TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — State lawmakers approved giving Gov. Ron DeSantis broad new powers to name “terrorist” organizations, despite concerns from Democrats that he would abuse it to go after left-leaning college students and Islamic schools that receive public voucher money.

House lawmakers on Thursday passed HB 1471 along party lines, ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Since taking office, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has treated her 2023 campaign slogan — to make Philadelphia the “safest, cleanest, and greenest big city in the nation with access the economic opportunity for all” — as a to-do list for her administration.

With the homicide rate down and high-profile efforts to improve ...Read more

NEW YORK — A German tourist sued New York City’s famous taqueria Los Tacos No. 1 over salsa he said was so spicy he was left suffering “nonstop pain.”

Faycal Manz was visiting NYC in August 2024 when he stopped in at the taco joint in Times Square, opting to top his trio of tacos with Los Tacos’ green salsa. According to his lawsuit, ...Read more

School officials in New Richmond, Wisconsin, say they are cooperating with a federal investigation into their bathroom protocol, while maintaining that they are in compliance with Title IX policies.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights announced last week it was investigating the New Richmond School District for allegedly...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — One person has died and two others were injured in a shooting Thursday morning inside a classroom at Old Dominion University.

The gunman is dead, according to a news release from the university.

Two sources close to the investigation said the shooter was Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Army National Guardsman who was sentenced...Read more

Legislation that would allow Florida leaders to designate domestic “terrorist” groups is headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk, even as critics say it unfairly targets Muslims.

The House first signed off on the proposal last week, but it had to vote on it again on Thursday because the Senate approved an amended version of the bill.

After ...Read more

Researchers say the H5N1 bird flu outbreak in California elephant seals has spread to other marine mammals, including a sea otter and sea lion.

However, wildlife officials are cautiously optimistic the outbreak will remain contained. It has so far only been detected on beaches in San Mateo County, although testing is being conducted along the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Iran’s new supreme leader both struck defiant tones on the 13th day of the war, offering little relief to energy markets despite fresh U.S. efforts to curb oil prices.

The U.S. president said in a social media post Thursday that preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons and threatening the Middle ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Days after he was named Iran’s next supreme leader, and over a week since U.S. and Israeli bombing wiped out much of his family, Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first statement on Thursday demanding vengeance against the alliance over the war it unleashed.

He called on Iranian forces to continue thwarting vital shipping traffic ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — For the second year in a row, a bill that would allow Kentucky school staff members to wear silent panic alert systems has passed out of a state House committee.

Alyssa’s Law, a measure aimed at improving school safety and emergency responses to incidents at schools, was approved Wednesday by the House Committee on Primary ...Read more

MIAMI — California Gov. Gavin Newsom will be in Miami Friday night in the latest stop on a book tour that has looked a lot like an early campaign for a likely 2028 presidential run.

Longtime Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos and his daughter Paola Ramos — a journalist whose latest book interrogates the rise of the Latino far right — are ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — One person has died and two others were injured in a shooting Thursday morning inside a classroom at Old Dominion University.

The gunman is dead, according to a news release from the university.

Two sources close to the investigation said the shooter was Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Army National Guardsman who was sentenced...Read more

WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A gunman rammed his truck into a West Bloomfield Township synagogue Thursday afternoon and then opened fire on the temple, exchanging gunfire with security guards before he was killed.

The shooting happened before 1 p.m. at Temple Israel at 5725 Walnut Lake Road, west of Orchard Lake Road and east of Drake. ...Read more

DETROIT — Attacks on churches and places of worship have become more frequent, with two significant attacks in the Detroit and Flint region during the last year alone, before the attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield on Thursday.

FBI crime reports attacks or assaults against individuals at churches, synagogues, temples and mosques rose ...Read more

From a young age, Emir Balat was building things. First, it was electronic models on Roblox, a popular online game where users can generate their own 3D virtual worlds. Then it was writing code to sell sneakers.

Then, police said, it was a bomb plot.

By age 13, Balat had programmed a computer system to buy up new sneakers before they sold out ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Fort Snelling Immigration Court is holding expedited online hearings, largely in secret, for Somali nationals with asylum claims.

Nicknamed the “rocket docket” by attorneys and court observers, the only public notice of these hearings is a sheet of paper pinned to a board each day in the lobby of immigration court in the...Read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib and other Michigan members of Congress denounced the apparent attack on a Jewish temple in West Bloomfield Township on Thursday.

“The reports coming out of West Bloomfield are horrifying. I am praying for the safety of everyone at Temple Israel. No one should face violence anywhere, especially in a place...Read more

NEW YORK — A federal judge dismissed the bulk of the Gateway Development Commission’s suit over the Trump administration’s refusal to pay for the Hudson River Tunnel, because the funding has been temporarily restored by another court.

Siding with attorneys for the U.S. Department of Transportation, Judge Richard Hertling ruled in the ...Read more

DENVER — Mandatory evacuations are underway in Laporte in Larimer County because of a wildfire.

The evacuations were ordered around noon Thursday for Terry Lake Road south to Vine Drive and from Colorado 287 west to North Overland Trail.

Authorities are instructing people in the area to leave immediately.

Thursday’s wildfire risk is being...Read more