When a couple marry in a church, synagogue or mosque, the ceremony does more than sanctify a union. Often, it binds two families to an institution.

For centuries, marriage and child-rearing have been among the main ways adults are integrated into congregational life. Couples who share the same faith tend to be more observant, and they...Read more

The recent publication of confidential Supreme Court memoranda by The New York Times has brought to light a pivotal moment in the court’s history. “The birth of the Supreme Court’s shadow docket has long been a mystery,” wrote reporters Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak. “Until now.”

Originally coined by legal scholar William ...Read more

Large parts of the southeastern U.S. are in the midst of an exceptional drought, and it is fueling dozens of wildfires in Florida and Georgia.

One of those wildfires, in southeastern Georgia’s Brantley County, had destroyed more than 50 homes by April 23, and state officials said about 1,000 other homes were at risk. Another fire ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said an apology from Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Cumming does not go far enough after she shared a video featuring an AI-generated image attacking Mayor Brandon Scott — a move that has triggered an ethics complaint and renewed debate over professional boundaries for the city’s...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — Seeking to strengthen the state’s gun laws in an election year, the state House of Representatives voted this week for a controversial bill to ban new pistols that can be easily converted to fire like automatic machine guns.

After more than two hours of debate, the House voted 86-64 Wednesday as 15 Democrats joined with ...Read more

DETROIT — The water level must drop more than 9 inches before emergency operations at the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex are halted, state officials said Thursday.

"As of 8:30 a.m., 9.12 inches of water must recede before the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex Emergency Action Plan is deactivated," the Michigan State Police Emergency Management ...Read more

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law on Earth Day that blocks local governments from enacting policies to track how their emissions contribute to climate change.

“Floridians should not be forced to pay for radical climate agendas or identity politics with their hard-earned tax dollars,” DeSantis said.

Tracking “net-zero emissions�...Read more

The United States’ new top diplomat in Venezuela arrived in Caracas on Thursday, taking over at a pivotal moment in Washington’s push to stabilize and reshape the South American nation following the dramatic capture of former strongman Nicolás Maduro earlier this year.

John Barrett, a veteran U.S. diplomat, said he is already on the ground...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia’s top prosecutor on Thursday accused state lawmakers of effectively defying the courts, as a window narrows for the legislature to respond to a landmark ruling that struck down mandatory life sentences for second-degree murder convictions.

At a news conference, District Attorney Larry Krasner said lawmakers’ ...Read more

DETROIT — A judge sided against Sanford-area residents pursuing a lawsuit against the state of Michigan, determining they didn't prove the state was liable for damages caused by the 2020 Edenville and Sanford Dam failures.

Thousands of Gratiot and Midland County residents who lived near the dams accused the Michigan departments of Natural ...Read more

Bay Area federal lawmakers marked Earth Day by introducing a bill Wednesday aimed at mitigating rampant whale deaths in the San Francisco Bay — an alarming statistic that has reached its highest level in 25 years.

The bill — named the “Save Willy Act,” in a nod to the popular 1993 movie “Free Willy” — would implement a “whale ...Read more

Texas falls short compared to other states when providing high-quality pre-K to 3- and 4-year-old students, according to a national report.

The 2025 State of Preschool Yearbook shows Texas only met two out of 10 standards that researchers say are key to providing quality early childhood education to the nation’s youngest students. The state ...Read more

The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday that public officials can conceal public business by conducting it on their private devices.

Ruling 4-to-2, the state’s highest court said the Kentucky Open Records Act does not cover material sent on private phones or through private email accounts, even if it concerns taxpayer-funded government ...Read more

U.S. and Iran tensions grew over the Strait of Hormuz with both sides maintaining their blockades of the critical waterway, creating an uneasy standoff with no sign of peace talks on the horizon.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the U.S. Navy to shoot any boat putting mines in the strait, while the military said it intercepted ...Read more

The 16-year-old boy charged with raping and killing his 18-year-old stepsister aboard a cruise ship in November pleaded not guilty to the crime this week.

The boy, whose only identified in records as T.H., was not in court, but his federal public-defender attorneys entered the plea Monday, according to court documents.

Prosecutors, meanwhile,...Read more

Prosecutors have alleged D4vd’s iPhone was packed with child porn in wake of his arrest for the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a 14-year-old runaway whose dismembered and badly decomposed body was found in his Tesla this past September.

During a court appearance on Thursday, prosecutors said they found a “significant amount” of child ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A cellphone belonging to David Anthony Burke, better known as the singer D4vd, contained “a significant amount of child pornography,” a prosecutor said in court Thursday morning.

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman made the claim during a court proceeding to schedule a preliminary hearing on murder ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — A former Chapel Hill police officer and Orange County sheriff’s deputy was arrested in the Florida panhandle, accused of plotting a mass shooting at a New Orleans festival.

Christopher Gillum, of Chapel Hill, was taken into custody at a Destin hotel in Okaloosa County, Florida, on Wednesday, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A federal court declined to rehear the appeal of a dive boat captain who was convicted of manslaughter after 34 people died in a fire aboard his vessel over Labor Day weekend in 2019 near the Channel Islands.

Captain Jerry Boylan, 72, was sentenced in May 2024 to four years in federal prison for his role in the deadliest ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After weeks of delays, Florida’s legislative leaders announced Thursday they reached an agreement on an outline for a state budget for the next fiscal year.

State lawmakers will have to return to Tallahassee for two weeks beginning May 12 to work out the details in a special session.

“Our final budget will be lower ...Read more