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Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

What's it like to defend a Mexican cartel boss? Reputed drug lords seek lawyers in US

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — On a single day late last month, the Mexican government shipped 29 accused drug lords north across the border to face U.S. justice.

Plucked from Mexican prison cells, hustled onto planes in shackles and express-delivered into the waiting hands of American authorities were several notorious capos, whose alleged narco exploits ...Read more

Jason Getz/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

How metro Atlanta's 911 systems evolved after series of tragedies

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ATLANTA — People in crisis are reaching 911 operators with more ease a year after an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found significant delays for thousands of emergency calls across metro Atlanta.

Gwinnett County, Fulton County and the city of Atlanta all made substantial strides toward meeting industry best practices — ...Read more

Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/TNS

Some patients worry about affording their medications as insurers cut coverage for weight-loss drugs

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PHILADELPHIA -- Mara Nissley has a rare disorder that causes her brain to swell as if she has a tumor. Losing weight can help treat the condition, called pseudotumor cerebri. Last year, her doctor recommended she start a popular weight-loss drug in the hopes of alleviating her debilitating headaches and vision problems.

In just a few months, ...Read more

Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Fire, lack of students, teacher layoffs: Inside Pasadena Unified's struggle to stay solvent

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LOS ANGELES — Joy McCreary’s 12th-grade advanced literature class had just ended at Blair Middle and High School when a substitute teacher came to relieve her. McCreary was needed in the principal’s office. She sensed what was coming.

Pasadena Unified School District, roiled by years of declining enrollment and grappling with the ...Read more

Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Trump moves to close gaps in San Diego border fence, but environmental concerns linger

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SAN DIEGO — The border wall system running through San Diego County has been one of the most fortified stretches in the southwest for decades, beginning with a border security push in the 1990s and continuing with miles of replacement fencing constructed during President Donald Trump’s first administration.

But some spots remain where there...Read more

Steven M. Falk/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Colleges like Penn face ire as they try to comply with Trump administration DEI demands

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PHILADELPHIA — When Chad Dion Lassiter was a student at the University of Pennsylvania, he was proud of the efforts the school made toward diversity, equity, and inclusion. It was one of the reasons he enrolled there.

Lassiter, who got his master’s in social work in 2001, co-founded the School of Social Policy & Practice’s Black Men at ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Florida GOP lawmakers put DeSantis administration under scrutiny

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TALLAHASSEE — Florida Republicans notably catered to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ political agenda while he was on the political ascent. Now, as the governor approaches the end of his final term, many of those same lawmakers are trying to rein him in.

Lawmakers have cut back on the governor’s ability to transport migrants anywhere in the country. ...Read more

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Social Security says DOGE ruling could force agency to shut down

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is threatening to all but shut down the Social Security Administration in response to a judge’s ruling blocking activities by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency — an action that could delay payments to millions of beneficiaries caught in the middle of the legal battle.

Acting Social ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Endangered apex predator found dead in Oregon, officials say. $30.5K reward offered

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An endangered gray wolf was found illegally killed in Oregon, wildlife officials said.

Now, a combined reward of $30,500 is being offered to anyone who has “information that leads to an arrest, criminal conviction or civil penalty assessment,” the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said in a March 19 news release and the Center for Biological ...Read more

Salvadoran Government/Getty Images North America/TNS

Judge faults US as 'woefully insufficient' in Venezuela case

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The federal judge handling a lawsuit over the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members blasted the Trump administration’s latest filing as “woefully insufficient,” further escalating a high-profile standoff between the White House and the courts.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Thursday ordered the Justice Department to say by...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

President Trump calls out Baltimore on education: 'Zero students who can do basic mathematics'

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President Donald Trump held a ceremony at the White House Thursday as he signed an executive order that would dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

Trump, explaining the rationale for his action, rattled off statistics about education failures in America.

"After 45 years, the United States spends more money by far on education than any ...Read more

NATO to ask Europe and Canada for 30% boost in military capacity

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NATO plans to ask European allies and Canada to increase their stocks of weaponry and equipment by about 30% in the next few years, according to a senior alliance official.

New targets for the military capabilities of NATO allies, which would update ones set before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are currently being discussed with the aim of ...Read more

Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

'HB 4 is about hate.' Ky. Gov. Andy Beshear vetoes anti-diversity, equity, inclusion bill

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Gov. Andy Beshear has vetoed House Bill 4, a GOP-backed bill aimed at restricting and in some cases dismantling Kentucky public universities’ efforts on diversity, equity and inclusion.

The governor announced his action in a video posted to social media mid-Thursday.

“I’ll always believe that diversity is a strength and never a weakness...Read more

K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Bernie, AOC call for grassroots organizing in North Las Vegas rally

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Hundreds gathered on Thursday afternoon in North Las Vegas to hear from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about the state of the country and a vision for the future.

The progressive leaders were joined by Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., for a rally at Craig Ranch Regional Park, where about a thousand people packed a lawn as ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

9th Circuit upholds California ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines

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California has the authority to ban large-capacity ammunition magazines, a federal appellate court ruled Thursday, reversing a previous decision that found the state law unconstitutional under the strict, history-minded limits on gun control measures recently established by the Supreme Court.

Writing for the 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. ...Read more

Alex Wroblewski/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Defense Department wipes 'Glory' Civil War hero from website

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The Defense Department efforts to purge civil rights figures from its website led to the deletion of a page about Black Civil War hero Sgt. William Carney.

That link once directed readers to a biography about the Medal of Honor winner who inspired Denzel Washington’s character in the 1989 movie “Glory.”

It now leads to a 404 error page ...Read more

SVEN HOPPE/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

EU stumbles on $5.4 billion Ukraine plan under Trump pressure

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European Union leaders tussled over weapons deliveries to Kyiv and who would represent them in U.S.-led diplomacy as the bloc struggled to formulate a strategy on Ukraine.

An EU summit in Brussels was unable to agree on delivering €5 billion ($5.4 billion) to secure ammunition for Ukraine this year, as members including France and Italy ...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

Kennedy Center contract employee strips nude in protest video and is promptly fired

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A Kennedy Center contract worker strips nude in a new YouTube protest video and asks if they should quit their job with the Washington, D.C., arts institution targeted by President Trump: "Is my complicity inevitable, or am I holding a line on the inside?"

Tavish Forsyth, the associate artistic lead for the Washington National Opera's Opera ...Read more

Derek White/Getty Images North America/TNS

Stacey Abrams attacked by Trump and Musk for grant she had little to do with

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President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have repeatedly attacked Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams over a $2 billion federal grant for energy efficiency projects that she had little to do with.

Abrams worked as an attorney for a nonprofit organization that, in partnership with four other groups, was awarded the grant from the U.S. Environmental ...Read more

Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

US willing to lead Ukraine nuclear plant, energy secretary says

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. could lead the operation of a nuclear plant in Ukraine “with very little problem” if the political decision is made to do so, according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Along with local experts, “we’d bring high-end nuclear experts from the United States, and together wise decisions would be made,” Wright said...Read more