Officials are responding to a report of an explosion near the Santa Maria Courthouse in California. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office said on X that a person of interest was detained "immediately" at the Lewellen Justice Center where the courthouse is located. The individual who was detained is an adult male. Officials have not released his identity yet. Five people injured in the incident are being treated at Marian Regional Medical Center, hospital spokesperson...

The Senate passed a bill Wednesday evening, 78 to 18, to extend federal funding at current rates until Dec. 20. The House approved the measure earlier Wednesday, 341 to 82, with Republicans relying on Democratic support to fund the government for the seventh time in the past year. The nearly three-month funding extension includes an additional $232 million to boost security around the presidential election after Secret Service agents thwarted a recent potential...

Back In mid-January, Mara Kronenfeld was googling the name of the nonprofit she runs, which raises money in the US on behalf of the leading humanitarian aid provider in Gaza. Atop the search results for her organization—UNRWA USA, partner to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)—she saw a surprising ad. It read like a promo from the UN agency, but the link directed to an Israeli government website. Kronenfeld says she had found the beginnings of a...

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer launched an investigation on Wednesday into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's recent visit to an ammunition factory in Pennsylvania. House Republicans have already cried foul on the visit, which Zelenskyy took to thank the workers at a factory that has supplied critical munitions in Ukraine's war with Russia, because several Democrats joined him for a public appearance. Comer took a different tack on Wednesday, instead focusing on Zelenskyy...

In a speech at the World Economic Forum last year, Professor Nita Farahany argued that mind-reading technology is not only real but already in use. She spoke of scenarios where brain metric […]