More states are piling up gold bars, or encouraging residents to use gold-backed debit cards, to hedge against inflation.

Several states, including Western ones with rich mining histories, have been stockpiling gold as part of their broader state savings. And more states are looking to follow the lead of Texas and Florida by passing so-called ...Read more

Each year a baby goes through about 3,000 diapers, essential care products that are in continuous contact with sensitive skin. But manufacturers are not required to completely disclose what disposable diapers are made of, leaving parents in the dark. That may soon change in California.

A bill introduced last month would require companies that ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Decades of anger and frustration are turning into cautious optimism for some victims of contaminated drinking water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, as about two dozen of more than 3,700 lawsuits seeking compensation for damages appear headed for trial later this year in federal court in North Carolina.

Once settled, these so-...Read more

SAN DIEGO — When students are introduced to most new topics, schools can slowly scaffold learning. But that’s not been the case with artificial intelligence, as Poway Unified School District learned.

“We gave students keys to the sports car before we gave them any drivers’ ed,” says Amy Fousek, the district’s director of ...Read more

President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV, the U.S.-born head of the Catholic Church, had an unusual and acrimonious public exchange over the weekend.

In a scathing attack on Truth Social, the social media platform he launched in 2022, Trump accused the pope of being “WEAK on Crime and terrible for Foreign Policy.” The lengthy post ...Read more

NEW YORK — In an unexpected reversal, lawyers for the Trump administration on Monday said the federal government would fly the rainbow Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village.

The government’s decision was included in a proposed settlement to voluntarily dismiss a Manhattan federal court lawsuit brought by the ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — The deadline for Gov. Abigail Spanberger to sign, amend or veto legislation passed by the General Assembly is 11:59 p.m. EDT Monday.

In the hours before, she signed dozens of bills into law – but also made a point to highlight legislation that didn’t pass.

This is the Democratic governor’s first General Assembly session,...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland lawmakers passed a voting rights bill in the final days of the 2026 legislative session that could give Gov. Wes Moore a new path to revisit congressional redistricting — despite failing to win approval to redraw maps during the session.

“What is happening at the local level could be an attempt to see what would be ...Read more

LIMA, Peru — The race to take on conservative Keiko Fujimori in Peru’s presidential runoff remained deadlocked Monday, with thousands of Peruvians still voting because of logistical mishaps a day earlier.

A fresh quick count by pollster Ipsos has Fujimori leading the first round with 17.1%. Leftist lawmaker Roberto Sánchez was second with ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump began a U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a move intended to raise pressure on Tehran, even as the two countries are weighing another round of talks in hopes of cementing a longer-term ceasefire.

A naval blockade took effect Monday after a Trump-imposed deadline passed, with the United States ...Read more

Maryland is moving to further curb local cooperation with immigration authorities, placing it at odds with Republicans and the Trump administration in a widening fight over federal enforcement efforts.

As its 90-day session wound down Monday, the General Assembly approved legislation restricting when local authorities can detain individuals ...Read more

NEW YORK — A little more than a month after construction of the Hudson River Tunnel resumed, crews are working assembling the specialized machines necessary to dig the first stage of a pair of rail tunnels through the tough rock of the New Jersey Palisades.

The project’s two massive tunnel-boring machines — manufactured in Germany and ...Read more

SACRAMENTO — The big-money backers and Democratic heavyweights who tried to crown Rep. Eric Swalwell as California’s next governor before his scandal-plagued exit from the political arena are now scrambling to find a new favorite among the candidates they either spurned or actively tried to undercut.

Swalwell announced Monday he would ...Read more

While Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was showing the Dutch royal couple around Independence Mall, his general counsel was taking steps to quell a dispute that hit Pennsylvania’s first couple close to home.

Shapiro asked a U.S. District judge to dismiss a federal lawsuit filed by his Abington neighbors over a parcel of land between their ...Read more

A judge threw out Donald Trump’s $10 billion libel suit against the Wall Street Journal and parent company News Corp., dealing a blow to the president’s ongoing campaign of litigation against the media.

The decision Monday in federal court in Miami largely vindicates a 2025 story that suggested Trump sent a lewd birthday note to Jeffrey ...Read more

CHICAGO — Aldermen advanced an ordinance Monday aimed at forcing officers with ties to extremist groups out of the Chicago Police Department.

The ordinance would prohibit police from participating in radical extremist and hate groups like the Three Percenters or Proud Boys and create new investigative powers to vet alleged ties.

It drew ...Read more