Meta Platforms has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by the state of Texas over its unauthorized capture and use of the personal biometric data of Facebook users, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office announced Tuesday. In a 2022 lawsuit, Mr. Paxton accused Facebook’s parent company of using facial recognition technology […]

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming has closed an area of the park for the rest of the summer after a hydrothermal explosion sent steam and debris flying hundreds of feet into the air on July 23, park officials said. Videos on social media showed some park visitors running away from the dark steam plume near […]

A New York judge has set a December trial date for Steve Bannon, a former White House strategist who is facing charges of scheming to con donors who gave money to build a border wall. Judge April Newbauer issued a trial date of Dec. 9 in the “We Build the Wall” case. Mr. Bannon was […]

CBS News President Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews announced her resignation after less than a year in her role. Her resignation on Wednesday came just days after CBS parent company Paramount Global announced its merger with production company Skydance Media, and the expected layoffs. Ms. Ciprian-Matthews, who joined CBS News as a senior producer in 1993, said changes […]

The U.S. Treasury Department has issued proposed rulemaking to expand a security committee’s review of land purchases by foreign buyers near dozens of additional U.S. military sites. The proposed rule would increase the power of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review land sales near 56 additional military sites, bringing the […]

The Justice Department announced criminal charges against nearly 200 people Thursday in a nationwide crackdown on health care fraud schemes and falls claims totaling $2.7 billion in intended losses. Doctors, nurse practitioners, and other licensed medical professionals across the U.S. are accused of various schemes, including a $900 million scam in Arizona that targeted terminally […]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied former reality television star Josh Duggar’s request to appeal his conviction for downloading images of child sexual abuse. Mr. Duggar, 36, whose large family was featured on the TLC show “19 Kids and Counting,” was convicted in December 2021 on one count each of receiving and possessing child […]

Families and community members gathered Friday in Uvalde, Texas, to mark the second anniversary of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. U.S. leaders also remembered May 24, 2022, when a teenage gunman stormed into Robb Elementary School and began shooting, killing 19 fourth graders and two teachers in the small town that […]

Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, Danielle Riley Keough, is fighting to keep the king of rock ‘n’ roll’s Graceland estate from being auctioned off on claims that a loan using the home as collateral was not repaid. On May 20, a Memphis judge granted Ms. Keough’s request for a temporary restraining order to block the public sale […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warned on Monday that cyberattacks against water utilities in the United States are becoming increasingly frequent and severe. The agency issued an enforcement alert, urging water systems to take immediate action to protect the nation’s drinking water. The EPA said approximately 70 percent of utilities inspected by federal officials since […]

Attorney John Eastman entered a plea of not guilty on Friday to conspiracy, fraud, and forgery charges for his alleged role in the effort to challenge the 2020 presidential election results. Mr. Eastman, who is accused of devising a strategy to persuade Congress not to certify the election, was the first of 18 individuals charged […]

Nearly 80 anti-Israel protesters at the University of Texas at Austin were arrested during Monday’s surprise attempt to set up an encampment, according to university officials. “The University of Texas learned Tuesday that, of the 79 people arrested on our campus Monday, 45 had no affiliation with UT Austin,” the university said in an emailed […]

Law enforcement officials on April 29 began arresting pro-Palestinian protesters who were setting up tents at the University of Texas–Austin. “Free Palestine,” the protesters chanted as they formed an encampment on the South Mall of the university on the afternoon of April 29, the Austin-American Statesman reported. “Who’s Lawn? Our Lawn,” the group chanted. By […]

More than half of Americans—including 42 percent of Democrats—said they would support mass deportations of illegal immigrants, according to a new Axios Vibes poll released on Thursday. The online survey also found that 46 percent of Republicans and 30 percent of Democrats said they would end birthright citizenship guaranteed under the 14th Amendment of the […]

Actress Ashley Judd recently opened up about her late mother’s heartbreaking struggle with mental illness during a panel discussion at the White House on April 23 to promote the newly formed National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. Ms. Ashley Judd’s mother, country star Naomi Judd, suffered severe depression before taking her own life nearly two years […]

Google has begun removing California news websites from search results for some users in response to a state proposal that would require the search giant to pay media companies for linking to their content. The tech giant announced the move in a blog post on Friday, calling it a “short-term test for a small percentage […]

One person has died and several others are injured after a man allegedly stole an 18-wheeler and crashed into a Texas Department of Public Safety office in Brenham on Friday, officials said. In a news conference Friday afternoon, DPS Regional Director Gerald Brown identified the suspect as 42-year-old Clenard Parker. Officials said Mr. Parker was […]

The Vatican on Monday declared gender theory, so-called “gender-affirming” surgery, and surrogacy as grave violations of human dignity and as practices that reject God’s plan for human life. Pope Francis recently approved the highly anticipated new doctrinal note, “Dignitas Infinita: on Human Dignity” (pdf), which highlights growing concerns over the creation of new rights motivated […]

Tesla sales fell sharply in the first quarter, marking the automaker’s first year-over-year decline in quarterly deliveries since 2020 and fueling Wall Street’s concerns over the company’s growth expectations this year. The Elon Musk electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer on Tuesday said it delivered 386,810 vehicles from January through March, down 8.5 percent from the 423,000 […]

The massive wildfires burning across the Texas Panhandle that killed two people, destroyed hundreds of homes, and killed thousands of livestock were caused by power lines, officials announced on Thursday. Texas A&M Forest Service investigators have concluded power lines ignited the Smokehouse Creek fire as well as the nearby Windy Deuce. On Thursday, utility provider […]