NEW YORK (AP) — A plush octopus by Jellycat. A neck pillow by XpresSpa. Graphic sleeping mas…

Tornadoes touched down Monday evening in rural Oklahoma as large hail pelted parts of Kansas. Forecasters have issued a rare high risk warning for the two states. The storm chasers detected several small funnels emerging from clouds Monday before identifying a twister near the small Oklahoma town of Okeene. A dispatcher for Kingfisher County, Oklahoma, says there was a report of tornado damage to a single home, but it wasn’t immediately known if anyone was hurt. Meanwhile, apple-sized hail was reported near Ellinwood, Kansas, northwest of Wichita. The severe weather follows heavy rainfall in Houston, where floodwaters began to recede Monday.

Boeing has called off its first astronaut launch because of a balky rocket valve. The two NASA test pilots had just strapped into Boeing's Starliner capsule when the countdown was halted Monday night, two hours before the planned liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A United Launch Alliance spokesman says the problem involves an oxygen relief valve on the Atlas rocket's upper stage. There was no immediate word on when the next launch attempt might be for the flight to the International Space Station. Starliner's first test flight without a crew in 2019 failed to reach the space station and Boeing had to repeat the flight.

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times and The Washington Post were awarded three Pulitzer Prize…

Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked by police from accessing an encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology broke through fencing to retake the area, as Columbia University canceled its university-wide commencement ceremony following weeks of demonstrations. Other protesters at MIT Monday sat on Massachusetts Avenue, blocking evening rush-hour traffic in Boston. Officials at Columbia in New York City said in a statement Monday that instead of a large graduation event, it will focus on smaller school-level graduation ceremonies. Emory University says it's moving its commencement from its Atlanta campus to a suburban arena. Campus protests have sprung up across the U.S. stemming from the conflict that started when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel in October.

It's six months before Election Day, and Joe Biden and Donald Trump are locked in a presidential rematch. The race is highly in flux as many voters are only just beginning to embrace the reality of the 2024 contest. Wars, trials, the independent candidacy of Robert Kennedy Jr. and deep divisions across America have created much uncertainty. At the same time, domestic policy fights over abortion, immigration and the economy are raging. On top of that, public polling consistently shows that voters don’t like their election year options. But whether voters want to believe it or not, the general election matchup is all but set.