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Chicago Public Schools custodian released from ICE: 'It was 42 very difficult days for our family'

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CHICAGO — After more than a month away from home in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detention, a Chicago Public Schools custodian was reunited with his family on Aug. 28, family members confirmed.

Josue Pire Hidalgo was detained on the morning of July 17 during what his family believed would be a routine ICE appointment for their asylum ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Alligator Alcatraz guards face battery charges in case over detainee treatment

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MIAMI — Two Alligator Alcatraz guards have pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor battery charges in the first known criminal case alleging detainee mistreatment at the now-shuttered Everglades detention center.

Collier County prosecutors say guards Andre Seenaraine and Stephen Trejos went after detainee Rigoberto Rodriguez Arce on Jan. 25, weeks ...Read more

Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Prosecutors seek 14 months in prison for man who sprayed vinegar at Rep. Ilhan Omar

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MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors are seeking imprisonment for the man who sprayed vinegar through a syringe at Rep. Ilhan Omar while she spoke at a town hall in north Minneapolis.

Anthony James Kazmierczak, 56, is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 17 after pleading guilty in a Minneapolis federal courtroom to assaulting a United States officer...Read more

Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Mayor Karen Bass returns campaign donations from leaders of anti-gang nonprofit after LA Times inquiry

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LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is returning $9,700 in contributions from entrepreneur Danny Bakewell Sr. and other leaders of a nonprofit group that received millions of dollars in gang prevention contracts from her office, according to her campaign.

The Bass campaign's decision came after the Los Angeles Times questioned whether ...Read more

Amanda Sabga/Boston Herald/TNS

Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney has 1 hour to petition high court for stay before judge declares mistrial

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PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Judge William Sullivan is giving Lindsay Clancy’s attorney one hour to petition the Supreme Judicial Court for a stay after the judge said he would declare a mistrial.

The 12 jurors in the case wrote a third note saying that they could not come to a consensus on a verdict after days of deliberation. Sullivan said he needed...Read more

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images North America/TNS

John Fetterman reportedly dismissed Children's Hospital of Philadelphia leaders, rejected other meetings as he avoids Senate duties

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PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Sen. John Fetterman privately rejected the concerns of leaders at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who requested a meeting to talk about vaccine policy and Medicaid cuts, speculating to an aide that they “just want free trips to DC,” according to a new report that sparked another wave of criticism aimed at the ...Read more

Lexington Police Department/Lexington Police Department/TNS

Lexington mayor appointing independent panel to review city's Flock cameras

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton announced Friday morning that she is creating an “independent, external panel” to review Lexington’s Flock license plate reader cameras.

“We have already discussed ways to tighten our controls to address concerns expressed by the public,” Gorton said. “However, I think it’s important...Read more

Alex Kormann/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Years of threats preceded deadly Minneapolis shooting

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MINNEAPOLIS — Carlton Johnson II had a long history of threats and violence that ended Wednesday when he allegedly shot six people in downtown Minneapolis, killing two and wounding two police officers.

In June, Johnson, 35, allegedly walked around Shoreline Plaza — where Wednesday’s mass shooting occurred — waving a gun and threatening ...Read more

Imago/Imago via ZUMA Press/TNS

He calls himself California's Luigi Mangione. An arson suspect's rallying cry sparks furor

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LOS ANGELES -- A massive 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse in Ontario, California, was still on fire when videos began to appear on social media platforms.

Holding a phone camera with one hand and a lighter in the other, Chamel Abdulkarim is heard in the video listing off complaints about not being paid enough to get by. Authorities allege he ...Read more

Al Diaz/Miami Herald/TNS

Florida immigration contracts quietly surged to $1.4 billion in disaster dollars

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MIAMI — Since Alligator Alcatraz’s closure in June, Florida’s emergency managers have committed almost half a billion more dollars toward arresting, detaining and deporting immigrants, promising at least $1.4 billion in disaster funds to the vendors who’ve built the state’s detention lockups and carried out its immigration crackdown, ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LAPD internal affairs file spills more details on unit in racist recordings scandal

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LOS ANGELES — After LAPD recruitment officers were accused of making racist, sexist and homophobic comments — some of which were caught on tape — department leaders promised to look into whether they improperly disqualified any police applicants.

More than a year and a half later, the city is still waiting on the report.

But the contents...Read more

Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Payouts in LA County's $4-billion sex abuse settlement delayed to 2 largest law firms

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LOS ANGELES — Two law firms behind the bulk of claims in L.A. County's $4-billion sex abuse settlement have had their payouts delayed pending probes, leaving many clients who expected life-changing sums stuck in limbo.

The first checks from the settlement — the largest of its kind in U.S. history — were supposed to start going out this ...Read more

Wendell Berry, right, joins an 'I Love Mountains' rally against mountaintop mining at the Kentucky Capitol in 2013.  AP Photo/James Crisp

Farmer-poet Wendell Berry’s environmental ethics were deeply rooted in his Christian faith and belief in caring for creation

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For most of his 92 years, Wendell Berry farmed his Lane’s Landing homestead in Henry County, Kentucky, using methods that embraced the land. He preferred draft horses to diesel-powered tractors and used crop rotation and manure fertilizer to naturally nurture his fields.

The widely revered poet-farmer, who wrote passionately about ...Read more

Leon Neal/Getty Images Europe/TNS

UK rebuffs Milei on Falklands, vows to keep British control

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Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband reaffirmed British control over the Falklands, pushing back against renewed efforts by Argentine President Javier Milei to press longstanding claims to the South Atlantic island chain.

“The U.K.’s position on the Falkland Islands is unwavering,” Miliband wrote in a statement on social media. “The Islands ...Read more

Arthur Maiorella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Insects and mosquitoes are swarming Chicagoland. Here's why

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CHICAGO — In the parks, at the lakefront and beyond, swarms of mosquitoes, flies and other bugs are chasing away Chicagoans trying to enjoy the last breaths of summer. More so than in previous years, insects have been pervasive — and it’s no coincidence why.

Bugs, mosquitoes in particular, thrive and breed in hot, wet conditions, which ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Nearly 6,000 homeless people could be displaced by the LA Olympics, study says

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LOS ANGELES — Nearly 6,000 homeless people could be forced to move when security officials impose expansive security perimeters in advance of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, researchers estimated in a new study.

That estimate comes from social scientists at UCLA and USC, who said they published what they acknowledged was a rough ...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Hurricane Marie: What to expect in SoCal this weekend and how to plan accordingly

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LOS ANGELES — Here is how Hurricane Marie could affect Labor Day weekend in Southern California:

Impacts

Forecasters expect a 6- to 8-foot south swell, bringing strong surf and rip currents to beaches and a chance of rain, thunderstorms and a return to muggy weather as thousands of people flock to the coast to celebrate the long weekend.

...Read more

Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Oil set for weekly rise as fresh fighting threatens Hormuz flows

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Oil was on track for a weekly surge as renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran heightened concerns about prolonged disruptions to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent edged lower to around $95 a barrel on Friday, but was still up about 6% for the week, while West Texas Intermediate was under $91. A flare up in fighting has ...Read more

Yong Kim/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

A Guinean immigrant has lived in the US legally for two decades. Unable to deport him to his homeland, ICE wants to send him to a third country

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PHILADELPHIA — The lawyer for a Guinean man who has lived legally in the United States for nearly 20 years asked a federal judge to free him from ICE detention on Thursday, even as government attorneys described plans to proceed with his deportation.

Mamadou Fadel Cherif, 56, was arrested by immigration officers as he left his West Oak Lane ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Cash buried in LA politician's backyard helped expose huge marijuana corruption scheme

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LOS ANGELES — When the “green wash” of legalized marijuana was sweeping across California a decade ago, one local official tried to style himself as a gatekeeper for the new industry.

Ricardo Pacheco, a Baldwin Park city council member at the time, began meeting with other elected officials and new marijuana sellers, offering his services...Read more