NASA’s Artemis II astronauts have fired their engines and are blazing toward the moon. The so-called translunar ignition came 25 hours after liftoff, putting the three Americans and one Canadian on course for a lunar fly-around early next week. Their Orion capsule has bolted out of orbit around Earth and chased after the moon nearly 250,000 miles away. It is the first engine firing for a moon crew since Apollo 17 set out on that era’s final moonshot in 1972. NASA had the Artemis II crew stick close to home for a day to test their capsule’s life-support systems before clearing them for lunar departure.

A federal judge in New York has tossed out Blake Lively's sexual harassment claims against Justin Baldoni over the movie “It Ends With Us" but left intact claims for retaliation. The written ruling by Judge Lewis J. Liman in Manhattan was released late Thursday. Lively will still be allowed to put many of her allegations before a jury. Her lawyer says she looks forward to testifying. Lively sued Baldoni last December, alleging sexual harassment. Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios countersued Lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion. The judge dismissed Baldoni’s claims in June.

Federal prosecutors have accused rapper Pooh Shiesty and eight others of robbing three men at gunpoint and kidnapping them in Texas following a contract dispute in January involving rapper Gucci Mane’s record label. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Dallas declined to name the victims Thursday and an affidavit only refers to them by their initials. One victim, R.D., is described as the owner of 1017 Records, the label belonging to Gucci Mane, whose legal name is Radric Delantic Davis. Pooh Shiesty, whose legal is name Lontrell Williams Jr., did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.

The federal government is suing Connecticut, Arizona and Illinois, challenging their efforts to regulate prediction market operators such as Kalshi and Polymarket. All three states have sent cease and desist orders to such companies accusing them of engaging in illegal online gambling under state law. Arizona also filed criminal charges last month against Kalshi for allegedly violating state gambling laws and a law that makes betting on elections illegal. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission contends in court filings Thursday that it, not the states, regulates these companies. Last month, the Trump administration threw its support behind Kalshi and Polymarket.