For more than two decades, the Supreme Court has issued a long series of wins for plaintiffs seeking to protect their religious practices. On June 23, 2026, though, the majority delivered an uncommon defeat in this contentious area.

Landor v. Louisiana Department of Public Education and Safety, a 6-3 judgment, rejected the claim of ...Read more

Amid celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary, assertions of the country’s religious, and specifically Christian, character have grown louder in political discourse.

In May 2026, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other prominent officials participated in a prayer service in Washington, D.C. Johnson proclaimed, “We hereby ...Read more

Venezuela and its capital, Caracas, were rocked by two massive earthquake pulses on June 24, 2026, just seconds apart. The shaking from the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 events caused buildings to collapse in cities across the northern part of the country, killing more than 500 people and trapping many more.

University of Southern California ...Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 25, 2026, that the Trump administration may revoke the temporary protected status of 350,000 Haitians.

This is not the first time a legal challenge to TPS has held Haitians’ future in the balance: During his first administration, President Donald Trump attempted to terminate Haitian TPS but was ...Read more

The death toll from the devastating double earthquake that struck Venezuela’s Caribbean coast climbed to at least 589 people early Friday, with 2,980 injured, as rescue crews raced to locate survivors buried under rubble and humanitarian agencies warned the disaster’s full scale is still unfolding.

Authorities said at least 157 people ...Read more

Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is rebounding on Russia in Crimea, amid escalating attacks on the Black Sea peninsula that he annexed in 2014.

Ukrainian drone and missile strikes are disrupting Russian logistics and supply routes to Crimea, plunging the region into crisis as officials resort to emergency measures. Electricity blackouts leave ...Read more

An attack on a container vessel sailing through the Strait of Hormuz has prompted some shipowners to review exit plans, but traffic continued to flow in both directions through the vital thoroughfare on Friday.

Two fully laden tankers are heading out of the Persian Gulf, while four empty, inbound, very large crude carriers are among the vessels...Read more

The earthquakes that struck Venezuela Wednesday have become the first major political test for acting President Delcy Rodríguez, with the disaster quickly evolving into a contest over competence.

As Rodríguez’s administration races to rescue victims, restore infrastructure and secure international assistance, the opposition is mounting its...Read more

Kate Dineen assumed she would always have access to reproductive healthcare because of where she lived. It came as a shock when she was denied an abortion in 2021 because of gestational limits to the procedure in Massachusetts law.

Dineen was 33 weeks into her pregnancy, the third trimester, when a routine ultrasound detected a problem with the...Read more

DULUTH, Minn. — Donn Branstrator and his team pulled up the traps just offshore of the Duluth-Superior Harbor. There, in the nets, were dozens of tiny wriggling red-spotted shrimp, both male and female, some pregnant, some juvenile.

It was the first evidence that Hemimysis anomala, commonly known as bloody red shrimp, which is native to the ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An effort by California lawmakers to require transportation agencies to “consider alternatives” to widening highways was thwarted recently after special interest groups fought to preserve more freedom to build bigger freeways.

Assembly Bill 2560, authored by Assembly member Nick Schultz, D-Burbank, seeks to codify ...Read more

HUGHSON, Calif. — The sun beat down and wind chimes sounded quietly in the tiny Central Valley city of Hughson, where Tiffany Nolan Rodriguez had come to the local cemetery to talk with her husband.

She wanted to know: should she speak to a reporter about what it’s like to carry on without him, a year after he died in a Yolo County ...Read more

Proponents of a tax on California billionaires vowed on Thursday to move forward with their November ballot measure despite mounting opposition from many of the state's most powerful political forces.

A labor union spent $31 million gathering signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot in an effort to offset federal healthcare funding cuts...Read more

YORBA LINDA, Calif. — More than 400 people gathered at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda on Thursday to hear Vice President JD Vance speak on current issues and his personal journey with his faith, the subject of his new memoir.

The Republican official’s talk turned political at times. Vance began the event by ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Thursday to crack down on inflated profits stemming from car crash lawsuits, blessing a hard-fought compromise between Uber and the state's trial attorneys that averts a November showdown between two of California's most powerful and moneyed lobbying forces.

The deal, the fruit of months of negotiations, takes aim...Read more

MIAMI — For nearly two weeks, wildfires — the first of which was spawned along Krome Avenue from a lightning strike and split into two blazes spanning over 22,000 acres — have suffocated neighborhoods in western Miami-Dade County. Now, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue says its diligent job is done, signaling full containment of the fires soon.

On ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump had a surprise for the farmers he invited to dinner at the White House on Thursday: a request to Congress for $11.1 billion in assistance that would amount to the second bailout of the year for the beleaguered agriculture sector.

The appeal to Congress is part of a supplemental funding package that includes...Read more

CHICAGO — Amid a projected deficit of over $700 million, Chicago Public Schools officials said they aim to have the district’s budget for the upcoming school year approved by the end of July, a month earlier than last year, in part to secure short-term borrowing to help cover operational costs.

A budget proposal is set to be published ...Read more

BOSTON — Paying the bills is not a party, a new report reveals.

The Pioneer Institute says the Bay State is not as progressive as its political leadership makes it out to be when it comes to taxing lower-and middle-income families.

That conclusion follows the Supreme Judicial Court's striking down of the Massachusetts ballot initiative that ...Read more