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Turtle Island Restoration Network/Turtle Island Restoration Network/TNS

Plastic pellets are small in size, but a much bigger headache for the environment

Current News / News & Features /

In 10 minutes, volunteers collected nearly 700 nurdles at Rotary Park in Carlsbad earlier this month. Nurdles are tiny, pre-production plastic pellets about the size of a lentil or a fish egg, and they’re a problem.

“They are the raw material used to manufacture virtually every plastic product in existence. We’re talking water bottles, ...Read more

David Rodriguez Sanchez/Dreamstime/TNS

Yosemite's growing crowds spark fears for summer

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From California Rock, 1,100 feet above Yosemite Valley, the crown jewel of America's beloved national parks spreads out beneath you.

The jaw-dropping north face of 8,800-foot Half Dome towers to the east. The silky green ribbon of the Merced River meanders through the valley floor below, astonishingly lush during the spring snow melt. Even cars...Read more

-/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Drones turn Sudan's 'forgotten' war into a relentless civilian killing field

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The first drone arrived around 3 a.m., its presence announced by a rip of antiaircraft fire drumrolling through blacked-out boulevards. More drones followed, once more plunging the residents of this besieged city into a 21st-century version of the Blitz.

This is the civil war in Sudan as the conflict enters its fourth year: a staggeringly ...Read more

Oil-covered birds rescued after pipeline rupture sends crude oil into L.A. River

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Wildlife officials said this weekend that they had found multiple birds covered in oil after the rupture of an East Los Angeles pipeline Friday caused crude oil to spill into storm drains and flow into the Los Angeles River.

The birds were removed from the river and taken to the Los Angeles Oiled Bird Care and Education Center in San Pedro to ...Read more

Minnesota sues 3M again over PFAS pollution

Current News / News & Features /

Minnesota is again suing 3M Co. over contamination from its products containing “forever chemicals,” this time concerning pollution at its Cottage Grove manufacturing facility.

In a lawsuit filed this month in Washington County District Court, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, ...Read more

Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register/TNS

World Central Kitchen, other volunteers, deliver hot meals to those evacuated because of Garden Grove chemical threat

Current News / News & Features /

World Central Kitchen, the global relief group, came to Orange County this weekend to deliver 2,200 hot meals to residents who were evacuated from their homes in the wake of a dangerously malfunctioning storage tank at an aerospace company in Garden Grove.

Organizers mobilized as soon as they heard about the chemical crisis, World Central ...Read more

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

Ty Masterson wins President Donald Trump's endorsement in Kansas governor race

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President Donald Trump has spoken. On Sunday, the undisputed leader of the Republican Party threw his weight behind Ty Masterson in the Kansas governor’s race, instantly securing his status as the frontrunner in a nine-candidate GOP primary field.

“It is my Great Honor to endorse Ty Masterson, a fantastic Candidate running to be the next ...Read more

E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Mayor Brandon Johnson to tout opposition to wars during Vatican trip, says Pope wants to keep Bears in Chicago

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Mayor Brandon Johnson stopped by a South Side restaurant Sunday afternoon before his visit to the Vatican. There, he rallied supporters with his plans to discuss foreign affairs, affordability — and Chicago sports teams — with Pope Leo XIV.

Johnson revived his earlier promise to present the Chicago-born Pope, who also holds the title of the...Read more

Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register/TNS

Gov. Gavin Newsom, other California leaders request federal emergency declaration for Garden Grove chemical threat

Current News / News & Features /

Gov. Gavin Newsom formally requested a federal emergency declaration to aid with the ongoing response at a chemical storage tank at a Garden Grove aerospace company.

Experts and emergency crews have been working since Thursday to try to prevent a potentially catastrophic chemical spill or explosion at GKN Aerospace. The tank is filled with 7,...Read more

Jeff Antenore/The Orange County Register/TNS

FEMA planning up to 14-day hotel stays for residents evacuated from Garden Grove chemical threat

Current News / News & Features /

Preparations are being made for what a Federal Emergency Management Agency document described as a “14-day mass care event” in response to the crisis at the Garden Grove aerospace company, where a malfunctioning chemical storage tank threatens to leak or explode.

It was unclear on Sunday, May 24, whether officials believe residents and ...Read more

Carl Court/Getty Images Europe/TNS

Starmer's lame duck status risks policymaking paralysis in UK

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Britain will have to wait weeks, if not months, for confirmation that it’s getting a new prime minister. And the gears of government are starting to slow as the political drama plays out in Westminster.

While the U.K.’s embattled leader, Keir Starmer, has pressed ahead with a new legislative program and a flurry of announcements meant to ...Read more

Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Illinois lawmakers consider grants or loans for Chicago businesses devastated by Operation Midway Blitz

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SPRINGFIELD — When federal immigration officers flooded Chicago neighborhoods last fall, walk-ins at Erick Camargo’s hair salon in Chicago plunged from about 40 customers per day to as few as five.

At the height of Operation Midway Blitz, Camargo locked the doors during business hours to keep agents from entering. Some barbers worked out of...Read more

Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

San Diego mosque shooting one in long line of racist terror attacks. 'A throughline that does not stop.'

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The deadly shooting last week at the Islamic Center of San Diego was the latest in a chain of White supremacist attacks that experts say have evolved from organized neo-Nazi groups into sprawling online radicalization.

As investigators work to understand how the two teens accused in the attack became radicalized, experts say the path ...Read more

Anthony Souffle/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Minnesota scientists are unraveling the mystery behind the state's walleye strains

Current News / News & Features /

Working in a darkened laboratory, Laurel Sacco dips a cup into a large tank of water and scoops up dozens of young walleye. She pours one into a petri dish and examines it under a microscope.

The fry has been harvested from Pine River near the headwaters of the Mississippi River, where the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has ...Read more

Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register/TNS

Potential tank crack may prevent California chemical explosion

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A potential crack in the bottom of a compromised chemical tank, which has prompted the evacuation of more than 50,000 people in the suburbs of Los Angeles, may prevent a previously feared explosion.

Orange County Fire Authority has worked since Friday to contain a chemical tank at a GKN Aerospace plant in Garden Grove, about 35 miles southeast...Read more

GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Haiti's World Cup team trains in Florida, proud to be back after 52 years

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Duke Lecroix has never set foot in Haiti, but every time the 32-year-old New Jersey-born defender pulls that blue-and-red national team shirt over his head, his heart swells with pride and he vows to bring joy to the soccer-loving people of the impoverished island ravaged by gang violence and political instability.

When Haiti’s World Cup team...Read more

Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register/TNS

EPA says California chemical tank likely to leak, not explode

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A compromised chemical tank in California that has prompted the evacuation of more than 40,000 people is more likely to leak into its surroundings than explode, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said.

Orange County Fire Authority has worked since Friday to contain a chemical tank at a GKN Aerospace plant in Garden Grove,...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Four things to know about Minnesota's proposed social media law

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A bill awaiting Gov. Tim Walz’s signature would require children 15 and younger to get parental consent to have social media accounts while limiting “addictive” features.

The proposed law makes Minnesota part of a growing number of states seeking more regulation over how young people use social media. Last year, 45 states and Puerto Rico ...Read more

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Getty Images North America/TNS

India says US 'reliable' energy source as it seeks more fuel

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India sees the U.S. as a “significant and reliable” energy partner, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said after meeting U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio, who called ties between the two nations “one of the most important” globally.

Both nations are “strategically aligned on energy,” U.S. Secretary of State Rubio told reporters in New ...Read more

Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images North America/TNS

US inches toward Iran deal as negotiators focus on Hormuz

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The U.S. and Iran are closing in on a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, senior U.S. officials said Sunday, even as President Donald Trump said he won’t “rush” into an agreement.

The U.S. officials told reporters that nothing is ready to be signed Sunday as the two sides negotiate on the precise language on key issues and that ...Read more