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Bill that would strengthen standards for Washington sheriffs headed to governor

Current News / News & Features /

SEATTLE — After a contentious hourslong debate in the state House of Representatives, a bill that would strengthen standards for Washington's elected sheriffs and make it easier to oust them is set to land on the governor's desk.

Senate Bill 5974 cleared one of its final hurdles on Monday when state senators approved amendments made in the ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

When a deaf 6-year-old was deported, Rep. Swalwell sent staff to Colombia to deliver hearing aids

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LOS ANGELES — "What was the sin?" asked Rep. Eric Swallwell on Monday, decrying the deportation of a 6-year-old deaf boy and his family when they showed up for a "routine immigration check."

The California Democrat said that his staff had traveled to Colombia to return hearing aids to the boy. According to his family's attorney, Nikolas De ...Read more

Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS

Harvey Weinstein in Rikers interview says he's scared to die in prison

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NEW YORK — Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein bemoaned his bleak existence behind bars and admitted the idea of dying in prison terrifies him in a newly published jailhouse interview.

Weinstein made the confession in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, his first profile published since he was sentenced to prison time for ...Read more

Marie Audinet/Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Colombia primaries upend election bets and fuel bond rebound

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Colombia’s primaries have thrown the May presidential election wide open, reviving hopes for a new market-friendly administration and triggering a rebound in sovereign bonds.

Right-wing candidate Paloma Valencia won a surprisingly large share of the vote in the main opposition primary this weekend, putting her on equal footing with candidates...Read more

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Prosecutors want to drop last charge against Charlotte man who photographed ICE

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Federal prosecutors want to drop the last charge against a U.S. citizen who took pictures of immigration officers in Charlotte. Their filing comes a month after defense attorneys said they planned to call recently demoted Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino to testify in the man’s case.

Miguel Angel Garcia Martinez’s ...Read more

Jason Mendez/Getty Images North America/TNS

NY state lawmakers propose boosting taxes on the rich, challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul and aligning with Mayor Zohran Mamdani

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NEW YORK — A budget battle is unfolding in Albany as state lawmakers in their budget proposals unveiled a push for tax hikes on both wealthy individuals and corporations to supply New York City with more money, aligning with Mayor Zohran Mamdani but posing a sharp challenge to Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The proposals, known as “one-house” ...Read more

A mechanical claw holds a polymetallic nodule, one of several seafloor sources of critical minerals. ROV-Team/GEOMAR via Wikimedia, CC BY

Mining the ocean floor: 5 deep-sea sources of critical minerals essential to technology, and the fragile marine life at risk

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You may be hearing a lot lately about critical minerals and rare earth elements. These natural materials are essential to industry and modern technology – everything from cellphones to fighter jets.

They include lithium and cobalt used in batteries, neodymium for magnets in motors and hard drives, and rare earths that are essential ...Read more

Trust between Iran and the United States was shattered long ago. Sean Gladwell, Moment/Getty Images

47 years of deep mistrust and misperception paved the way to war between Iran and the US − and complicate any negotiations

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It has been said that trust is like glass: Once it is shattered, nothing will ever be the same. In the case of the enduring hostility between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States over the past 47 years, even this metaphor may be an understatement.

The tone of the relationship is indicative of this fact.

In 2020, ...Read more

A plume of smoke rises from a warehouse in the industrial area of Sharjah City in the United Arab Emirates, following reports of Iranian strikes elsewhere in the region on March 1, 2026.  AP Photo/Altaf Qadri

Iran war: 4 big questions that help clarify the future of the Middle East

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The war that the U.S. and Israeli governments launched against Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, is unprecedented in its scope across the Middle East. With the Arab Gulf states under Iranian attack, and Israel targeting Iran’s militia ally Hezbollah, even experts on the Middle East like me cannot predict the war’s course and especially its likely ...Read more

As the federal government has taken steps to become less transparent, many state and local governments have followed.
              Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images

This Sunshine Week, Florida reflects an alarming national trend of blocking the public’s access to information

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By all measures, the ability to see what the government is up to in the United States has plummeted to new depths since the beginning of the second Trump administration.

For National Sunshine Week in 2025, I wrote about secrecy creep, the adoption of federal secrecy protections implemented by state and local authorities. In Florida ...Read more

Most celebrations in the U.S. involve alcohol, in large part due to marketing and advertising. Arturo Peña Romano Medina/E+ via Getty Images

Just thinking about tequila, whiskey or wine shifts your mindset – new research

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Thinking about certain types of alcohol can alter your mood and trigger certain mindsets, especially among young consumers. For instance, tequila calls up a party mindset, whiskey activates a masculine mindset, and wine primes a sophistication mindset.

Those are the key takeaways of a new study my team and I published in the journal ...Read more

Patients who received 17 to 24 milligrams per day of buprenorphine stayed in treatment significantly longer than those who received 16 milligrams or less, researchers found.  AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Higher buprenorphine doses help patients stay in opioid use disorder treatment, new study finds

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Patients who are prescribed higher daily doses of the medication buprenorphine for opioid use disorder are significantly more likely to stay in treatment. Those on 17 to 24 milligrams averaged 190 days in care compared to 90 days for those on 8 milligrams or less. Yet Black patients are less likely than white patients to receive the higher ...Read more

This virtue helps you figure out when and how to apply the other virtues in real, varying situations. Cavan Images/Cavan via Getty Images

Making good choices when life gets messy – practical wisdom relies on human judgment, not rules

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A few semesters into my teaching career as a psychology professor, I uncovered a cheating ring. I determined who the ringleader was and called him to my office.

He admitted that he had illicitly obtained a copy of the exam and shared it with other students. He began to cry, telling me he was from a single parent family, the first in ...Read more

A sculpture by Ingeborg Hunzinger commemorates the Rosenstrasse protest in Berlin. NikiSublime/Flickr via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

Women of the Rosenstrasse protest challenged the Nazi regime for their detained Jewish husbands’ freedom – and won

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On the cold evening of Feb. 27, 1943, Charlotte Israel gathered with a small crowd of women on the Rosenstrasse, a narrow street in central Berlin. They were not Jewish, but their husbands were, and the men had just been arrested in a sweeping roundup of more than 9,000 Berlin Jews. Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS and an architect of the ...Read more

Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS

US steps up Iran strikes as oil industry faces more upheaval

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The Pentagon said it’s conducting the most intense day of attacks against Iran and won’t give up until the Islamic Republic is defeated, striking a more aggressive tone after President Donald Trump’s suggestion the war could end soon.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the comments during a press conference Tuesday. They suggested the U...Read more

Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LA's eviction defense program up in the air amid battle with city attorney

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LOS ANGELES — The Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles routinely sues the city — and wins.

In the last two months, the nonprofit has notched victories in three lawsuits over the city's handling of the homelessness crisis.

Legal Aid also defends tenants at risk of eviction as part of the city and Los Angeles County's Stay Housed L.A. program...Read more

Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bruce Springsteen's NJ hometown considers naming a school after Trump

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Officials in Bruce Springsteen’s hometown are considering honoring President Donald Trump by naming a New Jersey grade school after him.

Colts Neck Board of Education board member Robert Scales said he hopes to form a committee to rename Conover Road Primary School, according to News 12. The idea was proposed during a Wednesday meeting.

...Read more

Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Homeless mortality is down in LA County for the first time in a decade

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LOS ANGELES — For the first time in the decade that homeless mortality has been tracked in Los Angeles County, fewer people have died on the streets and in shelters, the Department of Public Health reported Tuesday.

A sharp decrease in overdose deaths drove a decline of 10% in the rate of homeless deaths from all causes in 2024, the most ...Read more

Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump says Iran war to end 'soon,' easing oil-shock concerns

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President Donald Trump said the U.S. and Israel are making significant progress in the war on Iran and could end the conflict “very soon,” cooling a surge in oil prices.

Trump said the operation that began Feb. 28 is ahead of schedule, while cautioning that fighting would still not be over this week. The two allies continued to bomb Iran ...Read more

JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

NATO boosts defenses around key US radar in Turkey amid Iran war

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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is increasing air defenses in southeast Turkey, where the U.S. operates a key radar supporting the alliance’s ballistic missile shield.

The decision to deploy the Patriot systems in Malatya province came in the wake of two Iranian missile attacks targeting Turkey.

Since the start of the U.S.-Israeli ...Read more