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Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Slain Chicago police Officer Luis Huesca mourned at visitation: 'An attack on the entire community'

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CHICAGO — More than 200 police officers, relatives and members of the public stood in line Sunday outside Blake-Lamb Funeral Home in Oak Lawn waiting for Chicago police Officer Luis Huesca’s visitation services to begin.

Huesca, 30, was shot and fatally wounded driving home from work April 21 in Gage Park while in uniform. Late Friday night...Read more

Homeschool bills introduced in Alaska House and Senate with end of session near

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Alaska House and Senate committees on Friday introduced bills intended to allow homeschool and correspondence programs to continue operating constitutionally.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman earlier in the month struck down as unconstitutional two statutes enacted in 2014 that allowed public funds to be spent at private and religious...Read more

Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald/TNS

Lawmakers sound off on college campus protests, arrests

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Some campus protests are crossing the line, lawmakers say.

Protesters have a right to voice their opinions about the situation on the ground in Gaza, but not so vociferously their protests cross the line into antisemitism or law breaking, according to a pair of Bay State politicians asked about recent crackdowns on college campuses seen ...Read more

Glen Stubbe/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS

Minnesota state Sen. Nicole Mitchell off committee assignments while case under review

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DFL state Sen. Nicole Mitchell, of Woodbury, who was arrested in an alleged burglary this month, will be relieved of her committee work and removed from DFL caucus meetings while her case is under review in the courts and the Senate, DFL Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy said in a statement Sunday.

"This is a tragic situation, and there are ...Read more

Aaron Lavinsky/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS

A Minnesota senator faces a felony burglary charge. Here's what happened and what could happen next.

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A somewhat uneventful 2024 legislative session was thrown into disarray last week when a Democratic-Farmer-Labor state senator was charged with felony burglary after allegedly breaking into her stepmother’s northern Minnesota home.

The arrest and charges against Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, have been disruptive in the Senate, where her...Read more

K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Face shields, dry suits, showers: Lifeguards in South County, Calif., adapt to persistent sewage contamination

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Coronado lifeguards use leak-proof dry suits for open water rescues. Imperial Beach lifeguards decontaminate in showers after leaving the ocean. And both have ditched jet skis for the protection offered by boats.

These aren't new equipment standards.

They are tools the two South County, California, departments have rolled out independently to ...Read more

Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Philadelphia begins powering City Hall and the airport by a solar array 100 miles away

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Philadelphia has begun pulling large amounts of power for city-owned buildings from a solar array on farmland near Gettysburg.

The project, begun nearly six years ago under former Mayor Jim Kenney, started producing electricity specifically for the city a few weeks ago in Adams County after testing was complete. It is expected to provide up to ...Read more

Vincent Alban/Chicago Tribune/TNS

86% of Great Lakes litter is plastic, a 20-year study shows. And the plastic is 'just getting smaller and smaller.'

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CHICAGO — Heads down and attentively scanning the ground, a small group of schoolchildren walked through an expanse of grass dotted with yellow dandelions and toward the concrete steps leading to Lake Michigan.

Andrew Scarpelli, a biologist, ambassador for the Alliance for the Great Lakes and guide for this cleanup effort, asked the children ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

10 shot at Florida restaurant; 16-year-old in custody

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A 16-year-old was booked into the Juvenile Detention Center after allegedly shooting 10 people at the Cabana Live restaurant in Sanford, Fla., shortly after midnight on Saturday, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies responded to the restaurant located at 4380 Carraway Place to conduct an area patrol due to the venue hosting a ...Read more

Pool/Getty Images/New York Daily News/TNS

US pushes for Gaza truce and hostage release as Blinken visits

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will step up efforts to secure a truce in Gaza during meetings in the Middle East on Monday, in what could be a final chance to persuade Israel to call off an attack on Rafah.

The White House said Sunday that Israel has agreed to hear out its concerns. Israel has “assured us that they won’t go into Rafah...Read more

Nenitorx/Dreamstime/TNS

From hospitals to doctors' offices, the frantic questions women are asking about Florida's new abortion law

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On May 1, reproductive care in Florida will change.

Anyone more than six weeks pregnant will be prohibited by law from getting an abortion.

Obstetricians who work privately, or on a hospital staff, already are fielding questions from patients, while also trying to understand the effect on their practices. A wrong call could lead to criminal ...Read more

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Amid protests over Gaza, Southern California colleges juggle student safety, graduation plans

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As tensions boil at universities across the country amid scattered police confrontations with pro-Palestinian protesters, Southern California colleges are grappling with campus safety issues as graduation ceremonies near in the coming weeks.

Locally, major disruptions have occurred at four campuses — USC, UCLA, UC Irvine and Pomona College �...Read more

Steve Jennings for TechCrunch/Getty Images North America/TNS

Senators wary of sending National Guard to quell campus protests

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WASHINGTON — U.S. senators dismissed House Speaker Mike Johnson’s suggestion to send the National Guard to college campuses to quell growing protests against the war in Gaza and U.S. support for Israel.

“I don’t know if you need to call in the National Guard, maybe you just call in the police,” said Senator J.D. Vance, an Ohio ...Read more

Glen Stubbe/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS

Michigan state Sen. Nicole Mitchell off committee assignments while case under review

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DFL state Sen. Nicole Mitchell, of Woodbury, who was arrested in an alleged burglary this month, will be relieved of her committee work and removed from DFL caucus meetings while her case is under review in the courts and the Senate, DFL Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy said in a statement Sunday.

"This is a tragic situation, and there are ...Read more

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

USC protests remain peaceful Saturday night after campus is closed; LAPD calls off tactical alert

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Tensions rose on the University of Southern California campus Saturday after pro-Palestinian protesters returned with tents and reestablished an encampment in Alumni Park, where 93 people were arrested on Wednesday.

They beat drums and put up banners reading "Free Palestine," "We are all Gaza" and "Stop Funding Genocide."

Shortly after 8 p.m.,...Read more

Eliot Blondet/Abaca Press/TNS

Macron raises Europe defense stakes by suggesting nuclear arms

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French President Emmanuel Macron raised the stakes in his call for a credible European defense by adding nuclear weapons to the discussion.

After setting out the need for Europe to come up with a plan to defend itself in a more hostile world during a speech last week, Macron went a step further in an effort to push ahead on talks with other ...Read more

Miguel Martinez/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Scrutiny over protest arrests looms over end of Emory's school year

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It all changed quickly on the spacious Emory University campus quad shortly after sunrise Thursday morning, student Bella Montealegre recalled.

“(We were) mostly just chanting, dancing, et cetera and then all of a sudden, I see, like, dozens of police officers come from (the north) side of the campus,” Montealegre remembered the day after ...Read more

Pool/Getty Images/New York Daily News/TNS

US pushes for 'last chance' of Gaza truce as Blinken visits

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will step up efforts to secure a truce in Gaza when he arrives in the Middle East on Monday, in what could be a final chance to persuade Israel to call off an attack on the southern city of Rafah.

“If there’s a deal, we will suspend the operation” in Rafah, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz ...Read more

Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Ukrainian Army head says Russia dominates front in several areas

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Fighting has become more heated along the front line in eastern Ukraine, with Russia exploiting its advantage over Kyiv’s forces along several axes, Ukraine’s top soldier said.

“In an attempt to seize the strategic initiative and break through the front line, the enemy has concentrated its main efforts on a number of directions,” army ...Read more

Why can’t we throw all our trash into a volcano and burn it up?

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Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Why can’t we throw all our trash into a volcano and burn it up? – Georgine T.

It’s true that lava is hot enough to burn up some of our trash. When Kilauea erupted on ...Read more