Current News

/

ArcaMax

News briefs

Current News / News & Features /

Trump claims he did a 'great job' at debate. Some Republicans aren't buying it

After a presidential debate in which Vice President Kamala Harris baited former President Donald Trump and put him on the defensive, Trump insisted Wednesday morning he did a "great job," slammed the debate as "a rigged deal" and called for ABC to be shut down.

The ...Read more

Nancy Lane/Boston Herald/TNS

Karen Read's lawyers appeal murder charge to Massachusetts' highest court

Current News / News & Features /

Karen Read’s attorneys have taken their argument to drop the murder charge against her to the state’s highest court.

The appeal filed Wednesday to the Supreme Judicial Court is impounded, at least for the time being. Read’s attorney Martin Weinberg filed the appeal and has been the lead counsel on petitions for dropping Read’s charges ...Read more

ERIC PAUL ZAMORA/The Fresno Bee/TNS

Many California cannabis businesses need licenses. Program to help sees delays, audit finds

Current News / News & Features /

Delayed spending and a lack of oversight threaten to disrupt a $100 million grant program run by the Department of Cannabis Control intended to help businesses secure state licenses, a recent report by California State Auditor found.

The August report identified local governments that had spent some of the state funds on things unrelated to the...Read more

Rachel Aston/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Record Las Vegas heat has killed at least 224 people, coroner's office says

Current News / News & Features /

LAS VEGAS — The worst of Las Vegas’ record summer may be over. But the heat-related death toll continues to rise, with at least 224 deaths where heat was a factor.

Generally, experts say heat deaths are undercounted across the country, and the Clark County coroner’s office can take up to 90 days to declare heat a contributing factor in ...Read more

Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS

Father of Ga. school shooting suspect requests to be jailed separately from other inmates

Current News / News & Features /

ATLANTA — The newly hired private defense attorneys for Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, filed a motion Wednesday requesting that he be held separate from the general population in the Barrow County Detention Center.

Colin Gray, 54, is being held there without bond on multiple charges, including four...Read more

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Man convicted of killing Chicago police officer Ella French, wounding her partner, sentenced to life in prison

Current News / News & Features /

A judge sentenced a man to life in prison Wednesday for shooting and killing Chicago police Officer Ella French and injuring her partner, marking an emotional end to the case months after jurors viewed harrowing body camera footage throughout a weeklong trial.

Emonte Morgan, 24, was found guilty in March of killing French, seriously injuring ...Read more

Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News/TNS

Daniel Penny wants to call experts at manslaughter trial to smear chokehold victim Jordan Neely, prosecutors say

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — Lawyers for Daniel Penny, the former Marine charged with putting Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold on a New York subway train, want to call experts at his manslaughter trial whose testimony will serve to smear the victim and “devalue his life,” prosecutors charged in new court filings.

Penny, who is out on $100,000 bond, is set...Read more

National Hurricane Center/TNS/TNS

Hurricane Francine upgraded to a Category 2 storm just before landfall near Mississippi coast

Current News / News & Features /

BILOXI, Miss. — Hurricane Francine strengthened Wednesday afternoon to a Category 2 storm just before it made landfall on the Louisiana coast, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm struck 30 miles south of Morgan City, Louisiana with maximum winds of 100 miles per hour.

Francine strengthened to forecasters surprise. Forecasters ...Read more

Ari Plachta/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

California pushes heat pumps for all new homes starting 2026 with new building code

Current News / News & Features /

New homes built in California starting in 2026 are more likely to use all-electric appliances after energy regulators approved new state building standards Wednesday that encourage adoption of heat pumps.

California Energy Commission leaders called the new state building code an important step on the path to removing carbon pollution from ...Read more

Mother, grandfather among 5 charged in starvation of 7-year-old boy who died weighing 7 pounds

Current News / News & Features /

Deonte Atwell was destined for a short and challenging life, even if he had received the best medical care available to him. He did not get that care, and his death last Christmas at the age of 7 years and two days was beyond tragic, officials said Wednesday. It was criminal.

“It’s sad to say Deonte had suffered all the way through his ...Read more

Tracy Glantz/The State/TNS

SC Supreme Court blocks public funding of private schools, disappointing state leaders

Current News / News & Features /

Senior South Carolina lawmakers were confident their plan to set aside tax dollars to help parents pay to send students to private schools would survive a legal challenge.

On Wednesday, a divided state Supreme Court said no.

The court ruled that portions of the 2023 Education Scholarship Trust Fund Act violate the state constitution’s ...Read more

National Hurricane Center/TNS/TNS

Hurricane Francine makes landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 storm; new tropical depression forms in Atlantic

Current News / News & Features /

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Hurricane Francine made landfall about 6 p.m. Wednesday in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, as a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained wind speeds of 100 mph, said the National Hurricane Center in its 6 p.m. update.

Meanwhile, a new depression has formed in the eastern Atlantic and could become a tropical storm in the ...Read more

Todd McInturf/The Detroit News/TNS

Nessel closes probe into MSU's Nassar scandal, promises to release documents

Current News / News & Features /

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Wednesday she is closing her office's investigation into Larry Nassar's sexual assaults connected to Michigan State University after reviewing more than 6,000 documents linked to the Nassar scandal that the university refused to release under the claim of attorney-client privilege — and she plans to ...Read more

Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Republican lawsuit tries to stop new Georgia Election Board rules

Current News / News & Features /

Two Republicans filed a lawsuit Wednesday to invalidate new Georgia election certification rules, alleging the unelected appointees on the State Election Board exceeded their authority.

The lawsuit takes aim at rules approved by Republican supporters of former President Donald Trump that critics say could be abused to dispute the results of the...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Sex offender snuck back into US, began secretly living in Bay Area, prosecutors say

Current News / News & Features /

SAN PABLO, Calif. — A local resident has been arrested and charged with possessing more than 2,000 child pornography files, after police here learned that he had secretly returned to the Bay Area after a 2015 sexual abuse conviction, court records show.

Luis Brizuela-Navas, 25, was charged with possessing child pornography and failing to ...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Diddy sued by Danity Kane's Dawn Richard; sexual assault, inhumane treatment alleged

Current News / News & Features /

Sean "Diddy" Combs has been hit with yet another lawsuit, this time by a singer from his Bad Boy-backed music groups Danity Kane and Diddy-Dirty Money who says she witnessed him beating ex-girlfriend Casandra "Cassie" Ventura.

Dawn Richard, who rose to fame through MTV and Diddy's 2004 reality competition "Making the Band 3," sued Combs Tuesday...Read more

Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register/TNS

California wildfires burn 100,000 acres, destroy dozens of homes and injure 13

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — Three fast-moving wildfires that have burned homes, injured firefighters and civilians and scorched more than 100,000 acres combined across Southern California in a matter of days have stretched firefighting resources dangerously thin as crews attempt to assess damage and gain control over the blazes.

The largest of the three, ...Read more

Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer/TNS

NC charter schools back GOP budget deal. But is it enough to support public schools?

Current News / News & Features /

Charter schools and families who will receive private school vouchers are some of the big winners in the mini-budget bill approved Wednesday by state lawmakers.

Much of the focus in the GOP budget deal has been on how it provides an additional $463 million in voucher funding to help 50,000 students attend private schools. But the bill also ...Read more

Mother of teen charged in Georgia school shooter apologizes to victims' families, says son is 'not a monster'

Current News / News & Features /

The mother of the 14-year-old boy charged with fatally shooting two students and two teachers at Georgia’s Apalachee High School last week penned an open apology letter to the families of her son’s alleged victims.

“To the parents and families of those affected by the tragic events at Apalachee High School, I want to say that I am so ...Read more

Richard B. Levine/Newscom/Zuma Press/TNS

Study finds toxic metals in tampons: FDA launches investigation

Current News / News & Features /

The Food and Drug Administration announced it has started a research project examining the possible effects of toxic metals in tampons, sparking concerns about products used by millions of women in the U.S.

A recent study found a variety of metals — including mercury, arsenic and lead — in more than a dozen brands of tampons.

The FDA said ...Read more