Current News

/

ArcaMax

Energix Renewables/City of Philadelphia Office of Sustainability/TNS/TNS

Environmentalists battle to get Peco to increase its use of green energy, but the oil industry calls it a job killer

Current News / News & Features /

PHILADELPHIA —The nation is in the middle of a contentious transformation from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

It's a change either hailed by environmentalists for addressing climate change and public health or loathed by the oil and gas industry for killing jobs and being less reliable, efficient and affordable. And what the increase in ...Read more

Renée C. Byer/rbyer@sacbee.com/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

On a dangerous Sacramento road, one young man lost his leg. Another lost his life

Current News / News & Features /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Dirk Couvson was still lying in the street — still bleeding — when he made his first phone call after the crash. He called his mother.

Lythia Bouie answered the phone at almost 11 p.m., and for a moment, she thought her wisecracking youngest boy was joking. But she heard something terrible in her son’s voice, ...Read more

Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

'Dysfunction': Teens' grievances reveal safety, hygiene problems in Kentucky juvenile justice facilities

Current News / News & Features /

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Inmates got spoiled milk and uncooked or burned food, served with dirty cups and utensils.

Bed sheets weren’t washed for weeks. Inmates were threatened with sexual violence by other inmates.

Guards, who sometimes failed to conduct safety checks, withheld showers. Prescription medicines weren’t handed out.

Some days ...Read more

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'Are you a Zionist?' Checkpoints at UCLA encampment provoked fear, debate among Jews

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — Eilon Presman was about 100 feet from the UCLA Palestinian solidarity encampment when he heard the screams: "Zionist! Zionist!"

The 20-year-old junior, who is Israeli, realized the activists were pointing at him.

"Human chain!" they cried.

A line of protesters linked arms and marched toward him, Presman said, blocking him ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Section 8 seeks to help Sacramento residents find housing, but stigma causes barriers

Current News / News & Features /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Despite programs to subsidize rental housing, low-income recipients often struggle to find a place as cost of living rises and landlords refuse Section 8 vouchers.

The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency manages local housing voucher programs in Sacramento and the county and has 12 different wait lists for housing...Read more

Fireworks, drones, Travis Scott hats: USC hosts alternative graduation event. Feelings are mixed

Current News / News & Features /

No valedictorian speech. No celebrity speakers. No main-stage ceremony, and no massive graduate walk to “Pomp and Circumstance” before tens of thousands of guests.

Instead, the University of Southern California’s graduating seniors — whose traditional main graduation ceremony was canceled — were thrown an alternative party Thursday ...Read more

Amir Cohen/Pool/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Netanyahu vows Israel will fight alone even without US help

Current News / News & Features /

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a defiant tone against President Joe Biden after the U.S. withheld a shipment of bombs as a warning to its top Middle East ally not to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

In a first, punchy clip on the social media site X, Netanyahu said: “If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone” ...Read more

Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register/TNS

UCI sends suspension notices to several students in the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus

Current News / News & Features /

Multiple UC Irvine students involved in a pro-Palestinian encampment that formed on campus last week have been given suspension notices, a university spokesperson confirmed Thursday, May 9.

According to one of the suspension letters independently obtained by The Orange County Register, the students have been barred from being “physically or ...Read more

Nathan Howard/Getty Images North America/TNS

Fetterman slams Biden over threat to withhold some arms supplies to Israel, calling it 'deeply disappointing'

Current News / News & Features /

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman called President Joe Biden's threat to withhold military aid to Israel "deeply disappointing," the latest criticism he has levied at the president over his handling of the war in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Biden announced on CNN that he would halt some shipments of bombs and artillery into Israel if the country invaded the ...Read more

Leonard Ortiz/The Orange County Register/TNS

Not allowing transgender surfers would violate Coastal Act, Huntington Beach contest organizer learns

Current News / News & Features /

The California Coastal Commission has drawn a line in the sand: Allow transgender surfers to compete, or you’ll be in violation of the Coastal Act.

A two-day surf contest happening this weekend in Huntington Beach, California, found itself at the center of a hotly debated topic: Whether trans athletes should be allowed to compete in the ...Read more

Greg Gilbert/The Seattle Times/TNS

Washington AG: Archdiocese of Seattle refusing to share sex abuse documents

Current News / News & Features /

SEATTLE — The Archdiocese of Seattle is refusing to turn over documents showing how it handled child sexual abuse allegations by church leaders, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a news conference Thursday.

The archdiocese is citing a legal exemption for religious organizations that shields the records from public disclosure, ...Read more

Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Penn adds security, makes commencement changes as protests continue

Current News / News & Features /

PHILADELPHIA —The University of Pennsylvania is adding security for this year's graduation ceremony, as protests of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza grow heading into their third week.

In an update to parents, families, and friends, Penn said there would be a "high level of security" at its 268th commencement, scheduled for May 20 at Franklin ...Read more

Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Is higher education worth the cost? New study says it depends on the school

Current News / News & Features /

The value of a college degree largely depends on where you go, a new HEA Group study found.

And as college tuition continues to increase – more than 30% in the next five years for Cal State University – some are wondering if higher education is worth the investment.

Eloy Ortiz Oakley, president and CEO of College Futures Foundation, set ...Read more

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'Are you a Zionist?' Checkpoints at UCLA encampment provoked fear, debate among Jews

Current News / News & Features /

Eilon Presman was about 100 feet from the UCLA Palestinian solidarity encampment when he heard the screams: "Zionist! Zionist!"

The 20-year-old junior, who is Israeli, realized the activists were pointing at him.

"Human chain!" they cried.

A line of protesters linked arms and marched toward him, Presman said, blocking him from accessing the ...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

Biden administration wants to speed up deportation for some migrants. How will it work?

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration proposed a rule Thursday aimed at speeding up the deportation process for migrants who are already ineligible for asylum.

The change isn't expected to have broad implications, but rather tighten existing rules. It comes as the White House and Democrats play offense on the border and immigration, one of ...Read more

Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/TNS

California AG plans how to thwart Trump with lawsuits if he wins another term

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he and his staff have been reviewing former President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda in detail to prepare a potential onslaught of environmental, immigration and civil rights lawsuits in the event Trump defeats President Joe Biden.

“We can’t be caught flat-footed,” Bonta said...Read more

Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Minnesota lawmakers look to ban 'excited delirium' training for police

Current News / News & Features /

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota could become the next state to ban police officer training on "excited delirium," a term that has been rejected by major medical associations in recent years as pseudoscience used to justify deaths in law enforcement custody.

Police officers invoking excited delirium during fatal interactions, such as the murder of ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Measure to create new state agency for childhood services now on Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's desk

Current News / News & Features /

The Illinois House on Thursday passed Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s initiative to consolidate early childhood services under a single agency, paving the way for the creation of a new state Department of Early Childhood.

“We can make early childhood simpler, better and fairer,” Democratic Rep. Mary Beth Canty of Arlington Heights, the bill’s main...Read more

Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Oakland Airport to be renamed 'San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport' after commission vote

Current News / News & Features /

The Metropolitan Oakland International Airport will be renamed to the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, following a unanimous vote by the Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners on Thursday.

The decision to rename the airport was based on the airport’s location on San Francisco Bay and its proximity to numerous notable locations...Read more

News briefs

Current News / News & Features /

Marjorie Taylor Greene faces GOP backlash after failed bid to oust speaker

WASHINGTON — A throng of media crowded around U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Wednesday evening on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, straining to hear her angry reaction after a bipartisan coalition of House members dismissed her efforts to oust Mike Johnson as House ...Read more