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Food safety finds a place among 'kitchen-table' political issues

Current News / News & Features /

The run-up to the midterm elections is turning into a food fight — literally.

The summer was marred by a massive foodborne outbreak that sickened scores of people and the recall of tens of thousands of pounds of imported meat, turning the safety of the U.S. food supply into a topic of national conversation and a political cause.

Late-night ...Read more

Bill Roth / ADN/Anchorage Daily News/TNS

Should Alaska scrap its election system? These Anchorage attorneys have competing answers

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Anchorage resident Bob Butera is a nonpartisan voter — one of more than 381,000 such voters in Alaska. Before 2022, Butera regularly faced an election year conundrum: which partisan primary ballot to pick?

“I want to choose a Republican in one race and maybe a Democrat in another,” Butera said. “I was prevented ...Read more

Earl Neikirk/KFF Health News/TNS

Republicans and Democrats Find a unifying target: pharmacy benefit managers

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Amye Joseph says America’s political polarization has made it an “interesting time” in her Tennessee household. She and her husband, Charlie, have been married 35 years. She’s a Republican. He’s a Democrat.

But their shared disenchantment with profit-driven healthcare has provided a unifying target: pharmacy benefit managers, known as...Read more

Christina House/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LAPD is no longer majority white -- but a recent scandal shows racism remains an issue

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LOS ANGELES — A Black police officer asked whether a monkey was named "Tyrone," to the laughter of a roomful of Latino and Asian colleagues.

A Latina cop described how to inflict maximum pain: "You hit Black people in the liver — I heard they got weak livers," she said, according to an LAPD internal affairs report.

The report said their ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

States put criminal justice, marijuana policies before voters in 2026

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Voters in nine states will weigh changes to their criminal legal systems and drug policies this fall.

The Nov. 3 ballot measures include questions about pretrial release, fentanyl and human trafficking penalties, immigration enforcement, traffic cameras, drug cartels and marijuana regulation.

The measures reflect a recent increase in ballot ...Read more

Kathryn Gamble/KFF Health News/TNS

Rural MAHA followers say Trump health policies haven't reached their communities

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About half of rural voters identify with Make America Healthy Again, a sprawling political movement championed by the Trump administration, but most said President Donald Trump’s healthcare policies have not benefited their communities, according to a new poll from The Associated Press in partnership with KFF.

About 8 in 10 rural voters — ...Read more

Stateline/TNS

High-risk pregnancy doctors publish new standards for care under state abortion bans

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As physicians continue to navigate care for patients with complex pregnancies in states with abortion bans, a group of maternal-fetal medicine specialists has developed new guidelines to help providers in those states navigate legal risks for themselves and medical challenges for their high-risk patients.

Maternal-fetal medicine specialists ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Gas prices, AI data centers and Trump's long shadow: Top takeaways from the governor's race debate

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The two candidates to become California’s next governor painted vastly different portraits of the state they want to lead during a televised CNN debate Wednesday night — though they both agreed the state faces tremendous challenges.

Democrat Xavier Becerra, leading in polls, cast the state as an economic engine and a critical bulwark ...Read more

Alameda County Sheriff's Office/TNS/TNS

Northern California couple charged with killing New York Times executive in planned ambush amid bitter family dispute

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DUBLIN, CAlif. — A married man and woman in their 70s have been charged with using two guns to shoot and kill their son-in-law, who was embroiled in a bitter custody battle with the suspects’ daughter, in what prosecutors call a pre-planned daytime ambush at a local playground.

Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, were charged Wednesday ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Immigration officials target psychology professor convicted in killing of a man she says raped her

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SANTA ANA, Calif. — U.S. immigration officials are moving to revoke the citizenship of a former psychology professor who was imprisoned for her role in the killing of a man she says raped her three decades ago in an Orange County case that angered sexual assault victims worldwide.

Norma Patricia Esparza, 52, was released from prison in 2018 ...Read more

Matt Burkhartt/Getty Images North America/TNS

Cornell University agrees to outside review of school's response to gang rape allegations

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NEW YORK — Cornell University has agreed to Gov. Hochul’s demand for an independent review by outside counsel of the university’s response to gang rape allegations at a college fraternity house.

“I spoke with Cornell’s president today, and the university has agreed to bring in outside counsel for an independent investigation,” ...Read more

Erik Marmor/Getty Images North America/TNS

FlyDubai passengers avert crash by tackling pilot who stabbed colleague

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A pilot of a jet carrying more than 170 passengers to Tel Aviv stabbed his colleague and tried to crash the plane in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branded a serious security incident.

Catastrophe was narrowly avoided after passengers and members of the crew stormed the cockpit of the FlyDubai plane that had taken off in Dubai ...Read more

Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

$7.5-billion mini-NIH plan goes to California voters under bill signed by Newsom

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California voters will decide whether to establish a $7.5 billion state scientific research arm — similar to the National Institutes of Health — after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that will put the proposal on the March 2028 ballot.

The new state fund would aim to blunt federal research cuts by the Trump administration and ensure state ...Read more

Peter Zay/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

More NC state agencies sign ICE cooperation deals. See the documents and details

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Agencies required under a bill passed by Republican state lawmakers to sign agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — which allow their officers to carry out immigration enforcement duties typically performed by federal agents — have now done so.

On Tuesday, The News & Observer reported that the State ...Read more

Win McNamee/Getty Images North America/TNS

Housing groups challenge Trump funding clawback

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WASHINGTON — The National Urban League and several local housing nonprofits nationwide challenged part of the Trump administration’s last-minute cancellation of congressionally appropriated funds.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday night in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, focuses on one portion of the $810 million cancellation...Read more

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump says South Korea will invest $54 billion in Alaska natural gas pipeline

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday touted what he described as a commitment by South Korea to invest $54 billion in a liquefied natural gas pipeline in Alaska.

Surrounded by Alaska leaders and members of his cabinet, Trump said his administration’s trade agreement with South Korea would subsidize the construction of the costly 800-mile gas ...Read more

Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

California lawmaker sues DHS over attempted search of Sacramento law firm by ICE

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California Assemblymember Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento, is suing the Department of Homeland Security after the agency’s refusal to provide records regarding an attempted search of a Sacramento law firm last month by federal immigration agents.

The lawsuit, filed last week in federal court, demands information on the incident which unfolded when ...Read more

Jose F. Moreno/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Pennsylvania confirms a fifth death associated with widening measles outbreak

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PHILADELPHIA — A fifth person has died amid Pennsylvania's growing measles outbreak, state health officials confirmed on Wednesday.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health said in a news release that an unvaccinated resident of Lancaster County tested positive for measles and has died.

Health officials said they would not release any ...Read more

Erik Marmor/Getty Images North America/TNS

FlyDubai incident renews debate over cockpit video recorders

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WASHINGTON — A harrowing incident involving a pilot who stabbed his colleague during a FlyDubai flight is reviving a decades-old debate over whether commercial aircraft should be equipped with video recording equipment.

In situations where cockpit altercations or pilot actions are part of an accident investigation, cockpit video would ...Read more

Fabrice Coffrini/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

AI safety measures widely backed by most Americans, poll finds

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WASHINGTON — A vast majority of Americans favor requiring artificial intelligence companies to meet independent safety benchmarks for their models, even if those standards mean slowing development of the technology, according to a new poll.

Against a backdrop of growing global anxiety over AI risks, 91% of those surveyed think it’s very or ...Read more