Kentucky’s U.S. Sen. Rand Paul was among three senators who missed Tuesday’s vote on the $95 billion foreign aid package providing weapons and equipment to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Two days later and his office won’t explain why.

The libertarian anti-interventionist was an outspoken critic of the supplemental spending measure ...Read more

BOSTON — Massachusetts lawmakers shipped Gov. Maura Healey a spending bill Thursday that hands her $426 million to spend on emergency shelters over the next year-plus and caps families’ time in the system at nine months.

The dollars come at a crucial moment for the Healey administration, which has warned for months that cash to pay for ...Read more

NEW YORK — Donald Trump never mentioned worrying about his wife, Melania, getting wind of his alleged trysts with porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal — only his future in politics, a Manhattan jury heard Thursday during explosive testimony at the former president’s hush money trial.

During his third day on the ...Read more

NEW YORK — As a deadline for Columbia University administrators and protesters to iron out a deal to clear a Gaza encampment edges closer, university officials are facing a lose-lose decision if students continue to flout school rules: Call in the NYPD for a second time or allow a situation they have said cannot continue to continue.

...Read more

NEW YORK — Pro-Palestinian protesters set up a small encampment inside the Fashion Institute of Technology in Chelsea, Manhattan, on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, demonstrators stormed into The Museum at FIT on W. 27th St. and Seventh Ave., Fox News reported.

Video shows scores of people pushing through the doors, where a security guard ...Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on April 25, 2024, in a case that will change the course of American history. That case is Trump v. United States, in which the justices have been asked to decide whether and to what extent former President Donald Trump – or any president – can be criminally prosecuted for actions taken while in...Read more

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — It’s not just another ride for a pair of veteran NASA astronauts who arrived to the Space Coast ahead of their flight onboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner.

Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, who both joined NASA’s astronaut corps more than two decades ago, will be the commander and pilot for ...Read more

The USS George Washington aircraft carrier departed Thursday from Naval Station Norfolk, embarking on a monthslong journey to its new homeport of Yokosuka, Japan, where it will begin a new chapter.

The Washington and about 3,200 sailors on board crossed the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel around 11 a.m. before cruising out of the Chesapeake Bay. It...Read more

Michigan State University students joined students across the nation in setting up an encampment on campus Thursday to pressure the university to divest in Israel amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

The students said they were negotiating with campus police, who informed them that the encampment violated university policies. About 25 tents were ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The University of Southern California announced Thursday that it is canceling its main May commencement ceremony, capping a dramatic series of moves that began last week after it informed valedictorian Asna Tabassum, who had been opposed by pro-Israel groups, that she would not be delivering the traditional speech.

In ending the...Read more

BALTIMORE — The first of 11 ships trapped for a month behind the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge left the Port of Baltimore Thursday using an alternate shipping channel that opened earlier in the morning.

The Balsa 94, a cargo ship, sailed just before 10 a.m. with the help of two tugboats, passing chunks of the fallen steel bridge ...Read more

BALTIMORE — New Maryland laws aimed at limiting book bans, expanding affordable housing opportunities and preventing burdensome local rules on where cannabis dispensaries can open became official Thursday with Gov. Wes Moore’s signature.

Going into effect immediately was the Freedom to Read Act — a response to a rise in challenges to ...Read more

ATLANTA — An attorney challenging the judge overseeing the Fulton County election interference case remains disqualified from the May 21 race, a DeKalb County judge determined Thursday.

After hearing arguments for nearly four hours, DeKalb Superior Court Judge Stacey Hydrick opted to uphold a recent ruling from an administrative law judge ...Read more

ATLANTA — Hundreds of people protesting the Israel-Hamas war and Atlanta’s planned public safety training center set up camp at Emory University’s quadrangle Thursday morning, prompting clashes with law enforcement and the arrests of several activists.

The encampment mirrors a growing number of college protests across the country. A ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Two doctors testified that the California man who drove his Tesla off a cliff with his wife and children in the car suffered from major depressive order and was experiencing a psychotic break at the time of the crash.

The testimony came Wednesday in the case of Dharmesh Patel, a Pasadena radiologist who was charged with three ...Read more

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and his Republican opponent, former hedge fund CEO David McCormick, will debate three times this fall — including once in Pittsburgh — the campaigns announced Thursday.

The other two debates were scheduled for Philadelphia and Harrisburg. Dates were not announced.

Both men won their primaries without ...Read more

Princeton University is the latest local university to see pro-Palestinian student protesters erect tents on campus as a national movement grips the nation and catalyzes debate over the war in Gaza, free speech on college campuses and American support for Israel.

Calling it a “Gaza Solidarity encampment,” the group said in a news release ...Read more