Current News

/

ArcaMax

News briefs

Current News / News & Features /

Black Maryland politicians respond to racist comments following Key Bridge collapse

BALTIMORE — With less than two weeks left before they adjourn for the year, the Maryland General Assembly has continued its work in the face of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. But, for some lawmakers, it tinges the remainder of the legislating to...Read more

Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Did warnings to get off the Key Bridge reach the construction crew fixing potholes?

Current News / News & Features /

BALTIMORE — The duty officer radioed to two fellow Maryland Transportation Authority Police officers working an extra-duty shift in Tuesday’s early morning hours. He needed one stationed on each side of the Francis Scott Key Bridge to block traffic.

“There’s a ship approaching that just lost their steering,” the duty officer advised, ...Read more

Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Biden administration approves initial $60 million for Key Bridge response

Current News / News & Features /

BALTIMORE — Gov. Wes Moore’s administration on Thursday requested an initial $60 million in federal funds to cover preliminary costs for mobilization, operations and debris recovery following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collision, and the Biden administration approved the funding hours later.

Damage assessments were ongoing and a full cost...Read more

Hartford Courant/Hartford Courant/TNS

Connecticut Lt. Gov. to trans community: 'We see you, we respect you, and we will keep fighting for you'

Current News / News & Features /

HARTFORD, Conn. — When Mia Lozado booked her first appointment for gender-affirming hormone therapy, she thought her grandmother would kick her out.

Lozado told her she was prepared to pack up her clothes and sleep in the park, but as the words fell from her mouth, Lozado said her grandmother looked at her and said, “You don’t have to do ...Read more

Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Murder charges dismissed against teen accused of fatally beating 73-year-old with traffic cone

Current News / News & Features /

PHILADELPHIA — The murder and conspiracy charges against one of the 14-year-olds accused of fatally striking a 73-year-old man with a traffic cone nearly two years ago — in a case that drew national attention and outrage — have been dismissed.

Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara McDermott dismissed all charges against Richard Jones, now 16, ...Read more

Hampton County Sheriff's Office/Hampton County Sheriff's Office/TNS

Murdaugh's lawyers deny he lied on polygraph test. They want to debate it in open court

Current News / News & Features /

COLUMBIA, S.C.— Lawyers for convicted killer and multimillion-dollar fraudster Alex Murdaugh launched a robust attack Thursday on a claim by federal prosecutors that Murdaugh flunked a lie detector test and is therefore eligible for a stiffer federal prison sentence.

Murdaugh “denies the allegation” that he broke a plea deal agreement by ...Read more

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

Kansas launches challenge to federal student loan forgiveness. Missouri could be next

Current News / News & Features /

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a lawsuit Thursday aimed at blocking President Joe Biden’s latest attempt at forgiving billions in student loan debt for Americans.

Kobach is leading a coalition of 11 Republican attorneys general to challenge the plan, which the Biden administration has introduced through a series of programs over ...Read more

Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

'MAGA has your back!': John Eastman disbarment fires up rage in Trump devotees

Current News / News & Features /

The recommended disbarment of attorney John Eastman has infuriated devotees of Donald Trump — and those who see their legal troubles through a lens of religious persecution.

Small-dollar donations have surged to help Eastman fight the forces of “evil” via the Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo. Eastman was on track to haul in some $30,...Read more

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images North America/TNS

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for $10 billion fraud

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — Disgraced cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture on Thursday for victimizing hundreds of thousands of people around the world in what the feds called one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history.

“There is a risk that this man will be ...Read more

Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Illinois remembers 4 slain in Rockford knife attack after authorities charge 22-year-old man in rampage

Current News / News & Features /

ROCKFORD, Ill. — Early Thursday, Craig Garr stood in his driveway in southeast Rockford and watched a tow service load his Jeep Grand Cherokee onto the bed of a truck.

Blood was still spattered on his driveway. It was on his door frame, on his yard decorations and all over two rocks that usually sat by his front door but on Thursday were ...Read more

Megan Varner/Getty Images North America/TNS

Drones helped bring drugs, weapons into Georgia prisons, investigation finds

Current News / News & Features /

ATLANTA — Officials say 150 people, including eight Georgia Department of Corrections employees, were arrested after a massive investigation into contraband at prisons around the state.

Search and arrest warrants were served Thursday at two facilities in the metro Atlanta area, leading to the dismantling of a “sophisticated, multi-state ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Auditor: Minnesota firefighter training board violated 'significant' financial documentation requirements

Current News / News & Features /

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota board that oversees firefighter training violated requirements to document expenses and made improper use of state purchasing cards, according to a Legislative Auditor's report released this week.

The Legislative Auditor's Office listed 11 findings and recommendations in its 37-page report on the Minnesota Board of...Read more

Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Man sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to killing Baltimore Officer Keona Holley

Current News / News & Features /

BALTIMORE — A second man was convicted Thursday in the ambush killing of Baltimore police Officer Keona Holley more than three years ago and sentenced to life in prison.

Travon Shaw, 35, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Thursday. He was due in court the same day for sentencing after a jury in October found him guilty of all counts in the...Read more

Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group/TNS

New California bill proposes lowering school speed limits to 20 mph

Current News / News & Features /

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Seventeen months after a third-grader was hit and killed in a crosswalk on his way to school, parents, educators and a state lawmaker gathered at Castlemont Elementary School on Thursday to remember Jacob Villanueva, whose death has become a catalyst to make school zones safer across California.

State Assembly member Marc ...Read more

Alexey Stiop/Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Kentucky lawmakers pass crime bill targeting violent felons, fentanyl, homeless, shoplifters

Current News / News & Features /

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The General Assembly sent a controversial crime bill, the Safer Kentucky Act, to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday, although the governor declined to say at a news conference whether he plans to sign it into law or veto it.

The House of Representatives voted 75-23 to give final passage to House Bill 5 after accepting ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Georgia House passes inflation-based cap on property assessments

Current News / News & Features /

ATLANTA — The Georgia House on Thursday backed a measure to cap how much home assessments can go up each year at the rate of inflation in an effort to tamp down property tax increases.

The House voted 164-2 for House Bill 581, which also would allow all local governments to use revenue from a 1-cent sales tax hike to lower property taxes. ...Read more

Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Authorities say cargo on ship that downed Key Bridge poses 'no immediate threat to the environment'

Current News / News & Features /

BALTIMORE — The cargo vessel that collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday was carrying 56 containers of hazardous materials and had more than 1 million gallons of fuel on board at the time of the collision, raising concerns, though authorities said there was “no immediate threat to the environment.”

On Wednesday...Read more

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson defends alderman for charred American flag incident, says censure would be 'fascist'

Current News / News & Features /

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson on Thursday delivered an impassioned defense of ally Ald. Bryon Sigcho-Lopez’s appearance last week in front of a scorched American flag and dismissed calls by other City Council members to have Sigcho-Lopez removed as head of a powerful council committee.

While saying he thinks other aldermen will stop short...Read more

Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Maryland asks Biden administration for initial $60 million to cover Key Bridge costs

Current News / News & Features /

BALTIMORE — Gov. Wes Moore’s administration on Thursday requested an initial $60 million in federal funds to cover preliminary costs for mobilization, operations and debris recovery following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collision.

Damage assessments were ongoing and a full cost estimate was still not possible, Maryland Transportation ...Read more

Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Maryland asks Biden administration for initial $60M for Key Bridge response

Current News / News & Features /

BALTIMORE — Gov. Wes Moore’s administration on Thursday requested an initial $60 million in federal funds to cover preliminary costs for mobilization, operations and debris recovery following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collision.

Damage assessments were ongoing and a full cost estimate was still not possible, Maryland Transportation ...Read more