An organization focused on the separation of church and state has accused a Lexington middle school of letting church representatives “proselytize” local middle schoolers.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation on Wednesday demanded that Fayette County Public Schools “immediately stop allowing pastors from a local church to proselytize ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — On a Saturday afternoon in early May, with the Minnesota Wild locked in a tense showdown with the Colorado Avalanche during game three of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her stopped by a crowded, high-energy block party along West Seventh Street eager to promote the team and the Grand Casino Arena.

Watch ...Read more

President Donald Trump said the U.S.-led Board of Peace had reached a deal for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed groups in the Gaza Strip, as well as putting the area under a new Palestinian government, marking a breakthrough in implementing his 20-point peace plan.

“This is a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — An Apex teen who was detained last year by immigration agents despite being a U.S. citizen is now seeking damages from the Trump administration for what he says was a wrongful arrest and “unjust” treatment by the officers.

On Nov. 18, Fernando Vazquez Orea — who was born in Raleigh and was 18 when he was detained — was...Read more

The U.S. State Department presented a map of Africa that mislabeled every nation on the continent that it attempted to highlight at the International AIDS Conference in Brazil this week.

Nigeria, a vast country sitting on the Gulf of Guinea, was shown as a landlocked nation in the Sahara desert. Mozambique, whose Indian Ocean coastline ...Read more

MIAMI — Miami’s top Catholic leader is continuing to advocate for a three-year extension of temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants in the United States, calling the humanitarian crisis in Haiti a “house on fire” that would be “unconscionable” to send people back to.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — The World Cup and a focus on premium beer brands helped to buoy sales, Anheuser-Busch InBev leaders reported Thursday.

For its most recent quarter, ending June 30, revenue grew 5.6% — $1.65 billion — to $16.66 billion, compared to the same period last year, beating analysts' expectations of $16.29 billion.

Volumes were up 0.9...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — A 50-year sentence for a minor convicted of second-degree murder is akin to "cruel or unusual punishment" and thus is unconstitutional, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Thursday in the latest in a series of decisions chipping away at prison sentences for youths convicted of murder.

The 6-1, party-line high court ruling will ...Read more

NEW YORK — New Yorkers with disabilities have reached a settlement with the MTA in a nearly decade-long fight to make the subways accessible to everyone.

The tentative agreement, filed Wednesday in a long-running Manhattan Federal Court class-action lawsuit, outlines an action plan for the MTA and the city’s Transit Authority to address ...Read more

BOSTON — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu stood by her “safest” city claim when asked about this summer’s downtown violence. She said the city’s core remains safe, but acknowledged back-to-back “isolated” incidents can make people feel unsafe.

Wu addressed the violence that began to plague downtown Boston again this summer for the first ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Khlood Hammad was at the drive-thru lane of a Northeast Philadelphia Dunkin’ on the evening of Jan. 31, 2025, when a private medical transportation jet nose-dived into the ground a block away.

The sheer force of the blast and the gruesome scene still haunts Hammad, she said in a lawsuit filed this month against the jet’s ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — This year’s heat death toll for Southern Nevada rose to 46 on Thursday, a day after the Clark County coroner’s office released a spreadsheet that listed 29 heat-related deaths.

The updated number comes as Las Vegas braces for 110-degree highs through next week and the county extended its cooling station activation until ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Another heat wave is on California’s doorstep, and this one will have the backing of the largest heat dome on Earth when it arrives.

Heat domes are collections of higher-pressure and intrinsically warmer air stretching through to the upper atmosphere. From there, the weight and heat of the atmosphere pushes toward the ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A father and son accused of abducting two federal wildlife biologists in a remote part of Northern California earlier this month will face weapons and assault charges along with kidnapping, a federal indictment unsealed Thursday shows.

Joseph Charles Henrichsen, 49, and his son Phoenix Jose Phillup Henrichsen, 23, were ...Read more

On her fourth unannounced visit to an Immigration Customs Enforcement detention center — this time to the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach — U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she was “pleasantly surprised” by the conditions inside the facility on Thursday.

“This facility is clearly well run,” Wasserman Schultz said...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday approved President Donald Trump’s nominees to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and to serve as a key assistant secretary, two leadership roles that the administration has struggled to fill.

The committee voted 12-11 along party lines to ...Read more