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DEA 'zeroing in on potential drug dealer' tied to Hayden Panettiere's death

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Hayden Panettiere’s polarizing boyfriend Brian Hickerson is talking with narcotics agents searching for the drug dealer who may have contributed to the 36-year-old star’s death last month.

Hickerson was in the South Carolina apartment where the “Heroes” actor died on Aug. 18. He’s since communicated with the Drug Enforcement Agency, ...Read more

Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Illinois ethics panel accepts resignation and moves to quickly name acting legislative watchdog

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The state’s Legislative Ethics Commission agreed Thursday to a Sept. 30 retirement date for Michael McCuskey as the legislature’s top ethics watchdog and said it plans to move quickly to appoint an acting legislative inspector general who could end up serving the nearly two years remaining in McCuskey’s term.

The commission — made up of...Read more

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America/TNS

Virginia Beach sailor pardoned by Trump after weapons conviction

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NORFOLK, Va. — A Virginia Beach sailor was pardoned by President Donald Trump last week after spending four years in federal prison for possessing and selling unregistered weapons.

Patrick Tate Adamiak, a former Navy master at arms, was convicted in federal court and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

According to federal prosecutors, a ...Read more

Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Federal judge denies bid to block Illinois' medical-aid-in-dying law from taking effect Saturday

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CHICAGO — A federal judge on Thursday denied disability rights advocates’ request to block an Illinois law going into effect this weekend that lets terminally ill patients obtain prescription medication to end their lives.

The ruling came in a federal lawsuit filed earlier this year by two disabled patients, a doctor and several disability ...Read more

Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Warehouse fire in LA's Boyle Heights result of 'shoddy work' by solar panel company, lawsuit claims

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LOS ANGELES — Lineage, the company that operates a massive cold-storage warehouse in Boyle Heights that recently burned down, says in a new lawsuit that the company operating a solar array on the building’s roof is to blame for the fire.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, comes nearly three months after the ...Read more

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District/Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District/TNS

Rare Ice Age mastodon tooth discovered in Bay Area creek

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Amid an oppressive stretch of extreme heat and Florida-esque humidity that has been punishing much of California, consider, for a moment, the Ice Age.

For millions of years, Pacific mastodons — huge, hairy relatives of modern elephants — roamed a vast and lush range that included California, Oregon, the northern Rocky Mountains and parts of...Read more

Saul Loeb/Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump promises $500 rebates for Obamacare 'overcharges' he blames on Biden

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President Donald Trump on Thursday promised to send $500 rebate checks to an estimated 1 million enrollees in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans, who he says were overcharged when former President Joe Biden was in the White House.

Trump claimed the money would compensate Obamacare enrollees in 30 mostly Republican states for what he ...Read more

Christopher Evans/Boston Herald/TNS

Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court reprimands Judge Shelley Joseph for 2018 courtroom ICE escape

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BOSTON — Massachusetts’ highest court has issued a public reprimand of state district court Judge Shelley Joseph for her part in the escape from the courthouse of a suspect wanted by ICE in 2018.

“We also acknowledge that the respondent’s conduct here was less severe than other judicial conduct for which we have issued a public ...Read more

Chris Delmas/AFP/AFP via Getty Images/TNS

How 9/11 changed the way America surveils its citizens

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Twenty-five years after 9/11, the surveillance infrastructure built and expanded in its aftermath has become part of a far larger digital ecosystem — producing tools that can collect and analyze information on a scale unimaginable in 2001.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did more than reshape the nation’s approach to terrorism. ...Read more

Nick Wagner/The Kansas City Star/TNS

Missouri Secretary of State Hoskins, found in contempt of court, reverses himself on state's gerrymandered map

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon ruled that Secretary of State Denny Hoskins was in contempt of court for ordering local election officials to use a redrawn congressional map in November after conflicting rulings from the state’s high court and a federal court judge.

But in the same breath that Chief ...Read more

Amanda McCoy/Star-Telegram/TNS

President Trump announces new Medal of Honor Monument during visit to Arlington, Texas

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ARLINGTON, Va. — President Donald Trump announced Thursday a new monument will be built on the National Mall in Washington. He signed the final legislative step for the location during a ceremony Thursday at the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington.

The Hershel “Woody” Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Bill is ...Read more

ERIC LUTZENS/The Denver Post/TNS

Judge weighs whether to hold Children's Hospital Colorado in contempt for not providing gender-affirming care

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DENVER — A Denver district judge opened a multiday hearing Thursday to determine whether Children’s Hospital Colorado should be held in contempt of court because transgender minors still can’t receive gender-affirming care there.

Judge Ericka Englert closed the courtroom during witnesses’ testimony, only allowing the public to hear ...Read more

PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Maryland immigrant groups sue DHS over alleged warrantless ICE arrests

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BALTIMORE — Maryland immigrant advocacy groups are suing the Department of Homeland Security over what the organizations allege is the agency’s warrantless immigration arrest practice.

The lawsuit requests a preliminary injunction to prohibit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s practice of “arrest first, ask questions later.”

...Read more

Andrew Chin/Getty Images North America/TNS

'Harry-Meghan nonsense': Couple blame conflict with African country on King Charles

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It’s only been two weeks since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrived back in the United Kingdom but the couple with a talent for drama have already found themselves accused of setting up a “rival court” and have launched a spat with King Charles III over the release of a letter that says they won’t be returning to royal duties and ...Read more

Kevin Winter/Getty Images North America/TNS

Jimmy Kimmel interview with Texas Senate candidate Talarico won't air on ABC

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Comedian Jimmy Kimmel's interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico won't air on broadcast television amid the ABC network's high-stakes skirmish with the Federal Communications Commission.

Kimmel, during his Wednesday night monologue, said his talk with the 37-year-old Texas Democrat instead would stream on his show's YouTube channel ...Read more

Amanda Sabga/Boston Herald/TNS

Lindsay Clancy attorney again argues for a not guilty verdict following mistrial

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BOSTON — Lindsay Clancy’s attorney is formally arguing that the court find her not guilty following last week’s mistrial.

“The government did not present evidence that allows a juror earnestly seeking the truth to determine that the defendant’s guilt on the crime was proved on each element of the offense,” defense attorney Kevin ...Read more

Mario Tama/Getty Images North America/TNS

Pain, trauma and gratitude: 9/11 remembered by those who were there: 'It's the story of New York'

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NEW YORK — When terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, hundreds of thousands of first responders, workers and New York City residents raced to the towers. They bore witness to horror, devastation and heroism.

Their lives were forever altered.

Now, 25 years later, they remember that day and the years that passed with a mix of pain, ...Read more

Heavy rain from an atmospheric river sent the Los Angeles River, normally mostly empty, spilling over its sides in February 2024. Mario Tama/Getty Images

How heat on the Tibetan Plateau fuels powerful storms in California, half a world away

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The Tibetan Plateau may be on the other side of the world from California, but what happens on this high-altitude landscape in Asia can set off a chain of events that fuels powerful atmospheric rivers with flooding rainfall and heavy snow hitting the U.S. West Coast.

My team of atmospheric scientists discovered this connection, and we...Read more

Polygraphs measure heart rate, blood pressure and perspiration, though there are no specific physiological reactions associated with lying. standret/iStock via Getty Images Plus

The Pentagon is using polygraphs to hunt leakers, but the tests are more theater than fact

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In August 2026, government investigators subjected roughly 50 military officers and civilian employees on the Joint Staff to polygraph tests as part of an inquiry into press leaks about the Iran war and depleted U.S. munitions, according to The New York Times. The newspaper described the scope of the investigation as unprecedented in the ...Read more

Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Chronic absenteeism drops slightly among Maryland students, but misses state goal

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BALTIMORE — Maryland’s chronic absenteeism rate dropped slightly last school year, but the state fell far short of its own goal of cutting the rate in half, education officials announced Thursday.

About 22.8% of Maryland students were chronically absent during the 2025-26 school year, down from 25% the previous year, according to ...Read more