LEXINGTON, Ky., — One of Kentucky’s top state legislators is proposing to place a statue of Sen. Mitch McConnell in the rotunda of the State Capitol when it reopens after renovations.

A resolution from Senate President Robert Stivers, a Republican, filed Thursday would officially recommend placement of a statue of the longtime Kentucky U.S....Read more

WASHINGTON — When President Trump ordered immigration raids in Los Angeles last June, only a handful of those arrested were violent criminals. The sweeps split families, cost businesses millions of dollars and drove many undocumented residents into hiding.

Activists protested the Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, prompting the ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland’s effort to recover economic damages tied to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and closure of the Port of Baltimore is moving toward a federal trial, with proceedings focused first on whether the shipowner and manager can limit their financial liability under a centuries-old maritime law.

The state is ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A longtime El Segundo resident was arrested earlier this month after installing unauthorized stop signs at a neighborhood intersection he says has become increasingly dangerous for children.

Joseph Brandlin, 44, who has lived in El Segundo more than four decades, said he took matters into his own hands after months of ...Read more

NEW YORK — The city’s Rent Guidelines Board kicked off the process of deciding whether to enact Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign promise of freezing rents on stabilized units in its first meeting of the year Thursday, as it considered data that could support a rent freeze.

The new data, released Thursday in the board’s annual report, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday laid bare concerns in both parties about alarming advances in Russian and Chinese missiles, nuclear weapons and antisatellite capabilities.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the committee’s chairman, said at the hearing that these dangers are advancing by “leaps and bounds.”

Sen...Read more

The fight against infectious disease is a race against evolution. Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics. Viruses adapt to spread more quickly. Diseases transmitted by insects present another evolutionary front: Insects themselves can evolve resistance to the poisons that people use to kill them.

In particular, the mosquito-borne ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Democrats are calling out a right-wing political group for mocking former state House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated last year.

The fracas comes as the House State Government and Finance Policy Committee voted on Thursday, March 26, to advance proposals to honor Hortman.

One proposal would create a ...Read more

Hundreds of college diversity officers opened their national conference Thursday in Philadelphia with a moment of silence for those who had been forced out of their jobs and for offices and programs that had been shut amid President Donald Trump’s orders for colleges to halt DEI efforts.

“This isn’t the first time higher education and ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota will no longer recognize March 31 as Cesar Chavez Day after the Legislature passed a bill repealing the commemoration of the farm labor leader’s birthday.

The Senate unanimously approved the legislation on Thursday, March 26, following revelations that Chavez groomed and sexually abused girls who worked as part of ...Read more

Evangelist Franklin Graham said conservatives nationwide must unite ahead of the 2026 midterm elections to elect candidates who share the same values as President Donald Trump.

During a speech Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas, Graham noted that Trump will not be on the ballot in November, “but his policies are...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — The rector of Old Dominion University’s Board of Visitors asserted in an impassioned letter Thursday afternoon that the university’s faculty senate was using the recent deadly shooting on campus in “exploiting” a “political or personal agenda” he said had been held by the body prior to the tragedy.

Hours before a ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Staffing shortages tied to the ongoing federal shutdown forced security checkpoint closures at Baltimore/Washington International Airport on Thursday, raising the risk of delays for travelers in the days ahead.

“Security Checkpoint A and B are temporarily closed. Expect long lines at times, especially in mornings,” the airport...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Yolo County officials failed for years to shut down an illegal fireworks operation in Esparto despite repeated warning signs, a civil grand jury report released Thursday found, a lapse that preceded a July 1 explosion that killed seven people.

The grand jury, separate from a criminal grand jury weighing possible charges ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday continued projecting confidence in the U.S. war effort in Iran, suggesting online and during a high-level Cabinet meeting that Iran has been “obliterated,” that its leaders were “begging” for a deal, and that the United States is “roaming free” over Iran and “NEEDS NOTHING” from ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Baltimore and Maryland can proceed to discovery in their lawsuit against Glock after a Baltimore Circuit Court judge denied the gunmaker’s motion to dismiss, moving the case into the evidence-gathering phase.

The mayor and City Council of Baltimore, alongside the state of Maryland, filed lawsuit against Glock and its Austrian ...Read more

GRAPEVINE, Texas — A rally in support of the American- and Israeli-led war against Iran erupted outside the CPAC main stage Thursday around noon but was quickly disbanded by security at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center.

Shortly after two Iranian women left the main stage of the Conservative Political Action Conference, a few ...Read more

NEW YORK — A Manhattan judge on Thursday said he wouldn’t throw out narco-terrorism charges against ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, but sounded sympathetic to arguments about U.S. sanctions interfering with their defense.

The Manhattan Federal Court hearing was the first for Maduro and Cilia Flores Maduro since ...Read more