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Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

DA reduces charges against LAPD officer who recorded racist remarks by colleagues

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LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles police officer who faced multiple felonies for recording his colleagues making racist, sexist and homophobic comments will now likely avoid jail time under a new agreement with prosecutors, Los Angeles County’s district attorney said Wednesday.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced he would reduce 16 felony ...Read more

Katy Kildee/The Detroit News/TNS

22 arrested during Jake Lang protest in Dearborn, Michigan

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DETROIT — Twenty-two people were arrested Tuesday for a range of misdemeanors during a heated protest in Dearborn involving an anti-Muslim activist who has visited the city multiple times as part of what he calls a Christian "crusade."

Dozens of police from multiple agencies, some of whom were in full riot gear, were in place Tuesday evening...Read more

John Monk/jmonk@thestate.com/The State/TNS

Picking a new Murdaugh murder trial site is no easy task for judge

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — To decide where the second Alex Murdaugh murder trial will be, South Carolina state Judge Debra McCaslin must choose among a host of competing variables.

“There’s a lot of other things besides walking into a courthouse and sitting down and trying to try a case,” McCaslin told a pretrial hearing on Friday at the ...Read more

Kent Nishimura/Getty Images North America/TNS

Democrats' gripes with Iran war grow as conflict nears 6 months

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WASHINGTON — Democrats’ litany of grievances with the Iran war is growing as scandals have mounted in recent weeks and the war drags on toward the six-month mark.

Reports of unbearable living conditions aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, President Donald Trump’s threat to bomb U.S. ally Oman if it interferes with U.S. plans ...Read more

Katy Kildee/The Detroit News/TNS

After heated visit from anti-Muslim activist Jake Lang, Dearborn official says the city 'won yesterday'

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DEARBORN, Mich. — A tension-filled visit by a prominent anti-Muslim activist to Dearborn on Tuesday evening resulted in 22 arrests, though local officials applauded residents for showing "restraint" and police for keeping the situation under control.

The protest by self-described anti-Islamic activist Jake Lang drew hundreds of people, many ...Read more

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump picks White House adviser Heidi Overton to head FDA

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he will nominate White House domestic policy adviser Heidi Overton to lead the Food and Drug Administration.

If confirmed by the Senate, Overton would oversee an agency that has dealt with massive layoffs after the administration’s widespread reduction-in-force efforts last year. The ...Read more

Cole Burston/Getty Images North America/TNS

US said to halve tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum in trade deal

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WASHINGTON — The tentative trade deal between the United States and Canada would lower tariffs on certain Canadian exports of steel and aluminum to 25%, according to people familiar with the matter.

The details have yet to be finalized and are not expected to apply across the board. Different rates could apply to some derivative products that...Read more

Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LA mayoral campaign of Nithya Raman plans to hire controversial strategy group that advised Graham Platner

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LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman plans to hire the controversial progressive consulting group Fight Agency to produce television advertisements for her mayoral campaign, a spokesperson said Wednesday, drawing a quick condemnation from the rival campaign of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.

Fight Agency is best known for its ...Read more

Cayla Bamberger/New York Daily News/TNS

Mayor Zohran Mamdani lets bill giving NYC paraprofessionals $10,000 boost lapse into law

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NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani let a bill he opposed that requires New York City’s public school system to send $10,000 in checks to low-paid teacher aides become law on Wednesday without his signature.

The City Council passed the bill unanimously last month, with enough votes to override a veto if the mayor chose to do so — leaving ...Read more

M. Scott Brauer/Zuma Press/TNS

Harvard Medical School agrees to $53 million settlement in body parts case

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BOSTON — Harvard Medical School will pay $53 million to settle the “despicable, abhorrent” body parts scandal that shocked the university and resulted in a string of convictions on charges related to the gruesome sale of human remains from the academic morgue.

The class action settlement was preliminarily approved in Suffolk Superior ...Read more

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump keeps 2028 door cracked, while calling law 'very strong' prohibiting third term

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has returned to floating a bid for a legally forbidden third term, offering supporters and critics hints that he might try to remain in the White House in January 2029 — but he always stops short of explaining how he might do it or declaring what would be a Constitution-disregarding candidacy.

The pattern...Read more

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images North America/TNS

DOJ must give judge grand jury material behind dozens being charged in anti-ICE church ambush

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MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors are being ordered to turn over to a judge all grand jury material for her review in the case of dozens of people charged with plotting and participating in an anti-ICE demonstration inside a St. Paul church in January.

The order from U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino was issued Tuesday and sets an Aug. 25...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Trump's top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles could face new challenge after appellate ruling

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LOS ANGELES — A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling this week has raised new questions about the legality of tactics used by the Trump administration to keep Bill Essayli atop the federal prosecutor's office in Los Angeles.

The federal appellate court ruled Monday that the Department of Justice cannot keep an official who has not been ...Read more

Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Bay Area tax measures to bail out transit agencies faces lawsuit over 'misleading' ballot language

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A group of Bay Area voters filed a lawsuit this week over a November regional sales tax measure that would fund struggling transit agencies, asking a judge to strike what they consider to be “misleading” and “biased” language from the ballot initiative.

In the lawsuit, which was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Monday, the ...Read more

Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

Judge recused from Karmelo Anthony hearing for new trial in case of track meet stabbing

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FORT WORTH, Texas — The Collin County district judge who presided over Karmelo Anthony’s murder trial in June has been removed from a hearing Thursday that is set to determine if the 19-year-old should receive a new trial.

San Antonio Judge Sid Harle ruled to recuse Judge John Roach around 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to KXAS-TV reporting. ...Read more

Javier Campos/dpa via ZUMA Press/TNS

First round of Venezuela talks bring cautious optimism, but key issues remain

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CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s first round of government-opposition talks has brought cautious optimism to a process intended to produce meaningful political change – but what comes next, and what is not on the formal agenda, is also drawing concern.

The White House-backed talks are intended to discuss political reforms and eventually ...Read more

Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

With talks between Cuba and US stalled, prospects for regime change fade

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Seven months after President Donald Trump first predicted that Cuba would “fall” in comments shortly after the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro in a U.S. military raid, the prospects that regime change is coming to Cuba soon are receding.

The island’s communist leaders remain firmly in control despite unprecedented U.S. ...Read more

John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/TNS

DJ TUNJO and husband released from ICE custody as supporters rally around the couple: 'Chicago gave us a hug'

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CHICAGO — Local DJ and rising star Omar David Panqueva, who goes by the stage name DJ TUNJO, and his husband, Santiago Páez, have been released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on bond. But their legal fight to stay in the United States is far from over.

Panqueva, 26, and Páez, 27, of Colombia, were arrested by ICE agents ...Read more

John Moore/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bear attacks, injures man at apartment complex in Colorado mountain town

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DENVER — A female black bear attacked a man as he walked out of a laundry room at an apartment complex in the Colorado mountain community of EagleVail, state wildlife officials said.

The attack happened late Monday afternoon in the unincorporated community west of Vail in Eagle County when the man came across the bear and it swiped his arm. ...Read more

AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Iran risks losing key economic lifeline with UAE halting trade

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The United Arab Emirates’ decision to cut economic ties with Iran is likely to impose more pain on the Islamic Republic as it faces the loss of a vital trade link amid escalating tensions with the U.S.

As the war drags on, the U.S. is trying to ramp up economic pressure on the Islamic Republic, which an embargo from its most important partner...Read more