U.S. News

Millions of American drivers are in a surveillance database and have no idea. Now there is a way to check. A website called Have I Been Flocked? lets you type in your license plate number and see whether Flock Safety's nationwide network of automated cameras has captured your car and stored it in its database. The tool arrives as backlash against the company boils over, with cameras being cut down, stolen and abandoned by the cities that installed them.

Luigi Mangione confessed to killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in his own words Friday, pleading guilty to federal charges in a New York courtroom while Thompson's widow and family watched from the front row. The plea, made without any deal with prosecutors, may prove to be a legal masterstroke: within hours, his lawyers moved to dismiss his state murder trial, set to begin next month, arguing New York's double jeopardy law bars a second prosecution for the same act. Legal experts say they have a strong case.

President Donald Trump says the United States will "substantially reduce" its joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his "very good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and pointing to Seoul's refusal to join the US campaign against Iran. The announcement landed less than 24 hours before the allies' annual drills were set to begin, too late, by Trump's own admission, to cancel them.

The Navy is sending relief. The Pacific-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington has begun steaming toward the Middle East, a move that would swap out the USS Abraham Lincoln after a record-setting stretch of more than 260 straight days at sea. The rotation comes as reports of supply shortages and mental health struggles aboard the Lincoln fuel demands for accountability in Congress, and as the Pentagon insists the accounts are "completely misrepresented."

A single Powerball ticket sold in Illinois matched all six numbers in Wednesday night's drawing, claiming an estimated $1.04 billion jackpot, according to the lottery organization. It is the largest Powerball prize of 2026 so far, and the eighth-largest in the game's history. The win ends a drought that stretched across 44 consecutive drawings.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has won the Democratic nomination for governor of Wisconsin, capping one of the most chaotic primary races of the 2026 cycle. Crowley defeated state Assemblywoman Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist who hoped to extend a string of progressive wins in other states. Now he heads into a general election in a state where the last three open races for governor have all flipped party control.

A covert aircraft switch, a catering truck used as cover, and a credible Iranian missile threat directed at the sitting president. Details that surfaced in August 2026 about events surrounding the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey reveal the extraordinary lengths taken to protect Donald Trump during his departure last month.

President Donald Trump acknowledged on Truth Social that "some contractor error" took place during the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, even as he continued to insist that former Olympic canoeist David Hearn committed vandalism at the site. The admission came as Trump kept up his public criticism of Washington, D.C., interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, whose office dropped felony charges against Hearn after concluding the damage was caused by a botched contractor job rather than deliberate destruction.