University of South Carolina all clear after unconfirmed reports of active shooter

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina has given the all-clear after issuing an alert Sunday about a possible active shooter near a library on the main Columbia campus, just days after false reports of active shooters at Villanova University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga led to panic and temporary lockdowns as … Read more

France summons US ambassador over ‘unacceptable’ letter about antisemitism

WASHINGTON — France has summoned the American ambassador to Paris after the diplomat, Charles Kushner, wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism. France’s foreign ministry issued a statement Sunday announcing it had summoned Kushner to appear Monday at the French Ministry for Europe and … Read more

Fed Chair Powell faces fresh challenges to Fed independence amid potential rate cuts

WASHINGTON — Now that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has signaled that the central bank could soon cut its key interest rate, he faces a new challenge: how to do it without seeming to cave to the White House’s demands. For months, Powell has largely ignored President Donald Trump’s constant hectoring that he reduce borrowing … Read more

Texas redistricting fight shakes up battle lines for both parties in key US Senate race

HOUSTON — Just as Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Colin Allred was holding a town hall near the Mexican border as part of an “unrig Texas” campaign tour, the state’s Democratic fundraising powerhouse Beto O’Rourke rallied support in Austin for lawmakers who left the state to delay a redistricting plan led by President Donald Trump. The … Read more

US heat wave smothers Pacific Northwest, poses extreme risk in California and Arizona

SEATTLE — Residents of the Western U.S. sweltered in a heat wave Saturday that hospitalized some people, with temperatures forecast to hit dangerous levels throughout the weekend in Washington, Oregon, Southern California, Nevada and Arizona. About 1.2 million people were under extreme heat risk, meaning temperatures were expected to stay dangerously high with no relief … Read more

Judge strikes down Minnesota law banning religious tests for college credit program

MINNEAPOLIS — Religious colleges that require students to sign a statement of faith cannot be excluded from a popular Minnesota program that lets high school students take college courses for credit, a federal judge has ruled, tossing a state law that she called an unconstitutional violation of religious freedom. The ruling late Friday from U.S. … Read more