A small northeast Kansas town is in the spotlight after the Vatican declared last week that it was excommunicating six Society of St. Pius X bishops, a day after four were consecrated without the pope’s approval.

St. Marys, a town of about 2,800, roughly 90 miles west of Kansas City, is home to a large population of followers of the SSPX, a ...Read more

A federal judge had some good news this week for Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania, but not so much for Josh Shapiro, resident of Montgomery County.

Shapiro, as governor, cannot be sued in his official capacity in a dispute over a strip of yard between his and his Abington Township neighbors’ adjoining properties, U.S. District Judge ...Read more

Health insurance premiums are likely to grow more expensive next year for those who buy Marketplace plans, after increases this year.

Affordable Care Act Marketplace insurers are proposing a median premium increase of 14% for 2027, which would be a double-digit hike for the second year in a row, according to a new analysis of preliminary rate ...Read more

NEW YORK — With uncertainty surrounding the future of a Midtown high rise that sparked fear of collapsing, a developer behind the conversion of the former Pfizer headquarters into apartments dismissed concerns of imminent danger and said he plans to press forward with the project, according to a published report.

“It’s very simple,” ...Read more

NEW YORK — As backlash against artificial intelligence — and educational technology more broadly — sweeps New York City’s public schools, Chancellor Kamar Samuels has told principals to hold off on new technology purchases until a long-overdue AI policy is ready.

The policy was due last month but delayed until later this summer after a ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he would ask the Supreme Court to rehear a case over birthright citizenship, a long-shot bid to undo a ruling that went against his administration.

Trump has assailed the court over last month’s 6-3 ruling, which invalidated an executive order the president issued last year that sought to restrict ...Read more

FRESNO, Calif. — A private prison operator will pay a six-figure fine to state health and safety officials to settle a complaint that immigrants detained at California ICE detention facilities worked in unsafe conditions during the coronavirus pandemic.

The settlement stems from a complaint filed with Cal/OSHA in June 2022 where immigrants ...Read more

RALEIGH,N.C. — North Carolina’s new state budget abolishes one office that supported minority-owned businesses and folds another focused on health disparities into a broader public health division.

The budget also repeals several state laws intended to increase opportunities for businesses owned by members of minority groups to win ...Read more

Drone teams in north Orange County cities helped police officers take illegal fireworks off of the streets and catch dozens of perpetrators lighting them on the Fourth of July, officials said.

Anaheim police used drones for the first time to help catch those with illegal fireworks, issuing 40 citations that were handed out to homeowners, or ...Read more

DENVER — The Aspen Acres fire surged forward on Tuesday, scorching another 3,000 acres in southern Colorado for a total burn area of more than 150 square miles, according to fire officials.

That wildfire remained Colorado’s largest active blaze and the seventh-largest in state history on Wednesday. It has forced thousands of people to ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas has not seen 110-degree temperatures this year. That is about to change.

Starting today, the valley is expected to hit 110 or above for the next four days. Today’s forecast high is 110; Thursday is 111, Friday is 110 and Saturday is 111. Tuesday’s high at Harry Reid International Airport was 108.

The last time Las ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One hundred and forty-four thousand sterile male mosquitos took to the sky Tuesday as part of an effort by the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District to reduce the invasive Aedes aegypti population. The release, which took place in Rosemont, marked the launch of the sterile insect technique program.

This ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Mamdani announced a sweeping plan for upgrades to the NYC bus network on Wednesday, highlighting 50 corridors on the slowest 25 bus routes for significant improvements, including at least five so-called “rapid” bus routes citywide.

“Too many New Yorkers walk faster to the bus stop than the bus they finally get on ...Read more

BOSTON — Mayor Michelle Wu said the City of Boston, on behalf of the Boston Public Schools, has filed a lawsuit against Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and other addictive social media companies she says are harming students’ mental health.

Wu said Wednesday that the city’s lawsuit alleges social media companies like Meta, which owns Facebook and...Read more

Across 17 states, 145 cases of a parasite have been reported between May 1 and June 16, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The actual number of cases is also likely higher than the number of cases reported.

Cyclosporiasis spreads if germs from contaminated feces get into someone’s mouth. This can happen through ...Read more

WASHINGTON — As online speculation swirls over Sen. Mitch McConnell’s hospitalization and scant public updates from his staff, the Kentucky Republican’s top allies spoke up this week, insisting he remains alert. But those assurances have done little to quash demands for proof of life, including from the state’s governor.

The episode has...Read more

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The last time the four astronauts of Artemis II were together in Florida, they were taking a ride on the most powerful rocket to ever launch humans into space.

The quartet of NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen, returned to the launch site ...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 have been stabilized with galvanized steel beams and emergency jacks, city officials said Wednesday as Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised a thorough probe into the near catastrophe.

...Read more

BALTIMORE — Walking around Fells Point this week, Baltimore residents were greeted by the stench of rotting fish and sulfur as dead fish floated in the Inner Harbor in what has become a yearly trend.

These “fish kills” have been happening with increasing regularity. In a similar event last August, roughly 120,000 fish turned up dead in ...Read more

CHICAGO — A federal grand jury indicted Democratic state Rep. Carol Ammons of Urbana on Tuesday on wire fraud and other charges.

Her husband, Champaign County Clerk and Recorder Aaron Ammons, is charged in the same indictment with conspiracy to obstruct justice and a separate count of obstruction of justice.

Carol Ammons, first elected in ...Read more