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2 men charged with having 'staggering' amount of meth in their vehicles in Minneapolis

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MINNEAPOLIS — Two men were caught in Minneapolis and have been charged with possessing nearly 900 pounds of methamphetamine in what local and federal law enforcement are touting as a significant bust with ties to Mexican drug cartels.

In connection with the massive meth seizure Monday in south Minneapolis, Guillermo Mercado Chaparro, 44, of ...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

What is the Johnson Amendment? What to know as IRS changes tax exemptions

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A longstanding tax exemption preventing nonprofit organizations from engaging in political campaign activity that favors individual candidates has been reinterpreted — signaling that religious organizations may now be excluded from the rule.

The decades-old Johnson Amendment does not apply to speech by houses of worship to its congregation ...Read more

Jim Vondruska/Getty Images North America/TNS

Rescuers search for 160 Texas flood victims as death count rises

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Crews in central Texas are digging through massive piles of debris, overturned vehicles and shattered homes for a sixth day as the search continues for victims of flash floods that killed more than 100 people over the Fourth of July weekend.

At least 160 people are still missing in Kerr Country, the hardest-hit area of the Texas Hill Country. ...Read more

NATHANIEL LEVINE/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Week after fireworks warehouse explosion in California, authorities search home of CEO

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The California State Fire Marshal's Office searched a home in San Francisco on Tuesday that's believed to be linked to last week's deadly fireworks warehouse explosion in Yolo County.

Seven people died in the small farming community of Esparto on July 1, roughly 80 miles north of the Bay Area. The dead were pulled from a warehouse operated by ...Read more

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America/TNS

House's draft defense act demands details on Trump's Golden Dome

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WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee’s draft National Defense Authorization Act would require the Pentagon to provide Congress with answers about how the department intends to realize President Donald Trump’s proposed Golden Dome antimissile shield over America.

The fact that the panel’s fiscal 2026 bill is asking for this ...Read more

Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/TNS

NYC Mayor Eric Adams drops push for jail time in citywide mask ban proposal

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NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams is no longer looking for the possibility of jail time for offenders of his proposed mask ban — a step back amid concerns from key stakeholders, including NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who is otherwise supportive of tougher restrictions on face coverings, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Under a ...Read more

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

Hegseth didn't tell Trump about Ukraine arms pause, report says

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly didn’t tell President Trump or seek his permission before ordering a pause in shipments of arms to embattled Ukraine last week.

Trump was unhappy and frustrated to find out about the Pentagon chief’s controversial decision, which the president quickly reversed after a high-stakes meeting with ...Read more

Election interference conviction of pro-Trump Twitter troll Douglass Mackey overturned

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NEW YORK — A federal appeals court has overturned the criminal conviction of pro-Trump-right Twitter troll Douglass Mackey, who posted fake ads telling Hillary Clinton supporters they could vote in the 2016 election by text message.

Mackey was convicted in March 2023 of election interference, after a Brooklyn Federal Court found, after five ...Read more

Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald/TNS

Trump administration subpoenas Harvard for 'foreign student information'

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The Department of Homeland Security announced it has subpoenaed Harvard for “foreign student information” Wednesday, the latest escalation in a long back and forth between the university and Trump administration.

“If Harvard won’t defend the interests of its students, then we will,” the Department of Homeland Security and DHS ...Read more

ACLU of Colorado accuses Denver Immigration Court of violating First Amendment

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DENVER — Denver’s immigration court system is violating the First Amendment and federal law by obstructing access to court hearings and intimidating members of the public, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.

The ACLU of Colorado said the Denver Immigration Court recently implemented restrictions that “...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump tariff foes urge appeals court to curb 'blank check'

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A group of small businesses that won an order finding President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs illegal urged a federal appeals court to uphold that decision and block the trade levies.

The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled on May 28 that Trump exceeded his authority by imposing broad tariffs, a power granted to Congress in the ...Read more

Alejandro A Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Philly's city worker strike ends after Mayor Cherelle Parker strikes deal with union

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PHILADELPHIA — Sorry, rats. The "Parker piles" of trash found around the city are about to disappear.

Philadelphia's first major city worker strike since 1986 lasted eight days and four hours before Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Greg Boulware, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33, ...Read more

Vincent Feuray/Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok calls itself 'MechaHitler' in antisemitic spree

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NEW YORK – Grok, the AI chatbot designed by Elon Musk’s xAI for social media, described itself as “MechaHitler” while making a string of antisemitic posts this week.

The questionable responses follow Musk’s announcement last week of an update to the bot after he expressed frustration that it was too politically correct.

In one ...Read more

Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Maryland state parks adjust as pandemic popularity endures

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BALTIMORE — Maryland state parks are in their busy season, with yearly attendance still millions more than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were discovered in and after the pandemic, and we stayed discovered,” Tim Hamilton, the business and marketing manager for the Maryland Park Service, said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun. “...Read more

Atlanta Police Department/TNS

Atlanta police cite youth programs for decrease in youth gun violence

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ATLANTA — Crime and gun violence among young people in the metro Atlanta area are decreasing, and law enforcement officials say it’s not the boys in blue on patrol but rather city-run youth programs that are shifting the trend for kids.

Recent headlines about shootings in metro Atlanta involving young victims have raised alarm about gun ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Miami-Dade agrees to transport ICE detainees from local jails to deportation centers

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MIAMI — Miami-Dade County’s jail system has agreed to drive local immigration detainees to federal detention centers — an arrangement that could include trips to the state-run facility in the Everglades branded as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

The administration of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava quietly signed the updated agreement with ...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Body scanners? Drug-sniffing dogs? LA County wants a contraband crackdown inside juvenile hall

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LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County leaders are once again scrambling to stem the flow of illicit drugs into the county's troubled juvenile halls.

After nine people were rushed to the hospital last week following suspected drug exposure at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, county supervisors asked the probation department Tuesday to ramp up ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Baby dies after California mom leaves him in car to get lip filler on 101-degree day, police say

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LOS ANGELES — A baby died after his mother left him and his 2-year-old sibling inside a car while she was getting lip filler at a Bakersfield medical spa on a 101-degree day, authorities said.

Bakersfield Police criticized Maya Hernandez for "placing the value of her appearance over the safety and well-being of her children" in a report ...Read more

More Massachusetts criminal defendants could be released amid attorney strike

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BOSTON — As the bar advocate work stoppage continues, more unrepresented criminal defendants could be released from jail.

Hearings began in Boston Municipal Court on Monday and continued on Tuesday, with at least four unrepresented indigent defendants, or those who cannot afford a private attorney, being released.

“The shortage of ...Read more

Pedro Portal/The Miami Herald/TNS

'It's just unfair': What end of TPS means for Nicaraguans and Hondurans in the US

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Virginia Guevara came to the United States from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in the 1990s, before the country was granted Temporary Protected Status following the devastating destruction caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Guevara, 48 at the time, found a new and better life in the U.S. by working as a kitchen helper. Now, at 78, she faces possible ...Read more