WASHINGTON — The Senate could vote on legislation next week aimed at blocking demolition of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts without congressional approval.

A draft bill has bipartisan backing from the top appropriators who oversee Kennedy Center funding: Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chair of the Interior-Environment ...Read more

BOSTON — An evening rodent walk showed the ways Boston is battling rats, by piloting different types of technology, pumping lethal carbon monoxide into the ground, and unleashing rat-killing dogs to try to eliminate the pesky problem.

Anti-rat enthusiasts descended on downtown Boston Wednesday night for a rat walk hosted by the city that ...Read more

WASHINGTON — As the Senate tries to navigate its final business before the midterms, Republicans are facing another question — who will steer the ship once they’re done?

So far, they’re not straying far from their current captain, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, with no viable rival emerging as yet.

“The assumption is yes,” the...Read more

FRESNO, Calif. — The Mariposa-Yosemite Airport has been closed because of temporary flight restrictions in place around the Dome fire burning in Yosemite National Park.

The county-owned airport, which sits 18 miles from the park in Mariposa, provides aircraft services and charter/scenic flight opportunities for pilots and visitors, according ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let the Trump administration resume its aggressive policy of deporting people to countries other than their own, seeking emergency action on a pillar of its immigration agenda.

The filing aims to lift a federal judge’s order barring deportation to a so-called third country ...Read more

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro are deadlocked less than two weeks before Brazil’s election, a new poll showed, following fresh revelations about the challenger’s ties to a jailed banker at the center of a massive fraud scheme.

Lula would win 47% to Bolsonaro’s 45% in a runoff scenario, according to a Datafolha ...Read more

BOSTON — Boston issued a coastal storm warning as a rare early fall nor’easter spins toward the city, expected to last Friday through the weekend and pose a risk of coastal flooding, high winds, power line damage, and more.

“Coastal storms can bring rapid changes in tides and weather, leading to flooding, downed trees, power outages and ...Read more

NEW YORK — A federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to permanently improve the “overcrowded, squalid and degrading” cells where undocumented New Yorkers are detained at 26 Federal Plaza, and said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had inflicted cruelty and “appalling conditions” to induce people ...Read more

Gov. JB Pritzker said Thursday he isn’t pursuing a moratorium on new data centers in Illinois, arguing he can’t impose one on his own and that he would rather see lawmakers pass tough regulations on the facilities after the November election.

Pritzker’s comments came just a day after Mayor Brandon Johnson proposed a data center moratorium...Read more

WASHINGTON — China’s president issued a call from the White House on Thursday for artificial intelligence to remain “under human control” as the world’s two superpowers race for technological supremacy.

Xi Jinping’s remarks reflect growing concern within China over whether governments in Washington or Beijing will be able to ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Citing his violence against native tribes in the 1840s, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is moving forward with a plan to remove the name of famed explorer John C. Fremont — a former U.S. senator for whom the Bay Area city of Fremont is named — from a state park on a prominent peak in San Benito County.

On Wednesday...Read more

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump and Xi Jinping addressed their intense competition over artificial intelligence on Thursday during a summit aimed at keeping ties between the world’s largest economies on track.

How the leaders are handling AI is one of the key questions looming over the state visit, with the U.S. president arguing for unfettered ...Read more

The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Minnesota, and the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis over state law requiring a 30-day waiting period for a firearm purchase, arguing the statute violates the Second Amendment.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court on Thursday, is the latest legal maneuver by the Justice Department against Minnesota since ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democratic leaders filed a lawsuit Thursday aiming to prevent the Trump administration from following through on statements that they are considering sending armed federal agents to polling places in November.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Senate Minority Leader Charles E...Read more

BALTIMORE — Sixteen people, including four juveniles in a car reported stolen, were hospitalized after the car crashed into a Maryland Transit Administration bus while officers followed it Thursday afternoon in East Baltimore, police said.

Two occupants of the car and some other patients were in critical condition. The bus driver was awake ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Mayo Clinic is paying $50,000 to settle a federal discrimination lawsuit, filed after the Rochester-based health system declined to exempt a security guard from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate on religious grounds.

The health system also agreed to accommodate future requests for religious exemptions from vaccine mandates, except in...Read more

The Clark County coroner’s office said it has investigated 260 deaths where heat was a factor so far this year.

In a Thursday update, the first since the end of July, the number shot up dramatically from 46.

The toll from 2024, the hottest year on record in Las Vegas since reliable records began in the 1937, still ranks the highest among ...Read more