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Clarence Tabb Jr./The Detroit News/TNS

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer unveils opposition to Consumers Energy's plan to sell its dams

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DETROIT — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced her opposition to Consumers Energy's plan to sell its 13 hydropower dams to a private equity company in a Thursday letter to state energy regulators, warning the deal "would impose unacceptable safety and financial risks on Michiganders."

The Democratic governor urged Michigan's three Public Service ...Read more

Katy Kildee, The Detroit News/The Detroit News/TNS

Political streamer Hasan Piker says University of Washington canceled speaking event because of views on Israel

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SEATTLE — The University of Washington canceled a planned speech by Hasan Piker, saying the popular and controversial far-left streamer was disinvited from a speaker series after questions about the internal process for selecting speakers.

“It was determined that that the process for organizing this event did not meet the necessary level of...Read more

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

Border czar Tom Homan defends controversial ICE electric shock gloves

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Border czar Tom Homan on Thursday defended plans to spend $20 million to equip immigration agents with gloves that deliver painful electric shocks to help them carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

The tough-talking lawman said the 380-volt stun gloves would give Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents a useful tool...Read more

Nick Wagner/The Seattle Times/TNS

Trump administration denies nuclear safety watchdog crucial access

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The U.S. Department of Energy is denying access to some information that the nation’s only independent safety agency for work on nuclear weapons says it needs to oversee operations at sites where the atomic arsenal is built and maintained.

The denials of access to records and meetings are “the most significant” in the history of the ...Read more

Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

More college students will have access to abortion medication

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When college students head back to campus for the fall semester, more of them will have guaranteed access to abortion medication.

Colorado recently joined California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York in requiring public colleges and universities to provide abortion medication to students on campus or arrange to make it available to them ...Read more

Clarence Tabb Jr./The Detroit News/TNS

5 noncitizens charged after voting in Michigan's 2024 election

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LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced charges Thursday against five non-U.S. citizens who allegedly voted in the 2024 presidential election and another person who allegedly registered their non-citizen spouse to vote.

The revelation came amid a push by Republican President Donald Trump's administration to scrutinize...Read more

Relentless cycle of disaster has Big Sur in crisis again: 'You really have to fight to be here'

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LOS ANGELES — Few places have been more thoroughly battered by the force of climate change and Mother Nature than Big Sur.

Epic rains triggered landslides that closed California's Highway 1 into the famed coastal enclave for three years.

It reopened to much celebration in January. But a 10-mile stretch of Highway 1 is again closed because of...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Former Baltimore Police officer pleads guilty to misconduct in office

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BALTIMORE — A former Baltimore Police officer pleaded guilty to misconduct in office and will avoid jail time after admitting to wrongdoing involving sick leave, according to records from the Baltimore City Circuit Court.

Harrison Brandon will serve two years of probation, complete 120 hours of community service and pay $469 in restitution, ...Read more

Blue Origin lays out Canaveral expansion amid post-explosion rebuild

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Blue Origin’s footprint on the Space Coast may have been temporarily scarred by its massive launch pad explosion in May, but Jeff Bezos’ company has bigger and better plans for the rebuild.

Hundreds of workers continue daily forays into Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as the company ...Read more

NHC/NHC/TNS

Hurricane center eyes 2 Caribbean-bound systems as Cristobal falls apart

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ORLANDO, Fla. — The National Hurricane Center on Thursday kept its eyes on two Caribbean-bound tropical waves that could develop into the season’s next tropical depression or storm while the short-live Tropical Storm Cristobal began to fall apart in the distant Atlantic.

As of 5 a.m., the center of what had diminished to Tropical Depression...Read more

Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Sean 'Diddy' Combs released from solitary following prison fight, report says

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Sean “Diddy” Combs’ stint in solitary is officially over, according to a report.

The disgraced music mogul has rejoined the general population at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey, where he was ordered to serve a 50-month sentence after being found guilty in July 2025 of two counts of transportation to engage in...Read more

Fires burned across Spain in summer 2026. Acting quickly to shore up old stone walls when buildings burn can help preserve a region's history. Jose Jordan/AFP via Getty Images

Wildfire-damaged historic buildings may not be as ruined as they appear, but saving them means acting fast

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In a summer of wildfires severe enough to trigger Spain’s first-ever national emergency for a forest fire, a historic stone structure called the Nevera de Castro stands in a landscape burned bare in the Castellón region. Its walls are blackened by smoke and heat. A local news outlet noted that “a technical inspection will be necessary to...Read more

Chatbots were designed to emulate empathy, but not to provide meaningful mental health support. Chebotkevich/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Teens are turning to AI chatbots for emotional support – here’s how to keep kids safe

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It’s 2 a.m., and a teenage girl, worrying about a friend issue, lies awake. Rather than wake her parents, she picks up her phone, opens an AI app and types, “I’m so stressed out, I can’t sleep.”

A reply arrives swiftly: “I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. Want to tell me a bit about what is stressing you?” The ...Read more

Several pictures provided by the Department of Justice on Jan. 30, 2026, as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Martin Bureau/AFP via Getty Images

How American society shields perpetrators of child sexual abuse

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Widespread denial accompanied the public exposure of Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long sexual abuse and trafficking of girls and women.

After the U.S. Justice Department released millions of case documents on Epstein in January 2026, billionaires, politicians, heads of state and academics proclaimed their ignorance of Epstein’s ...Read more

When people use facts to defend their preferences, tastes or values, they may turn a disagreement over priorities into a dispute over who is right and who is wrong, turning up the emotional heat. Yutthana Gaetgeaw/iStock via Getty Images Plus

The false and the furious: We aren’t just bothered by different beliefs – we’re bothered when we think others are wrong

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Why do disagreements about vaccines, climate change or elections often feel so personal? Our research suggests it is not simply because other people have different beliefs. It is because we think those beliefs are mistaken.

We are behavioral scientists who study the role of beliefs in politics and everyday life. Our new research finds...Read more

Feral swine are found in at least 35 states in the U.S. CRobertson/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Controlling wild pigs can work if it’s a group effort

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The federal government is injecting millions of dollars into efforts to combat feral hogs – and it’s considering spending even more in the coming years. The problem has grown for decades, but our research has found that a recently revived federal effort offers the potential for bringing the hogs under control.

Feral swine roam in ...Read more

Trump wants to change how US kids get vaccines. How will that affect Florida?

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — President Donald Trump wants to change how American children get vaccines.

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order recommending changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, including pushing for vaccines to be spaced out and for certain vaccines to be recommended only to high-risk children.

But Trump’s recommendation ...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump pivots to economic squeeze of 'entrenched' Iran regime

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. military campaign against Iran has so far failed to force the regime to capitulate. The Trump administration is betting once again that suffocating economic pressure will do the job.

Facing a shortfall of necessary munitions and wary of continuing an unpopular war, Donald Trump and his top officials are returning to a ...Read more

Ebola is driving up maternal deaths as pregnant women in Congo avoid hospitals

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Maternal deaths have doubled in the epicenter of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak, as pregnant women avoid hospitals and medical staff and supplies are diverted to fight the virus.

The disruption is leaving women vulnerable to otherwise treatable complications including preeclampsia, malaria and obstructed labor, even when ...Read more

Bill Tiernan/The Virginian-Pilot/TNS

Virginians to vote on abortion, voting rights, same-sex marriage constitutional amendments

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NORFOLK, Va. — This fall, Virginians will vote on whether to adopt three constitutional amendments that would enshrine abortion access, same-sex marriage and voting rights for people who have completed felony sentences. The questions on whether those amendments should be adopted will appear on the ballot in November’s election, where ...Read more