A libertarian group in California filed a legal challenge to President Joe Biden’s plan for student debt cancellation on Tuesday, calling it an illegal overreach that would increase state tax burdens for some Americans who get their debt forgiven.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft rammed an asteroid at blistering speed Monday in an unprecedented dress rehearsal for the day a killer rock menaces Earth. The galactic slam occurred at a harmless asteroid 7 million miles away, with the spacecraft named Dart plowing into the space rock at 14,000 mph. Scientists expected the impact to carve out a crater, hurl streams of rocks and dirt into space and, most importantly, alter the asteroid’s orbit.

NEW YORK (AP) — Civil rights lawyers and Democratic senators are pushing for legislation that would limit U.S. law enforcement agencies’ ability to buy cellphone tracking tools to follow people’s whereabouts, including back years in time, and sometimes without a search warrant.

HAVANA (AP) — Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba on Tuesday as a major hurricane, with nothing to stop it from intensifying into a Category 4 storm before it hits Florida on Wednesday. Ian made landfall at 4:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province, where officials set up 55 shelters, evacuated 50,000 people, rushed in emergency personnel, and took steps to protect crops in Cuba’s main tobacco-growing region.

HAVANA (AP) — Forecasters say Hurricane Ian is nearing Cuba on a track to strike Florida in as a Category 4 as early as Wednesday. Ian is already getting stronger and is forecast to move quickly over Cuba's western Pinar del Rio province on Monday. Then it will turn northward and slow down over warm Gulf of Mexico waters, conditions ripe for brewing the strongest hurricanes

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Authorities and residents in Florida are keeping a cautious eye on Tropical Storm Ian as it rumbles through the Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center said Sunday it expects Ian to rapidly strengthen and become a major hurricane by Monday as it passes over Cuba. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a statewide emergency, expanding an order from Friday that had covered two dozen counties.

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona judge says the state can enforce a near-total ban on abortions that had been blocked for nearly 50 years. Friday’s ruling by a judge in Tucson came after the state’s attorney general sought an order lifting an injunction that was issued shortly after the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is skipping next week's launch attempt of its new moon rocket because of a tropical storm that's expected to become a major hurricane. It's the third delay in the past month for the lunar-orbiting test flight featuring mannequins but no astronauts. Hydrogen leaks and other technical problems caused the previous scrubs.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft is about to clobber a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away. The spacecraft named Dart will zero in on the asteroid Monday, intent on slamming it head-on at 14,000 mph. The impact should be just enough to nudge the asteroid into a slightly tighter orbit around its companion space rock.

CHICAGO (AP) — Officials say eight people were rushed to hospitals after being injured when an explosion Tuesday tore through the top floor of a Chicago apartment building. The explosion at the four-story, 36-unit apartment building occurred at about 9 a.m., officials said. The department conducted a search of the building and found no other victims underneath the debris. No cause of the explosion had been determined