Washington — President Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, to 19 recipients, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Al Gore and Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky.  The awards will be presented at the White House on Friday.  "These nineteen Americans built teams, coalitions, movements, organizations, and businesses that shaped America for the better. They are the pinnacle of leadership in their fields. They consistently demonstrated over their careers the power of community, hard work, and service," the White ..read more

President Biden on Thursday said "order must prevail" on college campuses, as some of the pro-Palestinian protests have turned violent, insisting it's his responsibility to protect the "rule of law" as much as freedom of expression.  But Mr. Biden told reporters Thursday that "no," the National Guard should not intervene on college campuses. He also said the protests do not change his position and policies toward the war between Israel and Hamas.  The president's brief remarks come as pro-Palestinian protests have been held at college campuses nationwide, resulting in police breaking ..read more

BOSTON - The Republican congresswoman who wants to force out House Speaker Mike Johnson says she's ready to make her move. But the second effort to remove a speaker this year seems doomed to fail now that Democrats have said they'll kill it. "'Pro-life' Mike Johnson funded full-term abortion clinics, funded the trans agenda on children," said Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the would-be terminator of the Republican speaker on behalf of what Worcester Rep. Jim McGovern calls "the Chock Full O'Nuts caucus - she says no to everything and is for nothing. She's a dangerous demagogue." Plan to ..read more

The Biden administration is forgiving $6.1 billion in student debt for 317,000 people who attended The Art Institutes, a for-profit chain of schools that shut down last fall amid allegations of fraud. The latest effort represents President Joe Biden's plan to tackle the nation's $1.7 trillion in student debt after the Supreme Court last year blocked his administration's plan for broad-based college loan forgiveness.  The Art Institutes, which operated branches in cities including Atlanta, Fort Worth, New York and Tampa, shut down permanently in September after the Department of ..read more

BOSTON - You've seen the crowds and heard the rhetoric. But what impact is all the campus turmoil over the war in Gaza having on public opinion? Not much, according to Dritan Nesho, co-director of the nationwide Harvard Center for American Political Studies (CAPS)/Harris poll, where monthly surveys have found "support for Israel has been fairly consistent." Most people believe antisemitism is a problem on campus Among the striking findings of their April survey: While 59% think Muslim students face Islamophobia on campus, the 69% who see antisemitism there has come on strong. "That number wou ..read more

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug as soon as Tuesday, CBS News has learned, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple effects across the country. The DEA's proposal, which still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would recognize the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation's most dangerous drugs. However, it would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use. See maps of the states where me ..read more

The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York held him in contempt of court on Tuesday for violating a gag order that limits what he can say about those involved in the case, and warned him that he could be jailed if he violates the order again. Judge Juan Merchan said Trump violated the order nine times in recent weeks in posts on Trump's Truth Social platform and campaign website, many of which targeted Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, key witnesses in the case. Merchan fined Trump $9,000, or $1,000 for each violation, and ordered him to delete the posts. T ..read more

NEW YORK -- Columbia University says protesters occupied Hamilton Hall early Tuesday -- a building demonstrators took over during anti-Vietnam War protests in 1968. Witnesses said a large group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside the hall before a smaller group ran inside and barricaded themselves with desks, chairs and vending machines. Video showed them using a hammer to break windows and locking the doors from the inside, as more protesters cheered them on from outside.  Demonstrators from the pro-Palestine encampment on Columbia's campus barricade themselves inside Hamil ..read more

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he stands by comments he made in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol that former presidents, including Donald Trump, are "not immune" from criminal prosecution.  "Face the Nation" moderator and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan asked McConnell if he still believes former presidents are not completely immune from prosecution, as he said in early 2021 a little over a month after rioters who supported former President Trump stormed the Capitol.  Transcript: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on "Face th ..read more

BOSTON – State revenue receipts are running behind projections, prompting short-term budget cuts and hiring freezes. But in an interview with WBZ-TV, Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) says the moment does not call for major changes in state spending plans. "Now is not the time to take our foot off the pedal in economic development and housing and lowering the cost of college and other things if we want to continue being a leader with our innovation economy," Spilka said. "I believe that we need to keep investing in our strengths, which are our people, our residents." Massachusetts migr ..read more