ORLANDO, Fla. — The transgender teen whose success in girl’s divisions of Irish dance contests led Florida’s attorney general to threaten legal action against the competition’s governing bodies withdrew from regional championships that concluded Tuesday at an I-Drive hotel in Orlando.

She was slated to compete Tuesday in the girls’ 17...Read more

MIAMI — For the second time in a week, a package believed to be cocaine marked with an image of a lion washed up in the Florida Keys on Wednesday morning, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

The kilogram package found Wednesday washed up at Robbie’s Marina, the famous Islamorada landmark known for offering tourists a chance ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers and European officials hoping to get clarity on the U.S.-Iran conflict from President Donald Trump at a NATO summit likely left disappointed.

During a Wednesday evening news conference in Ankara, Turkey, the first reporter to question him characterized the Iran standoff as a “strategic dead end for you” and asked ...Read more

An ally of Sen. Mitch McConnell is denying some speculation circulating social media surrounding McConnell’s health condition after around three weeks of hospitalization.

Scott Jennings, a former McConnell adviser and conservative political commentator on CNN, is part of a handful of people saying that they’ve spoken with the Kentucky ...Read more

DETROIT — State health officials are trying to pinpoint the source of a growing parasitic outbreak in Michigan, contacting all people who have tested positive for cyclosporiasis as cases near 1,000.

Since the outbreak started June 22, 992 reports of cyclosporiasis have been reported in Michigan as of Wednesday morning, according to the state'...Read more

Public health relies on data – whether it is tracking the effectiveness of a given year’s flu vaccine, monitoring blood lead levels around the country or estimating the prevalence of diabetes. This data forms the basis for decisions such as whether a community should expand screening for diabetes and which communities are at greatest risk...Read more

After months of predicting a “below normal” hurricane season, weather researchers at Colorado State University further downgraded their forecast on Tuesday and now expect even fewer tropical storms than average to form in the Atlantic this year.

Forecasters now anticipate nine named storms, including four hurricanes and one major hurricane,...Read more

NEW YORK — More American Jews approve of how NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is doing his job than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a new poll reveals, as younger and more liberal Jews grow increasingly disenchanted with the actions of the Israeli government and the war in Gaza.

A national poll of more than 1,000 Jewish Americans showed 44...Read more

NEW YORK — A federal judge in Manhattan on Wednesday ordered the immediate release of more than $5 million owed to E. Jean Carroll by Donald Trump despite the president’s eleventh-hour bid to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to delay the payout once again.

Judge Lewis Kaplan’s order directing that the money be disbursed from a court-...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said the United States would probably launch further strikes on Iran and could resume a blockade on the country’s ports, ratcheting up pressure on Tehran and raising the prospect of a return to all-out war.

“We hit them very hard last night,” Trump said Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit in...Read more

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is asking Sen. Mitch McConnell to share information surrounding his health condition after being hospitalized nearly three weeks ago.

In a letter sent Tuesday morning to McConnell’s office, Beshear said Kentuckians have grown concerned about McConnell’s health and whether he can continue serving in office. He ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — An Oregon-based wilderness therapy program that operates in Idaho has been accused of abuse, neglect and fraud by a former program member, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court last week.

The plaintiff, who is identified only as T.M. in a complaint because he was a minor at the time the alleged incidents occurred, said ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — The Claremont fire burning in the Foothills grew to roughly 4,800 acres by Wednesday morning, officials said, leading to an evacuation order for part of Boise County.

In a statement posted online Wednesday morning, the U.S. Wildland Fire Service wrote that firefighters had made “significant progress” against the Claremont ...Read more

CHICAGO — Laura Rotunno didn’t think she had much longer to live.

“My body has had enough,” Rotunno, of Deerfield, remembered thinking last year, under the weight of Stage 4 lung cancer. The color had drained from her face, she was on oxygen and it was difficult to leave her home.

That all changed, however, after May 30 of last year, ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Despite pushback and litigation, the process is underway to rename Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump.

Reactions among state leaders and county residents have been mixed. Dissenters lament the $5.5 million price tag and the fact that the airport is being named after a sitting president. ...Read more

BOSTON — Boston Superintendent of Schools Mary Skipper, who was under contract for nearly $400,000 last school year, confirmed that she had been working remotely at her second home on Cape Cod since May to care for her injured husband.

Skipper released a statement to the Herald through her office Tuesday that states she has been working a ...Read more

NEW YORK — The sagging upper floors of a midtown Manhattan building under construction that threatened to collapse and caused a massive evacuation of the area has been stabilized with galvanized steel beams and emergency jacks, city officials said as they’ve reduced the area’s frozen zone to just two blocks.

As of Wednesday morning, the ...Read more

NEW YORK — Donald Trump is trying to fight a demand for the release of more than $5 million he owes E. Jean Carroll, the woman he was found liable for sexually assaulting, claiming he still has a Hail Mary move in his pocket even though the nation’s highest court unanimously rejected his appeal.

In papers filed in Manhattan Federal Court ...Read more

DENVER — Supporters of the Rev. Edward Nalwamba thought their prayers had finally been answered last week when they were told that immigration authorities would release the Anglican priest from detention after nine long months.

But as a fellow priest and another supporter waited outside of the Aurora detention center’s gates on July 1, his ...Read more