NASA announced four new contracts for commercial lunar landers for the agency’s moon plans, but dropped news that it’s toying with the idea of sending to the moon a sister rover to the ones currently active on Mars.

“It’s existed. You just didn’t know its name,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman during a Tuesday update. “It�...Read more

Kéto Nord Hodges, a Hillsborough County schoolteacher, thinks of 1779.

That September, thousands of soldiers sieged against the British in the foggy swamps of Savannah. Nearly 550 of them were Haitian, members of a French infantry regiment of Black and mixed-race soldiers who were promised freedom at the end of their service.

As the United ...Read more

Queen Camilla capped off Pride Month with a dose of controversy, sharing a photo of herself with J.K. Rowling, who in recent years has fallen from favor with remarks widely viewed as blatantly transphobic.

The queen consort, 78, posed with the 60-year-old author at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, according to the portrait of the pair ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will hear a Second Amendment challenge to the gun laws in Connecticut and Cook County, Ill., that ban most semiautomatic assault weapons.

Before leaving for the summer recess, the justices issued orders on new cases that will be heard in the fall. The new Second Amendment case figures ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Health authorities are warning residents to take precautions after the deadly West Nile virus was detected in a mosquito caught in the San Gabriel Valley.

The announcement comes on the heels of the first human case of the virus reported in Long Beach.

West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne infection that could be fatal to humans ...Read more

North Carolina data center operators stand to lose a 20-year-old tax break while keeping other incentives under the budget Republican state Senate and House leaders released Tuesday.

The proposed bill ends a sales tax exemption for electricity used on site. The General Assembly estimates this will save the state $21.4 million in the upcoming ...Read more

NEW YORK — The city’s $125.8 billion budget deal doesn’t include a previously planned NYPD headcount increase — coming after Mayor Zohran Mamdani faced pressure from his base to scrap his plan to add more officers.

At a budget press conference on Monday morning, Mamdani said he backed down from increasing the headcount after speaking to...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A top official at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, the large Richland County, S.C. jail, has been arrested as part of a monthslong investigation into a sweeping alleged cover-up of more than 60 crimes involving inmates and guards at the jail, Sheriff Leon Lott announced Tuesday.

James Lipscomb, 66, one of two top officials at...Read more

NPR retracted a bombshell report claiming Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito plans to retire.

A story written by award-winning legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg was published briefly Tuesday morning, reporting that Alito, whose time remaining on the nation’s highest court often generates speculation, planned to step down.

The 76-...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A top official at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, the large Richland County, S.C. jail, has been arrested as part of a monthslong investigation into a sweeping alleged cover-up of more than 60 crimes involving inmates and guards at the jail, Sheriff Leon Lott announced Tuesday.

James Lipscomb, 66, one of two top officials at...Read more

DENVER — Large wildfires burning across southern and western Colorado continued to spread on Tuesday, together scorching nearly 90,000 acres — roughly 140 square miles.

“Critical fire weather” — hot, dry and windy — is expected each day this week and could spur the growth of existing and new wildfires across the state, according to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the Constitution’s promise that all those born in the country are citizens of the United States, regardless of the status of their parents.

In a 6-3 decision, the justices rejected President Donald Trump’s plan to revise the Constitution by executive order and to end citizenship at birth ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Federal agencies long regarded as pillars of nonpartisan stability are facing an identity crisis after the Supreme Court this week swept away nearly a century of precedent limiting presidential power.

The high court's decision in Trump vs. Slaughter, allowing the president to remove members of historically independent agencies ...Read more

TikTok is finalizing a settlement related to a lawsuit claiming that the world’s largest social media platforms are addictive to minors, according to people familiar with the matter, avoiding a jury trial scheduled for July in Los Angeles.

The settlement amount with TikTok is confidential, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing...Read more

The State Board of Education voted Tuesday to ban undocumented students from enrolling in state colleges, a move that brings the state one step closer to becoming the largest in the nation to shut these immigrants out of publicly financed higher education.

The board, which oversees the state’s 28 state colleges, voted in a 6-1 decision ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld laws in West Virginia and Idaho that forbid transgender athletes from competing on girls' sports teams.

In a 6-3 decision, the court said the federal Title IX law envisioned separate teams for girls and boys based on their biological sex at birth.

"Separate sports teams for biological males ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — A judge ruled Tuesday that a memoir by the man accused of organizing the killing of iconic rapper Tupac Shakur is admissible evidence.

Authorities have accused Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, in connection with the fatal shooting of Shakur near the Strip in 1996. His trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 10.

A memoir called "Compton ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Sam Page, whose shocking victory in this year’s Republican primary ousted longtime North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger, is now suing Berger’s son in federal court.

Page, who is the sheriff of Rockingham County, alleges that county commissioner Kevin Berger engaged in a campaign of retaliation against him for running ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Confronted with math test scores showing that 68% of California public school third-graders do not meet grade-level standards, state lawmakers are considering one way to potentially reverse the trend: Give kindergartners a math test to find out if they are ready for the rigors of first grade.

Do they have a sense of what numbers...Read more