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National Weather Service, NOAA layoffs hit hundreds of federal workers

Current News / News & Features /

Hundreds of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Weather Service employees were laid off Thursday in the latest round of federal workforce cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration.

The layoffs were confirmed in a statement from California U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat, and reported by Axios and The Hill...Read more

Matt Stone/Boston Herald/TNS

Massachusetts pushes back on Trump anti-DEI policies, will keep education initiatives in place

Current News / News & Features /

The Bay State will play by its own rules when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion in education, a defiant governor and AG stated.

A letter from the Trump Administration sent earlier this month to the heads of education in every state and instructing them to do away with DEI policies can be ignored by institutions operating in ...Read more

Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group/TNS

'A powder keg': Lawsuit claims Texas company knowingly built dangerous battery plant at California's Moss Landing, leading to major toxic fire

Current News / News & Features /

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Texas company that built a huge battery storage plant at Moss Landing that burned in a major fire last month, causing the evacuation of 1,200 people and the closure of Highway 1 for three days, rushed to build the plant and cut corners resulting in unsafe conditions, a lawsuit filed Thursday alleges.

One of the largest ...Read more

Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Former LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley appeals her dismissal

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — Former Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley took the extraordinary step Thursday of appealing Mayor Karen Bass’ decision to dismiss her, in part, for her performance during a catastrophic wildfire that destroyed much of the Pacific Palisades.

The appeal, which would require the approval of 10 of 15 City Council members, is ...Read more

Samuel Corum/Getty Images North America/TNS

Slotkin, Espaillat to deliver Democratic responses to Trump's joint address

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a swing-state freshman whose victory was a rare bright spot for Democrats in November, will deliver the party’s response to President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday.

Democratic leaders also announced that New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat will give the Spanish-language response...Read more

Daniel Mears/The Detroit News/TNS

Judge says 9 delayed Michigan bills should be sent to Whitmer, but won't order it

Current News / News & Features /

A state Court of Claims judge ruled Thursday that the Michigan Senate has a constitutional right to have nine bills passed during the last session presented to the governor for her signature or veto.

But Judge Sima Patel stopped short of issuing an official order requiring that the Republican-controlled House present the bills, noting that the ...Read more

Al Diaz/Miami Herald/TNS

Trial set for Alexander brothers' Florida rape cases. But getting them to Miami may be tough

Current News / News & Features /

MIAMI — A Miami judge set a trial date Thursday for two of the Alexander brothers and their good friend, all facing sex crime charges in three Miami Beach cases dating back to 2016.

But the May 12 date is likely tentative for at least two of them.

That’s because jet-setting 37-year-old twins Oren and Alon Alexander are behind bars in a ...Read more

Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News/TNS

Alaskans say Medicaid cuts considered by US House could be 'catastrophic'

Current News / News & Features /

Alaska lawmakers say a budget resolution passed by the U.S. House of Representatives late Tuesday could lead to funding cuts that would gut Medicaid programs used by a third of Alaskans — or exacerbate Alaska's fiscal crisis by forcing the state to step in and cover the cost of programs that underpin the state's health care system.

The budget...Read more

Taylor Six/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

Kentucky mayor says critics are part of a 'pedo clan,' demands lawsuits against him be dropped

Current News / News & Features /

An unusual scene unfolded Thursday afternoon in Laurel County, Kentucky, as London Mayor Randall Weddle hosted a news conference to double down on claims that several of his critics in the city are part of an organized group of pedophiles.

Those critics have filed two separate lawsuits against Weddle for defamation this month because of the ...Read more

Maja Hitij/Getty Images Europe/TNS

Germany's Merz to start exploratory talks with Social Democrats on Friday

Current News / News & Features /

Germany’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc under chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz and the Social Democrats are set to start exploratory talks on a coalition on Friday, said people familiar with the matter.

Each side is expected to be represented by nine negotiators, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the talks aren’t ...Read more

PASCAL GUYOT/Getty Imags North America/TNS

COVID vaccine provided some protection this winter, even if only 1 in 5 Minnesotans got it

Current News / News & Features /

Few Minnesotans sought COVID-19 vaccine to reduce their infection risks this winter, but at least the shots offered some protection for those who did.

The current vaccine was 33% effective at preventing emergency room and urgent care visits among adults who got COVID, according to interim federal estimates published Thursday. HCMC in ...Read more

Two fake ICE agents harassed California shoppers, businesses just weeks after raids, police say

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Two men seeking notoriety on their personal social media pages posed as immigration officers in Fresno, according to police, just weeks after raids in the San Joaquin Valley stoked fear for many undocumented residents.

The men wore vests, cameras and even a wig to appear to be U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as they harassed ...Read more

Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS

Analysis: Trump, Starmer try putting spark back in US-British relations

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — Some analysts and Democratic lawmakers see President Donald Trump pulling away from Europe. But the American leader and his British counterpart contended Thursday that Washington and London still have a “special relationship.”

“Our countries have a special relationship” that has been “passed down through the generations...Read more

Pedro Rances Mattey/Getty Images of North America/TNS

Suspension of Venezuela's oil license will strike a heavy blow. Can Maduro survive it?

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The Trump administration’s decision to revoke the licenses allowing Chevron and other international companies to produce oil in Venezuela is likely to have a debilitating impact on the Caracas regime’s finances and limit the ability of strongman Nicolás Maduro to keep his ruling coalition together.

But don’t expect to see regime change ...Read more

Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register/TNS

Huntington Beach teenagers sue city over children's book review board, restricted access to books

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HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — A group of Huntington Beach residents, including two teenagers, and a local nonprofit filed a lawsuit this week against the city to eliminate several measures passed by council members to restrict access at city libraries to children’s books deemed inappropriate, calling it a “censorship scheme.”

The lawsuit ...Read more

Alon Skuy/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump and DeSantis plead ignorance on Andrew Tate's flight to Florida

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WASHINGTON — Florida’s two most politically powerful residents said they had no explanation for why Andrew and Tristan Tate landed in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday after being released from Romania while facing human trafficking charges.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said he had no involvement with the abrupt return of the controversial right-wing ...Read more

Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS

Who's on the Jeffrey Epstein flight logs? Trump's AG promises release of new files

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U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi promised to release a new list of people flown to the private Caribbean island of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender whose 2019 death led to widespread conspiracy theories.

Bondi’s promise led to an unusual scene at the White House on Thursday, as conservative influencers and ...Read more

Monroe Police Department/Monroe Police Department/TNS

Woman charged with attempted murder after locking boyfriend in storage unit for days

Current News / News & Features /

A South Carolina woman was arrested Thursday for allegedly locking her boyfriend in a storage unit for days without food or water.

Robin Renae Deaton, 52, was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping, the Monroe Police Department said in a statement.

A week earlier, after an argument, Deaton allegedly slammed the storage unit door shut ...Read more

Johnny Fils-Aimé/Miami/TNS

US foreign aid cuts are making it difficult to help Haitians affected by gang violence, UN says

Current News / News & Features /

Even as the United Nations continues to crunch the numbers on the rippling effects of the Trump administration’s freeze on U.S. foreign assistance and gutting of the U.S. Agency for International Development, aid workers in a violence-wracked Haiti are already seeing the effects.

The U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator for Haiti, Ulrika ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

'No Amazon, No Walmart': Protest calling for 'economic blackout' has some celebrity support

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A grassroots group is calling for a 24-hour “economic blackout,” and urging people not to shop at major retailers Friday as a form of protest against corporations, politicians and banks — and the social media-driven campaign has gained traction among several celebrities.

The one-day economic protest asks people across the country to make ...Read more