The Washington Times AI News Desk

Virginia ends Medicaid coverage of gender-transition care for minors under federal rule

Virginia's Medicaid program stopped covering gender-transition treatment for minors Tuesday as a federal rule took effect barring the use of federal Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program dollars for such care. The rule does not prevent states from covering the services with state-only funds.

October 13, 2026

Canadian-born Joni Mitchell sworn in as U.S. citizen after decades in America

Joni Mitchell, the Canadian-born folk icon who has lived in the United States since the 1960s, has been sworn in as a U.S. citizen.

October 13, 2026

Actress Martha Plimpton rips Shane Gillis’ ‘SNL’ monologue, says show needs more women in the room

Actress Martha Plimpton criticizes Shane Gillis' "SNL" monologue: "There's this Shane Gillis guy who I've never heard of who said some really f---in' stupid s--- on live on air on 'SNL' on Saturday ... He deserves a spanking from his mom."

October 13, 2026

Kacey Musgraves calls Christopher Columbus a ‘loser’ at Dallas concert

Country singer KACEY MUSGRAVES: "F--- Columbus. Literally the lamest person to probably ever exist. Like, for real. What a loser."

October 13, 2026

Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis sentenced to 40 years to life in Tupac Shakur’s murder

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a former South Side Compton Crips leader, was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur, the only conviction in a killing that happened more than 30 years ago.

October 13, 2026

5 questions about the drone attacks on ships off Bulgaria

Drone strikes sank a cargo ship and hit another in the Black Sea off Bulgaria on Tuesday, the latest in a string of attacks on commercial vessels that has Bulgaria seeking NATO and EU help.

October 13, 2026

Georgia GOP nominee skips debate, leaving Keisha Lance Bottoms with empty podium

Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson skipped the Atlanta Press Club's governor's debate Monday night, leaving Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms to field questions from journalists beside an empty podium on the eve of early voting.

October 13, 2026

Former Macalester professor charged with felony after student’s backpack soaked in urine

A longtime Macalester College professor has been charged with a felony after authorities said he damaged a student's backpack with urine and admitted to police that he had developed a habit of disposing of urine around campus.

October 13, 2026

Judge Judy: ‘It’s gonna take a lot more than Ana Navarro to shut me up’

Judge Judy Sheindlin is standing by her remarks that Americans who dislike the country should "go somewhere else," saying critics ignored her point that America can be improved but should not be dismantled: "There's a difference between tweaking your house and burning it down."

October 13, 2026

‘We made direct eye contact with him’: Witnesses describe man thrown from Six Flags roller coaster

A man fell to his death Monday after being thrown from a Six Flags roller coaster near Atlanta. Witnesses describe the moment he flew out of his seat.

October 13, 2026

James Hetfield says Metallica is not trying ‘influence’ fans like ‘some other entertainers’

Metallica frontman James Hetfield used a break in Saturday night's show at the Las Vegas Sphere to tell fans the band is not there to push an agenda: "I just gotta say, Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you with their bulls---, OK?"

October 13, 2026

‘The Social Reckoning’ opens to just $8.4 million worldwide

Aaron Sorkin's "The Social Reckoning," the follow-up to 2010's "The Social Network," struggled at the box office in its opening weekend. It took in about $8.4M worldwide.

October 13, 2026

Team hunting Amelia Earhart’s plane arrives at Nikumaroro, with fieldwork set to start

A 17-person expedition has arrived at the uninhabited Pacific island of Nikumaroro to investigate a submerged object that may be the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E.

October 13, 2026

Why offshore wind has been so much harder in America than in Europe

When the first big U.S. offshore wind farms went up, American barges hauled turbine parts out to sea, where foreign ships waited to do the heavy lifting. The country had no vessel of its own that could install a modern offshore turbine.

October 13, 2026

Biden-era policy blamed as ICE makes just 8 arrests among 3 million suspected visa overstayers

ICE made just eight arrests among more than 3 million suspected visa overstayers during the Biden administration, a DHS audit found. Here's the 2021 policy the inspector general blames.

October 12, 2026

How a wallet sold at Woolworth gave thousands the same Social Security number

In 1938, a wallet maker printed a real Social Security number on its sample card. Thousands of Americans used it as their own

October 12, 2026

5 questions about the Erie, Pennsylvania, shooting

A 45-year-old man killed eight people, including a pregnant woman and two young children, at his Erie, Pennsylvania, home before taking his own life, and investigators are still working to determine why.

October 12, 2026

Fort Hood survivor: Livestreaming Hasan execution ‘dishonors’ victims

Alonzo Lunsford wants the man who shot him seven times at Fort Hood to die, and he says he has forgiven him anyway. What the retired Army staff sergeant does not want is for Americans to treat the execution as entertainment.

October 10, 2026

Off-duty ICE agent shot after assaulting elderly man and daughter on Fresno lawn, police say

An off-duty ICE agent was shot and arrested early Friday after police said he assaulted a 72-year-old man and the man's daughter outside their home in central Fresno. The ICE agent remains in custody on felony assault charges and was taken to a hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to the midsection. According to police, a woman found the agent sleeping on her front lawn.

October 10, 2026

Bill Maher mocks Zohran Mamdani’s Oct. 7 anniversary statement: ‘His rap name was Tone Deaf’

HBO host Bill Maher criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday over the mayor's statement marking the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel: "His rap name was Tone Deaf."

October 10, 2026