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Current News / News & Features /

Hurricane season forecast is ‘below normal’ — but it comes with a warning

The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be “below normal,” largely due to an El Niño weather pattern, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA’s hurricane season outlook, released Thursday, forecasts 8 to 14 named ...Read more

Ryan Murphy/Getty Images North America/TNS

Mamdani to expand NYC math and reading programs to new schools, grade levels

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani is moving forward with an expansion of New York City’s curriculum reforms started under ex-Mayor Eric Adams, including changes to how math is taught in elementary schools and reading in high schools, he said Thursday.

Mamdani and his schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels, announced the next phase of the two ...Read more

AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Progress in Iran talks undercut over uranium, Hormuz tolls

Current News / News & Features /

Iran said the latest proposal from the United States partly bridged the gap between the warring sides but comments from the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader about keeping Tehran’s uranium stockpile and a dispute over tolls in the Strait of Hormuz clouded the outlook for a breakthrough.

Tehran is in the process of responding to a text ...Read more

Robin Buckson/The Detroit News/TNS

University of Michigan 'retaliated against' and 'surveilled' student activist, suit says

Current News / News & Features /

DETROIT — A University of Michigan student claimed in a lawsuit that school officials, police and private security contractors retaliated against and surveilled him after he took part in "pro-Palestinian speech and advocacy" on campus.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. Eastern District of Michigan, detailed how Josiah Walker, a Black ...Read more

Peter Casey/The Virginian-Pilot/TNS

Judge dismisses all charges against former Virginia assistant principal

Current News / News & Features /

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Newport News judge on Thursday granted a motion to strike the criminal case against a former Richneck Elementary School assistant principal — tossing all eight felony charges against her before the jury got the case.

Circuit Court Judge Rebecca M. Robinson ruled that prosecutors failed to prove that Ebony J. Parker’s...Read more

The San Diego Union-Tribune/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

San Diego mosque shooting suspect was previously flagged by FBI

Current News / News & Features /

One of the teenagers accused of carrying out a deadly shooting at a California mosque was flagged by the FBI as a potential threat last year, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Caleb Vazquez was the subject of a 2025 FBI eGuardian alert. Authorities say Vazquez, 18, and Cain Clark, 17, on Monday killed three men, including a ...Read more

Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman/TNS

Challenge over Idaho's school bathroom law dropped; law 'fully in effect'

Current News / News & Features /

BOISE, Idaho — Three years ago, opponents filed a lawsuit challenging an Idaho law that bars transgender students from using school bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

Now, that challenge is on the verge of dismissal.

On Wednesday, the parties involved filed a stipulation for voluntary dismissal in the case. They noted that...Read more

Handout/Getty Images North America/TNS

'They were underage girls': How Jeffrey Epstein brought victims from Brazil to Palm Beach

Current News / News & Features /

MIAMI — While on the hunt for young women and underage girls, Jeffrey Epstein repeatedly turned to Brazil. He lured girls as young as 13 with promises of lucrative modeling work and other enticements to entrap them into sexual servitude, according to a Miami Herald investigation based on the millions of pages of records released earlier this ...Read more

Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS

ICE detains in Miami sister of head of GAESA, the military company that runs Cuba's economy

Current News / News & Features /

MIAMI — The Trump administration has detained in Miami the sister of the top Cuban official who heads the multibillion-dollar military conglomerate that runs most of Cuba’s economy, the federal government announced on Thursday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced in a news release that Adys Lastres Morera was in custody, after the...Read more

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images North America/TNS

ICE agent charged with assault during Operation Metro Surge released after posting $100,000 bail

Current News / News & Features /

MINNEAPOLIS — Gregory Morgan Jr. stood in front of a phalanx of cameras Thursday before turning himself in to local law enforcement on charges that he assaulted two Minnesotans during Operation Metro Surge.

He nodded along as his attorney, Ryan Pacyga, said that Morgan — an eight-year veteran of law enforcement who had not worked in ...Read more

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images North America/TNS

Gov. Jared Polis brushes off party's censure over Tina Peters clemency, saying he's 'really proud to be a Democrat'

Current News / News & Features /

DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Thursday that he remained “proud to be a Democrat” even after the state party’s central committee voted overwhelmingly to censure him for commuting Tina Peters’ prison sentence for election-related crimes.

But first, he ate a carrot.

Polis, speaking at the signing of an executive order to ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Alaska Legislature adjourns with eye toward special session

Current News / News & Features /

JUNEAU, Alaska — The regular legislative session of the Alaska Legislature ended Wednesday night, with lawmakers already looking ahead to a special session focused on advancing a long-sought natural gas pipeline.

The Senate adjourned sine die at 8 p.m. The House followed suit at 9:45 p.m. after a long and tearful series of goodbyes from ...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

GOP nears $1 billion midterms war chest, more than triple Democrats' cash

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have amassed a $939 million war chest ahead of November midterms, more than tripling the Democrats’ haul and setting them up to mount a formidable fight in their uphill effort to retain control of Congress.

The latest filings with the Federal Election Commission show Democrats ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Older AC and fridge chemicals amp up climate change. Trump just rolled back limits on them

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that grocery stories and air conditioning companies will be allowed to keep using high-polluting refrigerants for longer than they would have under a law he signed during his first administration.

“This was a tremendous burden, a tremendous cost,” said Trump, surrounded in the ...Read more

Franco Origlia/Getty Images North America/TNS

Mussolini's granddaughter wins Italy's 'Big Brother,' gets $116,000

Current News / News & Features /

The 63-year-old grandaughter of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini won Italy’s version of the reality TV competition show “Celebrity Big Brother.”

Alessandra Mussolini took home $116,000 for defeating 15 contestants on her way to victory on “Grande Fratello VIP.”

“I enjoyed everything to the fullest, just as I am,” she reportedly ...Read more

AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Progress in Iran talks undercut over uranium, Hormuz tolls

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — Iran said the latest proposal from the U.S. partly bridged the gap between the warring sides but comments from the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader about keeping Tehran’s uranium stockpile and a dispute over tolls in the Strait of Hormuz clouded the outlook for a breakthrough.

Tehran is in the process of responding to a ...Read more

Jess Imperial/The Marine Mammal Center/TNS/TNS

Scientists bet on AI to save gray whales from ship strikes off California coast

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — The leading killer of gray whales is not natural causes, disease or predators but human-made ship strikes.

Last year, 21 gray whales were found dead around San Francisco Bay and 40% of those were from ship collisions. This year, seven whales have already died during whale season, which peaks this month. As climate change alters ...Read more

Justice Department announces charges against 15 defendants in Medicaid fraud schemes

Current News / News & Features /

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal officials in Minneapolis on Thursday announced criminal charges against 15 people in connection with Medicaid fraud schemes in Minnesota that targeted more than $90 million in taxpayer dollars.

The development, announced at a news conference featuring top Trump administration appointees, is the latest public update in ...Read more

NOAA Satellites/TNS/TNS

Hurricane season forecast is 'below normal' -- but it comes with a warning

Current News / News & Features /

The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be “below normal,” largely due to an El Niño weather pattern, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA’s hurricane season outlook, released Thursday, forecasts 8 to 14 named storms, including three to six hurricanes and one to three major hurricanes.

...Read more

Kent Nishimura/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Trump postpones signing AI security order over parts he disliked

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he called off the signing of an executive order that would address cybersecurity concerns raised by powerful new artificial intelligence models because he objected to parts of the directive, casting doubt on U.S. efforts to respond to new risks posed by the emerging technology.

“Because I didn’t ...Read more