Amid an oppressive stretch of extreme heat and Florida-esque humidity that has been punishing much of California, consider, for a moment, the Ice Age.

For millions of years, Pacific mastodons — huge, hairy relatives of modern elephants — roamed a vast and lush range that included California, Oregon, the northern Rocky Mountains and parts of...Read more

President Donald Trump on Thursday promised to send $500 rebate checks to an estimated 1 million enrollees in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans, who he says were overcharged when former President Joe Biden was in the White House.

Trump claimed the money would compensate Obamacare enrollees in 30 mostly Republican states for what he ...Read more

BOSTON — Massachusetts’ highest court has issued a public reprimand of state district court Judge Shelley Joseph for her part in the escape from the courthouse of a suspect wanted by ICE in 2018.

“We also acknowledge that the respondent’s conduct here was less severe than other judicial conduct for which we have issued a public ...Read more

Twenty-five years after 9/11, the surveillance infrastructure built and expanded in its aftermath has become part of a far larger digital ecosystem — producing tools that can collect and analyze information on a scale unimaginable in 2001.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did more than reshape the nation’s approach to terrorism. ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon ruled that Secretary of State Denny Hoskins was in contempt of court for ordering local election officials to use a redrawn congressional map in November after conflicting rulings from the state’s high court and a federal court judge.

But in the same breath that Chief ...Read more

ARLINGTON, Va. — President Donald Trump announced Thursday a new monument will be built on the National Mall in Washington. He signed the final legislative step for the location during a ceremony Thursday at the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington.

The Hershel “Woody” Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Bill is ...Read more

DENVER — A Denver district judge opened a multiday hearing Thursday to determine whether Children’s Hospital Colorado should be held in contempt of court because transgender minors still can’t receive gender-affirming care there.

Judge Ericka Englert closed the courtroom during witnesses’ testimony, only allowing the public to hear ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland immigrant advocacy groups are suing the Department of Homeland Security over what the organizations allege is the agency’s warrantless immigration arrest practice.

The lawsuit requests a preliminary injunction to prohibit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s practice of “arrest first, ask questions later.”

...Read more

It’s only been two weeks since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrived back in the United Kingdom but the couple with a talent for drama have already found themselves accused of setting up a “rival court” and have launched a spat with King Charles III over the release of a letter that says they won’t be returning to royal duties and ...Read more

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel's interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico won't air on broadcast television amid the ABC network's high-stakes skirmish with the Federal Communications Commission.

Kimmel, during his Wednesday night monologue, said his talk with the 37-year-old Texas Democrat instead would stream on his show's YouTube channel ...Read more

BOSTON — Lindsay Clancy’s attorney is formally arguing that the court find her not guilty following last week’s mistrial.

“The government did not present evidence that allows a juror earnestly seeking the truth to determine that the defendant’s guilt on the crime was proved on each element of the offense,” defense attorney Kevin ...Read more

NEW YORK — When terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, hundreds of thousands of first responders, workers and New York City residents raced to the towers. They bore witness to horror, devastation and heroism.

Their lives were forever altered.

Now, 25 years later, they remember that day and the years that passed with a mix of pain, ...Read more

The Tibetan Plateau may be on the other side of the world from California, but what happens on this high-altitude landscape in Asia can set off a chain of events that fuels powerful atmospheric rivers with flooding rainfall and heavy snow hitting the U.S. West Coast.

My team of atmospheric scientists discovered this connection, and we...Read more

In August 2026, government investigators subjected roughly 50 military officers and civilian employees on the Joint Staff to polygraph tests as part of an inquiry into press leaks about the Iran war and depleted U.S. munitions, according to The New York Times. The newspaper described the scope of the investigation as unprecedented in the ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland’s chronic absenteeism rate dropped slightly last school year, but the state fell far short of its own goal of cutting the rate in half, education officials announced Thursday.

About 22.8% of Maryland students were chronically absent during the 2025-26 school year, down from 25% the previous year, according to ...Read more

NEW YORK — A pair of Queens brothers and pizzeria owners admitted to bribing former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration in Manhattan on Wednesday, two weeks before they were set to go on trial for corruption alongside Adams’ buildings chief Eric Ulrich.

Indicted in September 2023, Joseph and Anthony Livreri were among the first in a wave of ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — It had been six days since Dillon Minacci waited at school for his parents to finally pick him up. National Park rangers told the Minaccis to stay inside their Queen Village home — which sits on the grounds of the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church — as a precaution following the terrorist attacks that morning in New ...Read more

ABC comedian Jimmy Kimmel's interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico won't air on broadcast television amid the network's high-stakes skirmish with the Federal Communications Commission.

Kimmel, during his Wednesday night monologue, said his talk with the 37-year-old Texas Democrat would instead stream on his show's YouTube channel ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court paused on Thursday an order from a federal trial court requiring Missouri to use a congressional map that favored Republicans.

Thursday’s order leaves in place a state Supreme Court ruling that held the map adopted by the Republican-held legislature in 2025 was not legal because of a pending ballot initiative....Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The U.S. Supreme Court again rejected a push to use a more Republican-friendly map in the 2026 election.

That leaves the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision suspending the maps and requiring the state to use the maps passed in 2022.

Thursday's decision follows a flurry of court filings and rulings this week that have cast ...Read more