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Clarence Tabb Jr./The Detroit News/TNS

Trump says US won't renew USMCA, signaling yearly reviews

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he would not reauthorize the United States’ trade deal with Canada and Mexico, setting the stage for months or years of negotiations over provisions governing automobiles and other key industries.

The countries are facing a July 1 milestone to extend the pact, which Trump negotiated during his first...Read more

Gardiner Anderson/New York Daily News/TNS

Elderly serial killer Harvey Marcelin, 88, gets life without parole; he'd 'kill again,' judge says

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NEW YORK — Brooklyn serial killer Harvey Marcelin won’t get a chance to slay a fourth woman, after a judge sentenced the 88-year-old murderer to life without parole Wednesday.

A jury found Marcelin guilty last month of first-degree murder for beating a Brooklyn woman to death, dismembering her with a saw and then ditching her remains in and...Read more

Sandra Foyt/DREAMSTIME/TNS

Trump administration accuses UC Davis medical school of racial discrimination in admissions

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Following a six-month investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday that it had determined that the UC Davis School of Medicine discriminated based on race in its admissions process. The school disagreed with the findings about its “rigorous, individualized, and merit-based” admissions process and said it remains committed to ...Read more

News briefs

Current News / News & Features /

Rush to regulate AI divides Democrats in Congress

WASHINGTON — Recent proposals to regulate artificial intelligence show Democratic paths diverging between cooperation and compromise on the one hand and sweeping regulations on the other.

Growing public angst about the new technology and its impact on jobs, communities and the environment has...Read more

Atta Kenare/Getty Images North America/TNS

US launches new wave of strikes on Iran over stalled talks

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military said it had launched strikes against “multiple” targets in Iran for the second day in a row after President Donald Trump accused the country of dragging out talks on an interim peace deal.

U.S. Central Command said it began what it called the “additional self-defense strikes” at 5:15 p.m. New York time ...Read more

Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bill Gates turned a blind eye toward Epstein's history, lawmakers say

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WASHINGTON — Behind closed doors on Wednesday, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told lawmakers that his relationship with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was one based in strategic networking and the promise of philanthropy.

U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, and fellow Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee, said ...Read more

Todd McInturf/The Detroit News/TNS

Michigan State trustee moves to sue university for at least $25 million

Current News / News & Features /

DETROIT — Michigan State University Trustee Rema Vassar is threatening to sue the university for years of alleged discrimination she's faced as a board member and as its former chairperson, according to a "pre-litigation demand" document released to The Detroit News through a public records request.

Vassar, through her attorney Martin ...Read more

Samuel Corum/Getty Images North America/TNS

Wall Street Journal says Trump libel suit should be dismissed 'once and for all'

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The Wall Street Journal asked a judge to dismiss President Donald Trump’s revised $10 billion defamation lawsuit over an article on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, arguing that the new complaint isn’t an improvement on the original version that was tossed out.

Trump’s revised lawsuit still fails to explain how the article — about a “...Read more

Travis Long/The News & Observer/TNS

NC Gov. Josh Stein asks Congress for $10 billion for Helene relief

Current News / News & Features /

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein visited Congress to ask for billions more in Helene relief funding on Wednesday.

The storm, which caused $60 billion in damage in 2024, has left the state to slowly pick up the pieces as federal and state funding has come in waves.

Stein is requesting about $10.15 billion from Congress, $3 billion less than his ...Read more

Atta Kenare/Getty Images North America/TNS

US launches fresh wave of strikes against Iran, straining truce

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military said it had launched strikes against “multiple” targets in Iran for the second day in a row after President Donald Trump accused the country of dragging out talks on an interim peace deal.

U.S. Central Command said it began what it called the “additional self-defense strikes” at 5:15 p.m. New York time ...Read more

Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declares June 'Faith and Family' month to honor the 'Biblical family unit'

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just gave the month of June — which is widely recognized as Pride Month — a conservative rebrand.

On Monday, DeSantis announced June 2026 as “Faith and Family Month” in Florida — a largely symbolic gesture that emphasizes the importance of a “Biblical family unit” and the role that fathers play in the...Read more

FBI/FBI/TNS

Feeding Our Future fugitive on FBI's 'most wanted fraudsters' surrenders

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MINNEAPOLIS — Federal authorities arrested a Minneapolis grocer who recently landed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Fraudsters list for allegations that he bilked a federally funded meals program.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota on Wednesday announced the surrender of Said Ereg, 47, on charges alleging his participation in the sprawling ...Read more

Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register/TNS

Disneyland license plate seeks DMV approval after 'tremendous interest'

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Disneyland fans have spoken, and their overwhelming love for the Happiest Place on Earth has prompted California state officials to move forward with plans for a specialized license plate that pays tribute to the Anaheim theme park.

The California State Treasurer’s Office has received “tremendous interest” from more than the minimum ...Read more

A fallen log serves as a nursery for a new hemlock tree in British Columbia, Canada, hence the nicknames nursery log or nurse log. Seeds often struggle to establish themselves on the ground, but decaying trees provide soft, nutrient-rich environments with less competition or risk from soil fungus.
              Wing-Chi Poon, CC BY-SA

Life after death: From burned trees to bleached corals, how dead organisms live on as the building blocks of new life

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People’s knee-jerk reaction to seeing death in nature is often not positive. The burn scar left by wildfire on a once-forested hillside, or a ghostly white coral reef, may evoke tragedy and despair. But in nature, most plants and animals are recycled back into new life.

The fallen branches and leaves that crunch under your boots as ...Read more

Tim O'Connor/Boston Herald/TNS

Massachusetts State Police is asked for info on every case investigated by former Trooper Michael Proctor

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BOSTON — The Committee for Public Counsel Services is asking Mass State Police to turn over information for all cases, open or closed, that former State Trooper Michael Proctor investigated, citing shocking texts revealed in a lawsuit filed by Karen Read.

The request from CPCS, which oversees the process of representing the state’s indigent...Read more

Yuri Gripas/Yuri Gripas/TNS

Judge declines action on 'weaponization' fund while warning DOJ

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WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington agreed with the Trump administration that a legal fight over a controversial $1.8 billion fund for alleged political “weaponization” victims was likely obsolete in light of U.S. assurances that the plan won’t go forward.

However, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon asked probing questions of a ...Read more

Christina House/Los Angeles Times/TNS

California sues Trump administration over planned ICE facility near Gilroy

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California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Santa Clara County officials announced a new lawsuit against the Trump administration that aims to block a planned immigration facility near Gilroy.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San José, alleges that the leased land is zoned exclusively for agricultural use and that the federal ...Read more

E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS

'Broadview Six' fallout will only intensify with release of grand jury transcripts in 'credibility crisis'

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CHICAGO —Hours before the release of stunning grand jury transcripts in the “Broadview Six” case Tuesday, the fallout from the now-dismissed prosecutorial debacle was front-and-center in a hearing on an unrelated fraud case that everyone thought was over.

Instead, lawyers for Yale Schiff, who pleaded guilty to bank fraud and is serving a ...Read more

Katharine Wilson/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Federal court weighs DOJ demand for Maryland voter registration records

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BALTIMORE — A federal judge on Wednesday repeatedly pressed U.S. Department of Justice attorneys to explain why they want access to sensitive personal information from more than 4 million Maryland voters, questioning how the federal government would use the data if the state is forced to turn it over.

The hearing in Baltimore’s U.S. ...Read more

Ken Cedeno/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump: 'I love the inflation' as prices soar by 4% amid Iran war gas spike

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday shrugged off punishing price hikes faced by ordinary Americans, saying “I love the inflation” as the closely watched economic gauge soared over 4% amid the Iran war.

Asked about a new report showing consumer prices rose by 4.2% compared to 12 months ago, Trump told reporters that the report was music to ...Read more