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National Transportation Safety Board/TNS

Was the Miami helicopter tour pilot who crashed at North Perry licensed to fly?

Current News / News & Features /

MIAMI — The pilot in the helicopter crash earlier this month at North Perry Airport, which sent a man and two kids to the hospital, doesn’t show up as licensed in the FAA database.

Sky Helicopter Tours’ Marcelo Andrade, 56, doesn’t show up in the FAA’s Airmen Inquiry as having a certificate to pilot an airplane or a helicopter, or ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Battle over single-use plastics erupts as 17 states move to block California law

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LOS ANGELES — Attorneys general in seventeen states are suing California over its landmark single-use plastic law, which went into effect on June 1.

The lawsuit comes after a coalition of environmental groups sued the state over the same law this month, arguing the new final regulations create loopholes so large they gut the law.

The states ...Read more

Alan Montag, a third-generation Iowa farmer, and his son Aden load soybean seed into a planter on May 6, 2026. Scott Olson/Getty Images

How everyone pays the cost for patents on seeds, and private companies get rich from keeping them secret

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The United States is one of only a handful of countries that allows companies to hold patents on plant varieties. As a result, a small number of corporations can – and do – suppress competition in the seed industry, stifle innovation and turn taxpayer subsidies intended for farmers into corporate profits.

The U.S. Department of ...Read more

When temperature soar inside homes, being outside even on very hot days can feel less uncomfortable than being indoors. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Heat waves can leave homes dangerously hot – even for young, healthy adults

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Most people know that heat waves can be dangerous. What they may not realize is that the heat indoors can be much worse than outdoors.

When the power goes out and air conditioning stops, a house starts to function like a greenhouse. Heat enters through windows and walls and has nowhere to go. Air stagnates.

Within hours, ...Read more

Many yoga classes end with the instructor explaining 'namaste' as 'the divine in me bows to the divine in you.' Luis Alvarez/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Why it’s OK to say ‘namaste’ in yoga class

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“Namaste,” a common greeting in India and South Asia, has become a global cultural phenomenon – the word appears everywhere, from wellness retreats to political events to pop culture.

In many yoga classes in North America and Europe, it is a ritual to end practice by saying “namaste,” which means, in global yoga culture, ...Read more

It's important to discuss overall sleep health with your child's doctor. Jacob Wackerhausen/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Melatonin can be a safe and effective sleep aid for all ages – but product inconsistencies and improper dosing lead to real harms

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Melatonin – a go-to sleep aid for kids and adults alike in many households in America – continues to create media buzz, with conflicting messages that leave people uncertain about its safety.

Some headlines point to melatonin’s supposed immunity boosting power, while others point to unestablished links between melatonin and ...Read more

Boxes of the drug mifepristone line a shelf at a women's center in Alabama on March 16, 2022. AP Photo/Allen G. Breed

Medication abortion: Decisions from federal courts, the FDA or Trump’s Department of Justice could try to end access via telehealth

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Roughly two-thirds of Americans end their pregnancies by taking two abortion medications – misoprostol and mifepristone. Because these safe, effective medications can be prescribed via telehealth, without an in-office visit, they are how most patients terminate pregnancies in states that ban abortion.

In recent years, anti-abortion ...Read more

SpaceX sunrise launch sends up demo 'Starfall' spacecraft

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SpaceX sent to space a test version of a spacecraft called Starfall during a sunrise launch on the Space Coast on Tuesday.’

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:43 a.m. carrying the disc-shaped Starfall vehicle, developed by SpaceX as a means to provide an affordable ...Read more

Spain's Sanchez holds firm as graft cases reach his family

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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez remains unyielding against the growing pile of corruption charges that have reached his household — and are increasing the political risks for his Socialist Party heading into an election year.

A Madrid judge on Saturday ordered the premier’s wife to stand trial on influence-peddling charges and to ...Read more

Oil extends decline as Iran waiver signals peace talks progress

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Oil extended declines on signs of progress toward an agreement to end the Iran war, which included a U.S. waiver allowing some sales of crude and fuels from the Islamic Republic.

Brent crude slid toward $77 a barrel after falling 3.3% on Monday, the biggest drop in almost a week, while West Texas Intermediate was near $73. The 60-day license ...Read more

Simon Maina/Getty Images North America/TNS

Kenya halts construction work on US Ebola quarantine facility

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Kenyan Health Secretary Aden Duale has frozen the construction of an Ebola isolation facility for U.S. citizens, after he was found guilty of contempt for ignoring a court directive to halt the work.

“I have directed the immediate and complete cessation of any intended construction site preparations or related activities concerning the ...Read more

Health concerns mount as Boyle Heights warehouse fire stretches into a week

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LOS ANGELES — Tens of thousands of people in southeast Los Angeles County have been engulfed in a dense cloud of smoke for nearly a week as a fire continues to tear through a massive refrigerated warehouse in Boyle Heights. Toxic air has covered the San Gabriel Valley and beyond at times, as the fire continues to burn and the wind shifts the ...Read more

MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Why an ancient battle feels closer than ever in one war-weary Lebanese town

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Sweating under a powerful afternoon sun, the crowd slapped their chests in time with the chanter's cry, his mournful refrain echoing over the abandoned, rubble-lined streets of this wounded city that has been the focus of Israel's latest attacks in Lebanon.

"Karbala, O Karbala!" the chanter called.

"This is the tragedy of Karbala," the crowd ...Read more

E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS

In Illinois, getting oil and gas operators to pay for abandoned wells can take decades

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CHRISTIAN COUNTY, Ill. — By James Myers’ estimate, it’s been at least 10 years since the four oil wells on his farmland were abandoned.

That’s 10 years of farming around idle pump jacks and tabulating acres damaged by fluid leaks. Ten years of finding dead animals — birds and, once, a deer — in the open concrete pit the company dug...Read more

Brett Kelman/KFF Health News/TNS

Tennessee pharmacies sell potent ivermectin, led by anti-vaccine doctor who's taken 'bucketloads'

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Four years ago, Tennessee became the first state to allow adults to buy the antiparasitic drug ivermectin from a pharmacy without first seeing a doctor. Pharmacies can use a pre-written, blanket prescription to sell to just about anyone who walks through their doors.

The drug is now marketed and sold across the state in ...Read more

Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS

A Texas city destroyed a Black neighborhood 105 years ago. Echos reverberate today

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DENTON, Texas — The Rev. Reginald Logan, 78, stands on East Prairie Street next to Oakwood Cemetery in southeast Denton on a Thursday afternoon. He leans against a black fence on the north side of the cemetery as he scans the cut grass and headstones.

As a child, the cemetery was his park. There, he and his friends played football and hide-...Read more

RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post/TNS

Ex U.S. ambassador says Mexico's former president feared Sinaloa boss would expose corrupt officials

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A new memoir by an ex-U.S. ambassador in Mexico — who wrote that former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador feared that a drug kingpin arrested by the FBI would "spill the beans" on corrupt Mexican officials — has ignited a media firestorm in Mexico.

In his book, Ken Salazar, the former U.S. envoy to Mexico City, said that the July ...Read more

Marcus Dorsey/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

After recent hospitalization, Mitch McConnell won't vote in the Senate this week

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U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell will not vote in the Senate this week and is working “closely” with staff as his health continues to recover, spokesperson Stephanie Penn said Monday.

McConnell, 84, was hospitalized June 14, but his staff did not give details about his condition other than he was receiving “excellent care.”

Penn said in a ...Read more

Patrick Traylor/The Denver Post/TNS

Colorado's first reported bear attack of the year shuts down Jefferson County park

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A popular hiking and biking area near Golden was closed Monday after a bear attacked a hiker the night before — Colorado’s first reported attack of the year, according to state wildlife officials.

Jefferson County Parks and Open Space announced the closure of Apex Park shortly before 6:15 a.m. Monday. The park will reopen “when it is safe...Read more

Rosalio Ahumada/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

California law that forbids 'forced outing' of trans students blocked by 9th Circuit

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California's effort to shield the decisions of transgender students in public schools from the eyes of prying parents remains on hold this week after the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found a state law designed to protect them was likely unconstitutional.

The U.S. Supreme Court previously upheld a temporary block on the law after it was ...Read more