Current News

/

ArcaMax

Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Former adviser to California Gov. Gavin Newsom received $50,000 payout after leaving state job amid federal probe

Current News / News & Features /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, left state service with two things: a federal corruption investigation and more than $50,000 in pay for vacation time she accrued but never took.

State payroll records reviewed by the Los Angeles Times show Williamson used approximately $30,000 in unused ...Read more

Carl Juste/Miami Herald/TNS

'Dry to the bone': Drought squeezes Everglades airboat operators

Current News / News & Features /

MIAMI — Instead of whizzing through the open marsh of the Everglades like he usually does, Tristan Tigertail steers his airboat alongside the man-made canal along Tamiami Trail.

On one side, cars speed past on the two-lane road that bisects the southern part of the state. A telecommunications tower looms above the landscape. On the other, ...Read more

Alex Wroblewski/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Republicans fret over RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine policies while MAHA moms stew

Current News / News & Features /

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is fielding pressure from the White House to relax his controversial approach to vaccine policies as the midterms near, but his most steadfast supporters are pressing for more aggressive action — like restricting covid-19 vaccines and pesticide use — to carry out the Make America ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

As lung disease threatens workers, lawmakers seek protections for countertop manufacturers

Current News / News & Features /

César Manuel González, 37, used to work with stone that was engineered to endure: dense, polished slabs designed to outlast the kitchens in which they were installed.

Engineered quartz countertops have surged in popularity in the home renovation market, with industry analysts estimating the global engineered stone market at around $30 billion...Read more

(Geneva Reynolds)/KFF HEALTH NEWS/TNS

More kids are in ERs for tooth pain. Trump cuts and RFK Jr.'s anti-fluoride fight aren't helping

Current News / News & Features /

Eight-year-old Jonah woke up one May morning with a swollen face and a toothache. He refused the pain medication that his mom, Geneva Reynolds, tried to give him. He didn’t sleep or eat and cried constantly.

Within a few days, Reynolds became so desperate that she and her husband had to physically restrain Jonah, dumping pain medication down ...Read more

Charly Triballeau/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Immigration enforcement threatens housing security, rippling through local economies

Current News / News & Features /

As federal immigration officers made more “at-large” arrests in communities across the country in the first year of the current Trump administration — including at homes, places of worship and workplaces — more than 1,100 Nebraska families developed family safety plans in the event a parent or breadwinner faced detention or deportation. ...Read more

Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald/TNS

Healey orders 10 gigawatts of new energy resources by 2035 in 'all-of-the-above' approach

Current News / News & Features /

As gas and heating prices spike amid the war with Iran, Gov. Maura Healey announced Massachusetts will be aiming to establish 10 new gigawatts of energy resources over the next 10 years creating an estimated $10 billion in savings.

“We need to get even more energy into Massachusetts,” Healey stated in Winchester on Monday. “That’s why ...Read more

Julien De Rosa/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump gets chilly response from allies over demand on Hormuz

Current News / News & Features /

After years of being antagonized by President Donald Trump, U.S. allies in Europe and Asia are in no hurry to bow to his demand that they send ships into a war he started — and has claimed to have won already.

Their response to his call for help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for about a fifth of the world’s oil, has ranged...Read more

Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

NJ woman who protested at Columbia University is released from ICE detention

Current News / News & Features /

A New Jersey resident who was arrested during a 2024 pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University was released from federal immigration custody on Monday, her lawyers said.

Leqaa Kordia, a 33-year-old Palestinian woman, was held for more than a year in a Texas detention center, where she said she had a seizure and faced inhumane conditions.

...Read more

Daniel Perron/Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bank of America agrees to settle claims it aided Epstein sex crimes

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — Bank of America Corp. has agreed to settle a proposed class action lawsuit on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein victims who accused the bank of aiding in the deceased financier’s sex-trafficking, according to a court record.

The agreement in principle was noted Monday in the court docket in the case. Terms of the deal were not ...Read more

Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/TNS

US Rep. Giménez calls investing in Cuba before political change of leaders 'insane'

Current News / News & Features /

After Cuba’s deputy prime minister said Monday Cubans in Miami and elsewhere will be able to invest and own businesses on the island, one of Miami’s Cuban U.S. House members said anyone who intends to invest with the regime before political change “is insane.”

“If you’re insane, go ahead and invest in Cuba,” said Rep. Carlos Gimé...Read more

Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump says Cuba 'not in a hurricane zone.' He clearly hasn't done his homework

Current News / News & Features /

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House Monday that Cuba would be ideal for the U.S. to take over because of pleasant weather and it is not prone to hurricanes.

If only that were true.

The island nation, which could be on the cusp of dramatic change after Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel said Friday the country’s open to ...Read more

RICHARD PIERRIN/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Canada mulls joining UK-led response force as military grows

Current News / News & Features /

Canada is considering eventual membership in a U.K.-led multinational rapid response force, but its immediate priority is rebuilding its military and reducing reliance on the U.S., Defense Minister David McGuinty said.

He said Canada is assessing whether to join the 10-nation Joint Expeditionary Force — which also includes the Nordics, ...Read more

Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS

JD Vance to lead Trump's new task force to fight fraud

Current News / News & Features /

President Donald Trump announced the creation of a task force to fight fraud across the country Monday, following the administration’s focus on Minnesota, which is grappling with widespread fraud in its social services programs.

Vice President JD Vance will chair the task force and Andrew Ferguson, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, ...Read more

Melissa Montalvo/Fresno Bee/TNS

Nearly 70% of California immigrant detainees have no criminal conviction

Current News / News & Features /

Nearly 70% of the people held in California’s detention centers have no criminal conviction, according to the latest data from U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement.

The figure is consistent with the conviction rate of detainees across the country and further underscores how immigrants are targeted under President Donald Trump’s second ...Read more

Natalie Jones/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Baltimore County Council rejects mask ban on ICE, other law enforcement

Current News / News & Features /

A Baltimore County Council bill that would have barred law enforcement officers from wearing masks while on duty and required them to visibly display identification failed Monday night after not garnering support from anyone but the bill sponsor.

Introduced by Councilman Izzy Patoka, a Pikesville Democrat who’s running for county executive, ...Read more

K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

'One in a million' malfunction rained shrapnel onto 5 Freeway near California's Camp Pendleton, report says

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — The detonation of a military round over the 5 Freeway during an exercise at Camp Pendleton in October was a “one in a million” malfunction that investigators have struggled to explain, according to a report from the U.S. Marine Corps released Friday.

The investigation determined the military round exploded before it was ...Read more

Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS

Judge blocks vaccine changes by RFK Jr.'s advisory panel

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — A federal judge dealt a blow to the Trump administration’s public health agenda on Monday, blocking implementation of an advisory panel’s controversial changes to the childhood vaccine schedule and casting doubt on the panel’s validity.

Judge Brian Murphy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a...Read more

AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump demands help with Strait of Hormuz, threatens more strikes on Kharg Island

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump reiterated his appeals for help from other nations to secure the Strait of Hormuz, saying that Iran was nearly obliterated even as the war keeps roiling oil markets and global shipping.

“Numerous countries have told me they’re on the way — some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t. Some ...Read more

Tracy Glantz/The State/TNS

In South Carolina, Sen. Lindsey Graham says no ground troops needed to end war in Iran

Current News / News & Features /

COLUMBIA, S.C. — As a central advocate for the recent strikes on Iran, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham reiterated sending troops to the region isn’t necessary to end the war.

But in Columbia, Graham repeatedly voiced his support for President Donald Trump, who has not publicly committed to keeping U.S. troops out of Iran.

“I’m going to tell ...Read more