Oil eased as U.S. and Iranian negotiators explored a phased deal to reopen the world’s most important energy shipping route.

West Texas Intermediate futures traded below $94 a barrel, retreating slightly from a surge fueled by supply concerns and hawkish rhetoric. The two countries were said to be pushing for a breakthrough that would see ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday upheld President Donald Trump’s expanded use of government data to spot noncitizens who are registered to vote.

The justices granted an emergency appeal from Trump’s lawyers and set aside a judge’s order that blocked use of this data on the grounds it was error-prone, particularly for ...Read more

NEW YORK — Cops have arrested two of the three men spotted popping out of a manhole onto an Upper East Side street, the latest in an alarming trend in which low-rent treasure hunters have been seen scouring the sewers for valuables, police said Friday.

The suspects — Kevin Rodriguez, 26, and Samuel Reveron, 25 — sparked an underground ...Read more

New Jersey’s two senators in Washington echoed Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s call for Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell to resign just hours after she released a report that said he sexually harassed a woman and made advances to others even after he was warned to stop.

Sen. Andy Kim, a Burlington County Democrat, said in a statement on social media that the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Trump administration to restart its effort to create a nationwide database of purportedly eligible voters, setting aside a lower court ruling that found likely privacy and accuracy problems with the database.

The unsigned order from the court’s conservative majority allowed the ...Read more

CHICAGO — Stalking of ex-romantic partners, unauthorized personal surveillance, tracking drivers’ behavior — these are just a few of the ways in which law enforcement officers, outside their official police duties, have been accused in recent months of misusing automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology.

Widely popularized by the ...Read more

CHICAGO — The now-retired prosecutor at the center of the “Broadview Six” scandal penned a fiery resignation letter to U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros this week saying he “personally directed” her to seek felony charges rather than misdemeanors and then “publicly vilified” her in court by blaming her for the way the case melted down. ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Denise Fitzsimmons knew that removing the fast-growing lump above her eyebrow in 2024 didn’t eliminate the possibility that her melanoma could return.

But a clinical trial at Penn Medicine offered the 63-year-old grandmother from Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, hope of a more enduring remission. It tested a novel vaccine, based on ...Read more

CHICAGO — Candidates for city office will have to stand by their campaign ads — in writing or aloud in commercials — by saying “I approve this message” as part of a set of pared-down ethics changes approved by the Chicago City Council.

But while other tweaks around “coercive” emails and use of city seals and logos also passed, a ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A 14-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with an outbreak of killings of horses and goats in rural Oconee County in the northwest mountainous corner of South Carolina.

The arrest was announced by the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Jimmy Watt said the boy has been charged with ill ...Read more

Advances in artificial intelligence and other technologies must remain at the service of people rather than become instruments of domination and injustice, Pope Leo XIV said.

Speaking at the Unesco headquarters in Paris on Friday on the first leg of a four-day visit to France, the American pontiff said many tasks once performed by human beings ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A day after St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry filed a lawsuit claiming Mayor Kaohly Her sexually harassed him, alleging unwanted physical contact and retaliation, there has been near-silence from leaders in the city and in Minnesota about the rare legal action between two top city leaders.

No public statements from officials ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Tropical Storm Gonzalo formed late Thursday to become the seventh named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, although still one that has yet to produce a hurricane. It joined Tropical Storm Fay in the distant Atlantic, according to the National Hurricane Center.

As of the NHC’s 5 a.m. advisory Friday, the center of ...Read more

MIAMI — Last spring, Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner waved from a city fire truck at the front of the annual gay Pride parade down Ocean Drive. Now, organizers aren’t sure whether the mayor can come back next year without violating Florida’s new anti-DEI law.

“That’s the absurdity of this law,” said Miami Beach Commissioner Alex ...Read more

MIAMI — The Sunday before Labor Day was supposed to be a typical one for Duviel Aleman and his father, Rolando Aleman. They would both go to work for Professional Ocean Service Corp, cleaning airplanes at Miami International Airport. A van would ferry them to the jobs.

But Duviel was recovering from appendicitis, and was ordered by his doctor...Read more

Ukraine said it hit two more Russian oil refineries as the warring countries continue strikes against each other despite both sides earlier this week holding talks with the U.S., which wants targeting of energy assets to halt.

Lukoil PJSC’s facility in the Perm region and a smaller oil-processing plant in Novoshakhtinsk, in the southern ...Read more

Oil eased as U.S. and Iranian negotiators explored a phased deal to reopen the world’s most important energy shipping route.

Brent futures traded near $105 a barrel, retreating slightly from a two-day surge fueled by supply concerns and hawkish rhetoric. The two countries were said to be pushing for a breakthrough that would see Tehran ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The slate of statewide measures on the Nov. 3 ballot provides voters two opportunities to tax the rich, which in past years has proved tantalizing to California's left-leaning electorate.

Only one of those measures has strong voter support, however, and it's not the proposition that's attracted nationwide attention, ignited a ...Read more

Teens in southeast Michigan go to school carrying with them far more than backpacks, books and water bottles.

Many are shouldering economic hardship, exposure to adversity and discrimination, family responsibilities, uncertainty about the future and social pressures.

These sentiments were shared with our research teams ...Read more

The people of northern Virginia have been living with data centers for many years. The area is home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers. In a survey we conducted, we found northern Virginians support development restrictions that could make data centers more transparent and accountable to the public. But they care about ...Read more