WASHINGTON — A study funded by the National Institutes of Health that would test if an antibiotic can prevent sexually transmitted infections in women has been terminated by the Trump administration as part of its ongoing attempt to halt what it considers “diversity, equity and inclusion” in scientific research.

While the drug has been ...Read more

With just days left to finalize the state budget, New York lawmakers are getting behind Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature plan to ban cell phones all school day.

The proposal, known as a “bell-to-bell” policy because it separates students from their devices upon arrival until dismissal, had initially been met with some reluctance in the ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania election officials and experts said Wednesday that it’s highly unlikely a sweeping executive order from President Donald Trump seeking to require proof of citizenship for voters and altering rules for administering elections will take full effect.

And at least one Philadelphia area county said it is consulting ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Democrats voiced concerns about whether former U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop would uphold the Constitution after hearing his testimony for why he should serve as deputy director of budget for the Office of Management and Budget.

On Wednesday, senators confirmed his nomination, 53-45, along party lines with Democrats opposed.

Bishop, 60, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Fetterman joined fellow Democrats Wednesday in criticizing President Donald Trump's national security team for sharing attack plans in a Signal chat group that included a journalist.

The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg on Monday revealed that national security adviser Mike Waltz had invited him to a group of top ...Read more

NEW YORK — Sidewalk sheds, the widely reviled construction safety structures blighting public space in NYC, can only stay up for three months at a time under a package of bills passed by the City Council on Wednesday aimed at changing the look of the city.

Under current permit rules, sheds, typically erected for building facade repairs, can ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — State prosecutors in Connecticut filed a motion Wednesday seeking to put Kimberly Sullivan under electronic or GPS monitoring while she is out on bond for charges alleging that she held her 32-year-old stepson captive for two decades.

Sullivan, 56, appeared briefly at Superior Court in Waterbury, where she and her attorney, ...Read more

Four U.S. soldiers and a vehicle went missing in eastern Lithuania, where authorities have been carrying out a search-and-rescue operation since Tuesday.

The Baltic nation’s armed forces said no deaths had been confirmed as the rescue effort continued. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had earlier signaled that the service members had died, ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — At a probable cause and detention hearing in U.S. District Court, the government alleged that former Minnesota state Sen. Justin Eichorn was familiar with soliciting for sex on the internet and he tried to have his wife clean his St. Paul apartment of a gun, laptop and cell phone before FBI agents could search it.

Those ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A majority of the Supreme Court appeared reluctant Wednesday to wipe out a Federal Communications Commission program, voicing skepticism about arguments that Congress had ceded too much of its power to the agency.

In the two cases argued Wednesday, the justices questioned how they could deal with a lower-court decision that found...Read more

WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance’s Senate record left gaps about his views on foreign policy and the use of U.S. military force, but his text messages on a leaked group chat about counterstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen offered telling clues.

The former Ohio senator, his messages on the Signal platform show, “is the most ...Read more

DENVER — Colorado’s collared gray wolves continue to roam the state’s northwest corner and central mountains as wildlife officials wait and watch for signs new pups might be born this spring.

The state’s 27 collared wolves covered ground across the northwest part of the state, stretching from the northern border near Walden to the hills...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on autos not produced in the United States on Wednesday afternoon.

The announcement came after days of swirling speculation about how the president will levy "reciprocal tariffs" on U.S. trading partners. The administration has repeatedly said those tariffs will take effect April 2, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Trump administration officials continued to defend themselves Wednesday against claims that they mishandled classified information following the public release of a Signal group chat used to plan military strikes in Yemen.

Speaking at a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, Director of National Intelligence ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senators from both parties were poised to issue formal requests Wednesday for multiple inspector general probes into senior officials’ use this month of the Signal messaging app to discuss a military operation — and whether the incident is an aberration or part of a pattern.

Senate Armed Services Committee leaders said they ...Read more

NEW YORK — Brooklyn rapper and gang member Sheff G — who joined President Trump at a Bronx campaign rally last year — will get five years behind bars after pleading guilty to attempted murder and conspiracy Wednesday.

Sheff G, real name Michael Williams, 26, and his rap protégé Sleepy Hallow, paid for dinner at a swanky Manhattan steak ...Read more

WASHINGTON — During the latest hearing of the DOGE Subcommittee she leads, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene repeatedly accused the heads of National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service of using the funding they receive from Congress to push a liberal agenda.

“NPR and PBS have increasingly become radical, left-wing echo chambers...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Residents of a Rutherfordton neighborhood were ordered to evacuate immediately on Wednesday afternoon, March 26, when a fire developed rapidly in the area of South Winds Dive and Davenport Road.

Rutherford County Emergency Management said an emergency shelter has been opened at First Presbyterian Church, 252 N. Washington ...Read more

Amid a measles outbreak that has seen U.S. cases for the year so far surge past the total tracked in 2024, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has responded, in part, by suggesting alternatives to vaccination, including treating with vitamin A.

"We're providing vitamin A," Kennedy told Sean Hannity in an interview that aired on Fox News in ...Read more

The gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart parking lot in 2019 will avoid the death penalty.

El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya said Tuesday that Patrick Crusius, 26, is expected to accept a plea deal and avoid lethal injection. Montoya said the deal provided “resolution in our court system”...Read more