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Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle/TNS

Former Kansas mayor accused of voting illegally reaches deal to avoid jail time

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The former small-town Kansas mayor who made national headlines last year when he was charged with voting illegally as a noncitizen has reached a plea agreement that will keep him out of jail.

Joe Ceballos, 55, pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor disorderly election conduct in Comanche County on Monday. He agreed to pay a $2,000 fine ...Read more

News briefs

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FBI Director Kash Patel sues The Atlantic over story claiming heavy drinking

FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday sued The Atlantic magazine for $250 million over an explosive article that detailed claims he regularly drinks too much and his binges have caused serious national security risks.

The article by author Sarah Fitzpatrick, which Patel ...Read more

Mandel Ngan/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Chavez-DeRemer exiting Trump Cabinet amid misconduct investigations

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WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the former one-term congresswoman from Oregon whose tenure has been marked by allegations of misconduct including an “inappropriate” relationship with a subordinate, is departing her Cabinet post.

Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the administration for an undisclosed position in the private ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

Ex-NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran released on $300,000 bail while appealing Bronx manslaughter conviction in thrown-cooler death

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NEW YORK — Former NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran was released from an upstate maximum-security prison on Monday after posting $300,000 bail, according to the state’s Department of Corrections.

Duran, 38, was sentenced to 3-9 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter for the death of Eric Duprey, a suspected drug dealer, whom he killed by ...Read more

TNS

FAA grounds Blue Origin New Glenn after labeling mission a 'mishap'

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The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket following its Sunday launch from Cape Canaveral.

The rocket looked good on the way up, but the upper stage wasn’t able to put its payload into the correct orbit.

“The FAA is aware that Blue Origin New Glenn 3 experienced a mishap during the second-stage ...Read more

Arturo Holmes/Getty Images North America/TNS

Singer D4vd charged with murder in slaying of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez

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LOS ANGELES — David Anthony Burke — the 21-year-old music star better known as D4vd — repeatedly sexually abused a teenage girl before murdering her and dismembering her body in order to protect his ascendant music career, prosecutors alleged Monday.

Burke was charged with murder, repeated sexual abuse of a minor and mutilation of human ...Read more

Brian Peterson/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Youth cannabis use continues to decline in Minnesota after legalization

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Fewer young Minnesotans reported using cannabis in the years since the state legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 or older in 2023, according to data released by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).

The 2025 Minnesota Student Survey, which is conducted every three years and most recently released on April 20, found that the ...Read more

Christina House/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Vaccinations urged as dangerous strain of virus emerges in Northern California

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A potentially more dangerous strain of the mpox virus has been confirmed in Northern California, prompting officials to urge vaccinations to residents of the Golden State.

The disease was formerly known as monkeypox, but the World Health Organization phased out that name in 2022 in favor of mpox because of “racist and stigmatizing language”...Read more

Carl Juste/Miami Herald/TNS

'Miami can overcome hate': Unity march brings people together amid growing division

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MIAMI —More than 100 Miami residents flooded the streets of downtown Sunday to participate in a march that was far from your typical protest.

The family-friendly, non-political march from the Freedom Tower at Miami-Dade College to the Underline park was meant to be a call for unity and peace amid societal divisions.

“It’s not up to us to...Read more

Atta Kenare/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Trump aims to seal Iran deal, says truce extension unlikely

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he’s not likely to extend the two-week ceasefire with Iran, increasing the urgency for negotiators to conclude a deal to end the war.

Trump said in a Monday phone interview that the truce, which he announced April 7, expires on “Wednesday evening Washington time” — possibly buying more time for...Read more

Ginasanders/Dreamstime/TNS

A Denver jury convicted him of killing a baby 26 years ago. Now the DA agrees his conviction should be erased.

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DENVER — A Denver man serving a life sentence after being convicted of killing a 4-month old baby in 1998 is set to see his conviction erased Tuesday in light of new evidence that suggests the infant died from severe lung disease, not from being shaken.

Stephen Martinez, 58, was wrongly convicted of first-degree murder in the death of 4-month...Read more

Mandel Ngan/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Labor chief Chavez-DeRemer leaving Cabinet amid investigation

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WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is departing her post, becoming the latest member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet to exit as he reshapes his team ahead of midterm elections.

“Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector,” White House Communications ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

California judge rebukes Trump-backed plan that bypasses state authority in oil pipeline restart

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LOS ANGELES — In a rebuff of the Trump administration's push to restart oil pipelines off California's Central Coast, a state judge has ruled that a recent executive order does not override state regulations concerning oil operations.

It remains unclear exactly what effect the ruling may have on pipeline operator Sable Offshore Corp., which ...Read more

Baltimore settles ghost gun lawsuit with Hanover Armory, secures $2M and sales restrictions

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BALTIMORE — Baltimore has settled its lawsuit against Hanover Armory, ending an appeal of a 2025 jury verdict that initially awarded the city $62 million and replacing it with a $2 million payment along with strict new limits on the retailer’s sales of so-called “ghost gun” components.

The agreement closes a yearslong legal fight over ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Lawsuit over National Guard deployment in Illinois runs out of steam, judge dismisses it

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CHICAGO — Nearly seven months after federal troops were preparing to deploy to Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz, a federal judge on Monday granted a motion to dismiss the state’s lawsuit over the mobilization amid assurances that the presidential orders have been rescinded.

In making her ruling, U.S. District Judge April Perry said ...Read more

Felipe Caparros Cruz/Dreamstime/TNS

'It'll be a while' before Maryland can confirm if measles has spread, doctors say

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BALTIMORE — A new case of measles reported in Maryland last week could become an outbreak if gone unnoticed in under-vaccinated, susceptible areas, doctors told The Baltimore Sun. As a highly contagious disease starting with less dramatic symptoms, measles can fly under the radar, complicating efforts to track its spread.

Unlike many airborne...Read more

Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot/TNS

Virginia votes Tuesday on congressional redistricting. Here's what voters need to know

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NORFOLK, Va. — Virginia’s special election for a ballot referendum on congressional redistricting is Tuesday. Here’s a rundown of everything voters need to know to cast a ballot.

Virginia voters are asked to choose “yes” or “no” on a redistricting referendum that, if approved, would put a new congressional map in effect for the ...Read more

Nancy Lane/Boston Herald/TNS

Boston organization returns queer migrant wellness grant funding to city after backlash

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BOSTON — An organization is returning all grant funding to the City of Boston after backlash over its decision to use the money to provide “wellness allowance” vouchers for queer migrants, spending the mayor’s office said was improper.

The so-called LGBTQ+ migrant justice organization, Outnewcomers, blamed “safety threats” for its ...Read more

Maryland sues over Potomac River sewage spill, seeks damages from DC Water

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Maryland is suing DC Water, the utility company behind the sewage line that spilled an estimated 243 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River in January.

Through the lawsuit, filed Monday, the state’s Office of the Attorney General and the Maryland Department of the Environment are seeking civil penalties against DC Water, as well...Read more

Carl Court/Getty Images North America/TNS

Starmer blames UK foreign office in bid to his save job

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LONDON — Keir Starmer said UK Foreign Office officials repeatedly let him down by not disclosing Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting before being installed as U.S. ambassador, as Britain’s embattled premier sought to limit the damage of the ongoing saga around the appointment.

“It beggars belief that throughout the whole ...Read more