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Rob Carr/TNS/TNS

Some Hopkins students, recent grads have visas revoked by federal government

Current News / News & Features /

BALTIMORE — About a dozen Johns Hopkins University graduate students and recent graduates had their visa records terminated by the federal government, the university announced Tuesday.

In response, the Baltimore university is providing support to those students through the Office of International Services, such as academic advising and health...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Val Kilmer died from pneumonia. How do you prevent the respiratory infection?

Current News / News & Features /

ATLANTA — Val Kilmer, the actor behind iconic characters from “Batman Forever,” “Top Gun,” “Tombstone” and more, has died. The 65-year-old film star died April 1 from a battle with pneumonia, an infection that raises increased risks for older adults.

Here’s everything to know about the infection and why older adults should take ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Schiff's first Senate bill proposes tax credit for hardening homes against fire, disasters

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For his first bill in the U.S. Senate, Adam Schiff, D-Calif., has joined a Republican colleague to propose a federal tax credit for certain homeowners who retrofit and harden their homes against wildfires and other natural disasters.

Schiff is introducing the measure alongside fellow freshman Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., a former U.S. Navy Seal ...Read more

Great Lakes basins may have formed millions of years ago from activity deep in the Earth -- long before glaciers, study finds

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CHICAGO — As an ice sheet thousands of feet thick began its final crawling retreat from North America to the Arctic toward the end of the last glacial period some 10,000 years ago, it left behind the planet’s largest freshwater system. At least that’s what scientists have long believed about the formation of the Great Lakes.

But a recent ...Read more

South Africans flush toilets with drinkable water: study in Cape Town looked at using seawater instead

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As the planet gets hotter and freshwater sources dry up, cities and towns will not be able to continue the global norm of using millions of litres of clean, drinkable water to flush toilets. South Africa’s Water Research Commission recently commissioned a study into using seawater to flush toilets in Cape Town. Water engineering lecturer ...Read more

Kremlin says Russia-US talks planned in Turkey on April 10

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Russian and U.S. officials will hold fresh talks in Turkey’s Istanbul on April 10, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Alexander Darchiyev, will lead Moscow’s delegation, while U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Sonata Coulter will head the ...Read more

Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Iran says it will start nuclear talks with US this weekend

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Iran said it will start high-level talks with the U.S. in Oman this weekend, confirming Donald Trump’s announcement that they’re planning to meet to resolve a standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.

“The talks will be held on Saturday in Oman. They will take place in an indirect format, and we don’t accept any other method of ...Read more

California signals possible defiance of Trump anti-DEI order that threatens school funding

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LOS ANGELES — California education officials have signaled they could defy a Trump administration order intended to end all diversity, equity and inclusion programs — even as federal officials threaten to cut off billions of dollars per year in federal education funding.

The U.S. Department of Education on Thursday had given states 10 days ...Read more

F-16 fighter jet escorted plane out of Mar-a-lago airspace

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An F-16 military jet was dispatched to chase a plane out of the airspace over Mar-a-Lago, where President Donald Trump spent the weekend.

The fighter pilot executed a “headbutt” maneuver to get the attention of the person flying the other aircraft Friday, according to local station WPBF. That technique typically involves a military jet ...Read more

Peru’s ancient irrigation systems turned deserts into farms because of the culture − without it, the systems failed

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Seeing the north coast of Peru for the first time, you would be hard-pressed to believe it’s one of the driest deserts in the world.

Parts of the region receive less than an inch of rain in an entire year. Yet, water and greenery are everywhere. This is the nation’s agro-industrial heartland, and, thanks to irrigation canals, ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

With hopes for asylum in US dashed, migrants in Tijuana ponder next moves

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TIJUANA, Mexico — When the Russian man arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border on March 1, he knew he was too late. Still, he held on to hope that even with President Trump in office he could be let into the United States to seek asylum.

Slavik, a 37-year-old engineer, said he fled Russia after being beaten by security forces for supporting the ...Read more

Mecklenburg County/KFF Health News/TNS

Hit hard by opioid crisis, Black patients further hurt by barriers to care

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Purple flags, representing the nearly 300 Mecklenburg County residents who died of opioid overdose in 2023, fluttered in the humid breeze last August in recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day on the city’s predominantly Black west side.

As recently as five years ago, the event might have attracted an ...Read more

Los Angeles Times/TNS

How the Mexican Mafia's 'Pomona Mike' made LA's federal jail his fiefdom

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LOS ANGELES -- In Pomona, Michael Lerma is a “mythical” figure, his attorney says.

Lerma, 68, hasn’t walked the streets of his hometown on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County since the 1980s, when he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. But according to federal prosecutors, he controls an “empire” of gang ...Read more

L.E. Baskow @Left_Eye_Images/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

It's rattlesnake season. Here's how to dodge the venomous creature

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LAS VEGAS — It’s the sound a hiker never wants to hear.

The sizzling warning call of a rattlesnake should be any outdoorsman’s sign to flee. Rattlesnake season, when Nevadans may see one of the state’s six species during the day or at night, begins each March as the Las Vegas Valley gets warmer. The snakes are most active through ...Read more

TNS

Wind and solar power opponents make headway in state legislatures

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WATER VALLEY, Texas — On a recent day when the wind gusted close to 40 miles per hour, 82-year-old George Neill was making repairs on his ranch, oblivious to the nearby cluster of wind turbines churning the sky behind him.

“After about a year, you never know the things are here,” said Neill, who leases part of his West Texas property to ...Read more

Tammy Ljungblad/Kansas City Star/TNS

More women allege sexual assault at KC spa joining 6 others, attorney says

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — More women have come forward alleging they were sexually assaulted during massages at a spa in south Kansas City.

In late February, The Star published a story online about two women who reported to police that a man sexually assaulted them as he gave them massages at Fusion Spa, 12931 Stateline Road. Four other women also ...Read more

Colorado food pantries scramble amid steep federal funding cuts

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DENVER — Colorado’s food banks and pantries are reeling from a recent wave of funding cuts by President Donald Trump’s administration and are uncertain how to replace millions of dollars in fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy, beans and other groceries that feed thousands of hungry Coloradans every year.

The cuts come at a time of rising need ...Read more

Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

Florida's Cubans, once a protected class, face new immigration threats

Current News / News & Features /

For years, Cubans who arrived in the United States were treated differently from other immigrants.

Many were quickly allowed to stay. They obtained work permits and became residents without a long wait. They even found a path to citizenship more easily than others. Credit the special treatment to a holdover from the Cold War, when U.S. foreign ...Read more

Charles Fox/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Pa. Sen. Dave McCormick cautions 'give it a little time' as the stock market swings

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As the stock market swung wildly in response to President Donald Trump's trade war, Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick in Braddock, Pennsylvania, on Monday tried to offer reassurance that the uncertainty people were feeling would be "eliminated" in the "coming days and weeks."

"I don't want to be in the business of predicting stock markets," ...Read more

Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald/TNS

Boston Mayor Wu proposes $4.8B city budget with 4.4% spending increase

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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu proposed a $4.8 billion city budget that she says may need to be adjusted down the line depending on the outcome of potential federal funding cuts, some of which the city is already challenging in court.

The mayor’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, filed Monday with the City Council, represents a roughly 4.4% ...Read more