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Fear of losing US Space Command unites Colorado's congressional delegation

Current News / News & Features /

DENVER — An intense persuasion campaign is heating up across more than 1,200 miles, from Colorado Springs to Alabama, as both states’ congressional delegations battle over landing the permanent headquarters of the U.S. Space Command.

Colorado’s elected officials want to keep the command at Peterson Space Force Base, where it has been ...Read more

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Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell chooses to steer 'urgent mission' on defense spending

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WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell’s decision to head the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense will give the outgoing GOP leader sweeping influence on funding for personnel, operations, equipment and modernization efforts across the U.S. military.

It will also mean that Kentucky’s major military bases — including Fort Knox, Fort ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

California atmospheric river brings record rain, major mudslide risk

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LOS ANGELES — An atmospheric river dumping rain across Northern California and several feet of snow in the Sierra was making its way across the state Friday, bringing flooding and threatening mudslides along with it.

The storm, the first major rainmaker of the season, initially strengthened into a bomb cyclone, a description of how it rapidly...Read more

Megan Briggs/Getty Images North America/TNS

Analysis: Biden mostly left sports issues to Congress. Trump's return will change that

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WASHINGTON — There were no trays of cheeseburgers and other fast-food items stacked on a table at the White House on Thursday as President Joe Biden welcomed the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics. That could soon change, however, with the return of Donald Trump.

It was less than six years ago, in January 2019, when that surreal scene ...Read more

Miguel Martinez/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Certified: Georgia election chief finalizes Trump's win and statewide results

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ATLANTA — All votes have been counted and President-elect Donald Trump’s clear victory in Georgia is confirmed.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger certified the election results Friday after two audits and unanimous approval by county election boards across the state.

The final count showed Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris by...Read more

David Maialetti/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Accused killer of Temple Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald is stabbed multiple times in jail

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PHILADELPHIA — Miles Pfeffer, the man accused of shooting and killing Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald in 2023, was stabbed multiple times in the Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility, where he has been held awaiting his murder trial.

Around 6:40 p.m. Thursday, another incarcerated man, Rafael Venegas, ran out his cell ...Read more

Florida couple become 2-time space tourists with New Shepard flight

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Winter Park power couple Marc and Sharon Hagle returned to space on a short suborbital flight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket on Friday.

The duo first flew to space on New Shepard back in 2022, the fourth-ever flight of the space tourism rocket. For flight No. 2, they joined four new crewmates on the NS-28 mission ...Read more

Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket goes vertical on the launch pad

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Blue Origin continued to prep for the maiden flight of its massive New Glenn rocket as it went vertical on the launch pad Thursday ahead of an upcoming hot fire test needed before a launch attempt that is targeting before the end of the year.

“Up we go! The steel launch table that New Glenn sits on weighs 1.7 million pounds ...Read more

Advocates want more protections for migrating birds at Chicago business park

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CHICAGO — Chicago birders are calling on the Illinois Quantum Computing and Microelectronics Park, proposed for a former U.S. Steel plant site on the South Side, to do more to prevent deadly window collisions and harmful habitat loss.

The high-profile park, which has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal funding, ...Read more

Brendan McDermid/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

NYC judge indefinitely delays Trump sentencing in Stormy Daniels hush money case

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NEW YORK — Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Friday indefinitely adjourned President-elect Donald Trump’s punishment for covering up a hush money payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels after his first election victory.

In a brief order, the judge confirmed Trump’s sentencing would not go ahead next Tuesday and set a new schedule...Read more

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Feds accuse Michigan man of paying to watch livestreamed child porn

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DETROIT — A Midland man was arrested by federal agents this week on charges of sexual exploitation of minors for allegedly paying to watch livestreamed child pornography.

Nathaniel Ray Coady, a former real estate agent in Midland, made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Bay City on Wednesday after agents with the Department of ...Read more

Daniel Mears/The Detroit News/TNS

Michigan student uses staff device to falsely report shooting in school, officials say

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DETROIT — Police and school officials in Macomb Township are trying to understand how a middle school student was able to obtain a staff communication device to falsely report a shooting.

On Thursday around 1:40 p.m., staff initiated a lockdown after a report someone has been shot in the hallway of Clintondale Middle School, police said in a ...Read more

Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Expecting challenges, blue states vow to create 'firewall' of abortion protections

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Officials in blue states are vowing to build a “firewall” of reproductive health protections as they anticipate federal and state attacks on abortion access under the Trump administration.

“We’re going on offense,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, told Stateline. “We are in an unprecedented war on American ...Read more

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Intelligence watchdog departures raise red flags in Congress

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WASHINGTON — The unusual disclosures from two inspectors general at U.S. spy agencies that they are leaving their posts before Inauguration Day are raising concerns among some lawmakers about the independence that national security watchdogs will have in Donald Trump’s second term.

Thomas Monheim, the IG at the Office of the Director of ...Read more

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Trump still faces civil lawsuits even if criminal cases go away

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President-elect Donald Trump will bring legal baggage to the White House in January, even if he succeeds in pausing or getting rid of the four federal and state criminal indictments against him.

Trump’s reelection is expected to end the two federal cases, given the Justice Department’s policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. His ...Read more

Mike Rogers leading FBI is 'not happening', Trump adviser says

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WASHINGTON ― A top adviser to Donald Trump said Friday the president-elect told him Michigan's Mike Rogers won't be the next director of the FBI, after Rogers had been lobbying for the post in recent days.

"Just spoke to President Trump regarding Mike Rogers going to the FBI," Trump aide Dan Scavino Jr. posted on X Friday morning.

"It’s ...Read more

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

What to know about Linda McMahon, the ECU grad Trump nominated for education secretary

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WASHINGTON — Linda McMahon once claimed an unearned education degree from East Carolina University.

Now the New Bern native is nominated to lead President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Education.

Trump announced Tuesday that McMahon, best known as a founder of World Wrestling Entertainment, is nominated to be the next education ...Read more

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Chronic absences are 'astronomical.' What are Maryland lawmakers doing about it?

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BALTIMORE — April will mark nine years of state lawmakers pushing to transform education through an overhaul known as the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. The reform plan includes a wide variety of initiatives, from publicly funding pre-K to attracting high-quality teachers to providing poverty grants for schools with a high share of low-...Read more

Emily Curiel/Kansas City Star/TNS

Next Missouri governor predicts 'tougher times' for spending. Will Kansas City see cuts?

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Earlier this year, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson cut roughly $1 billion from the state budget, including millions for Kansas City-area highway work, health care and civic groups, frustrating local leaders and lawmakers.

Gov-elect Mike Kehoe will soon confront similar choices.

BoysGrow, which operates a Kansas City-area farm ...Read more

Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

There was no red wave among Georgia's Latino voters. Here's why

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ATLANTA — Donald Trump’s dramatic gains with Latino voters, particularly among Latino men, have emerged as a huge talking point since his election win earlier this month.

But the surge in Latino support for Trump didn’t manifest equally across the electoral map.

Case in point: Latinos in Georgia appeared to have backed the Democratic ...Read more