As July 4, 2026, approaches, Americans will be paying more attention than usual to events of 1776: the year the American Colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. Public historians, including filmmaker Ken Burns, have tried to offer a more inclusive view of the American Revolution, highlighting lesser-known patriots. But ...Read more

Cruise ships are convenient floating hotels by which to see far-flung parts of the world – but as an epidemiologist, I know they are also everything an infectious pathogen could want: thousands of strangers packed into enclosed spaces for days or weeks, sharing dining rooms and high-touch surfaces such as elevator buttons and handrails, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed access to medication abortion via telemedicine and by mail to continue, blocking a decision at the appellate court level that had restricted the drug.

The justices granted emergency requests from the makers of mifepristone, Danco Laboratories LLC and GenBioPro Inc., after the New Orleans-...Read more

Weather looks much better for SpaceX’s third try to get a resupply mission to the International Space Station off the ground Friday with a planned booster recovery back on land that could bring sonic booms to parts of Central Florida.

Poor weather conditions knocked out both Tuesday and Wednesday attempts, but now a Falcon 9 is back aiming ...Read more

The fiscal leaders of several states are demanding transparency and consumer fairness as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to refund billions in international tariffs following a recent Supreme Court loss.

In a February decision, the high court dealt a blow to the president’s trade agenda, ruling by a 6-3 margin that the tariffs...Read more

As appeals courts split on the constitutionality of mandatory detention for millions of immigrants, the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to decide the matter.

A Trump administration policy threatening imprisonment without bond has been struck down by three appeals courts, which could soon be joined by a fourth, but upheld by two others. The ...Read more

An increasing number of conservative states are mandating that state and local social service providers verify and report the immigration status of the people they serve — in some cases threatening stiff penalties for public employees who fail to comply.

Under federal law, immigrants who are in the United States illegally are generally barred...Read more

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson on Thursday condemned further cuts to Chicago Public Schools following the district’s latest proposal to address a yawning budget deficit by eliminating teaching staff, arguing the fate of Black enrollment is at stake.

During an interview with the Tribune ahead of his three-year mark in office, the mayor ...Read more

BEIJING — A conciliatory President Donald Trump on Friday hailed success in his state visit to China, claiming a tonal reset with Xi Jinping despite departing Beijing with few concrete achievements.

The visual spectacle around Trump's visit was itself considered a breakthrough by the two sides, who expressed an eagerness entering the talks ...Read more

President Donald Trump said China’s Xi Jinping largely agrees with him on the risks of Iran becoming a nuclear power but said he did not push his Chinese counterpart to pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“He said that very strongly, they cannot have a nuclear weapon and he wants them to open up the strait,” Trump said Friday,...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A judge’s order saying Minnesota’s fraud-fighting approach may have “potentially disastrous consequences” for vulnerable people is giving hope to service providers who have decried the state’s tactics as unfair and heavy-handed.

Ramsey County Judge Mark Ireland allowed part of a lawsuit against the Minnesota Department...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Election Board plans to move ahead using Missouri’s new gerrymandered congressional map, unlike other area election authorities.

More than 100,000 registered voters under the Kansas City Election Board’s jurisdiction are expected to change congressional districts, Shawn Kieffer, the Republican director ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Three Baltimore families notified Baltimore City Public Schools of their intent to sue on Thursday, alleging their children with autism left school property unnoticed by staff.

“What we assumed was an isolated incident now appears, we fear, to be part of a disturbing pattern, only made worse by the fact that these children are ...Read more

Work is already underway at the site of a planned ICE detention facility just outside Gilroy, setting up a legal and political fight between Santa Clara County and the federal government over what could become Northern California’s newest link in the federal government’s expanded deportation system.

“It’s the federal government building...Read more

Chicago police were questioning a 17-year-old boy in connection with last week’s fatal shooting of Damarion Johnson and Jassen Cho, according to department representatives and police sources.

Police arrested the teen Wednesday afternoon on the city’s West Side, sources said. Charges had not been announced as of Thursday.

Cho, 38, was ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosures show that he made a slew of stock and bond purchases with major American companies in the first quarter of the year totaling in the tens of millions of dollars and possibly more.

The transactions, spelled out in documents filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics that...Read more

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he anticipates that China would commit to billions in American agricultural purchases, as Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping complete their summit in Beijing.

“We expect to also see an agreement for double-digit billion purchases of ags over the next three years, per year, coming out of this ...Read more