Southern Baptists on Wednesday took the first step toward enshrining a ban on women teaching scripture or preaching to congregations within the nation's largest Protestant denomination www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

The Mexican cartel kingpin El Mencho spent his last days in a Jalisco villa with a makeshift altar featuring Catholic saints and a copy of Psalm 91. My story for @usatoday.com about how narcotraffickers look to Catholic and folk saints for solace and illicit success. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

What are humans worth, when the work and thoughts they produce threaten to be replicated by technological algorithms? And what is AI worth, if in the end it does not benefit humanity? www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

The White House intervened to get a $620 million deal for a company tied to Don Jr. The request was made by top aide Peter Navarro. Of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was considering funding at the time, the Don Jr.-linked company was the only deal initiated by a top aide to Trump.

I talked to “exvangelicals" about why they left the church. "At some point, the preaching became more and more ‘us vs. them’ focused with the church’s fight in culture wars becoming a central topic more often, and always alluded to no matter what was being preached."

They make an average $18 an hour, but when a gunman bursts through the door of a church, Walmart or government office, they’re often the first line of defense before police arrive. A look at what can be an underpaid, underappreciated profession. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

The state's ACLU chapter called the move "another troubling move by the federal government to target transgender people." www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Mark Fuhrman’s testimony in O.J. Simpson's 1995 trial transformed what was already a sensational murder case into one nearly as much about racial injustice and law enforcement as the practices and culture of the Los Angeles Police Department came into question. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

WHO declares Ebola outbreak in DRC, Uganda a global emergency: What to know https://aje.news/3uzvrc

“As soon as you start thinking of yourself as a machine, only not as good, then you’re just a commodity and have no other reason to live,” said John Cavadini of the University of Notre Dame. “It’s a pathway to desolation.” www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

The spoils of their digital plundering funded lavish parties, luxury splurges and Lamborghinis. But when the operators of a sprawling cryptocurrency racketeering ring needed old-fashioned muscle to steal from their victims, they called on GothFerrari. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

The FBI reportedly raided her state senate offices and business. Who is Louise Lucas? www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Not since Pope Boniface VIII got roughed up by King Philip IV's goons have the pope and a secular leader been at such odds. But Trump's war of words with Pope Leo XIV and his reckless use of religious imagery have put conservative Catholic supporters in a tough spot. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Prosecutors alleged his attack on a historic civil rights center in Tennessee was inspired by the 2019 mass shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Pope Leo condemns President Trump's threats to annihilate Iranian infrastructure as 'unacceptable' www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Trump orders DHS employees get pay, benefits during shutdown www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Senate Dems demand to know why the Treasury plans to put Trump's name on US currency and what the move does to address economic woes: 'Americans are facing an affordability crisis.' www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

No more life of ease: Feds say drug lord intended to fuel lavish life of champagne foot baths with 'narco submarine' scheme www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

The first quadruple amputee in American Cornhole League history faces murder charges after being accused of fatally shooting a man in Maryland www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

"The defendants’ persistent omission and withholding of key information in this case has been a Hallmark production in bad faith," the U.S. District Court judge wrote. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Paktyawai served alongside U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan, an Afghan refuee advocacy agency said. He died a day after being detained by ICE in the Dallas area. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

While increased grant funding for security measures would be useful, “we also can’t barricade or prosecute our way out of this crisis,” said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Asif Merchant, who faces up to life in prison, came to the U.S. in April 2024 and met two months later in New York with undercover law enforcement officers posing as hit men. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Experts: Fomenting ethnic strife in Iran 'a recipe for death and destruction' www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...

While not a religious conflict at its core, widening regional war in the Middle East could see religion emerge as a galvanizing tool, observers say. My story for @usatoday.com www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

In which I learn that Tobey Maguire is also an avid poker player www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

I was deeply grateful to be interviewed by Marc Ramirez (@typewriterninja.bsky.social) for @usatoday.com on the sky-high stakes of this political moment and what faith leaders are saying and doing about it. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Renowned for his ability to weave unity across borders of race, class, gender and religion, Jesse Jackson's legacy is a tapestry of efforts to promote civil and human rights, peace, equality and economic and social justice. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Robert Duvall, the legendary actor whose career has spanned over six decades, has died at 95, his wife announced

Coffeehouses emboyding this Middle Eastern nation are sprouting across the US. What's driving the trend www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Yemeni coffeehouses, proliferating across the US, reflect coffee culture's roots in Islamic society: 'We’re not used to getting coffee to go,' said Qamaria Coffee co-founder Hatem Aleidaroos. You take your time and chat.' My story for @usatoday.com www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

The judge's sentence reflected the gravity of the situation. Take a read if you think space puns are out of this world🛰️ www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

🔥 🔥 🔥

The US is edging into Soviet levels of absurdity.

Do you remember when people were saying "I think my phone is listening to me, i'm getting ads for stuff I spoke about" and people said "They arent listening to you, they're just this good at predicting your interests"? Well, it happens they were doing exactly that. www.cbsnews.com/news/google-...

Here's my full 50-page indictment of CBP and ICE and decades of corruption, abuse of force, racism, and misogyny. I promise you — however bad you've ever thought it was, the full reality is even worse, deadlier, and more corrupt. This isn't a "Trump only" phenomenon:

photo 1/23/26 by Alex Kormann for The Minnesota Star Tribune www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...

Arnoldo Bazan, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen, was put in a chokehold by ICE agents. Agents took his phone, which he tracked to a used electronics vending machine near an ICE detention center. Yes: ICE is stealing and selling people’s things after brutalizing them. There are no words.

“Where are they? Did we get pranked?” www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

'The feeling, the sight, the smell of identifying our son’s body will never leave my mind, body or soul,' Braun Levi's mother Jennifer said, vowing to fight for drunk-driving law reform. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

uhhh yeah I can see why these childcare properties weren't eager to let in some rando dudes asking "where are the kids?"

The operation was upended when investigators intercepted 200+ parcels destined for Hong Kong containing about 850 prized turtles bound in knotted socks. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Soskin spent more than a dozen years in her later life working at California's Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park, intent on filling in missing chapters of the U.S. narrative that only people like her could know. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Federal authorities have charged an Afghan citizen living in North Texas with threatening to carry out a suicide bomb attack www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Do you ever stop and wonder how many problems Jay-Z has now.

Love this obit to the humble penny by @typewriterninja.bsky.social for @usatoday.com Please read to the end!

"In the end, plagued by doubts about self-worth, it would finally fade from the spotlight, like a screen star of decades past whose phone had stopped ringing long ago." www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...