JUNEAU, Alaska — The Alaska Legislature passed a bill to impose a new state tax on e-cigarettes and vapes and formally raise Alaska's legal smoking age from 19 to 21. Along with the deterrence measures, the bill also includes a provision to legalize cigar lounges.

Senate Bill 24 passed the House 24-16 and cleared the Senate on a 15-5 ...Read more

NASA announced which two companies would be tasked to build lunar rovers for its future moon base — as well as the company that will fly them there — among other plans during an event from its Washington headquarters Tuesday.

Blue Origin’s uncrewed Blue Moon MK1 lander, which will launch from Cape Canaveral atop a New Glenn rocket, was ...Read more

Multiple people were reported killed while others suffered chemical burns and other injuries in Longview, Washington, after a major chemical implosion was reported at a pulp and paper mill Tuesday morning, authorities say.

The rupture of a tank containing white liquor was reported around 7:20 a.m. at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility in ...Read more

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Tuesday posted a video of himself wrangling live snakes on the patio at Dr. Oz’s Florida beach house.

The health secretary grabbed the two or three hissing North American racer snakes in the corner of the deck as his TV star wife Cheryl Hines tried in vain to get him to stop.

“You are nuts!” Hines tells RFK Jr. as ...Read more

ROME — A White Sox-emblazoned kippah. A Chicago sanctuary city pin. Bottled giardiniera. But not a Cubs hat.

Those are some of the several personal items Chicago leaders have said they will hand-deliver to Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, when Mayor Brandon Johnson will lead a delegation to the Vatican in his biggest international trip so far.

The ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Gov. Wes Moore on Tuesday signed over 270 bills, including legislation that reduces the number of offenses for which minors can be tried as adults in court.

The bill, known as the Youth Charging Reform Act, removes first-degree assault and several handgun offenses from the current list of 33 offenses that automatically lead to ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration on Tuesday sued the University of California alleging that UCLA is "deliberately indifferent" to antisemitic harassment of Jewish students, marking the government's third lawsuit against the UC system this year and a sharp escalation of federal civil rights pressure on the nation's largest public research...Read more

The state of Michigan is no longer recommending that infants as young as 6 months get an early dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

In early April, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services issued a temporary recommendation that families in southeast Michigan have their infants vaccinated between the ages of 6-11 ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — At Potter-Thomas Elementary in North Philadelphia, Principal Nichole Willoughby is bracing for the loss of five staff members.

She doesn’t want to contemplate what comes after cutting educators who help struggling students with reading and math, who teach English to newcomers to the U.S., her dean of students and a ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A federal court blocked Alabama from using its new congressional map in this fall’s elections, ruling Tuesday that it is still “intentionally discriminatory” against Black voters.

The unanimous decision from a three-judge panel to grant a preliminary injunction adds to the legal drama around the state’s redistricting ...Read more

CHICAGO — A group of attorneys have called on State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke to upgrade a misdemeanor battery charge that is pending against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent to a felony, questioning why the case was filed as a misdemeanor in light of what they said were aggravating circumstances.

The Chicago Council of ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s legislative leaders, after weeks of negotiations and delays, are ready to give Gov. Ron DeSantis his final budget.

Clocking in at around $114.5 billion, the budget will cover the last months of DeSantis’ tenure as Florida governor and the start of the next administration.

Like last year, lawmakers couldn’t...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The crisis at a Garden Grove aerospace firm that required the evacuation of 50,000 people was probably caused by the failure of a cooling system designed to regulate the temperature of chemical tanks, interim Orange County Fire Authority Chief TJ McGovern told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.

This may have led to a buildup of ...Read more

DETROIT — Two Michigan State University trustees aren't on Mackinac Island Tuesday for the annual policy conference because the university revoked their credentials after the trustees refused to sign onto the board's new Code of Ethics and Conduct.

The new code of conduct requires the eight trustees to sign onto a "Statement of ...Read more

WASILLA, Alaska — Emma Pike just turned 1 and still hadn’t learned to walk, worrying her parents Greg and Tara Pike.

That’s when they were introduced to Alaska’s Infant Learning Program, which provides therapy and interventions for developmentally disabled infants and toddlers.

“She ended up crawling and walking in the same week once...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Three men who spent nearly three decades in prison for the 1997 stabbing death of a Northwest Philadelphia woman had their murder convictions overturned Tuesday after prosecutors, defense attorneys, and a judge agreed that key evidence in the case against them was unreliable.

Marc Brittingham, Rasheed Smith and Jermal Shuler ...Read more

MIAMI — The number of immigrants held at Florida’s immigration detention center in the Everglades dropped by the hundreds in recent weeks ahead of the controversial facility’s expected closure, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost said on Tuesday after touring the facility

Frost, a Democrat from Orlando, said he made a planned visit to the detention ...Read more

BOSTON — Massachusetts has officially certified the nation’s first-ever rideshare drivers’ union, with Gov. Maura Healey, local and national labor leaders, along with dozens of drivers, celebrating at the State House steps Tuesday morning.

The App Driver’s Union, backed by two large and powerful unions in 32BJ Service Employees ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.— Florida’s legislative leaders, after weeks of negotiations and delays, are ready to give Gov. Ron DeSantis his final budget.

Clocking in at around $114.5 billion, the budget will cover the last months of DeSantis’ tenure as Florida governor and the start of the next administration.

Like last year, lawmakers couldn’t ...Read more

An Indiana State Police trooper was shot in the chest and a suspect was shot and killed at the scene just after midnight Tuesday on Interstate 94, just east of the Illinois state line, police said.

The shooting took place after what Sgt. Glen Fifield, public information officer for the Lowell Post, termed “a routine traffic stop,” the ...Read more