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Al Diaz/Miami Herald/TNS

Report: Majority of trafficked guns in Caribbean are from the US, shipped from Florida

Current News / News & Features /

A new report from the U.S. government’s lead investigator on gun trafficking in the Caribbean area is confirming what region leaders have long said: Most of the firearms wreaking havoc in their vulnerable nations and being used in 90% of the homicides are coming from the United States.

However, the report from the Government Accountability ...Read more

Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News/TNS

Biden administration throws support behind road through Alaska's Izembek wildlife refuge

Current News / News & Features /

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Biden administration on Wednesday endorsed a land exchange that would allow a controversial gravel road to be built through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Southwest Alaska.

The Biden administration won't make the final call on the road, which would travel about 16 miles through the refuge. That decision will ...Read more

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Show us the Gaetz ethics report, Durbin and others urge

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — A growing chorus of voices are calling for the release of a much-hyped House Ethics report on Rep. Matt Gaetz, who resigned Wednesday shortly after earning President-elect Donald Trump’s nod for attorney general.

House Ethics had been investigating the Florida Republican for sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other ...Read more

National Hurricane Center/National Hurricane Center/TNS

Tropical Storm Sara forms, with a turn toward Florida still possible

Current News / News & Features /

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Tropical Storm Sara formed in the western Caribbean Sea Thursday afternoon as it headed toward Honduras, but there is a great deal of uncertainty about what, if any, impacts the storm will have in Florida or other parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast.

As of Thursday afternoon, Sara was located off the coast of Honduras and was...Read more

Medicaid expansion in Georgia remains open discussion after Donald Trump's presidential win

Current News / News & Features /

ATLANTA — Georgia health leaders, tasked with evaluating whether Medicaid should be expanded in the state, are figuring out what that looks like once Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Caylee Noggle, chair of the state’s Comprehensive Health Coverage Commission, vowed Thursday to continue improving health care quality and access for ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Beverly Hills High School substitute says she was fired over posts criticizing Trump, MAGA students

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LOS ANGELES — A substitute teacher at Beverly Hills High School says she was fired due to posts she shared on Facebook criticizing Trump and condemning the behavior of students at a MAGA rally on campus, where Black students reported being harassed.

Joanie Garratt retired last year after teaching at the Beverly Hills Unified School District ...Read more

Rebecca Noble/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump selects RFK Jr. for health secretary; vaccine stocks fall

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said he is tapping Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to run the Department of Health and Human Services, a move that would elevate a prominent vaccine skeptic and pharmaceutical industry critic to a top role on federal health policy.

“The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any ...Read more

Mario Tama/Getty Images North America/TNS

Who is Matt Gaetz? Trump's pick for attorney general has controversial record in DC

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President-elect Donald Trump’s decision on Wednesday to tap now-former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as his attorney general raised eyebrows across the political spectrum.

Gaetz, a four-term congressman from Florida’s Panhandle, has little experience as a practicing attorney and has carved out a reputation for himself in both Tallahassee ...Read more

Eric Paul Zamora/Fresno Bee/TNS

Want to see Yosemite's famed 'firefall'? Reservations open next week

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For a rare, if not lucky, few days a year, Yosemite National Park's famed El Capitan granite cliff converts into what looks like an active volcano jutting 3,000 feet above the valley floor.

The conditions need to be right, including early-evening clear skies, generally in February, and plenty of water. Should the sunset properly backlight a ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

New LAPD chief says people aren't calling the police enough -- and that needs to change

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LOS ANGELES — Crime is trending down in Los Angeles, with homicides alone on track to fall 15% compared to last year, but newly sworn-in LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell is concerned that statistics aren’t telling the full story.

Speaking ahead of the ceremony Thursday to mark his arrival as the city’s 59th chief of police, McDonnell voiced ...Read more

Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Celebs in the crosshairs: Diddy accusers' lawyer issues warning to 'freak off' guests

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Inquiring minds really want to know: What did the celebrities know and when did they know it?

We’re of course talking about the high profile guests who were invited to Sean “Diddy” Combs infamously hedonistic parties.

The fallen rapper, behind bars on sex trafficking charges, is accused of throwing wild, alcohol and drug fueled ...Read more

U.S. Attorney's Office/TNS/TNS

Federal judge grants Kansas man's motion to delay Capitol riot trial until Trump takes office

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A federal judge on Thursday granted a Kansas man’s motion to continue his Capitol riot trial until after President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras said going ahead with William Pope’s trial, which is scheduled to start Dec. 2, would waste time and resources on a case that could be tossed out if ...Read more

John Monk/jmonk@thestate.com/The State/TNS

Murdaugh friend Russell Laffitte's bank fraud conviction overturned by appeals court

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — The federal conviction and sentence of Alex Murdaugh’s alleged fraud accomplice and banker Russell Laffitte have been reversed by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The 37-page unanimous ruling overturning the verdict in Laffitte’s three-week trial in Charleston in November 2022 was handed down by a three-judge panel ...Read more

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Jurors hear call where ex-Illinois Speaker Michael Madigan talks about getting job for state rep's wife

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CHICAGO — Jurors in the corruption trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan on Thursday heard a series of never-before-played wiretapped calls showing how the speaker helped find a job for the wife of state Rep. Jaime Andrade.

The episode is being held up by prosecutors as more evidence of the power and influence wielded by Madigan and, ...Read more

Southern California priest supported political candidates, apparently violating federal law: 'I won't stop'

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LOS ANGELES — A week before the general elections, worshipers at the St. Gertrude the Great Catholic Church in Bell Gardens were listening to the parish announcements when Father Nabor Rios introduced a political candidate.

"I'm not saying to vote for her," he told people, pausing. "Well, I am saying to vote for her, but Isabel is gonna run�...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

'Tread lightly': Woman threatened to kill congresswoman if Trump didn't win, feds say

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Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, a woman hurled death threats at a federal judge, Democratic congresswoman and the LGBTQ+ community, saying they would be in danger if now-President-elect Donald Trump did not win on Nov. 5, according to federal officials.

Abigail J. Shry, who lives in Alvin, Texas, has now pleaded guilty to transmission ...Read more

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Show us the Gaetz ethics report, Durbin and others urge

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — A growing chorus of voices are calling for the release of a much-hyped House Ethics report on Rep. Matt Gaetz, who resigned Wednesday shortly after earning President-elect Donald Trump’s nod for attorney general.

House Ethics had been investigating the Florida Republican for sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other ...Read more

Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images North America/TNS

The Onion buys Alex Jones' Infowars with backing from Sandy Hook families

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The entity behind the satirical news site The Onion, along with families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, are on tap to purchase right-wing provocateur Alex Jones’ Infowars website.

A joint bid by Global Tetrahedron LLC and some of the families was chosen as the successful bid for the Infowars intellectual property, ...Read more

Handout/National Hurricane Center/TNS

Tropical Storm Sara forms in Caribbean, could threaten Florida next week

Current News / News & Features /

ORLANDO, Fla. — The National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Sara formed in the Caribbean on Thursday and long-term forecast models show it could enter the Gulf of Mexico and turn toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.

As of the NHC’s 1 p.m. EST advisory, Sara was located about 205 miles east of Isla Guanaja, Honduras and 50 miles northeast of...Read more

Man who met teen through 'furry' subculture convicted in her parents' deaths

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LOS ANGELES — A Sun Valley man was convicted Tuesday for his role in the killings of the mother and stepfather of a 17-year-old girl whom he met through the "furry" subculture, officials said.

Frank Sato Felix was 25 years old when he and then-21-year-old Joshua Charles Acosta, an Army mechanic, met the girl. The subculture includes "furries,...Read more