Federal authorities served a search warrant on Wednesday at a Southern California aerospace facility where a chemical tank overheated last month, forcing 50,000 residents to evacuate. The warrant signed by a federal judge last week approved the seizure of documents and records related to the “storage, use, or disposal” of methyl methacrylate, the chemical inside the affected tank. The FBI confirmed its agents were searching GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems in the Orange County city of Garden Grove. A GKN spokesperson told the AP the company is cooperating with authorities.

Hollywood directors have reached a four-year tentative contract agreement with studios and streaming services. The Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers struck the deal Tuesday after four weeks of talks. This is the first negotiation under new DGA President Christopher Nolan. Similar four-year deals have been ratified recently by unions representing writers and actors. This agreement adds to the likelihood of long-term labor peace in Hollywood despite industry upheavals. The collective bargaining agreement must still be approved by the guild’s national board and ratified by the guild membership.

President Donald Trump is dismissing the idea that launching the war with Iran betrayed his refrain of “No new wars” as he campaigned for the White House in 2024. He tells NBC's “Meet the Press” that he “didn’t guarantee” there would be no wars if elected again. Trump also defended plans for a $1.8 billion fund that would have compensated allies of the Republican president. And in the interview aired Sunday, he repeated his baseless claims of mass fraud in California’s drawn-out vote count from Tuesday’s primary. He ended the interview when he became frustrated with pushback from NBC’s Kristen Welker.

Actor James Handy has been stabbed to death, and police have charged the son of his girlfriend in the killing. Michael Gledhill was charged after police say officers found the 81-year-old Handy stabbed in the chest and unconscious outside a home in Los Angeles on Wednesday. They say Gledhill was arrested after telling police he was the person they were looking for. Handy was a character actor in films and on TV for decades, including appearances in a variety of television crime procedurals.

Anthropic is proposing that top AI companies coordinate a way to pause the development of advanced AI systems if they become too dangerous. The company behind the Claude chatbot says the technology is improving so quickly that there's a risk humans could lose control. In a blog post Thursday, Anthropic suggests giving the world an “option” to slow or temporarily pause AI development. The company plans to research ways to implement this pause, noting that AI models are getting faster, doubling their task capabilities every four months. This rapid advancement could lead to AI designing its own successors, raising control concerns.

Television and movie actors have voted to ratify a four-year contract with studios and streaming services. This comes after union leaders negotiated protections against synthetic actors created by artificial intelligence. The ratification was widely expected, and a strike like the one in 2023 never seemed likely during the drama-free negotiations. More than 90% of Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists members approved the agreement. The new deal, like on recently reached by Hollywood writers, is for four years instead of the usual three. This provides extra labor stability in the industry. The contract includes provisions to keep the use of AI actors minimal.

An Associated Press investigation reveals that dozens of children who were separated under the first Trump administration have been reseparated, despite a judge's order to reunite them. Some of their parents have been locked in immigration detention facilities for months, others deported back to their home countries after being taken from their families once again. Ederson Galicia Alva, now 11, was separated from his mother twice. After nearly a year in Guatemala, his family returned to Florida last week under a federal judge's order. The Trump administration's push for mass deportations has led to more separations, with some families deported despite legal protections.

American Airlines is temporarily suspending some routes this summer due to steep jet fuel costs amid the war with Iran. The airline says it adjusted service for select routes in August and September. Impacted travelers will be offered alternative arrangements or refunds. The Texas-based airline cites elevated fuel costs and says these changes align with wider industry trends. Airlines worldwide have canceled flights and trimmed schedules, with many hiking fees or cutting perks in efforts to save money. Energy costs have soared during the war — and beyond air travel, that has also affected everyday goods like gasoline and food.

Life tasks like paying bills, canceling subscriptions and answering overdue emails are becoming a reason to socialize for friends and couples who get together for what’s known as “admin dates.” The low-pressure gatherings taking place in coffee shops, accommodating bars and private homes are intended to turn tedious adult responsibilities into productive time with a twist. Experts say that tackling a personal to-do list alongside others combines the satisfaction of tending to necessary chores with the no less vital work of nurturing relationships. The camraderie can be helpful for individuals who get overwhelmed thinking about uncompleted tasks. But experts generally advise against organizing admin dates with work colleagues, especially supervisors.

An Associated Press investigation reveals that dozens of children separated from their families under the first Trump administration have been re-separated, despite a judge’s order to reunite them. Some parents have been locked in immigration detention facilities for months, others deported back to their home countries after being taken from their families once again. Ederson Galicia Alva, now 11, was separated from his mother twice. After nearly a year in Guatemala, his family returned to Florida last week under a federal judge’s order. The Trump administration’s push for mass deportations has led to more separations, with some families deported despite legal protections.

Some of the leading artificial intelligence companies are moving toward initial public offerings this year at eye-popping valuations. From Anthropic to SpaceX to OpenAI, tech giants are looking to take their shares public to access more capital in the race to shape the technology’s future. But amid the billions — even trillions — at stake, worries about an AI bubble are looming in the background. Some experts fear tech companies and venture capitalists are pouring too much money into a still-nascent and unproven technology.

Police say a man held 10 people hostage inside a California office building before the FBI shot and killed him, bringing a more than 15-hour standoff to an end. The Bakersfield Police Department says the hostages were found unharmed early Wednesday inside the downtown Bakersfield building that houses a bank and a school district office. The standoff began Tuesday afternoon when officers responded to a call of a bomb threat. Authorities say the suspect was an Army veteran who was dishonorably discharged, had a history of trouble with law enforcement and was a registered sex offender.

The Canadian government has endorsed a plan to move the last remaining captive whales from a shuttered theme park and zoo in Ontario to aquariums in the U.S. and Spain. There are 30 belugas and four dolphins at Marineland in Niagara Falls in Ontario that still face mass euthanasia should the deal fall through. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has issued the first batch of permits to move the whales and is set to issue different permits closer to the move, which is expected to take place in the next few months. Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson said on Wednesday that there's "still more work to be done, but it’s a step forward.”

The group leading the charge in the search for extraterrestrial life has given the all clear. The SETI Institute said Wednesday that extensive radio scans by its telescope in Northern California have found no signs of alien tech from our solar system's latest interstellar visitor. The object labeled 3I/Atlas was discovered last summer sweeping through our neck of the cosmic woods. Scientists identified it as a comet that migrated from another star. SETI says it conducted more than seven hours of observations, searching through a wide range of radio signals. But no evidence of extraterrestrial technology was found.

Officials say police are locked in negotiations with a man holding hostages inside a building that houses a Chase bank branch and school district office in the Southern California city of Bakersfield. The Bakersfield Police Department said Tuesday that officers responding to a call of a bomb threat arrived at the scene around 1 p.m. in downtown Bakersfield and discovered a man had barricaded himself inside the building with “several community members.” Police say through negotiations, two of the hostages were able to be released and the rest are in “good health." About a dozen police cars were on scene along with the FBI.

A California man known as the crypto “Godfather” has admitted to playing a key role in a botched Connecticut kidnapping nearly two years ago. Adam Iza pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to a robbery charge. Prosecutors say Iza helped orchestrate the abduction of a married couple in Danbury in 2024 in an effort to get ransom from their son, who was involved in the theft of $245 million worth of Bitcoin a week earlier. Messages were left with Iza's lawyer. In California, Iza also has pleaded guilty to using off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies as his personal enforcers against business rivals and other people.

New York’s attorney general is suing the Trump administration over one of its deals to end an offshore wind project. French company TotalEnergies is getting $1 billion, essentially a refund of its leases for offshore wind projects off New York and North Carolina, if it invests the money in fossil fuel projects instead. State attorneys general from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont joined New York in challenging the cancellation of the lease off New York, the larger of the two projects and the bulk of the payout. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says TotalEnergies was simply refunded their money, which they have already invested in other energy projects in the U.S.

Hurricanes, wildfires and other extreme weather events can cause anxiety that lasts even after they're over. But mental health experts say there are several ways to reduce that stress. One of the most important ways is to prepare ahead as much as possible and to have a plan for what to do during a disaster. Sharing fears with supportive people and focusing on facts can also help. And when the storm passes, there are ways to help restore calm and normalcy by seeking support, returning to routines and helping others. When talking to children, it's important to be honest but calm.

Immigrant detainees across at least 33 states allege in court documents that the government is failing to provide them with adequate medical care. An investigation by The Associated Press and KFF Health News found that detainees are being denied access to doctors and medications for maladies ranging from dental pain to pregnancy to prostate cancer. Detainees say their requests for help have gone unanswered as blood sugars rise, infections fester and cancers remain untreated. Their allegations span the sprawling detention system, including county jails, large private facilities and quickly staged sites such as “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida.

Immigrant detainees across at least 33 states allege in court documents that the government is failing to provide them with adequate medical care. An investigation by The Associated Press and KFF Health News found that people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are being denied access to doctors and medications for maladies ranging from dental pain to pregnancy to prostate cancer. Detainees say their requests for help have gone unanswered as blood sugars rise, infections fester and cancers remain untreated. Their allegations span the sprawling detention system, including county jails, large private facilities and quickly staged sites such as “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida.

Berkshire Hathaway’s new CEO Greg Abel started the week by inking a deal to acquire homebuilder Taylor Morrison for $6.8 billion, and he's followed that up on with a $10 billion investment in Google's parent company. Abel has also hinted in the Taylor Morrison deal that he may depart from Warren Buffett’s longtime hands-off operating model by consolidating some operations. For six decades under Buffett, Berkshire promised to largely leave companies alone after it acquired them and allow the executives to keep running the day-to-day operations the same way. It’s not clear how much consolidating Abel might do among Berkshire’s dozens of companies. But Abel is known a much more active manager than Buffett ever was.

The courtroom battle between Blake Lively and Justice Baldoni, minus the actors, has returned to a Manhattan federal courtroom. That's despite the recent settlement of Lively's claims against him stemming from the 2024 movie “It Ends With Us.” The two sides were battling Monday over whether Baldoni owes Lively attorney fees and damages because he filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against Lively after she claimed he subjected her to sexual harassment and defamation. Lively's lawyers claim a California law means she can collect attorney fees and damages because a judge tossed out Baldoni's countersuit last year. Baldoni's lawyers say it is not so. A judge reserved decision.

Pride month has begun in the U.S. and around the world. The modern LGBTQ+ celebrations and parades sprang from protests following the violent police raid of New York's Stonewall Inn in 1969. The original events were in big cities including New York and San Francisco, but they've become institutions in small towns and suburbs, too — and in cities around the world. The events have a mix of party and protest, particularly in a time when the Trump administration and some states have rolled out policies to reel in rights for some LGBTQ+ people.

Ann Patchett often finds ways to help others, whether it's promoting a fellow author's book or supporting emerging writers. At 62, she’s a celebrated novelist and co-owner of the independent bookstore Parnassus. Her latest novel, “Whistler,” explores themes of connection and decency. Patchett believes most people are good, despite the negativity often portrayed in the news. She was recently honored by PEN America for her literary contributions. Patchett’s journey as a writer began early, and she’s inspired others to pursue their dreams, including fellow author Emma Straub, who opened her own bookstore.