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

Blue Origin revealed its plans for a rebuilt launch complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station after the explosion of a New Glenn rocket destroyed much of the pad in May.

The Jeff Bezos company released video renderings of an updated launch tower design and new method for New Glenn to get ready for launch that includes rolling out to the pad...Read more

The University of Kentucky’s board of trustees approved Tuesday a budget of over $9.6 billion, an increase of almost $1 billion, driven by its hospital system for the 2026-27 school year.

The budget includes around $6 billion for UK HealthCare, $3.3 billion for higher education and $219.2 million for athletics.

It’s UK’s third-largest ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Vice President JD Vance will speak in Virginia Beach on Wednesday to mark 250 years of the nation’s military.

According to a White House press release, Vance will deliver remarks at Naval Air Station Oceana on the Trump administration’s “efforts to support American warfighters and veterans.”

No additional details about...Read more

MEXICO CITY — Darwin Elizer Serrano López left Venezuela three years ago, dreaming of earning enough to put his daughters through school. He ended up in Chicago, where he drove for Uber seven days a week, pausing at 8:30 each night to call home.

When immigration agents came to his door with a deportation order, Serrano’s family was ...Read more

NEW YORK — A rotting human corpse was found stuffed in the chimney of a Queens public school Tuesday, police said.

An exterminator investigating a foul odor at PS/IS 113, the Anthony Pranzo School, in Glendale found the remains in the chimney just before 9 a.m. Cops are now trying to identify the adult male.

School ended for the summer on ...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska’s federal food assistance program had the highest error rate in the nation for the fourth consecutive year, according to data recently published by federal officials.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, serves more than 66,000 Alaskans, or roughly 9% of the state’s ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Top Florida Republicans are seeking to block a transgender girl who is a defending Irish Dance champion from competing in the girls’ division of the national competition this week in Orlando, saying the teen’s participation violates state law.

“Your policy of forcing women to compete against biological men who identify ...Read more

Benjamin Pinckney, 46, has dreamed of becoming a physician assistant since just after his 20th birthday.

He had been targeted by a drive-by shooter in Jacksonville, Florida, and hospitalized with two gunshot wounds. During his weeklong hospitalization, he said, a physician assistant changed the course of his life by visiting his hospital bed ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago Electoral Board ruled Tuesday that nearly two dozen school board candidates can’t be disqualified simply because their petition circulators also worked partisan races, removing a significant hurdle for nearly two dozen hopefuls in the election.

The provision known as the dual-circulation rule had been used to challenge...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court allowed Shira Perlmutter to continue to serve as register of copyrights for the Library of Congress in an order issued Tuesday, denying a request from the Trump administration to remove her while she fights her firing in court.

The two-sentence decision leaves open the issue of whether Trump can remove officials...Read more

A decades-old law limiting how much money political parties can spend in coordination with candidates was struck down by the Supreme Court on June 30, 2026. Citing First Amendment principles, the court held in NRSC v. FEC that the limit unduly prevented political parties from “freely” and “fully” advocating for their respective ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced a handshake deal Tuesday morning on the city budget that includes an additional $300 million on the contentious issue of housing vouchers, marking an end to a tense budget saga.

The $125.8 billion deal came on the last day of the fiscal year. It will be formally ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A San José State professor has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the university after her termination over pro-Palestinian protests two years ago was recently overturned.

Sang Hae Kil, a justice studies professor, accused the university and California State University, the system that oversees 23 colleges across the state, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court backed state laws banning transgender girls from participating in scholastic girls’ sports in a decision issued Tuesday, upholding a legal argument used by the Trump administration in seeking to ban transgender athletes nationwide.

Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, in a majority opinion that turned aside challenges ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Watergate-era limits on how much political parties can spend in a coordinated campaign with their candidates.

By a 6-3 vote, the court said the restrictions on parties and their campaign ads violate the First Amendment.

Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said the court was restoring broad free ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court overturned a key campaign finance restriction in a decision issued Tuesday, clearing the way for political parties nationwide to spend unlimited amounts on behalf of candidates in federal elections.

The 6-3 decision came in a challenge from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, as well as Vice President ...Read more

NEW YORK — New York City’s next budget revealed Tuesday includes funding to open $1,000 college savings accounts for every public school kindergartner, making it the largest program of its kind in the United States.

The $53 million investment — a tenfold expansion of an existing program called NYC KIDS RISE — aims to help families build...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday wiped out President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to redefine birthright citizenship, an effort to restrict American citizenship without Congress that cut against more than a century of legal precedent.

The 6-3 decision, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. writing a five-justice majority...Read more