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How constitutional guardrails have always contained presidential ambitions

Current News / News & Features /

As Donald Trump’s second inauguration fast approaches, concerns he threatens American democracy are rising yet again. Some warnings have cited Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric, willingness to undermine or malign institutions meant to constrain any president, and a combative style that strives to stretch executive power as far as possible....Read more

Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

Extreme cold from NY to Texas threatens to topple records

Current News / News & Features /

A blast of extreme cold is poised to descend on the central U.S. this weekend before spreading to New York and the rest of the East Coast, testing power grids and threatening to break temperature records.

Frigid conditions will sweep the Midwest and South, including Texas, starting on Saturday and then shift east early next week. The low in ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Deadly Colorado gold mine malfunction deemed 'operator error,' sheriff says

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DENVER — An October elevator malfunction in a Colorado gold mine that killed a tour guide and stranded nearly two dozen people underground for hours was caused by “operator error,” Teller County sheriff’s officials said Wednesday.

The elevator breakdown, which happened while it was lowering 11 people into the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine, ...Read more

Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS

Senate panel votes in support of 'Remain in Mexico' border policy

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — A Senate panel voted Thursday to approve a resolution in support of the “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy, after a two-hour hearing about the border enforcement approach implemented in first Trump administration.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-6 along party lines to approve the ...Read more

Trump picks social media philanthropist with Michigan ties to lead federal agency

Current News / News & Features /

Bill Pulte, a businessman with strong connections to Michigan and the self-described "inventor of Twitter philanthropy," has been chosen by Republican President-elect Donald Trump to serve as the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

In an announcement Thursday, Trump, who officially takes office Monday, revealed his selection of...Read more

NOAA/NOAA/TNS

Where is Tahlequah? What we know about the mother orca and her calf

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SEATTLE — This week, mother orca Tahlequah may have surpassed her 2018 tour of grief, when she carried her dead calf for 17 days and more than 1,000 miles.

Tahlequah was last seen still carrying her latest calf — dead since at least New Year’s Eve — on Jan. 10 off San Juan Island. That evening the southern resident family, part of J pod...Read more

Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America/TNS

2 cops on every NYC subway train at night starts next week, Hochul says

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — Gov. Hochul’s plan to put police on every overnight subway train starts next week, she told reporters Thursday.

The plan, which Hochul first announced in her State of the State address earlier this week, is meant to bolster the visibility of law enforcement officers on city mass transit for the next six months

“People want to ...Read more

Stephanie Keith/Getty Images North America/TNS

Rudy Giuliani reaches settlement tied to Georgia election worker defamation case

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NEW YORK — Rudy Giuliani reached a tentative settlement agreement with the Georgia election workers he defamed on Thursday, walking away in a stunning turn of event with all of his belongings as he was thought to be on the cusp of total financial ruin.

A filing posted to the docket hours after Giuliani was due to appear in Manhattan federal ...Read more

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

Spending more or spending better animates Turner's HUD hearing

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WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Republicans and Democrats sparred over whether to increase funding for affordable housing or use existing funding better as they pushed Eric Scott Turner, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to take a side.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in her debut as the top ...Read more

Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

Extreme cold from NY to Texas threatens to topple records

Current News / News & Features /

A blast of extreme cold is poised to descend on the central U.S. this weekend before spreading to New York and the rest of the East Coast, testing power grids and threatening to break temperature records.

Frigid conditions will sweep the Midwest and South, including Texas, starting on Saturday and then shift east early next week. The low in ...Read more

Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Jury has heard all the evidence in ex-Illinois Speaker Madigan's corruption trial as both sides rest Thursday

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CHICAGO — Lawyers for former House Speaker Michael Madigan formally rested their case before the jury on Thursday after calling 12 witnesses, most notably Madigan himself.

And prosecutors also rested after a short rebuttal case. With that, the evidence phase of the trial – which began back in October – has concluded.

Jurors were released...Read more

MLK’s ‘beloved community’ has inspired social justice work for decades − what did he mean?

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Since 1983, when President Ronald Reagan signed Martin Luther King Jr. Day into law, many Americans have observed the federal holiday to commemorate the life and legacy of the civil rights leader, Baptist minister and theologian.

MLK Day volunteers typically perform community service that continues King’s fight to end racial ...Read more

Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS

The destruction of Altadena reverberates across Black Los Angeles

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LOS ANGELES — Unable to sleep around 2 a.m. last Wednesday, Sean St. John got out of bed and drove from his Pasadena home to check on his Altadena pizzeria, Pizza of Venice. He'd just been at the restaurant around 9 p.m., when the Eaton Canyon flames were visible on the mountain but still seemed a fair distance away.

"I hike these ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

NYC Mayor Eric Adams' defense trust nearly $1 million in the red after raising just $2,200 in latest period

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NEW YORK — Amid mounting legal bills, Mayor Eric Adams’ defense trust is nearly $1 million in the red after raising just over $2,000 in the latest reporting period — most of it from a convicted businessman pardoned by former President Donald Trump during his first White House term, a new filing reveals.

The trust, which Adams uses to ...Read more

Lola Gomez/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

Southwest pilot arrested in cockpit for DUI

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Southwest Airlines removed a pilot from duty after he was extracted from the cockpit of a Chicago-bound plane and arrested for DUI in Georgia.

“The Employee involved in the situation on Flight 3772 Wednesday morning from Savannah has been removed from duty,” the airline said in a statement emphasizing passenger safety. “Customers were ...Read more

Yamil Lage/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Cuba frees prominent dissident leader José Daniel Ferrer as part of a deal cut with the US

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Cuban authorities on Thursday released prominent opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer, who had been in prison since 2021, as part of a deal cut with the Biden administration and the Vatican.

Cuban activist Rosa María Payá confirmed his release to the Miami Herald. Payá said she spoke to Ferrer at his home in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba’s ...Read more

Jason Getz/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp vows to pass bill curbing 'excessive' lawsuits this year, one way or another

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ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp is determined to pass a measure to limit lawsuits and curb giant jury verdicts this year, even if it takes dragging Georgia lawmakers back to Atlanta for a special legislative session.

Kemp delivered that warning in unambiguous terms Thursday to hundreds of lawmakers during his annual State of the State address, ...Read more

'A parent's worst nightmare': Georgia middle school gun incident shakes families

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ATLANTA — Michela Moore’s phone buzzed with a text message from her daughter, a seventh grader at Lindley Middle School in Mableton, at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday.

The text read, “Love you, Mommy.”

The message was “nothing abnormal,” Moore said, in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “And I just texted her back, ‘Love ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Florida AG Ashley Moody picked for Rubio's Senate seat

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WASHINGTON — Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody will become the second woman to represent the Sunshine State in the Senate, after Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he would appoint her to succeed Republican Marco Rubio, who is expected to be confirmed as secretary of State.

“I will bring the same persistence and passion and tenacity as a ...Read more

Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Atlanta's US Attorney Ryan Buchanan to step down from Department of Justice ahead of Trump inauguration

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ATLANTA — Outgoing U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan, whose tenure is defined by the high-profile federal investigations into Georgia’s prisons and the Fulton County Jail, is stepping down from the state’s most prominent federal law post on Sunday — a day before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.

And while Buchanan won’t ...Read more