A Virginia Beach judge halted the city from enforcing its Oceanfront curfew, which had been set to resume Friday night.

Circuit Judge Tanya Felton made the ruling after nearly seven hours of argument and testimony.

Three business owners had asked the court Monday to issue a temporary restraining order on Monday, citing what they called severe ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Trump administration on Thursday launched a civil rights probe into New York City’s public schools over claims that pro-Palestinian teachers discriminated against Jewish students.

In a news release, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, said it received reports about a coalition of teachers ...Read more

RICHMOND, Va. — The General Assembly met briefly Thursday for a special session, but they left without a budget deal in place.

“No white smoke,” Senate Finance and Appropriations Chair Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, told reporters Wednesday. That’s a reference to the process of selecting a new Pope — when the smoke pouring out of the ...Read more

NEW YORK — In the oil market, volatility recently spiked to levels not seen since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Commodities and stocks globally have whipsawed in response to every twist and turn in the Iran war: A strike, a pause, a threat to wipe out a civilization, a ceasefire; then a deal, no deal, and the prospect of one again.

One ...Read more

BAISARIYEH, Lebanon — The coffin of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil floated above the crowd, draped in the red, white and green of the Lebanese flag, with Khalil's press vest and helmet balanced on top.

Khalil, a veteran 43-year-old journalist for the Lebanese daily Al Akhbar, was killed Wednesday in an Israeli strike on the house she was ...Read more

MEXICO CITY — It started out as a well-planned law-enforcement operation that culminated in the successful take-down of an illicit drug laboratory deep in the mountains of Mexico’s northern Chihuahua state.

But last weekend’s raid has now become a flash point inflaming U.S.-Mexico tensions as officials on both sides of the border ...Read more

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