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Controversial billionaire tax will appear on November ballot

Current News / News & Features /

Proponents of a tax on California billionaires vowed on Thursday to move forward with their November ballot measure despite mounting opposition from many of the state's most powerful political forces.

A labor union spent $31 million gathering signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot in an effort to offset federal healthcare funding cuts...Read more

Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register/TNS

Vice President JD Vance talks faith and politics at Nixon library in Southern California

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YORBA LINDA, Calif. — More than 400 people gathered at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda on Thursday to hear Vice President JD Vance speak on current issues and his personal journey with his faith, the subject of his new memoir.

The Republican official’s talk turned political at times. Vance began the event by ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Newsom blesses Uber ballot measure truce -- but fight over car crash lawsuits continues

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Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Thursday to crack down on inflated profits stemming from car crash lawsuits, blessing a hard-fought compromise between Uber and the state's trial attorneys that averts a November showdown between two of California's most powerful and moneyed lobbying forces.

The deal, the fruit of months of negotiations, takes aim...Read more

News briefs

Current News / News & Features /

Venezuela earthquakes: Staggering destruction signals urgent warning for California

The devastation from two massive earthquakes that struck Venezuela on Wednesday offers a stark warning for California and other seismically vulnerable areas of the toll catastrophic shaking can bring to urban areas.

It will take days to assess the full scope of...Read more

Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Miami-Dade firefighters pull out of once massive wildfires as blazes near end

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MIAMI — For nearly two weeks, wildfires — the first of which was spawned along Krome Avenue from a lightning strike and split into two blazes spanning over 22,000 acres — have suffocated neighborhoods in western Miami-Dade County. Now, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue says its diligent job is done, signaling full containment of the fires soon.

On ...Read more

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump touts $11.1 billion aid request to woo struggling farmers

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump had a surprise for the farmers he invited to dinner at the White House on Thursday: a request to Congress for $11.1 billion in assistance that would amount to the second bailout of the year for the beleaguered agriculture sector.

The appeal to Congress is part of a supplemental funding package that includes...Read more

Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Chicago Public Schools officials aim to pass budget early amid $700 million deficit

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CHICAGO — Amid a projected deficit of over $700 million, Chicago Public Schools officials said they aim to have the district’s budget for the upcoming school year approved by the end of July, a month earlier than last year, in part to secure short-term borrowing to help cover operational costs.

A budget proposal is set to be published ...Read more

Nicolaus Czarnecki/Boston Herald/TNS

Massachusetts 'not progressive' in how it taxes lower, middle-income households: study

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BOSTON — Paying the bills is not a party, a new report reveals.

The Pioneer Institute says the Bay State is not as progressive as its political leadership makes it out to be when it comes to taxing lower-and middle-income families.

That conclusion follows the Supreme Judicial Court's striking down of the Massachusetts ballot initiative that ...Read more

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America/TNS

At Idaho National Lab, reactor success and Trump's nuclear program celebrated

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BOISE, Idaho — U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited the Idaho National Laboratory on Thursday after the first new-age nuclear reactor to switch on in more than 40 years did so at INL earlier this month.

In an executive order issued in May 2025, President Donald Trump created the Reactor Pilot Program with the explicit goal to have three...Read more

Xavier Mascarenas/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Lake Tahoe officials turn back boaters trying to skirt checks for golden mussels

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Authorities have intercepted six watercraft that illegally attempted to launch on Lake Tahoe amid a campaign to keep golden mussels and other invasive species out of the iconic Sierra lake.

The boaters stopped this summer by Tahoe Regional Planning Agency inspectors were attempting to enter the lake with tampered inspection seals. The wire ...Read more

Marra X. Finkelstein/Miami Herald/TNS

Miami archbishop urges prayers -- and pressure -- after Supreme Court's TPS ruling

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MIAMI — Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski, local leaders and Haitian immigrants condemned a Supreme Court decision on Thursday allowing the Trump administration to end deportation protections under Temporary Protected Status for over 350,000 Haitians and Syrians.

“These are people that are very nervous. They’re nervous about having to go ...Read more

William Perry/Dreamstime/TNS

Trump to pick Telecom lawyer to lead DOJ's antitrust division

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WASHINGTON — The White House is poised to nominate Adam Candeub, the general counsel at the Federal Communications Commission, to take over as the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, according to people familiar with the plans.

Justice Department staff members were informed this week to expect the nomination in the near future, according ...Read more

Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America/TNS

Court's TPS ruling hits Haitians hard in Massachusetts, big win for Trump

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The Supreme Court’s decision to end temporary legal protections for Haitians and Syrians hit the state hard, with an outcry of “you cannot turn your back on us,” but was hailed by some for capping asylum seekers.

The blow was especially difficult for the 45,000 Haitians who live and work in Massachusetts.

The 6-3 ruling is a big win for ...Read more

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images North America/TNS

Haitian immigrants in NYC fear mass deportations after Supreme Court ruling

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Haitians across New York City are bracing for the possibility of mass deportations in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing the Trump administration to remove thousands of longtime New Yorkers from the country.

The ruling, which permits the federal government to strip more than 300,000 Haitians and roughly 3,000 Syrians of their ...Read more

Christina House/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Rotting meat, foul smell at site of Boyle Heights warehouse fire

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LOS ANGELES —The fire may be out, but Boyle Heights is now dealing with massive amounts of rotting meat and a foul smell as the cleanup phase from a weeklong fire at a massive cold-storage warehouse begins.

Outside the Lineage warehouse Thursday morning, the smell of heavy smoke was already being replaced with that of spoiling food and filthy...Read more

Jose F. Moreno/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

A West Philly man was sentenced to up to 40 months in prison for seeking to make bombs in support of a terror group

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PHILADELPHIA — A West Philadelphia man who was convicted last year of seeking to build bombs in support of Islamic extremist groups was sentenced Thursday to 20 to 40 months in prison and six years of probation.

Muhyyee-Ud-din Abdul-Rahman, 20, was found guilty in September of charges including attempting to possess weapons of mass ...Read more

Clarens Siffroy/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Supreme Court TPS ruling could deepen Haiti's worsening crisis, experts say

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More than half of the population struggles every day to find food. Nearly 1.5 million have been displaced by terrorizing gangs and hundreds have taken to the sea, just in the first six months of this year, only to be intercepted and forcibly returned to Haiti.

Conditions inside Haiti have deteriorated to such an extent that observers say the ...Read more

Eduardo Munoz/Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS

NY prosecutors dismiss rape count against Harvey Weinstein as victim says she can't handle another trial

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NEW YORK — Manhattan prosecutors moved to dismiss their rape case against Harvey Weinstein on Thursday after Jessica Mann — among the first women to come forward against the once-powerful Hollywood producer — said she could not bear the brutality of taking the stand a fourth time.

The move announced at a Manhattan Supreme Court hearing ...Read more

Juan Barreto/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

'Race against time': The desperate search for Venezuelan earthquake survivors

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CARACAS, Venezuela — Rescue workers and civilians scrambled to pull survivors from the rubble Thursday as Venezuela struggled to recover from a pair of earthquakes that toppled scores of buildings, leaving at least 188 people dead and thousands homeless, resulting in widespread panic.

The casualty numbers seemed certain to rise as officials ...Read more

Federal judge says NC resident's deportation 'boggles the mind,' orders return

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RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a Honduran immigrant who was living in Raleigh under special legal status, finding he was likely denied due process in being removed earlier this year.

Jose Eliezer Martinez-Andino, 20, had been living with family in Raleigh before he was ...Read more