NEW YORK — The pro-Gaza encampment at Columbia University that had exploded into a national phenomenon has been dismantled, leaving an unsettling quiet on campus Wednesday and questions about how the school can move forward.

NYPD cleared the tent city as part of an operation to stop the student occupation of Hamilton Hall. A total of 109 ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Some congressional Democrats said this week the Biden administration's move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug would not stop them from pressing for further changes.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., heralded the development in a statement, promising to continue work on legislation to permit banking...Read more

LAS VEGAS — The executor of OJ Simpson’s estate began probate proceedings on Wednesday afternoon.

Malcolm LaVergne, Simpson’s longtime Las Vegas attorney, filed a petition to name himself as special administrator of the estate, formally starting probate proceedings following Simpson’s death at his Las Vegas home in early April.

...Read more

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois House Democrats approved legislation Wednesday aimed at boosting turnout by party faithful in the Nov. 5 election by offering voters nonbinding advisory questions on securing in vitro fertilization, protecting election workers and targeting those earning $1 million a year or more with higher taxes to pay for property tax...Read more

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Angela Alsobrooks is testing how far money can go in a Senate race.

“Ask yourself: Would you spend $47 million trying to fight somebody who you didn’t think was a formidable candidate?” the Democrat asked supporters at a get-out-the-vote event last week at a bar here, referencing what she says her opponent, Rep. ...Read more

NEW YORK — Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein will be retried as soon as this fall following the stunning overturning of his rape and sexual assault conviction, Manhattan prosecutors said Wednesday.

The decision was announced at a Manhattan Supreme Court hearing attended by Weinstein and Jessica Mann, one of two women who he was found ...Read more

NEW YORK — The late-night NYPD raid of an occupied administration building at Columbia University resulted in the arrest of more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters amid a growing debate over who was behind the violent turn of events in the weekslong campus protest.

NYPD officers, some wielding chainsaws, climbed in through windows Tuesday ...Read more

NEW YORK — A fraud investigator for the New York City Department of Homeless Services stole homeless people’s personal information during the COVID pandemic, then sold that info to an identity theft scammer, federal authorities allege.

Brooklyn resident Olabanji Otufale, 41, abused his position by accessing names, dates of birth, Social ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House has approved legislation that would create a federal definition of antisemitism, an effort to respond to the outbreak of pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the nation.

The bill passed overwhelmingly and with bipartisan support, but there were 71 Democrats and 21 Republicans who opposed the measure....Read more

ATLANTA — A group of students gathered at Emory University on Wednesday following a walkout demonstration in front of the school’s entrance. It is the eighth day of protests on the campus.

At one point, protesters flooded into one of the university’s administration buildings near the quad but were asked by Emory police to leave due to the...Read more

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday bashed President Joe Biden and his administration for accepting Palestinian refugees from the war-torn Gaza Strip.

“There was a report out that Joe Biden is contemplating importing a bunch of Palestinian Arabs from the Gaza Strip into the United States of America. And I didn’t even think Biden was crazy enough...Read more

A day after police arrested 25 pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the University of Connecticut, President Radenka Maric issued a statement that encouraged free expression and dialogue while standing firm in the university’s decision to arrest peaceful protesters.

The joint statement, authored by President Radenka Maric, Provost and Vice ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State students barely glanced at the circle of tents pitched Wednesday in the library quad and signs declaring support for Palestinians amid the war between Israel and Hamas.

Wind swept through high trees shading the area where professors brought their students to hold class just outside the encampment. A ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — UCLA was reeling Wednesday after hours of violence that unfolded overnight at a pro-Palestinian encampment, heightening concerns about the university’s handling of the protests over the Gaza war and the future of the camp.

Just before midnight, a large group, wearing black outfits and white masks, arrived on campus and tried ...Read more

ATLANTA — Immigrant rights advocates are organizing a multiday, statewide wave of activism to call out a recently passed Georgia immigration bill and the devastating impacts they say the legislation will have on the state’s foreign-born population.

The demonstrations began Wednesday morning with a rally steps away from Georgia’s State ...Read more

Representatives with multiple agencies including the CDC, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday discussed the latest news about bird flu in the U.S.

The agencies are continuing to test milk, dairy products and meat to ensure they can not spread the virus, and working to monitor farm ...Read more

BOSTON — A state legislative committee recommended lawmakers take a pass on enacting a ballot question that would get rid of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System graduation requirement for students on Wednesday, sending the question another step toward landing before voters in November.

The MCAS ballot question, backed by the ...Read more

The Federal Reserve and other top U.S. regulators are forging ahead with their landmark plan to make big banks hold more capital despite calls from some critics to scrap it.

Key officials have decided to adjust the original proposal rather than starting over, and some of them are pushing to finalize it as soon as August, according to people ...Read more

The Arizona Senate voted Wednesday to repeal the state's 1864 abortion ban, sending a measure to the Democratic governor that would end weeks of turmoil and keep in place a 15-week abortion limit enacted in 2022.

In a testy and emotional session that included angry spats, a senator reading from the Bible and another playing a recording of his ...Read more