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Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Head Start child-care centers face pay delays after Trump's federal funding freeze

Current News / News & Features /

Dozens of Head Start programs nationwide — including at least six in California — have experienced delays in accessing government money for payroll and expenses in the week since the Trump administration announced a freeze on federal funding.

The centers, which rely entirely on federal funding to provide child care to low-income children, ...Read more

Mother of former sergeant files lawsuit against Nevada National Guard

Current News / News & Features /

LAS VEGAS — The mother of a former Nevada National Guard sergeant filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging that her daughter died in part because of how the Guard treated her after she reported being sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier and suffered exacerbated health problems as a result.

Felicia Cavanagh, who lives in Washoe County, is ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Migrants welcomed under Biden fearful as Trump targets legal immigration programs

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — Maria Eugenia Torres Ramirez never sought to reside in the United States illegally. A political activist from Venezuela who fiercely opposes President Nicolas Maduro, she approached border agents in Del Rio, Texas, in 2021 and asked for asylum, saying she feared for her life.

Torres Ramirez, 37, fled Venezuela with her two young...Read more

Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Trump's pause on Mexican tariffs hinges on slowing fentanyl. Can Mexico's National Guard succeed?

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SAN DIEGO — The deal reached this week by President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to postpone implementing tariffs appeared to be largely focused on stopping the importation of the synthetic opioid fentanyl — a goal that is of particular interest in San Diego and Baja California.

Nearly all of the fentanyl that ...Read more

Andy Cross/The Denver Post/TNS

Colorado lawmakers look to stamp out surprise bills from publicly owned ambulances

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DENVER — Allison Adams ran into bad luck twice when visiting Denver last August: first, when she broke her leg stepping off a curb, and then when a publicly owned ambulance responded to her call.

If a private company had owned the ambulance, Adams would have had protection from so-called surprise bills under Colorado law. But the law includes...Read more

Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump sued by Democrat states over Musk access to Treasury data

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NEW YORK — A group of 19 mostly Democrat-led states sued President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for granting Elon Musk unprecedented access to personal data on millions of Americans.

Trump and Bessent violated federal law by allowing Musk’s newly established efficiency team access to Treasury Department information, ...Read more

Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images North America/TNS

Treasury warned of 'insider threat risk' from Musk's DOGE access

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WASHINGTON — Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency access to the Treasury’s payment system poses an “unprecedented insider threat risk” and should be suspended immediately, according to an intelligence report prepared for the department by a contractor.

The stark warning was delivered to the Treasury Department in a weekly ...Read more

Melina Mara/Pool/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump revokes Biden's access to intelligence reports, saying the same was done to him 4 years ago

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he is revoking former President Joe Biden’s access to intelligence briefings.

Trump announced the move Friday shortly after arriving at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, from the White House. He said he was “immediately revoking” Biden’s security clearances and halt the reports known as the ...Read more

Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Rubio makes nice on first trip abroad but keeps an eye on Trump

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WASHINGTON — In his first overseas stop as the top U.S. diplomat, Marco Rubio went to Panama and secured an agreement for the U.S. Navy to travel freely through the Panama Canal. It was a win sure to please President Donald Trump, whose threats to take back the waterway had dominated the first weeks of his second term.

Then came a State ...Read more

UN: Critical humanitarian air service in Haiti faces 'imminent' shutdown without funds

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The United Nations humanitarian air service in Haiti, which has served as a critical live-saving bridge between gang-controlled Port-au-Prince and the rest of the country, is “at risk of an imminent shutdown” if it doesn’t raise nearly $4 million to keep it running over the next three months, the World Food Program says.

The World Food ...Read more

Leonard Ortiz/The Orange County Register/TNS

Trump removes National Archives head after previous tangles with agency

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is removing the head of the National Archives and Records Administration, according to his chief of personnel, and will select his own nominee to lead an agency that serves as the steward of White House records, among other things.

“The Archivist of the United States has been dismissed tonight. We thank ...Read more

Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

California governor signs 2 'Trump-proofing' bills a day after returning from DC trip

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom continues to try to have it both ways.

On Friday, a day removed from his trip to Washington where he made a show of deference to President Donald Trump, Newsom signed into law two bills meant to curtail the Trump administration’s agenda from taking hold in California.

Newsom traveled to the...Read more

Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Leaked document says 'large scale' immigration enforcement action coming soon to LA

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LOS ANGELES — Federal law enforcement agents are planning to carry out a “large scale” immigration enforcement action in the Los Angeles area before the end of February, according to an internal government document reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

The operation, which would be spearheaded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ...Read more

Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee/TNS

California AG Rob Bonta says Trump is 'spitting in the face of our democracy' as federal funds remain frozen

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California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined a coalition of more than 20 states Friday in asking a federal court to once again intercede and force the Trump administration to unfreeze hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds appropriated by Congress to the states.

In two separate legal motions, Bonta and 22 other state attorneys general...Read more

Zachariah Hughes/Anchorage Daily News/TNS

Commuter plane crashes in Alaska, killing all 10 on board

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A commuter plane that went missing in rural Alaska on Thursday during bad weather was found crashed on sea ice with no survivors, in the third deadly aviation disaster in the United States in two weeks.

The Bering Air flight was reported missing at about 4 p.m. local time while en route from Unalakleet to Nome with nine passengers and a pilot, ...Read more

News briefs

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Trump says he will remove chairman of Kennedy Center and give himself the role

BALTIMORE — President Donald Trump on Friday announced his plans to remove several board members of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, including Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein as chairman.

In his post on Truth Social, Trump...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Finally we know where toxic ash from the LA wildfires could end up

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LOS ANGELES — Despite repeatedly warning that wildfire debris likely contains hazardous substances, public officials are preparing to dump millions of tons of contaminated ash and rubble from the Eaton and Palisades fires into Southern California landfills that were not designed to handle high concentrations of toxic chemicals.

For weeks, Los...Read more

Aqnus Febriyant/Dreamstime/TNS

Canada's wealth of critical minerals has Trump's focused attention

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When Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a group of executives that President Donald Trump wasn’t kidding about annexing Canada, he offered one reason: critical minerals.

Canada is rich in nearly three dozen critical minerals essential to modern technology and produces more than 60 minerals and metals including nickel, potash, ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

Top NYPD chief held 'best-dressed' contest targeting female cops at holiday party, lawsuit says

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NEW YORK — The NYPD chief in command of Manhattan above 59th Street held a contest for “best dressed,” targeting female officers, with a $700 prize during a 2023 holiday party, claiming he had approval from the department’s Legal Bureau, according to a sexual harassment lawsuit filed Friday.

Assistant Chief Ruel Stephenson of Patrol ...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

Federal judge orders pause on USAID administrative leave

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WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington said Friday he would temporarily order the federal government not to place thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development employees on administrative leave and to stop forcing them to relocate to the United States.

Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ...Read more