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Josh Boland/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Volunteers clean Jackson Park ahead of Obama Presidential Center opening

Current News / News & Features /

CHICAGO — As Sharon Brown, 60, walked along the Jackson Park pathways, she paused to pick up an old chip bag from the ground. After dropping it into her trash bag, she looked up. In the distance, she could see the new Obama Presidential Center museum, towering above the trees.

“I’m so proud that the Obama Foundation is here,” Brown said...Read more

Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LAPD arrest protester who sprayed a 'chemical agent' at 2 officers

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Police Department said a protester was arrested after spraying a chemical agent on two officers outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles.

The department said on X that the incident occurred early Saturday when LAPD officers were trying to clear debris from the road and were surrounded by ...Read more

Gavin Quinton/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Trump rushed off stage at White House Correspondents' Assn. dinner; reports of gunshots

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday evening after an incident led to a security response and reports that gunshots were fired.

A Los Angeles Times reporter attending the dinner was forced to shelter in a restroom. He said he heard about four to five gunshots ...Read more

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Dark money group behind Florida bill to terminate sister-cities programs with China

Current News / News & Features /

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida bill meant to protect the state from China and other foreign enemies is backed by right-wing, dark money groups and could endanger some student exchange programs and sister-city initiatives, the feel-good efforts meant to promote cultural exchanges.

The proposal (HB 905) was approved by the Legislature in March ...Read more

Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Sedated, injured, even dead: Exotic bird smuggling cases underscore a problem at the border

Current News / News & Features /

Two San Diego men have been sentenced for smuggling vulnerable birds into the United States, with one heading to prison and the other getting hit with thousands in fines.

Ricardo Alonzo was sentenced to three months in prison for smuggling 17 birds — two red-lored Amazon parrots, five yellow-crowned Amazon parrots and 10 Burrowing parakeets �...Read more

Mario Tama/Getty Images North America/TNS

Rare Central Valley tornado outbreak: 4 twisters strike in 5 hours

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — Tornadoes aren't completely out of the question in California's Central Valley. Over the last century, the region has had scores of them.

But this week, as several thunderstorms moved through, the region experienced something rare: four tornadoes on the same day, all in less than five hours.

The first touched down Tuesday ...Read more

John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Chicago police officer killed, another critically injured in hospital shooting: 'A devastating loss'

Current News / News & Features /

CHICAGO — One Chicago police officer was killed and another critically injured after they were shot at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital Saturday morning by a man they brought in for treatment at the emergency room, according to police and hospital officials. The suspect was taken into custody.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said...Read more

U.S. Navy/Getty Images North America/TNS

US says Navy intercepted Iran-linked vessel in Arabian Sea

Current News / News & Features /

U.S. naval forces intercepted a sanctioned vessel in the Arabian Sea on Saturday as part of the Trump administration’s blockade of Iranian energy exports, according to U.S. Central Command.

The M/V Sevan was among 19 “shadow fleet” vessels sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department on Friday for its links to “transporting billions of ...Read more

Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman/TNS

'An enduring mark on our state': Dirk Kempthorne, former Idaho governor and interior secretary, dies at 74

Current News / News & Features /

BOISE, Idaho — Dirk Kempthorne, the charismatic former Idaho governor who went on to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior, died Friday night of complications from late-stage cancer. He was 74.

Kempthorne, who also served as a U.S. senator from Idaho and as mayor of Boise, announced his diagnosis in March 2025. He called it maybe the “...Read more

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Sloth World reportedly won't open following dozens of animal deaths

Current News / News & Features /

ORLANDO, Fla. — A planned International Drive attraction called Sloth World will not open following dozens of animal deaths, conservation groups said late Friday, as its 13 remaining sloths were placed in the care of animal experts at Central Florida Zoo & Biological Gardens.

The 13 sloths arrived Friday and are in quarantine at the Sanford ...Read more

Sean Gallup/Getty Images North America/TNS

Hungary's next premier warns investors to shun Orban-tied assets

Current News / News & Features /

Incoming Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said he had information that wealthy figures linked to Viktor Orban’s outgoing government were moving assets abroad and called on authorities to detain fleeing “oligarch” families.

He also urged investors to avoid buying any assets that figures linked to Orban’s Fidesz party were selling, ...Read more

Leonardo Munoz/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

US grants Maduro access to funds for defense in criminal case

Current News / News & Features /

U.S. officials reversed themselves and will now allow Nicolás Maduro and his wife to pay lawyers with Venezuelan funds as they defend themselves in the drug-trafficking case against them in New York.

The reversal clears a roadblock that had stalled the prosecution of the former Venezuelan president and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were captured...Read more

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump's crypto pep talk can't stop his memecoin's deep slide

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s renewed pledge to support the U.S. crypto industry’s growth fell short of rekindling appetite for his own memecoin, with $TRUMP falling 14% on Saturday even as the president addressed some of the token’s biggest holders.

During his closed-door remarks Saturday in Florida, Trump reiterated his support for a ...Read more

Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register/TNS

A teenager was slain in a SoCal drive-by. Could a reward help find her killer?

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — A teenager killed in a drive-by shooting in Santa Ana is one of several cases Gov. Gavin Newsom is hoping to crack with a newly announced slate of $50,000 rewards.

It's been almost seven years since Victoria Barrios, 18, was shot and killed, and her slaying has maintained a high profile in the city. A billboard campaign depicted...Read more

Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/TNS

Insider trading cases threaten reckoning for prediction markets

Current News / News & Features /

Prediction markets have quickly grown from a niche corner of finance to a multibillion-dollar industry with big Wall Street investment, but a growing list of insider trading allegations is bringing concerns about the platforms all the way to the White House.

The most significant development came on Thursday afternoon, when prosecutors ...Read more

Larry Cagle/The State/TNS

Jack Bass, journalist, historian, whose work embodied South Carolina and the South, dies at 91

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jack Bass, journalist, historian and professor, whose work chronicled South Carolina’s civil rights era and the state’s transformation from a Democratic Party segregationist enclave to a hard-right Republican bastion, has died. He was 91.

Over six decades, first as a student reporter at the University of South Carolina, ...Read more

Gardiner Anderson/New York Daily News/TNS

'Serial killer' pleads guilty to murdering 3 elderly women in his Brooklyn building, gets 30 years

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NEW YORK — An accused serial killer who treated his building within a Brooklyn NYCHA complex as a hunting ground, brutally killing three elderly neighbors, pleaded guilty to the murders before a Brooklyn judge on Friday, according to law enforcement officials.

Kevin Gavin, 71, pleaded guilty to committing the killings, all in the same Powell ...Read more

Saul Loeb/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Mexico says dead US agents had no permission to raid drug lab

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Two U.S. agents who died after an operation to dismantle a suspected Mexican narcotics laboratory had no permission to be carrying out operations of this kind, according to the nation’s security Cabinet.

One of the pair entered Mexico on a visitor’s visa, while the other had diplomatic status, the Cabinet said Saturday, in a statement.

...Read more

John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Chicago police officer killed, another critically injured in hospital shooting: 'A devastating loss'

Current News / News & Features /

CHICAGO — One Chicago police officer was killed and another critically injured after they were shot at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital Saturday morning by a man they brought in for treatment at the emergency room, according to police and hospital officials. The suspect was taken into custody.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said...Read more

Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump cancels Kushner, Witkoff trip to Pakistan for Iran talks

Current News / News & Features /

President Donald Trump canceled a planned trip to Pakistan by his top envoys for negotiations over the Iran conflict, raising questions about the durability of the current ceasefire.

The president on Saturday told his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff to skip the trip, adding in a social media post that there has been “...Read more