With average gas prices in Florida approaching $4 a gallon, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday there is no “simple fix” the state could enact.

Democrats in the state Legislature have asked the governor to temporarily lift the state’s 23.5-cent per gallon tax on gas. However, while appearing at PIER 22 in Bradenton, DeSantis said he’s ...Read more

NEW YORK — Dylan Lopez Contreras, the first known New York City student targeted by federal immigration authorities after President Trump returned to office, spoke Thursday for the first time since his release — calling for others still in detention to be freed.

Lopez Contreras, 21, a Bronx high school student from Venezuela, was taken into...Read more

WASHINGTON — US spy chief Tulsi Gabbard acknowledged the U.S. and Israel have different goals for their joint military campaign in Iran, underscoring tensions after Israeli jets struck energy facilities and President Donald Trump pressed for deescalation.

Gabbard, the U.S. director of national intelligence and previously a vocal critic of U....Read more

WASHINGTON — Top leaders at the Justice Department are rallying behind a U.S. attorney’s legal fight with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the White House isn’t opposing it, amping up the clash with major implications for who will lead the central bank.

President Donald Trump had been open to the idea of dropping the probe into ...Read more

BOSTON — House members of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security will have until Friday afternoon to vote in an internal poll on whether to advance legislation that would ban federal immigration officials from making civil arrests in Massachusetts courthouses, among other measures, with a formal vote expected in the coming ...Read more

Following accusations Wednesday that late civil rights activist Cesar E. Chavez had sexually assaulted children and raped Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with Chavez, cities across the country are rushing to change the name of streets dedicated in his honor.

Portland, Oregon, wants to do. So does Austin, ...Read more

CHICAGO — Planned Parenthood of Illinois has agreed to pay $500,000 following an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission into allegations that its white employees faced harassment and discrimination, according to the federal agency.

The EEOC investigated charges made by multiple employees and found “reasonable ...Read more

A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from outfitting a Western Maryland warehouse as an immigration detention center until at least mid-April, when a hearing could determine the fate of the entire project.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson paused construction on the Washington County building as ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Sen. Thom Tillis stepped in and defended the nomination of former Rep. Dan Bishop to serve as U.S. attorney for North Carolina’s Middle District after Sen. Dick Durbin labeled Bishop a “MAGA extremist” with no prosecutorial experience.

“We couldn’t have gotten by with that with the Democratic president,” Durbin ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department sent a subpoena to former FBI Director James Comey as part of an investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials waged a years-long conspiracy against President Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.

The grand jury subpoena was issued last week by the U.S. ...Read more

In a $1 million settlement announced Thursday, the University of California, Berkeley agreed to rescind bylaws that barred speakers who support Zionism from student-held events.

“This settlement reflects UC Berkeley’s long-standing values and objectives when it comes to combatting abhorrent antisemitic expression, harassment, and ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Advocates for the 6-year-old deaf Hayward boy who was deported earlier this month to Colombia say the child’s language skills appear to be deteriorating as he faces problems communicating with almost everyone around him, including his own mother.

“He’s really struggling — the issues have just gotten worse,” said ...Read more

A state legislator wants to repeal César Chavez Day in Minnesota following revelations the farm labor leader reportedly groomed and sexually abused girls who worked as part of his movement.

“The pain and trauma survivors carry is a weight that can’t be erased by replacing signs and names on buildings or repealing this state holiday, but it...Read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — NASA hopes it has only one more roll to the launch pad before it gets a shot to launch four astronauts around the moon on the Artemis II mission.

Teams are set to begin the 4.2 mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39-B beginning at 8 p.m. Thursday for what would be around a 12-hour trip.

Winds ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has asked for an additional $200 billion from Congress to pay for the war against Iran, a person familiar with the matter said, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued that the campaign was ahead of schedule and disputed that the U.S. was getting embroiled in a quagmire.

The person, who asked not to be identified ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Before Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi departed for Washington, she told her nation’s lawmakers that her Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump on Thursday would be “very difficult.”

Actually, it was awkward.

After a reporter questioned Trump about not warning Japan before launching his “surprise” ...Read more