Current News

/

ArcaMax

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Hit me: California's blackjack ban could bust LA card clubs

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — As California is set to ban blackjack, Los Angeles's card clubs and cities that depend on gambling revenue are trying to stop the change.

California's Office of Administrative Law has greenlighted new rules that would ban card rooms from offering blackjack in April. Authorities want to close a legal loophole that allowed card ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

With Pacific Palisades in spotlight, Altadena fights for attention, postfire justice

Current News / News & Features /

The Los Angeles firestorm of January 2025 was a double disaster, burning thousands of homes and taking dozens of lives across Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

But over the last year, much of the national conversation has drifted toward Pacific Palisades and away from Altadena — despite glaring shortcomings in both fires that deserve scrutiny ...Read more

Elizabeth Flores/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

ICE detained a Minnesota teen, labeled him an 'unaccompanied minor,' and lost him

Current News / News & Features /

Sixteen-year-old Sebastian, an asylum-seeker from Ecuador, was driving alone in north Minneapolis when immigration agents apprehended him in early January. Moments before his phone was confiscated, the teenager called his father and told him what was happening.

He is one of many children who have been swept up under Operation Metro Surge. But ...Read more

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

Mexico strike on powerful cartel boss sparks clashes, US support

Current News / News & Features /

A top cartel leader was killed during a raid carried out by Mexican authorities in the western state of Jalisco, fueling violent clashes across the country but winning praise from the US.

Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel known as “El Mencho,” was slain in a federal operation against the ...Read more

ULISES RUIZ/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

As chaos erupts, U.S. travelers told to shelter in place in Puerto Vallarta, other parts of Mexico

Current News / News & Features /

U.S. citizens in Puerto Vallarta and elsewhere in Jalisco and other states were urged by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico to shelter in place on Sunday as chaos erupted after the Mexican army killed the leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes – known as “El Mencho”.

The killing set off hours of ...Read more

Ski guides killed in California avalanche remembered as skilled and passionate

Current News / News & Features /

Mitch Hall hadn’t spoken to his former coworker in years, but he said Sunday that he was devastated to learn that Michael “Mike” Henry was one of nine people who died in Tuesday’s Tahoe-area avalanche.

“It sucks to hear that somebody that’s skilled with so much knowledge in the mountains can still somehow get into a deadly avalanche...Read more

AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Pakistan strikes alleged militant camps in Afghanistan

Current News / News & Features /

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan escalated this weekend after Islamabad launched a series of cross-border air strikes on Afghanistan’s eastern border.

“Last night, they bombed our civilian compatriots in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, martyring and wounding dozens of people, including women and children,” Zabihullah Mujahid, ...Read more

Jim Watson/Getty Images North America/TNS

China, India among winners after US court blocked Trump tariffs

Current News / News & Features /

In a swift reversal of fortunes, countries that had been hardest hit by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have emerged as the biggest winners from the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down his emergency levies.

China, India and Brazil are among those now seeing lower tariff rates for shipments to the U.S. after the court ruled on ...Read more

Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

As ICE draws down in Minnesota, data illustrates intensity of its surge here

Current News / News & Features /

Operation Metro Surge, the monthslong campaign of aggressive immigration enforcement in Minnesota, is over, according to Trump administration border czar Tom Homan.

A dearth of official data about the surge led to skepticism from residents, driving Minnesotans to look for answers elsewhere. People Over Papers is a popular crowdsourced database ...Read more

Karl Merton Ferron/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Two state bills targeting Maryland handgun board could force changes

Current News / News & Features /

Following The Baltimore Sun’s reporting on the state’s handgun roster board, two bills are set to be introduced in the Maryland legislature that would revamp the way the board works, adding what advocates of the bills say are structure and guidance to the process of deciding which guns can be bought and sold in the state.

A Second Amendment...Read more

Alaska House caucuses at odds over drawing $500 million from state savings

Current News / News & Features /

The Alaska House is poised to vote this week on whether to approve nearly $500 million in state funding to cover expenditures in the current fiscal year, amid opposition from House Republicans.

The spending bill, which was requested by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, is intended in part to make up for tens of millions of dollars in cuts Dunleavy made to ...Read more

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump pegs new tariffs to a payments crisis experts doubt exists

Current News / News & Features /

With his move to impose new global tariffs, U.S. President Donald Trump isn’t just trying to repair a trade policy dismantled by a Supreme Court rebuke. He’s also declaring the world’s largest economy is facing a profound balance-of-payments crisis.

The potential problem for Trump and his administration with that argument: Many economists...Read more

Gardiner Anderson/New York Daily News/TNS

NYC Mayor Mamdani declares full school snow day for Monday with no remote learning

Current News / News & Features /

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced New York City’s first full school snow day — with no remote learning — in years for Monday in anticipation of a major blizzard.

The mayor made the announcement on social media Sunday, posting a video of a FaceTime call between him and an eighth-grade girl named Victoria who attends public school in ...Read more

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

Mexico notches a win with Trump by taking out cartel kingpin

Current News / News & Features /

A top cartel leader was killed during a raid carried out by Mexican authorities in the western state of Jalisco, fueling violent clashes across the country but winning praise from the U.S.

Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel known as “El Mencho,” was slain in a federal operation against the ...Read more

Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Florida judges are releasing migrants from ICE custody, but a showdown is coming

Current News / News & Features /

Reynel Bautista-Anzola, Angel Marquez-Perez and Francisco Delgado-Garcia entered the courtroom shackled on Feb. 9 and, walking in a line, were ushered in by federal officers to wait for their cases to be heard.

The hearing in federal court in Orlando, Florida, was to determine whether the three men, all migrants who’d been in ICE custody for ...Read more

Scott Eisen/Getty Images North America/TNS

Boston warns of incoming 'intense' blizzard conditions, Boston Public Schools to close Monday

Current News / News & Features /

An incoming blizzard is expected to become a potentially historic storm across areas of Massachusetts, bringing over a foot of heavy snow, massively destructive wind gusts, whiteout conditions, power outages and more, public officials warned Sunday.

“Unlike the last storm, which was a ton of snow that came down fast but was light fluffy and ...Read more

Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Getty Images North America/TNS

Iran-US nuclear talks set to resume in Geneva on Feb. 26

Current News / News & Features /

The U.S. and Iran are set to resume talks Thursday in Geneva, Omani mediators said, extending the search for a diplomatic solution to the latest standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he expects to meet U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff for the talks and reiterated that Iran won’t be pressured ...Read more

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

Top cartel leader's killing sparks violent clashes across Mexico

Current News / News & Features /

A top cartel leader was killed during a raid carried out by Mexican authorities in the western state of Jalisco, fueling clashes and roadblocks across the country.

Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel known as “El Mencho,” was slain in a federal operation against the group on Sunday morning, ...Read more

Charles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald/TNS

What we know about the man shot dead at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate

Current News / News & Features /

Not much beyond artistic talent and where he lived is known about Austin Tucker Martin, the suspect fatally shot after authorities said he pointed a shotgun at law enforcement officers on the grounds of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

Martin died after being shot about 700 miles from his North Carolina home. He was ...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LA wanted to dismantle homeless RVs. A judge just shut that down

Current News / News & Features /

A judge has struck down the latest effort by the city of Los Angeles to tow and destroy broken down recreational vehicles, handing a legal victory to a group of Westside homeless advocates.

In a two-page ruling, Superior Court Judge Curtis A. Kin said Los Angeles officials lack the legal authority to carry out a state law that permits the ...Read more