Current News

/

ArcaMax

PATRICK T. FALLON/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Judge blocks mail ballot changes as Supreme Court weighs case

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — A U.S. judge has blocked the Postal Service from enforcing new limits on mail-in voting through the Nov. 3 midterm elections, extending a short-term pause as North Carolina began sending ballots on Friday and the Justice Department was urging the Supreme Court to intervene.

The decision on Friday from U.S. District Judge Indira ...Read more

Amanda Sabga/Boston Herald/TNS

Mistrial declared in Lindsay Clancy triple murder trial

Current News / News & Features /

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The judge in the Lindsay Clancy triple murder case declared a mistrial after a last minute appeal to the highest court in Massachusetts failed.

Judge William Sullivan had been ready to say the jury of nine women and three men were deadlocked Friday morning after a note from the jurors that read:

“It is with a heavy heart ...Read more

Hannah Ruhoff/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Right-wing influencer Nick Shirley sues California over new law shielding immigrant services providers

Current News / News & Features /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Right-wing content creator Nick Shirley announced Friday that he is suing California officials over the so-called “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” a bill aiming to protect immigration support service providers from doxxing and harassment.

Assembly Bill 2624, named the “Safe at Work Act” by author Mia Bonta, a Democrat, ...Read more

PAUL J. RICHARDS/Getty Images North America/TNS

NTSB investigating car crash off of cliff that killed 5 Colorado teens

Current News / News & Features /

DENVER — The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a single-vehicle crash that killed five teenage boys when the car drove off the road and over a cliff in Grand Junction in August.

Federal investigators published a preliminary report about the crash this week detailing what little is known – that five 17-year-old boys were ...Read more

ELIZABETH ROBERTSON/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Ex-Philly labor leader John 'Johnny Doc ' Dougherty is a free man after Trump cut his 6-year prison term short

Current News / News & Features /

PHILADELPHIA — Johnny Doc is free.

Convicted former Philadelphia labor leader John Dougherty was released Friday afternoon from a federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, his lawyer said, capping a surprise outcome that was the result of President Donald Trump’s decision to commute the remainder of Dougherty’s six-year prison term.

Dougherty�...Read more

California man who threatened mosque arrested with A5-15 and 'thousands' of rounds of ammo, feds say

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — A San Diego County man faces federal criminal charges after federal authorities said he mailed a letter to a Riverside County mosque threatening to commit mass murder of Muslims.

Louis White, 60, of Warner Springs, was charged Thursday with mailing threatening communications, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

...Read more

Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump calls Iran conflict 'small potatoes,' plays down war

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called the war in Iran “small potatoes,” the latest comment from a top U.S. leader downplaying the scope of a conflict that has lasted more than six months.

The comments come a day after Vice President JD Vance said he would not describe the armed hostilities as a “war” given that major combat ...Read more

NYPD/TNS

NYPD shoots and kills man with knife who claimed to have bomb during clash on Brooklyn Bridge

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — An NYPD Emergency Service Unit cop shot and killed a Bronx man who claimed he had a bomb, said he wanted to die, and attempted to stab officers with a knife during a harrowing clash on the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge hundreds of feat above the East River Friday, police said.

Friday’s shooting marks the second time this week ...Read more

Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Why is the San Diego mosque killing case against a teen girl being tried in North Carolina?

Current News / News & Features /

SAN DIEGO — As two teenagers stormed a San Diego mosque, livestreaming from a camera on a helmet, authorities say a 17-year-old girl was in North Carolina, watching, recording. Prosecutors allege she not only failed to warn authorities about the planned attack, but she had also agreed to disseminate both the recorded footage and the shooters�...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

In split vote, NC approves new mail-in ballot guidelines hours before voting begins

Current News / News & Features /

RALEIGH, N.C. — In a split vote, the North Carolina State Board of Elections approved new guidelines for mail-in ballots on Friday, just hours before those ballots were sent to voters.

The new policies do not change how ballots are delivered to voters who have requested them, but they do alter the standards by which election officials decide ...Read more

Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Oil steadies in thin trade with Iran, Ukraine tensions in focus

Current News / News & Features /

Oil swung in thin holiday trading as renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran heightened supply concerns, while rare signs of progress toward ending the Russia-Ukraine war chipped away at the geopolitical risk premium.

West Texas Intermediate edged up 0.2% to settle near $91.50 a barrel on Friday after a relative lull in hostilities in the ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LA renames Pershing Square after Biddy Mason, founder of LA's First AME Church

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to rename Pershing Square after Bridget "Biddy" Mason, who was born into slavery and went on to become a wealthy landowner and a founder of the city's First African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the nation's largest Black churches.

The council's unanimous vote directs city officials...Read more

Steve Hilton proposes paid family leave expansion funded by 10% workforce cut

Current News / News & Features /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Republican gubernatorial hopeful Steve Hilton announced a plan this week to expand California’s Paid Family Leave program from 8 to 12 weeks. The former Fox News host said he’d pay for the plan by cutting $1 billion a year from state spending as part of a broader plan that calls for eliminating high speed rail funding ...Read more

GoFundMe/GoFundMe/TNS

Nearly $1 million raised to help daughter of Times Square stabbing victim Erin Piacenti

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — An online fundraiser to benefit the infant daughter of new mom Erin Piacenti, who was killed by a mentally ill woman amid a pair of random stabbings in Times Square, has raised more than three-quarters of $1 million in just three days.

The GoFundMe campaign, which initially sought $250,000 when it was posted Wednesday, was expanded...Read more

Hannah Jones/Star Tribune/TNS

Federal prosecutors seek 5-year prison term for former Minnesota state Sen. Justin Eichorn in child sex sting

Current News / News & Features /

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors are seeking a prison term longer than recommended by sentencing guidelines for former Minnesota state Sen. Justin Eichorn, describing him as a “predatory” offender who showed a wanton willingness to sexually exploit a minor.

Eichorn, 42, is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 23, after pleading guilty in St. ...Read more

Silas Walker/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin must serve full 60 days in jail, judge rules

Current News / News & Features /

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin will serve 60 days in jail for contempt of court, a Louisville judge ordered Sept. 4 in Jefferson Family Court.

Judge Angela Johnson said she may revisit the case in 30 days, and the sentence is appealable, but said she cannot allow the former governor to “taint the integrity” of the court...Read more

Poll shows support from Democrats and Republicans for 2 tax limits on NC ballots

Current News / News & Features /

RALEIGH, N.C. — A new poll shows a majority of people — from both major parties — support two constitutional amendments limiting income taxes and property taxes in North Carolina.

Here’s the exact language on ballots that voters will be asked to vote for or against on Nov. 3:

—“Constitutional amendment to keep the State income tax ...Read more

John McDonnell/Getty Images North America/TNS

FCC asks court to reject ABC's First Amendment claims

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — The Federal Communications Commission has asked a judge to toss out ABC’s First Amendment lawsuit, arguing the Walt Disney Co. is wrongly attempting to short-circuit the agency’s review into whether ABC has violated the law.

The commission, in court documents, maintains ABC’s lawsuit was premature because regulators were ...Read more

Lindsey Holden/San Luis Obsipo Tribune/TNS

California Republican Party accuses ex-finance director of stealing donor data

Current News / News & Features /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Republican Party is accusing its one-time finance director of stealing sensitive donor information. In a lawsuit filed last month in Sacramento County, party leaders claim the theft is to bolster a forthcoming whistleblower retaliation and harassment lawsuit against the party.

The California GOP sued ...Read more

ALLISON DINNER/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

States sue Trump administration over rule forbidding federal funds for youth gender care

Current News / News & Features /

Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia are suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for banning the use of federal funds to pay for gender-affirming care for youth insured by Medicaid.

The attorneys general argued that when Congress created Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, it left most decisions ...Read more