Across the United States, the sky will be erupting with fireworks on July 4, 2026, and the days around it as America celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence. Many cities will be hosting spectacular fireworks shows.

But not everyone will be leaving the pyrotechnics to the professionals, so let’s talk about the risk of ...Read more

Chicago is preparing for dangerously high temperatures this week, with officials urging residents to take extra precautions.

The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat warning, effective from noon Monday through 10 p.m. Wednesday.

At a Monday news conference led by the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, meteorologist ...Read more

Even as rescue crews dig through rubble in Venezuela and thousands search for missing loved ones, another question is beginning to loom over the country’s uncertain future: whether opposition leader María Corina Machado is finally coming home.

Machado said over the weekend that she plans to return to Venezuela in the coming days, describing ...Read more

NEW YORK — Eight people needed medical attention after a woman released bear spray during an argument in a lower Manhattan hotel Monday morning, police said.

The woman released the powerful spray about 8 a.m. inside the Double Tree by Hilton New York Downtown on Stone Street near Broadway in the Financial District before running off. She has ...Read more

DENVER — Three wildfires burning in western Colorado have consumed nearly 50,000 acres — roughly 78 square miles — and killed three firefighters, according to the responding agencies.

“Critical fire weather conditions” forecast each day this week could spur the wildfires’ growth across the state’s Western Slope and mountains, ...Read more

NEW YORK — City temperatures are expected to grow hotter by the day before hitting triple digits later this week.

The National Weather Service is calling for a high of 88 degrees Tuesday. The mercury will reach the mid-90s Wednesday before soaring to 100 degrees on Thursday and Friday.

Meteorologists issued an “extreme heat watch” ...Read more

California officials cheered a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday that allows states to continue counting mail ballots postmarked by election day but received in the days after — calling it a win for voter participation and access, including in the upcoming November midterm.

They also acknowledged delays in recent vote counting have spurred ...Read more

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who has served nearly 40 years in Congress to become one of its most influential power brokers, on Monday announced who she will take on when she leaves office in January: University of California, Berkeley students.

The Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy, to be launched with tens of millions of dollars in ...Read more

DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court rejected multiple proposed ballot measures Monday that would have asked voters to redraw the state’s electoral maps for the 2028 election to give Democrats an advantage in seven of eight congressional districts.

For now, the two unanimous rulings knock Colorado out of the nationwide partisan redistricting...Read more

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s claims that they were suddenly told, “at the eleventh hour,” that they wouldn’t get the police protection they want while they and their children visit the United Kingdom has been challenged by journalists who say their team revealed Friday that the couple already knew this protection wouldn’t be ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday turned away Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz's defamation suit against CNN, refusing to reconsider the high bar for press freedom set in the New York Times vs. Sullivan case.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented.

The no-comment decision may signal the justices are not anxious to...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday gave President Donald Trump new power to fire the heads of most independent agencies created by Congress — but not the Federal Reserve.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. announced two opinions, one of which bolstered the president's power as the chief executive and a second which said this authority ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump’s effort to remove Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook on Monday, even as the justices expanded presidential power to remove members of the Federal Trade Commission and other independent agencies.

The two decisions written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr — a 5-4 ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday upheld state laws that allow for counting mail ballots that are postmarked by election day but arrive later.

The 5-4 decision rejects a Republican challenge to laws in California and 13 other mostly Democratic states which permit the counting of these late-arriving ballots.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett ...Read more

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a $117.6 billion budget Monday after vetoing $800 million from the spending plan approved by the Florida Legislature.

“The reality is we paid down the government debt, we maxed out our rainy day fund…and we really set up for what happens in the future,” DeSantis said of the trimmed down budget.

He signed the ...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump said peace talks with Iran are set to resume on Tuesday in Doha, after both sides agreed to halt a series of tit-for-tat attacks over the Strait of Hormuz.

“Iran has requested a meeting,” Trump said Monday in a post on Truth Social. “It will take place tomorrow in Doha.”

Shortly after, White House Press ...Read more

DENVER — Three wildfires burning in western Colorado have consumed roughly 44,000 acres, killed three firefighters and injured two, according to the responding agencies.

“Critical fire weather conditions” forecast each day this week could spur the wildfires’ growth across the state’s Western Slope and mountains, according to the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday turned down without comment President Donald Trump's appeal of a $5 million jury verdict for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in Manhattan nearly 30 years ago.

None of the justices registered a dissent.

When Carroll reported the incident in a book, ...Read more

CHICAGO — Cook County residents will experience at least three days of dangerously hot conditions this week, officials have warned, as a heat dome builds over the Midwest and eastern U.S. and as Illinois is hit with its first heat wave of the summer. While chances for thunderstorms later in the week could cool off the area in time for the July...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday turned down without comment President Donald Trump's appeal of a $5-million jury verdict for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in Manhattan nearly 30 years ago.

None of the justices registered a dissent.

When Carroll reported the incident in a book, ...Read more