WASHINGTON — A vast majority of Americans favor requiring artificial intelligence companies to meet independent safety benchmarks for their models, even if those standards mean slowing development of the technology, according to a new poll.

Against a backdrop of growing global anxiety over AI risks, 91% of those surveyed think it’s very or ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Wednesday that aims to put a check on corporate power in the state, but that some advocates say does not go far enough.

The measure, Assembly Bill 1776, makes it unlawful for a company or person to hold a monopoly over business, even if they are acting on their own. It is an expansion of the state’s current ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A 36-year-old Florida woman was indicted Wednesday for allegedly using an assault rifle to spray bullets at Rihanna's Los Angeles home earlier this year, nearly striking the singer and her husband.

Ivanna Ortiz will stand trial on one count of attempted murder, 10 counts of assault and three counts of shooting at an inhabited ...Read more

WASHINGTON — In the last two months of the fiscal year that ends Wednesday, the Pentagon spent tens of billions of mandatory dollars from last year’s reconciliation law, intensely accelerating spending from its unusually large overall budget for the year, congressional sources said this week.

The Pentagon spends scores of billions of ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Colleges and universities in California will soon be able to apply to get designated as Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander-serving institutions under AB 2374, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Tuesday. This comes about a year after the U.S. Department of Education ended several grant programs for federally ...Read more

WASHINGTON — As senators looked for the exits this week, Republican leaders forced votes on two hot-topic campaign issues: data center electricity costs and lawmakers’ ability to buy and sell stocks.

Democrats tried to label both as “toothless” last-ditch messaging bids, saying Republicans are merely trying to boost their sagging polls ...Read more

BEIRUT — America opened its “forever war” in Iraq more than 23 years ago with “Shock and Awe.” It ended it Wednesday with little of either, even as the legacy of that conflict — which saw Iraq endure sectarian bloodbaths, civil war and an insurgency that made Baghdad the car bomb capital of the world — continues to cast its shadow...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Carnegie Mellon University will open an innovative campus in Miami after a $3 billion donation from hedge fund CEO Kenneth Griffin, whose nationally historic gift will also aim to bolster CMU’s flagship Pittsburgh campus.

The gift from Griffin — the founder of Citadel whose nearly $50 billion net worth makes him the 37th ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — In the St. Paul mayor’s first extended public comments since the police chief filed a lawsuit against her, she said he had pushed back when she asked for information about police operations.

Kaohly Her, who took office in January, has been asking questions of all city departments, and Chief Axel Henry didn’t receive them...Read more

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a sweeping speech to junior officers and enlisted troops, announcing new military commands and projects, including one to be led by Elon Musk, Anduril Industries Inc. founder Palmer Luckey and former House speaker Newt Gingrich to research the future of warfare.

In a “State of the Force�...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After years of lobbying from women’s rights advocates and child marriage survivors, California will ban child marriages starting next year.

Current law allowed exemptions for minors under 18 who obtain parental permission and a court order. Assembly Bill 1267, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wednesday, bans marriages ...Read more

The Trump administration tightened the U.S. embargo against Cuba on Wednesday, further restricting travel to the communist-run island and access to U.S. banking for its private sector.

The new regulations, issued by the Treasury Department and taking effect Wednesday, also prohibits “indirect” transactions with sanctioned entities linked to...Read more

NEW YORK — The Trump administration’s controversial tariffs on imported goods will add $1 billion to the cost of modernizing the MTA’s bus and rail fleet, according to an estimate by the transit agency shared Wednesday — and Gov. Kathy Hochul has written to Washington asking for an exemption.

Trump’s “high and unpredictable tariff ...Read more

DENVER — Colorado Parks and Wildlife will temporarily stop killing wolves that prey on livestock as the state’s population of the controversial canines dwindles.

The state wildlife agency, which announced the change Wednesday afternoon, says officials will still consider requests to remove depredating wolves — but they will act much more ...Read more

NEW YORK — The administration of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to take legal action if Columbia University declines to reopen a campus walkway to the general public, according to a new court filing this week.

The demand marked a major escalation since Mamdani first broke with former Mayor Adams in support of Morningside Heights ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Western High School students rolled out the royal treatment Wednesday as Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, visited Baltimore to celebrate the expansion of his international youth award program to seven Baltimore City high schools.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, available in more than 120 countries and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The University of Southern California has named David Madigan, a statistician and former Northeastern University provost, as its chief academic officer, and he vows to make the university a leader in restoring American trust in higher education and adapting to rapid advances in artificial intelligence.

Madigan, 63, will become ...Read more