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Eric Lutzens/The Denver Post/TNS

Colorado Gov. Polis, Dems on verge of “a real step forward” on housing as land-use bills sail toward finish

Current News / News & Features /

DENVER — The Colorado legislature is poised to pass a suite of marquee land-use reform measures that promise to reshape housing development along the Front Range, delivering a significant win to Gov. Jared Polis and legislative Democrats a year after their first reform attempt collapsed.

On Tuesday, the penultimate day of the legislative ...Read more

Nancy Lane/Boston Herald/TNS

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu used campaign funds for 'electeds of color' holiday party, records show

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BOSTON — Records show Boston Mayor Michelle Wu dipped into her $1.4 million campaign war chest to pay for last year’s controversial “electeds of color” holiday party, but did not use taxpayer funds as previously speculated and initially considered.

A series of emails, obtained by the Herald via a public records request, show that while ...Read more

Sarah Yenesel/Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS

Court of Appeals agrees to consider DA removal in Trump Georgia election case

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ATLANTA — The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday decided to hear an appeal of a judge’s ruling allowing District Attorney Fani Willis to remain at the helm of Fulton County’s election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

The court’s decision almost certainly means a significant delay of a trial here for Trump and ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Missouri has fifth highest gun death rate, new study says. Where does Kansas come in?

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri has the fifth highest gun death rate in the nation, according to a study published Tuesday by the Violence Policy Center.

The organization, which works to reduce gun violence and supports gun regulation, analyzed numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2022, the most recent year data was ...Read more

Project Roomkey: Lessons learned from a massive program to save the lives of homeless people

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LOS ANGELES — The state program that provided private hotel and motel rooms for homeless people during the COVID pandemic improved healthcare for thousands and provided valuable lessons for how shelters could better serve their clients, a two-year study has found.

The study released Monday by the research and consulting firm Abt Global ...Read more

Former LA Mayor Eric Garcetti returns from India for Milken conference

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LOS ANGELES — A little more than a year after leaving Southern California for New Delhi, former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti returned home for a packed schedule of panels at the Milken Institute Global Conference.

This is Garcetti's second trip back to Los Angeles since he was confirmed to serve as U.S. ambassador to India in March 2023, ...Read more

Isolated storms today, potentially severe weather tonight

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ATLANTA — Brace yourself for potentially severe storms across metro Atlanta late tonight into Thursday.

It’ll be a warm day, with morning temperatures already in the 70s. It’ll be humid and breezy, but most of us should stay dry through the first half of the day. There’s just a 30% chance of storms through the afternoon.

“But any one...Read more

-/Getty Images of North America/TNS

US pauses arms shipment to Israel over Rafah invasion plans

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The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel over concerns about a potential military offensive on the Gazan city of Rafah, which President Joe Biden opposes, according to a senior administration official.

The delivery was supposed to contain 3,500 bombs, split roughly evenly between 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) and 500-pound explosives, the ...Read more

'Essentially a gas station,' fishy feast draws sea lions to Pier 39 in numbers not seen in 15 years

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They're big, loud and smelly — and they have taken over San Francisco's touristy Pier 39.

In recent days, some 1,100 to 1,200 anchovy-breathed, blubber-bodied sea lions have been counted flopping on and around the docks, Harbormaster Sheila Chandor said Tuesday. That's the highest number recorded in 15 years.

The pinnipeds — who are ...Read more

Anselmo Cunha/Getty Images of North America/TNS

Brazil floods wreak historic devastation, with more rain coming

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Catastrophic floods continue to paralyze the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, with four-fifths of the state — home to 11 million people — affected following torrential rainfall. And more rain is on the way, complicating recovery efforts.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 95 people had died, 131 were missing and 159,000 had been ...Read more

Ossoff effort to combat online sexual abuse of children becomes law

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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed into law Tuesday a bill sponsored by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff strengthening requirements for internet providers and websites to submit reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children when they suspect a child is being sexually exploited online.

Ossoff, a Democrat from Atlanta, championed ...Read more

How 19th-century Spiritualists ‘canceled’ the idea of hell to address social and political concerns

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Between Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, drivers pass a billboard on Interstate 71 that has achieved some internet fame.

Since 2004, a black sign has risen from this flat stretch of highway declaring “HELL IS REAL.” The H in “Hell” is painted in red, a color Christians have long associated with sin and Satan.

The ...Read more

Justice Sotomayor’s health isn’t the real problem for Democrats − winning elections is

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It almost sounds like a bad joke: What did the 78-year-old male senator say to the 69-year-old female justice?

“RETIRE!”

That’s effectively what happened recently when U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut suggested that Sonia Sotomayor – the first Hispanic and third woman Supreme Court justice – retire so that...Read more

What early 2024 polls are revealing about voters of color and the GOP − and it’s not all about Donald Trump

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By the end of winter 2024, the return of Donald Trump to the top of the GOP presidential ticket has revealed a surprising trend in the former president’s base of support: his increasing popularity among Black and Latino voters.

Several polls suggest as many as 23% of Black voters and 46% of Latino voters could cast their ballot for ...Read more

Arizona’s now-repealed abortion ban serves as a cautionary tale for reproductive health care across the US

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When the Arizona Supreme Court ruled on April 9, 2024, that the state’s Civil War-era law banning nearly all abortions was enforceable, it brought into stark reality the potential impacts of leaving reproductive rights up to the states to regulate, and the related consequences for women’s health.

The ruling, set to go into effect ...Read more

Elsa/Getty Images North America/TNS

10 songs from 10 bands playing the Cruel World festival in Southern California

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — Cruel World returns to the rolling greens of Brookside at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, and with it the music of the '80s — new wave, goth, post-punk, and more — returns to life anew.

Recent Rock Hall of Fame inductees Duran Duran headline the festival this year, with Blondie, another Hall of Fame act, on the main stage ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Chicago police officers injured or killed while off duty highlight choice to grant on-duty benefits

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CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department and its pension board have now each determined that former Officer Danny Golden was performing official police duties just before he was shot and paralyzed outside a bar in the Beverly neighborhood nearly two years ago.

It’s a decision that came months after Golden applied for on-duty disability ...Read more

E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS

'Transformative': More college programs are slowly coming into prisons

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When the U.S. Department of Education announced last summer that federal Pell Grants would become available to incarcerated college students, lawmakers and state corrections agencies scrambled to adjust statutes and step up potential partnerships with universities.

But nearly a year later, colleges and agencies are recognizing the steep ...Read more

Emily Curiel/The Kansas City Star/TNS

Missouri has one of the worst drug problems in the country, national study says

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A recent study revealed that the drug crisis in Missouri is one of the worst in the United States.

Personal finance website WalletHub analyzed statistics from many sources, like the U.S. Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The study found that ...Read more

Joe Amon/The Denver Post/TNS

Do dying people have a 'right to try' magic mushrooms? 9th Circuit weighs case

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Do dying patients have a "right to try" illegal drugs such as psilocybin and MDMA if they might alleviate end-of-life suffering from anxiety and depression?

That question is now before one of the nation's highest courts, with a Seattle-based palliative care physician appealing a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration decision barring him from ...Read more