Current News

/

ArcaMax

Nick Wagner/The Seattle Times/TNS

What upcoming thunderstorms could mean for wildfire danger in Washington

Current News / News & Features /

DENVER — The weather this weekend could be a recipe for rapid wildfire spread in Eastern Washington, according to state officials.

With a potential for record-high temperatures across the state Sunday, a warm and dry trend in Eastern Washington and projected winds, The state Department of Natural Resources is urging residents to use caution ...Read more

Baltimore archdiocese offers up to $300 per gun in buyback event

Current News / News & Features /

BALTIMORE — The Archdiocese of Baltimore is preparing to host its fourth gun buyback event next month in Southwest Baltimore.

Gun owners can bring firearms to the Westside Shopping Center, near the Carrollton Ridge and Millhill neighborhoods, on Aug. 8 and receive between $100 and $300 if the firearm is in working order, according to a news ...Read more

Littleny/Dreamstime/TNS

Salad greens scrutinized as cyclosporiasis outbreak spreads

Current News / News & Features /

As state and federal officials work to identify the source of the recent outbreak of the intestinal illness cyclosporiasis, Michigan health officials have identified lettuces or salad greens as one potential culprit.

“Early information has shown lettuce as a common product that regularly comes up during the investigation,” said Dr. Natasha ...Read more

Elephant fire doubles in size but orders to flee downgraded as crews battle flames

Current News / News & Features /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Elephant fire burning in Sierra, Lassen and Plumas counties has doubled in size to more than 12,000 acres as firefighters continue to battle the growing blaze.

The wildfire burning north and east of Loyalton and Highway 49 grew from 6,400 acres Monday to 12,303 acres by early Tuesday as it marched through high-country...Read more

Ed Reed/New York Mayoral Photography Office/TNS

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani expands key autism school programs to pre-K amid universal childcare push

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani is expanding New York City’s most popular special education programs to preschool for the first time.

The $67.5-million plan will bring the programs — including Nest, Horizons, AIMS, Path and ACES for preschoolers with autism and other disabilities — to 14 school districts across all boroughs this fall. ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

City Council blocks Mayor Brandon Johnson's Chicago Housing Authority appointments

Current News / News & Features /

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson faced another round of grief from the City Council Tuesday over his appointments to key public boards.

A special meeting in the council Housing Committee was quickly upended when Ald. Pat Dowell protested the direct introduction of three commissioners to the Chicago Housing Authority board. Dowell, Johnson’s ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Tips to avoid cyclosporiasis as parasitic illness expands in Michigan

Current News / News & Features /

DETROIT — Michigan health officials are urging consumers to take precautions to help ward off cyclosporiasis and limit its spread as thousands of state residents have been sickened by the parasitic illness.

Through Monday, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has received more than 2,600 reports of the illness since June 22.

...Read more

Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Cyclosporiasis cases in Michigan surge past 3,300

Current News / News & Features /

DETROIT — The number of cyclosporiasis cases in Michigan now tops 3,300, according to an update Tuesday morning by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Tuesday's case total of 3,309 is up from 2,640 as of Monday. A total of 44 people had been hospitalized as of July 9.

The illness, which causes diarrhea and cramping, is ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Denver eliminates local childcare license in push for cheaper services

Current News / News & Features /

DENVER — Denver will no longer issue local childcare business licenses after the City Council eliminated the requirement — which officials say didn’t provide any additional safeguards — in an attempt to begin making the service cheaper in the city.

While the ordinance eliminated the local license, the state has a separate process that ...Read more

Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post/TNS

Colorado wildfires: More Aspen Acres evacuations lifted, Steamboat fires snowmaking guns as precaution against Fishhook fire

Current News / News & Features /

DENVER — More evacuations were lifted for the Aspen Acres fire burning in southern Colorado on Tuesday, allowing residents to return home after weeks of uncertainty.

The Aspen Acres fire is one of six active wildfires burning across Colorado that have together consumed nearly 208,000 acres, or 325 square miles, according to fire officials. ...Read more

Bill Ingalls/NASA/TNS

NASA astronaut launches with 2 cosmonauts to space station

Current News / News & Features /

NASA astronaut Anil Menon launched with a pair of cosmonauts on a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station on Tuesday.

Menon, a member of the 2021 class of astronauts, is making his first spaceflight. He’s flying with Roscosmos’ Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. Kikina flew once before on the Crew-5 mission that launched from Florida...Read more

AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

US-Iran truce collapses as attacks worsen, blockade restarts

Current News / News & Features /

The interim peace between the U.S. and Iran effectively collapsed after American forces reimposed a naval blockade and launched another wave of airstrikes, while Tehran attacked more oil tankers sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to restart a blockade of Iranian ports overnight came after hostilities ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Miami-Dade school district sued over alleged sex abuse in Homestead school

Current News / News & Features /

MIAMI — Two former students at a K-8 school in Homestead are suing Miami-Dade County Public Schools, a teacher, an administrator and a school counselor over the school’s handling of sexual abuse they allegedly experienced when they were 12 and 13 years old.

The students, sisters filing suit in the Southern District of Florida under “Jane ...Read more

Ken Cedeno/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Todd Blanche takes his turn on the hot seat

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — Todd Blanche faces his biggest public test Wednesday in his bid to serve as President Donald Trump’s fourth confirmed attorney general: a Senate Judiciary Committee with a pair of undecided Republicans.

The panel’s two-day hearing, which will feature Blanche on the first day and outside witnesses on the second, will likely ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Permanent daylight saving time is on the table. Would California scrap being on standard time?

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — A proposal to make daylight saving time the year-round default nationwide is once again coming before Congress.

And, as in the past in both California and nationally, proponents and opponents of the switch cite the potential effects (good or bad) on health, business and agriculture as reasons to support or oppose the plan.

The ...Read more

Talking about the dying process early can be supportive for caregivers and their loved ones. AlexanderFord/E+ via Getty Images

Most Americans prefer to die at home, but the US healthcare system often prevents it

Current News / News & Features /

Ask people what they want at the end of their lives, and overwhelmingly the answers will revolve around comfort, dignity and time at home with loved ones.

Yet the U.S. healthcare system often thwarts these wishes.

Most Americans say they want to die at home, but only one-third do. What could be an intentional last chapter may ...Read more

Research suggests that AI models tend to favor Western moral frameworks when judging people's actions. mirjanajovic/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

Large language models often prioritize Western moral values, overlooking other cultures

Current News / News & Features /

Large language artificial intelligence models, such as ChatGPT, often misjudge what people outside the West might value as a moral priority, according to our new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In 2024 we asked OpenAI’s GPT-3.5, GPT-4 and GPT-4o models to estimate the moral norms – shared...Read more

President Donald Trump arrives at the Great American State Fair Celebration on June 24, 2026, in Washington. Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images

As lawmakers politicize the 250th anniversary, Americans are looking for unity over division

Current News / News & Features /

The Trump administration has planned a series of commemorative events as part of its Freedom 250 initiative to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. These commemorations, according to Chief of Protocol Monica Crowley, were intended to “bring the country back together” through a renewed sense of patriotism, national unity and civic pride.<...Read more

Nearly two-thirds of gunshot victims in Philadelphia are brought to trauma centers by police, according to a 2021 study. Thomas Hengge/Anadolu via Getty Images

When a police officer is shot, how they get to the hospital depends on the city – and Philadelphia stands apart

Current News / News & Features /

When five police officers were shot in Houston in January 2019 while serving a drug-related arrest warrant, all of them were transported to the hospital after emergency medical services arrived. Two went by air and three by ground ambulance.

About seven months later, a gunman in Philadelphia shot six police officers during another ...Read more

AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

US-Iran truce collapses as attacks worsen and blockade returns

Current News / News & Features /

The interim peace between the U.S. and Iran effectively collapsed after American forces reimposed a naval blockade and launched another wave of airstrikes, while Tehran attacked more oil tankers sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to restart a blockade of Iranian ports overnight came after hostilities ...Read more