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A proposed wealth surcharge on California's richest residents has officially qualified for the November ballot, even as Gov. Gavin Newsom publicly cautions that high earners will simply leave the state. In the same breath, Newsom floated a nationwide tax-hike pitch, drawing fire from critics who note California is already bleeding residents and businesses to lower-tax states.
The Federal Reserve is keeping its benchmark rate parked at 3.5%–3.75% and signaling an "inflation-first" stance, with core inflation projections for late 2026 revised upward to 3.3%. The upcoming June jobs report is expected to show roughly 145,000 jobs added and unemployment steady at 4.3%, reinforcing a cautious, hold-steady posture from policymakers.
Gov. Spencer Cox issued a temporary statewide restriction on personal fireworks ahead of Independence Day, citing "historic" and "extraordinary" wildfire conditions and signing an emergency declaration. The move comes just as the nation gears up for America's 250th anniversary celebrations.
A federal jury deadlocked in the trial of Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of deliberately igniting the devastating Palisades Fire. Prosecutors had alleged the suspect was fixated on accused killer Luigi Mangione, but jurors could not reach a verdict, leaving the case unresolved.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon, hailed alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a step toward stability. But experts warn Iran will work to sabotage the deal, and Hezbollah's leadership has already moved to call it "null and void."
The toll from last week's back-to-back magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes in Venezuela has surged to at least 920 dead, with thousands injured and many more missing. American search-and-rescue teams have joined the desperate effort to pull survivors from collapsed buildings in La Guaira before the critical survival window closes.
Kyiv says its domestically built FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles struck Russia's Titan-Barrikady defense complex in Volgograd overnight, sparking a fire at a facility that builds launchers for Russia's Iskander and strategic missile systems. The long-range Flamingo, with a reported reach up to 3,000 kilometers, marks a notable escalation in Ukraine's deep-strike campaign.
A volunteer combing through telescope data helped uncover RAD-BAARG, a radio galaxy plunging supersonically into a galaxy cluster and piling up a glowing arc of plasma nearly 1.8 million light-years across. Such bow shocks have been theorized for decades but almost never seen this cleanly, giving astronomers a rare window into how galaxies reshape their surroundings.
New research out of the University of New Hampshire shows that in the hours and days after a strong solar storm, regions like the Rocky Mountains and Canada's Hudson Bay can see sharp drops in rain and snow. The bigger the storm, the bigger the effect — the first detailed look at how Earth's weather reacts almost immediately to solar flares.
Richard Delcid, a general manager from Manassas, Virginia, assembled three large pizzas — pepperoni, mushroom, and cheese — in a blistering 31.22 seconds to claim Domino's 2026 World's Fastest Pizza Maker title. The win netted him $5,000, a trophy, and a championship belt, capping a climb that started as a part-time door-hanger back in 2012.
