Culture

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new military readiness initiative offering testosterone deficiency screening and replacement therapy for active-duty service members aged 30 and older. Supporters frame it as a readiness measure, while critics mocked the 'High-T Department of War' rollout.

The Treasury Department said a new $1 coin featuring President Trump has entered production at the U.S. Mint, commemorating the nation's 250th anniversary. Set for release this fall, it would mark the first time a living president appears on U.S. currency.

Rep. Beth Van Duyne introduced a resolution condemning Imam Omar Suleiman after he celebrated the death of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham over Graham's steadfast support for Israel. The move reignites debate over civility and antisemitism in public life.

Former President Joe Biden announced a new memoir, 'Promise Me, America,' set to release on Nov. 17, two weeks after the midterm elections. The book will cover everything from the economy to his decision to drop his 2024 re-election bid.

South Carolina restaurateur Sak Yiengjuntuek found $12,000 in cash tucked inside a cabinet he inherited when he bought his restaurant, and immediately set out to return the money to the man who sold him the property, tracking him down live on the news.

The Department of Homeland Security instructed ICE agents to suspend most vehicle stops after two fatal ICE-involved shootings in a week, only for President Trump to publicly overrule the pause, calling traffic stops one of the agency's most important tools. The whiplash exposed tension over immigration enforcement tactics.

Federal authorities say a Philadelphia contractor who was killed had been part of an international fraud ring that targeted homeowners, adding a criminal twist to a case that had drawn local attention.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, once President Trump's personal defense lawyer, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a contentious hearing to win the top Justice Department job. Senators pressed him on the Epstein files and DOJ cases against Trump's political rivals.

New York City officials began demolishing the 1853 South Bushwick Reformed Church over the congregation's objections, weeks after a fire the FDNY believes was deliberately set gutted the active house of worship. Engineers had argued the building could still be saved.

A 50-foot cabin cruiser carrying mostly members of one family, gathered for a memorial service, capsized in San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz, killing one person and leaving three missing. Rescuers pulled survivors from the water in a chaotic effort.

MMA star Conor McGregor vowed to start attending church and declared complete confidence in God after a bruising UFC defeat over the weekend, the latest high-profile athlete to speak openly about faith in the wake of a loss.

A deputy U.S. marshal was shot and killed while serving an arrest warrant on a fugitive in Alexandria, Louisiana, the FBI said. The fugitive was injured and hospitalized after a standoff with law enforcement.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a joint task force with the Justice Department to identify and prosecute leaks to journalists 'with the full force of the law,' escalating the administration's crackdown on unauthorized disclosures amid the Iran war.

The Department of Health and Human Services will not finalize its most aggressive attempt to end gender-affirming care for youth nationwide, NPR has learned, abandoning a threat to withhold Medicare and Medicaid funding from providers. The reversal -- which advocacy groups attributed to public outcry -- marks a retreat from one arm of the administration's broader push across HHS, DOJ, FTC, and FDA to restrict transgender medical care.

A federal immigration agent fatally shot a 26-year-old Colombian man in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday during what ICE described as targeted surveillance on the last known address of an undocumented migrant. The agency waited nearly 12 hours before releasing details; DHS later said the officer fired out of fear for 'public safety.' The killing -- coming less than a week after an immigration agent shot a man in Houston -- drew a vigil, protests outside Sen. Susan Collins's office, and sharp scrutiny of the encounter, with a witness reporting the victim was found bleeding from a head wound in his vehicle.

Transgender athletes have dropped their lawsuit challenging New Hampshire's law restricting participation in girls' and women's scholastic sports, leaving the measure in place.

As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, the Museum of the Bible debuts 'A General's Prayer,' a one-man play exploring George Washington's prayer life and private struggles during the American Revolution. The production invites audiences behind the scenes of the founding era's faith.

An 82-year-old North Carolina woman says she survived nine days trapped in her bathtub after a fall, drinking water she splashed to her face by turning the faucet on with her foot. Joan Rivet's ordeal of endurance and improvisation ended when she was finally found and rescued.

What began as one young American's curiosity about World War II became a decade-long mission: recording interviews with 3,000 combat veterans to preserve their firsthand accounts before they are lost to time. The project has become a living archive of a fast-vanishing generation's sacrifice and memory.

David Willey, one of the BBC's longest-serving foreign correspondents and its esteemed Vatican correspondent, has died at 93. Over his career he reported on five popes and became a trusted chronicler of the Catholic Church.

A trio of burglars stole 27 pieces worth about $5 million, including a dragonfly pendant, from the Lalique Museum in eastern France. The theft is the latest in a string of brazen high-value heists targeting European cultural institutions.

Dodgers star Mookie Betts says his decision to skip the team's White House visit is about family time with his new baby, not politics, though the move drew inevitable scrutiny. He joins other Dodgers players opting out of the championship ceremony.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, the high-profile Chicago activist priest, has again been removed from Saint Sabina parish after a new sexual abuse accusation surfaced. The archdiocese acted as it investigates the latest allegation against him.

Former Sen. Mitt Romney, 79, says no one over 80 should hold public office, reigniting a debate over age and fitness in Washington. His comments land amid renewed scrutiny following the deaths and health scares of aging lawmakers including Graham and McConnell.

As tributes to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham poured in from Israel and Ukraine, The Guardian examines a foreign-policy legacy critics call complicated and often bloody. The senator's global reach, it argues, was matched by his role in shaping some of the most consequential and contested U.S. interventions.

A bull bison tossed a tourist about eight feet into the air at Yellowstone National Park in an encounter caught on video, renewing warnings about visitors getting too close to the park's wildlife. The tourist survived the run-in.

Two 16-year-old suspects are in custody after what authorities are calling a 'targeted mass shooting' that killed five family members and wounded two others in East St. Louis, Illinois. Investigators are working to establish a motive in the attack that left seven relatives shot.

An Indiana man has walked 24,901 miles -- the equivalent of Earth's circumference -- fourteen years after setting the audacious goal, wearing out 49 pairs of New Balance shoes along the way. His family is celebrating the milestone of remarkable persistence.

A dispute over Matthew 25 -- the passage in which Jesus says caring for 'the least of these' is caring for him -- has become a flashpoint in the fight over U.S. immigration policy. Mainline pastors, Black Protestants and the pope invoke the verse to challenge crackdowns, while evangelical politicians who back the president find themselves on the defensive over how Scripture should shape the treatment of migrants.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., broke nearly a month of silence about his health on Sunday, revealing that a fall led to his mid-June hospitalization and that he had been treated for pneumonia and was 'briefly unconscious.' The 84-year-old former majority leader shared a photo from his hospital bed and said he does not expect to return to the Senate floor 'quite yet,' an absence that could complicate looming votes.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., died unexpectedly Saturday at age 71 after emergency responders were called to his Washington home. A preliminary medical examiner's report attributes his death to an aortic dissection tied to cardiovascular disease. Once a sharp Trump critic before becoming one of his closest allies, Graham served in the Senate since 2003 and was remembered as a foreign-policy hawk and advocate for the persecuted. Trump ordered flags lowered to half-staff and says he already has a preferred successor in mind.

A federal judge awarded Hunter Biden $1.7 million in punitive damages in his defamation suit against former Overstock.com CEO and Trump ally Patrick Byrne, who had claimed Biden sought a bribe to help unfreeze $8 billion in Iranian assets. Biden filed the suit in 2023 over the claim.

A same-sex male couple in Canada is suing a surrogate mother who says she is being punished for refusing their request to abort the baby she was carrying after doctors detected a cleft lip and a possible heart defect. The surrogate says the couple 'threw me away' after she declined, reigniting debate over the ethics of commercial surrogacy.

President Trump removed the remaining members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission, the federal agency that certifies voting systems and helps administer elections, leaving it without the quorum needed to act. The purge comes as the administration seeks to reshape voting rules ahead of the midterms.

The Trump administration subpoenaed four New York Times journalists after they reported that the president's new Qatar-gifted Air Force One lacked some of the advanced security measures of the older presidential aircraft. Press-freedom advocates cast the move as an escalation of the administration's pressure campaign against the media.

A Trump-appointed federal judge granted the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the remaining convictions of four Proud Boys leaders tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, saying the Constitution left him no choice. Even as he ended the case, District Judge Timothy Kelly sharply rebuked the riot as an attack on democracy.

Evangelical leaders in Guatemala are pushing back after members of the LGBT community filed a petition with the country's Constitutional Court seeking to strike down a Civil Code provision that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. The clash sets up a high-profile legal and cultural battle over the definition of marriage in the majority-Christian nation, with faith leaders vowing to defend the existing law.

Tyler Robinson, the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, returned to court Friday for the fifth and final day of a preliminary hearing that will determine whether the case proceeds to a murder trial. Defense attorneys spent the day challenging the state's DNA and ballistics evidence and moved to bar live broadcast of the proceedings after an error involving a confession letter. A Utah judge is now weighing whether prosecutors have shown enough evidence to send Robinson to trial.

Palm Beach International Airport has been officially redesignated 'President Donald J. Trump International Airport' after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the renaming into law. Trump's plane touched down as the first flight into the rebranded hub, drawing celebration from supporters. Critics questioned what the president stands to gain from the trademark and rebrand.

The city of Boston discovered one of the oldest known gravestones of a free Black American, belonging to a man who shared a name with the Massachusetts capital. The find offers a rare window into early free Black life in colonial New England.

A federal appeals court denied President Trump's request to stop the removal of his name from the Kennedy Center. The ruling allows the change to proceed while related litigation continues.

A federal appeals court struck down Florida's 'Stop WOKE Act' as applied to university classrooms, ruling it violates First Amendment protections. The decision is a setback for the state's effort to restrict how race and identity are taught in higher education.

Actor Justin Baldoni and his wife Emily broke a two-year silence over the Blake Lively lawsuit tied to 'It Ends With Us,' speaking out about what they call an injustice. The remarks reopen one of Hollywood's most closely watched legal disputes.

A federal judge ruled that writer E. Jean Carroll should immediately receive the $5.8 million awarded after a jury found President Trump liable for sexually abusing her in the 1990s and later defaming her. The order clears the way for the long-contested payment to be disbursed.

Jordan Peterson has shared a health update, saying his activities remain 'very limited' as he recovers from a prolonged illness. Still, the psychologist and author said he is 'relieved' to have resumed writing and to be doing something 'creative and useful' again.

An 11-year-old boy in Kentucky is being credited with saving a man who fell unconscious in an apartment swimming pool. Seeing that no one else was acting, Avory Woolery dove in himself, later saying he 'wasn't going to let a man die'—a small act of courage that likely saved a life.

After a string of primary victories, the Democratic Socialists of America and a broader wave of young progressives are increasingly reshaping the Democratic Party. With figures like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani emerging as kingmakers and the congressional 'Squad' poised to grow, commentators across the spectrum are debating what the ascendant movement means for the party's direction heading into 2028.

Christopher Nolan's forthcoming adaptation of Homer's 'The Odyssey,' due in U.S. theaters July 17, is drawing heated criticism ahead of release. Detractors have blasted the casting of Lupita Nyong'o and Elliot Page along with historical inaccuracies and modern dialogue, with some framing the film as an affront to a foundational text of Western literature and prompting canceled screenings.

An ICE agent fatally shot a man during an immigration enforcement operation in Houston, with authorities describing an alleged vehicle ramming while critics question the use of lethal force during a traffic stop. The killing drew sharply divergent coverage across the political spectrum.

A man is suing the Department of Homeland Security after ICE officers showed up at his home to warn him over an email criticizing the agency. The suit raises free-speech concerns as ICE's internal watchdog reportedly begins investigating online critics.