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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thousands of service workers backed by teachers began a three-day strike against the Los Angeles Unified School District on Tuesday, shutting down education for a half-million students in the nation's second-largest school system.

Fox News and a voting machine company that claims the conservative network defamed it by amplifying baseless allegations of fraud following the 2020 presidential election are facing off in a courtroom over whether journalists have a responsibility to be cautious with explosive and implausible allegations. Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems argued Tuesday that Fox recklessly repeated false accusations from supporters of former President Donald Trump that its machines and the software used were responsible for Trump's 2020 election loss. Documents released during the lawsuit have shown that top Fox executives and personalities didn’t believe the claims but aired them anyway.

Stocks rallied on Wall Street, including the banks most beaten down by the industry's crisis. The S&P 500 rose 1.3% Tuesday for its first back-to-back gain in two weeks. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the government could offer the banking industry more assistance if needed. The Dow and the Nasdaq also rose. Markets around the world have pinballed this month on worries the banking system may be cracking under the pressure of the fastest set of hikes to interest rates in decades. Treasury yields rose in another dramatic swing as the Federal Reserve began its latest meeting on interest rates.

The Pentagon says it is speeding up its delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine, opting to send a refurbished older model that can be ready faster. The aim is to get the 70-ton battle powerhouses to the Russia-Ukraine war zone by the fall. The original plan was to send 31 newer M1A2 Abrams, which could've taken a year or two to build and ship. But the Pentagon said Tuesday the decision was made to send the older M1A1 version, which can be taken from Army stocks and will be easier for Ukrainian forces to learn to use and maintain.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen projected calm on Tuesday after recent regional bank collapses but told a gathering of bankers that additional rescue arrangements “could be warranted” if any new failures at smaller institutions jeopardize financial stability.

President Joe Biden is establishing national monuments in Nevada and Texas and creating a marine sanctuary southwest of Hawaii. Biden will announce the measures Tuesday at a White House summit on conservation action at the Interior Department. Biden intends to designate a desert mountain in southern Nevada called Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument. The mountain is considered sacred to Native Americans. The Democratic president also intends to designate Castner Range in El Paso, Texas. Biden is initiating a national marine sanctuary in U.S. waters near the Pacific Remote Islands southwest of Hawaii. Biden’s actions come as environmental groups criticize his approval of the Willow oil drilling project in Alaska.

The United States is imposing a new round of sanctions on Iranian firms and people accused of procuring equipment used for Iranian drones. U.S. officials announced the new measures Tuesday. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control coordinated with the FBI to designate four firms and three people in Iran and Turkey for allegedly buying equipment, including European-made engines of drones, to be used for Iran’s drone and weapons programs. American defense officials claim that Iran is supplying Russia with unmanned drones to use on civilians as the Kremlin continues its invasion of Ukraine. U.S. officials also say that Iran is gathering information for its drone network by deploying its technology in Ukraine.

A handful of red-state Democrats were instrumental in helping Republicans secure a rollback of banking regulations sought by then-President Donald Trump in 2018. Now those changes are being blamed for contributing to the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank that prompted a federal rescue and stoked anxiety about a broader banking contagion. The rollback was leveraged with a lobbying campaign that cost tens of millions of dollars and drew an army of more than 1,000 lobbyists into the effort. It also was seeded with ample campaign contributions. It  offers a fresh reminder of the power that bankers wield in Washington, where the industry spends prodigiously.

The last gas-powered muscle car from Dodge isn’t leaving the road without some squeals, thunder and crazy-fast speed. The 2023 Challenger SRT Demon 170 will deliver 1,025 horsepower from its 6.2-liter supercharged V-8. The automaker says it will be the quickest production car made. Stellantis says it can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in a scary 1.66 seconds, making it faster than even electric supercars from Tesla and Lucid. It’s what the performance brand from Stellantis is calling the last of the rumbling cars that for decades were a fixture of American culture on Saturday night cruises all over the country. Stellantis will stop making gas versions of the Dodge Challenger and Charger by the end of this year.