ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX and United Launch Alliance are combining for a busy week of rocket launches on the Space Coast.

First up Thursday evening was SpaceX’s planned Starlink 6-90 mission with 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:01 p.m. Eastern time.

This was the 16th flight of ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida has cut more environmental protection jobs than any other state in the past 15 years, despite the challenges posed by increasingly intense hurricanes and sea level rise, according to a newly released national report.

The state cut 394 jobs, or 19% of full-time positions, at the Florida Department of Environmental ...Read more

Gov. Wes Moore on Thursday announced his administration will invest $19 million into programs to end child poverty across the state.

The investment will go to the Engaging Neighborhoods, Organizations, Unions, Governments, and Households (ENOUGH) initiative, now in its second year. Moore added that the initiative’s philanthropic partners, ...Read more

The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it plans to create a militarized zone along the U.S.-Mexico border in California to support border security operations for three years, the latest in a controversial series of moves aimed at securing the border amid the government’s immigration crackdown.

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Republicans in the Indiana Senate on Thursday rebuked President Donald Trump and spurned his demand for mid-decade redistricting to boost the GOP’s chances of holding its House majority in next year’s midterm elections.

Despite holding a supermajority, 21 Republican state senators voted with the chamber’s 10 Democrats to ...Read more

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy floated the prospect of allowing Ukrainians to vote on whether to hand the Donbas region to Russia as Kyiv comes under mounting pressure to agree to terms of an emerging U.S. peace plan.

Moscow has insisted that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the eastern territories, which include areas of the Donetsk and ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The seizure of an enormous oil supertanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday is just the beginning of a new phase in the Trump administration’s ramped-up pressure campaign against Nicolas Maduro, according to people familiar with the operation.

The act of economic statecraft — which saw U.S. forces descend on ropes ...Read more

The Powerball jackpot has swelled to an estimated $1 billion ahead of Saturday night's drawing, marking one of the largest prizes in history.

No tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Wednesday: white balls 10, 16, 29, 33, 69 and the red Powerball 22.

The pot now ranks as the seventh-largest Powerball jackpot and the second to reach the ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday he is unsure whether he’ll attend Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration on New Year’s Day, saying he’s hesitant to do so because the mayor-elect’s “nasty” supporters might use the opportunity to make a scene.

To skip out on the swearing-in would be a break in tradition, with outgoing mayors ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council unanimously voted Thursday to strengthen the city’s separation ordinance, which prohibits city workers from helping enforce federal immigration laws.

Council Member Jason Chavez said the recent influx of federal agents into Minneapolis has been “disheartening” and in addition to targeting ...Read more

Alaska's U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan were among four Republicans who joined the chamber's Democrats to vote in favor of a measure that would have extended health insurance subsidies used by millions of Americans, including thousands in Alaska.

Still, the bill failed to reach the 60-vote threshold to pass amid opposition from most...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Fish and Game Commission voted Thursday to extend the closure of the recreational red abalone fishery for another decade, keeping the ban in place until April 2036.

The fishery has been closed since 2018, when the commission shut it down in response to a dramatic population decline along Northern California...Read more

If all politics is local, in the case of one North Carolina Senate race, it’s both state and national, too.

North Carolina’s longtime Republican Senate leader Phil Berger is being challenged in a primary election by Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page.

Both men have praised Trump, but Trump chose to endorse Berger on Wednesday night, even ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Health insurance premiums for Obamacare-inspired policies are about to double for Californians, as hope Congress will come to the rescue got a big setback Thursday

COVID-era credits for people with Affordable Care Act marketplace health care policies will expire at the end of this month. That’s likely to mean an increase ...Read more

DENVER — The U.S. Department of Justice sued Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold on Thursday to demand that she release the state’s full voter registration list without any redactions.

The lawsuit follows months of demands from the federal law enforcement agency for voter and election data and other information about Colorado’s and ...Read more

President Donald Trump professed his admiration of miners Tuesday night at his Poconos rally, contending the brave workers are so enamored of their profession that Trump wouldn’t be able to convince them to swap jobs with anyone — including himself.

“I love miners ... They wouldn’t trade jobs with me if I gave them a beautiful, ...Read more