DETROIT — Three Michigan school districts are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education for possible Title IX violations involving gender-identity controversies.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced it opened new investigations into Ann Arbor Public Schools, Monroe Public Schools ...Read more

With an unusual tone of urgency, Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel defended Chinese-style reforms he said must be implemented without delay, including allowing foreign investment in the country’s private sector and liberalizing the communist country’s centrally planned economy.

In an urgent meeting on Wednesday, the Communist Party’s ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Nevada’s biggest cities and counties are changing their master plans to comply with a state law that takes effect this year, but new language alone may not have much tangible impact.

Assembly Bill 96, signed by Gov. Joe Lombardo last year, requires that all local governments that serve more than 100,000 residents incorporate ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Senate on Thursday passed a set of bills that raise taxes on commercial health insurance plans and software programs and end cap some corporate tax credits, with the chamber’s Democrat caucus following suit on their Assembly colleagues.

The tax package now goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom. All the tax raising ...Read more

DETROIT — FBI counterterrorism investigators have arrested a Macomb County man they said is linked to a vow to commit a mass shooting and wrote "There is no God" on the stock of a rifle in a nod to Oxford High School killer Ethan Crumbley.

The allegations are contained in a criminal filing unsealed Thursday in federal court in Detroit that ...Read more

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wants to remove some of the stigma from testosterone treatment.

The agency, through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is asking manufacturers to take off warnings that have long appeared on hormone replacement therapy labels for older men whose testosterone levels decline naturally with age,...Read more

CHICAGO — If you have been anywhere near the Obama Presidential Center this week, anywhere at all near Jackson Park and Stony Island Avenue, leading up to the opening ceremonies on Thursday, you have seen the checkpoints, the concrete barricades, the imposing fences, the dark SUVs certain to be bulletproof. You have noticed the security.

That...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senators moved ahead with a bipartisan housing bill this week, paving the way for a final vote once they return from the Juneteenth long weekend. But on another topic, they seemed to go not forward, but back.

President Donald Trump sent negotiations to renew a lapsed spy power authority back to square one Wednesday, souring the ...Read more

Vice President JD Vance aggressively defended the controversial peace deal with Iran, and warned Israel not to criticize President Donald Trump over the agreement.

In a White House press briefing, Vance embraced his new role as the top cheerleader for the deal that some critics say amounts to a capitulation to the Islamic Republic and a sell ...Read more

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court struck down an initiative petition to lower the state income tax from 5% to 4%, stating that a summary of the proposal authored by the Attorney General’s office and used to collect required signatures was misleading and must be disqualified from appearing on the ballot.

The high court ruled ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The criminal case against the chief engineer of the cargo ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge could be dismissed three years from now under an agreement with the government, entered into federal record on Thursday.

Federal prosecutors allege that Karthikeyan Deenadayalan, chief engineer aboard the Dali, failed to ...Read more

CHICAGO — While Jackie Mills waited for the dedication ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center to start, she found herself reminiscing on former President Barack Obama’s first inauguration.

Her entire family gathered in her mother’s home, huddled around the television, the 72-year-old Bronzeville resident said. Her mom had insisted ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — The finish line on the overdue state budget is in sight.

Millions of North Carolinians await a new state budget, which funds raises for teachers and state employees and pays for programs and capital projects across the state. It also includes policy, like setting the income tax rate. It is also now a year late.

It is coming ...Read more

Comedian Carlos Mencia is expected to face criminal charges in Los Angeles in what will be the first case filed by Los Angeles County’s new Business Tax Fraud Unit.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman did not provide specifics about the allegations, but he said the exact charges against the 58-year-old funnyman would be announced during a press ...Read more

If you’re a red wolf or a black bear, the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern North Carolina can be a pretty sweet place to live, with plenty of food and lots of open spaces, largely free of humans.

That is except for the two-lane highway, U.S. 64, that cuts through the refuge in Dare County, carrying people to and from the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S.-Iran interim peace deal took effect and shipping started returning to the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S. declared an end to its blockade and a complex negotiating period over Tehran’s nuclear program began in earnest.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance told reporters Thursday at the White House that the 60-day clock for ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled for gun rights and against drug laws on Thursday, striking down part of a federal law that made it crime for an “unlawful user” of an illegal drug like marijuana to own firearms.

All nine justices agreed the law was too broad and overly harsh.

They left open the possibly that “addicts” and “...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — President Donald Trump’s administration can replace the slavery exhibits it removed in January from George Washington’s Philadelphia residence, a federal appeals court ruled.

A three-judge 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously agreed Thursday to toss out an injunction issued by a Philadelphia district court judge ...Read more