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Annastacia Palaszczuk resigns as premier of Queensland state

Current News / News & Features /

Annastacia Palaszczuk is resigning as premier of Australia’s Queensland state after serving in the role since 2015.

“Now is the time for me to find out what life has to offer,” Palaszczuk said at a televised news conference Sunday. “Queensland is in good shape, which is why now it is time for me to leave.”

Palaszczuk, who was sworn ...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

'Preventable deaths': KC mayor tackles drug crisis with first-ever 'Fentanyl Summit'

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mayor Quinton Lucas held a “Fentanyl Summit” Friday afternoon at the Kansas City Health Department to raise awareness on the city’s fentanyl and opioid crisis.

Health officials, law enforcement and families had a public discussion to tackle the epidemic of opioid and fentanyl related-deaths.

During a news conference ...Read more

Flood watch in effect for NYC as all 5 boroughs brace for powerful weekend storm

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NEW YORK — A flood watch is in effect across the New York City area from Sunday afternoon into early Monday morning, as forecasters say a powerful storm could dump up to 3 inches of rain in the region.

Most of the rain will fall during a 12-hour period starting in the early evening on Sunday, officials with the National Weather Service in New...Read more

Jillian Cain/Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Councilman wins seat by 1 ballot because opponent didn't vote

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Washington state councilman Ryan Roth won his “wild” election by a single ballot after his opponent failed to vote.

It took nearly a month for election officials to figure out who won the Nov. 7 election in Rainier, Washington. But when the votes were officially tallied, Roth, who mailed in his ballot, was declared the victor by a count of ...Read more

Storms moving across Kentucky Saturday bring reports of possible tornado damage

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Parts of Kentucky remained under a tornado watch Saturday night after a suspected tornado left damage in at least one Western Kentucky county Saturday afternoon.

Lexington and much of Central Kentucky was included in a Hazardous Weather Outlook statement issued by the National Weather Service in Louisville late Saturday ...Read more

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

Penn president Liz Magill has resigned after congressional testimony backlash and following days of intense pressure

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PHILADELPHIA — University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill has resigned amid growing bipartisan backlash against her congressional committee testimony on antisemitism earlier this week and a semester marked by near-weekly protests, complaints by deep-pocketed donors, and widespread accusations of mismanagement since a controversial ...Read more

Juan Mabromata/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

In Catholic Argentina, the incoming president has a rabbi -- and likes talking about it

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Shortly before taking office as president of Argentina on Sunday, Javier Milei decided to squeeze in what he called a spiritual journey, flying to New York City to visit the tomb of influential Hasidic Jewish leader Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known simply to his followers as the Rebbe.

Wearing a black kippa and trailed by journalists, Milei ...Read more

Bernhard Richter/Dreamstime/TNS

Jewish man attacked at lower Manhattan Duane Reade in possible hate crime: police

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NEW YORK — A Jewish man was attacked inside a lower Manhattan Duane Reade store when an innocent bumping erupted into a full-blown hate crime, police said Saturday.

The Tuesday morning beating comes as antisemitic incidents across the city have skyrocketed while the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza continues.

The 66-year-old victim was leaving...Read more

Gusty winds spark brush fires in Ventura and Riverside counties, triggering some evacuations

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Ventura County firefighters on Saturday were battling a brush fire fueled by Santa Ana winds that has burned about 800 acres and triggered evacuations and road closures in the Somis area near Santa Paula.

The blaze, dubbed the South fire, was first reported at about 9:38 a.m. on South Mountain near the 118 and 126 freeways, with initial reports...Read more

Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Riverside County confirms first 2 flu-related deaths this season; L.A. County has reported 1 so far

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With flu season in full swing, Riverside County public health officials are urging residents to get their vaccines and to take other precautions against respiratory viruses after reporting the county's first two flu-related deaths this winter.

The deaths include a 73-year-old man and a 79-year-old woman from mid- and western Riverside County, ...Read more

Family of L.A. sheriff's deputy claims forced overtime drove him to suicide

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The family of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy has filed a claim against the Sheriff's Department, alleging that excessive overtime hours he was forced to work in the county jails drove him to suicide.

Deputy Arturo Atilano Valadez was one of four current and former Sheriff's Department employees to die by suicide in a 24-hour span early ...Read more

Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times/TNS

US tank munitions for Israel expedited by Biden Administration

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The U.S. cleared the potential sale of almost 14,000 tank rounds to Israel, citing an emergency that allows for a fast-track notification to lawmakers as foreign military aid remains stalled in Congress.

Israel has requested to buy the 120mm munitions for an estimated cost of $106.5 million, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency ...Read more

James Schaeffer/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Before UNLV shooting, former students say gunman fixated on Las Vegas

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Even before their former business professor carried out a mass shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, old students of Anthony Polito say his classes were not something they would forget.

There were the regular reminders to his students at East Carolina University to leave him flattering reviews on ratemyprofessors.com — and the ...Read more

Hayne Palmour IV/The San Diego Union-Tribune/Hayne Palmour IV

One of California's largest charter school networks lacked years of records to justify tens of millions in spending, state audit finds

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Inspire, a home school charter network that once served tens of thousands of students statewide, for years lacked records to justify its claims for state funding and tens of millions of dollars in transactions among its schools and related organizations, a new state audit found.

The Inspire network, which included two schools authorized out of ...Read more

FEDERICO PARRA/Getty Images North America/TNS

Maduro whips up Guyana tension, opposition arrests to stay in charge in Venezuela

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Over the course of a decade, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has held tight to power despite mass protests, widespread poverty and despair, tough U.S. sanctions, and an international attempt to recognize an alternate government. His survival instincts are kicking in again.

Maduro’s regime ordered the arrest this week of key aides to his ...Read more

Gusty winds spark brush fire, promoting evacuations in Ventura County

Current News / News & Features /

Ventura County firefighters on Saturday were battling a brush fire fueled by Santa Ana winds that has burned about 300 acres and triggered evacuations in the Somis area near Santa Paula.

The fire, dubbed South fire, was first reported at about 9:38 a.m. on South Mountain near the 118 and 126 freeways, with initial reports indicating 3 to 4 aces...Read more

Emily Curiel/ecuriel@kcstar.com/Kansas City Star/Emily Curiel/ecuriel@kcstar.com

'Preventable deaths': Kansas City mayor tackles drug crisis with first-ever 'Fentanyl Summit'

Current News / News & Features /

Mayor Quinton Lucas held a “Fentanyl Summit” Friday afternoon at the Kansas City Health Department to raise awareness on the city’s fentanyl and opioid crisis.

Health officials, law enforcement and families had a public discussion to tackle the epidemic of opioid and fentanyl related-deaths.

During a press conference after the event, the...Read more

Ted Aljibe/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Philippines says China fired water cannons at civilian vessels

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Chinese Coast Guard ships fired water cannons at Filipino civilian vessels taking supplies to Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, according to Philippines officials.

The Chinese boats also engaged in “dangerous maneuvers” and deployed what’s believed to be a Long-Range Acoustic Device “causing severe temporary discomfort and ...Read more

Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Cruise ship youth counselor faces molestation charge. He says it wasn't his first offense

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A 35-year-old cruise ship youth counselor is in a Broward County jail charged with abusive sexual conduct of a minor under 12. The FBI says he inappropriately touched a 6-year-old girl while she was playing a video game in the youth center aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s Celebrity Silhouette when she was on a cruise with her parents in ...Read more

Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul/Office of the Governor/TNS

Governor Hochul warns NY colleges to combat antisemitism

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New York Governor Kathy Hochul called on the state’s colleges to take action against all antisemitism on campus after the presidents of Harvard University and two other elite U.S. schools faced widespread criticism for failing to broadly condemn calls for the genocide of Jewish people.

Failure to address antisemitism “would constitute a ...Read more