

Kéto Nord Hodges, a Hillsborough County schoolteacher, thinks of 1779.

That September, thousands of soldiers sieged against the British in the foggy swamps of Savannah. Nearly 550 of them were Haitian, members of a French infantry regiment of Black and mixed-race soldiers who were promised freedom at the end of their service.

As the United ...Read more

Queen Camilla capped off Pride Month with a dose of controversy, sharing a photo of herself with J.K. Rowling, who in recent years has fallen from favor with remarks widely viewed as blatantly transphobic.

The queen consort, 78, posed with the 60-year-old author at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, according to the portrait of the pair ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will hear a Second Amendment challenge to the gun laws in Connecticut and Cook County, Ill., that ban most semiautomatic assault weapons.

Before leaving for the summer recess, the justices issued orders on new cases that will be heard in the fall. The new Second Amendment case figures ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Health authorities are warning residents to take precautions after the deadly West Nile virus was detected in a mosquito caught in the San Gabriel Valley.

The announcement comes on the heels of the first human case of the virus reported in Long Beach.

West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne infection that could be fatal to humans ...Read more

North Carolina data center operators stand to lose a 20-year-old tax break while keeping other incentives under the budget Republican state Senate and House leaders released Tuesday.

The proposed bill ends a sales tax exemption for electricity used on site. The General Assembly estimates this will save the state $21.4 million in the upcoming ...Read more