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John Autey/Pioneer Press/TNS

With no budget deal yet, special session increasingly likely at Minn. Capitol

Current News / News & Features /

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Hopes of state lawmakers passing a more than $60 billion two-year budget on time are fading at the Minnesota Capitol.

Daily marathon negotiation sessions between Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor majority Senate and the House tied 67-67 between the DFL and Republicans have failed to produce a final budget deal.

On ...Read more

Harvard researcher in ICE custody charged with smuggling frog embryos into Boston

Current News / News & Features /

BOSTON — A Harvard researcher who has been in ICE custody for months has been charged with allegedly trying to smuggle frog embryos into Boston.

Russian national Kseniia Petrova, 31, who was taken into ICE custody at Logan airport in February, has now been arrested and charged by the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Petrova, who ...Read more

E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Trump EPA gutting limits on certain forever chemicals, delaying deadline to reduce others

Current News / News & Features /

In a rare acceptance of regulations adopted during the Biden administration, the Trump-led Environmental Protection Agency is backing the first national limits on a pair of toxic forever chemicals contaminating the drinking water of most Americans.

But the Trump EPA wants to eliminate standards for a handful of replacement chemicals that appear...Read more

Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Orlando attorney John Morgan won't say he's running for governor. But he is starting a new party

Current News / News & Features /

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — People have been asking John Morgan to run for governor and talking about his potential candidacy for so long, the Orlando celebrity lawyer told a local political club, “that I became like a candidate and that’s where all this talk is coming from.”

But the high-profile Florida lawyer, who is known nationally for his ...Read more

E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Kristi Noem mocked for wanting a new jet like Trump

Current News / News & Features /

At least one Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee wants to know why her subcommittee is being asked to approve funding for a new jet to be used by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“My committee just received a last-minute addition to the Coast Guard’s spend plan: $50 million for a new Gulfstream 5 jet for DHS...Read more

Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald/TNS

Boston City Council passes ranked-choice voting system change for local elections

Current News / News & Features /

The Boston City Council passed a home rule petition that seeks to implement a ranked-choice voting system for city elections, that would see voters rank multiple candidates by order of preference rather than cast a single vote for their top choice.

The Council voted Wednesday to approve the petition, by an 8-4 margin, after a roughly hour-long ...Read more

Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images North America/TNS

US-Saudi $142 billion defense deal sparks questions, few answers

Current News / News & Features /

The Trump administration called its $142 billion defense deal with Saudi Arabia “the largest defense sales agreement in history.” Critics aren’t so sure.

The deal, announced as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East this week, appeared ambitious and sweeping, touting purchases linked to the air force and space, ...Read more

Cellule Communication/Haiti National Police/TNS

Haiti gang leader denies ties to 400 Mawozo group, or role in kidnapping U.S. missionaries

Current News / News & Features /

Germine Joly, the Haitian gang leader who ran a gunrunning conspiracy and kidnapping racket from the inside of a Haitian jail, denied any gang affiliation or role in the kidnapping of 16 U.S. missionaries as he took the stand in his own defense on Wednesday inside a Washington federal courtroom.

Joly, wearing a black suit, tie and eyeglasses, ...Read more

Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Medicaid cuts would paint uncertain future for millions in Georgia

Current News / News & Features /

Medicaid is on the chopping block in Washington, D.C., and by extension throughout the rest of the country.

The cuts being pushed by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives would be felt in nursing homes, delivery rooms, doctors’ offices and private homes all over the nation.

Willie Barnett, 80, and his companions at the A.G. Rhodes...Read more

Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald/TNS

Karen Read retrial gets back to forensic evidence

Current News / News & Features /

DEDHAM, Mass. — The Karen Read retrial returned to examining physical evidence in the case after multiple days examining a lack of professionalism by certain case investigators.

The day also included testimony from victim John O’Keefe’s niece, which the media was not allowed to record per a court order. She testified that O’Keefe and ...Read more

Mark Rightmire/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Proposal to limit hunting of coyotes draws ire of California ranchers, farmers

Current News / News & Features /

A proposal to regulate the killing of coyotes in California has drawn fierce opposition from ranchers and farmers, who say they need to be able to control the wild canines to protect livestock and pets.

Dozens of people whose livelihoods rely on California’s broad range lands are expected to pack a hearing in Sacramento on Thursday before a ...Read more

Paul Reeves/Dreamstime/TNS

How a worm perpetuated wildfires in northern Minnesota

Current News / News & Features /

Wildfires are burning through thousands of acres of forest in Northern Minnesota, damaging buildings and forcing residents to evacuate their homes.

The yet-to-be-contained Camp House fire, Jenkins Creek fire and Munger Shaw fire have a small accomplice to thank for their continued destruction: spruce budworms, a well-known pest that has ...Read more

News briefs

Current News / News & Features /

Happy with your freedom in the US? Poll finds satisfaction at near-record low

The U.S. is often described as “the land of the free,” but a large number of Americans — and women in particular — aren’t happy with the freedom they have, according to new polling.

In the latest Gallup survey, 72% of respondents said they were satisfied �...Read more

RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post/TNS

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs laws ordering universal health care study, emergency abortion protections

Current News / News & Features /

DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday signed a pair of health care bills that will enshrine federal protections for emergency care in state law and potentially start Colorado down the path of universal health care.

The emergency protections law will give Coloradans confidence that they’ll receive emergency care, no matter what’s ...Read more

MIKE NELSON/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

What happens next for the Menendez brothers? Multiple paths to release now open

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — When a Los Angeles County judge resentenced Erik and Lyle Menendez on Tuesday, he offered the brothers a path to freedom for the first time since they were given life in prison for killing their parents with shotguns in 1989.

The latest development makes Lyle, 57, and Erik, 54, eligible for parole — but that is just one of ...Read more

Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images North America/TNS

US announces more than $243 billion in deals with Qatar

Current News / News & Features /

The White House said President Donald Trump had secured deals totaling more than $243.5 billion with Qatar, laying the groundwork for a bigger $1.2 trillion economic pledge with the tiny Gulf country.

“The landmark deals celebrated today will drive innovation and prosperity for generations, bolster American manufacturing and technological ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Gov. Gavin Newsom calls for walking back free health care for eligible undocumented immigrants

Current News / News & Features /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom's 2025-26 revised budget proposal reneges on his signature policy to provide free health care coverage to all low-income undocumented immigrants as costs exceed expectations and the state anticipates challenging economic times ahead.

Newsom's office said the governor's spending plan, which will be ...Read more

Ryan Macasero/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Stanford declines to discuss Israeli divestment as hunger strike protestors vow to grow numbers

Current News / News & Features /

Stanford University officials on Monday rejected a request from student activists to discuss divesting from companies with ties to Israel.

At least 12 students and three faculty members began a hunger strike this week to pressure the university to sever financial ties with companies they say are linked to the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

...Read more

Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Lawsuit accuses ICE of detaining two women in 'inhumane' conditions in Baltimore

Current News / News & Features /

A lawsuit filed by two immigrant advocacy groups alleges that detainees at ICE’s Baltimore Field Office are “subjected to inhumane and punitive conditions.”

The suit was filed last week in the U.S. District Court by Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and the National Immigration Project on behalf of two women from Guatemala and El Salvador...Read more

Roberto Schmidt/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Gift or Grift? Prospect of plane from Qatar hits political turbulence

Current News / News & Features /

President Donald Trump defended the prospect of accepting the gift of a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar, even as criticism emerged from both sides of the aisle.

“Only a fool would not accept this gift on behalf of our country” said Trump of the offer.

“The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense,...Read more