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Yaks graze underneath the panels of a solar farm.
              Sanggay Tashi, CC BY-ND

How the development of solar and wind farms on the Tibetan Plateau is affecting local communities

Current News / News & Features /

China is building some of the world’s largest solar farms on the Tibetan Plateau, where nomadic people have grazed herds of animals for millennia.

It’s not the first time Tibetan regions have become a major source of renewable energy in China. Since the mid-1990s, many Tibetan communities have lived alongside hydropower stations.<...Read more

Leila Navidi/Star Tribune/TNS

Vance Boelter pleads guilty, will serve life in prison for his attacks on Minnesota lawmakers

Current News / News & Features /

MINNEAPOLIS — Nearly one year after carrying out one of the most shocking acts of political violence in state history, Vance Boelter pleaded guilty on Thursday to killing Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and shooting Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

Boelter acknowledged that in agreeing to the plea deal, he will face two ...Read more

Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Amid slew of corporate tax ideas, California Gov. Gavin Newsom chose one likely to hit people's premiums

Current News / News & Features /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For much of this year, progressive lawmakers, labor unions and advocacy groups have pushed Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature to shore up the state’s healthcare system against federal cuts by taxing corporations more.

After all, proponents argued, Republicans in Washington, D.C. cut into healthcare ...Read more

NHC/NHC/TNS

Hurricane center continues to track 1st Atlantic basin system with chance to form

Current News / News & Features /

ORLANDO, Fla. — And so it begins. The National Hurricane Center began tracking this week the first system with a chance to form into the season’s initial tropical depression or storm in the Atlantic basin.

By Thursday, chances remained slim for it to form, though. The NHC’s 8 a.m. tropical outlook states a broad area of low pressure is ...Read more

Atta Kenare/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Trump vows new attacks on Iran, threatens key energy targets

Current News / News & Features /

President Donald Trump said the U.S. would strike Iran again Thursday and sought to crank up pressure on the Islamic Republic to reach a deal by threatening to take control of key energy infrastructure in the country.

“The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together...Read more

Atta Kenare/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Trump vows to strike Iran Thursday if it holds out on deal

Current News / News & Features /

U.S. President Donald Trump said he will continue bombing Iran if it refuses to agree to an interim peace deal, following a second night of clashes between the countries’ forces.

Trump ordered multiple strikes as his frustration over the lack of progress in talks grows. He told Fox News the U.S. would attack on Thursday unless the Islamic ...Read more

Trump vows to strike Iran Thursday if it holds out on deal

Current News / News & Features /

U.S. President Donald Trump said he will continue bombing Iran if it refuses to agree to an interim peace deal, following a second night of clashes between the countries’ forces.

Trump ordered multiple strikes as his frustration over the lack of progress in talks grows. He told Fox News the U.S. would attack on Thursday unless the Islamic ...Read more

Mayor Karen Bass' brother joins Palisades fire lawsuit against city of LA

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES – Kenneth Bass is one of thousands of residents and business owners suing the city of Los Angeles and other entities over property loss and other damages suffered during the catastrophic Palisades fire.

But unlike the other plaintiffs, he is suing a body led by his sister, who is in the midst of a heated reelection campaign where ...Read more

Arthur Allen/KFF Health News/TNS

MAHA's treatments for autism: Camel's milk, stem cell injections -- and spelling therapy

Current News / News & Features /

Elizabeth Bonker is a silent woman with a loud mission. She wants government agencies to cover the costs of training people with autism in a form of communication called assisted spelling. One problem: Leading professional organizations don't believe it works.

"All nonspeakers above the age of 5 should be given the opportunity," typed Bonker, ...Read more

Robyn Beck/Getty Images North America/TNS

Telehealth access to abortion pill is lifesaving for domestic violence survivors, some say

Current News / News & Features /

Carrie Frail was in the process of leaving an abusive relationship when she discovered she was pregnant. Her partner told her he could hit her in the stomach until she had a miscarriage, and it would save some money.

“I firmly believe he would have killed me at some point, whether accidentally or intentionally,” Frail said.

She had a ...Read more

Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Wildfire almost destroyed a pristine California island. Inside the fight to save this ecological oasis

Current News / News & Features /

SANTA ROSA ISLAND, Calif. — Just steps above a white sand beach with calm, turquoise waves, the effects of the largest fire in Channel Islands National Park history are particularly stark: Fields of island grasses and chaparral have been reduced to ash, the earth singed to black. Hillsides are colored a rusty red from desperate retardant drops...Read more

Amanda McCoy/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS

Did Ken Paxton's win put down-ballot Republicans at risk? Texas Democrats see opening

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas is five months away from its November general election, and Republicans are fighting to keep control in Texas.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn — on the campaign trail in the primary battle of his life — warned that down-ballot GOP seats could be at risk if his Republican opponent Attorney General Ken Paxton were the ...Read more

Brett Kelman/KFF Health News/TNS

At a Tennessee hospital, a nurse stole fentanyl and AI missed it, state records say

Current News / News & Features /

About a year ago at Erlanger Baroness, the largest hospital in Chattanooga, anesthesia staff noticed that a nurse was slurring his words and struggling to stay awake while on duty in the surgery center, according to a Tennessee Board of Nursing consent order.

In the days that followed, the nurse failed a drug test and was fired, the order ...Read more

Evacuations ongoing for Spring Creek fire northeast of Aspen

Current News / News & Features /

People living northeast of Aspen are still under mandatory evacuation orders because of a wildfire burning near the Eagle and Pitkin county lines in Colorado’s White River National Forest, federal officials said Wednesday.

The Spring Creek fire is burning on 20 acres northeast of Ruedi Reservoir, about 15 miles northeast of Aspen, the U.S. ...Read more

Clarence Tabb Jr./The Detroit News/TNS

Trump says US won't renew USMCA, signaling yearly reviews

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he would not reauthorize the United States’ trade deal with Canada and Mexico, setting the stage for months or years of negotiations over provisions governing automobiles and other key industries.

The countries are facing a July 1 milestone to extend the pact, which Trump negotiated during his first...Read more

Gardiner Anderson/New York Daily News/TNS

Elderly serial killer Harvey Marcelin, 88, gets life without parole; he'd 'kill again,' judge says

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NEW YORK — Brooklyn serial killer Harvey Marcelin won’t get a chance to slay a fourth woman, after a judge sentenced the 88-year-old murderer to life without parole Wednesday.

A jury found Marcelin guilty last month of first-degree murder for beating a Brooklyn woman to death, dismembering her with a saw and then ditching her remains in and...Read more

Sandra Foyt/DREAMSTIME/TNS

Trump administration accuses UC Davis medical school of racial discrimination in admissions

Current News / News & Features /

Following a six-month investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday that it had determined that the UC Davis School of Medicine discriminated based on race in its admissions process. The school disagreed with the findings about its “rigorous, individualized, and merit-based” admissions process and said it remains committed to ...Read more

News briefs

Current News / News & Features /

Rush to regulate AI divides Democrats in Congress

WASHINGTON — Recent proposals to regulate artificial intelligence show Democratic paths diverging between cooperation and compromise on the one hand and sweeping regulations on the other.

Growing public angst about the new technology and its impact on jobs, communities and the environment has...Read more

Atta Kenare/Getty Images North America/TNS

US launches new wave of strikes on Iran over stalled talks

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military said it had launched strikes against “multiple” targets in Iran for the second day in a row after President Donald Trump accused the country of dragging out talks on an interim peace deal.

U.S. Central Command said it began what it called the “additional self-defense strikes” at 5:15 p.m. New York time ...Read more

Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bill Gates turned a blind eye toward Epstein's history, lawmakers say

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WASHINGTON — Behind closed doors on Wednesday, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told lawmakers that his relationship with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was one based in strategic networking and the promise of philanthropy.

U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, and fellow Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee, said ...Read more