Current News

/

ArcaMax

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Measles case confirmed in southwestern Colorado, possible exposures in Cortez, Mancos

Current News / News & Features /

DENVER — People in Cortez and Mancos may have been exposed to the measles from a confirmed case in a school-aged child in Montezuma County, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The child developed measles symptoms after traveling to another part of Colorado with an ongoing measles outbreak, state officials ...Read more

Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee/TNS

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's former chief of staff arrested in FBI public corruption probe

Current News / News & Features /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Federal officials arrested Dana Williamson, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff, Wednesday in a public corruption probe that includes multiple charges of bank and wire fraud, according to a federal indictment obtained by The Sacramento Bee.

Williamson, who left the Governor’s Office at the end of 2024, is named ...Read more

Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Feds allege schemes by ex-advisers for Newsom, Becerra to fund private jet, luxury goods

Current News / News & Features /

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff was arrested Wednesday on federal charges that allege she siphoned $225,000 out of 2026 gubernatorial hopeful Xavier Becerra’s dormant state campaign account and wrote off $1 million in luxury handbags and high-flying travel as business expenses on her tax returns.

According to the 23-...Read more

Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo calls special session to address 16 different bills

Current News / News & Features /

Nevada lawmakers will return to Carson City for a special legislative session beginning Thursday, Gov. Joe Lombardo announced in a proclamation issued Wednesday afternoon.

The Republican governor called on the Democratic-majority Legislature to consider 16 bills, according to the announcement.

The proclamation makes Lombardo’s plans official...Read more

Xavier Mascarenas/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

CalPERS expands climate investments. Some groups want more transparency

Current News / News & Features /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In the two years since it made the substantial pledge to invest $100 billion in climate solutions by 2030, California’s largest pension fund revealed last week that it is 60% of the way towards reaching that goal.

In 2023, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System announced it had already had $47 billion in ...Read more

Pennsylvania's public schools are getting $665 million in new money with the state budget deal

Current News / News & Features /

Pennsylvania's public schools are set to receive $665 million in new money under a state budget deal passed by Harrisburg lawmakers Wednesday after a monthslong delay.

Most of that funding — more than $500 billion — will come through adequacy and tax equity formulas designed to close a $4 billion "adequacy gap" identified in a landmark 2023...Read more

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America/TNS

Epstein discharge petition picks up decisive signature in the House

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — After a delay of nearly two months as Speaker Mike Johnson kept the House out of Washington, a revolt over the Epstein files reached critical mass on Wednesday.

Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., wasted no time after being sworn into office, immediately backing an effort to shake loose documents related to deceased sex offender ...Read more

Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant/TNS

Connecticut Republicans rail against new housing bill: 'I feel ignored'

Current News / News & Features /

HARTFORD, Conn. — Nearly five months after a controversial veto by Gov. Ned Lamont, state legislators battled again Wednesday over the best ways to generate affordable housing in a state with some of the highest real estate prices in the country.

Lawmakers have been clashing for years because of slow growth despite the high rental and home ...Read more

Elizabeth Flores/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Alleged assassin Vance Boelter's trial awaits scheduling as defense reviews piles of evidence

Current News / News & Features /

MINNEAPOLIS — The trial of alleged political assassin Vance Boelter may not be scheduled for months because of the reams of evidence awaiting review by his defense attorneys.

A federal judge agreed to extend the deadline for attorneys to compile and review evidence in the investigation on Wednesday during a brief status conference in federal ...Read more

Cuban military veteran charged with visa, residency fraud in Florida

Current News / News & Features /

MIAMI — A veteran of the Cuban Air Force has been arrested on charges of lying to the federal government when he applied for a visa and permanent residency in the United States by omitting his military history, authorities said Wednesday.

Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez, 64, pleaded not guilty last week in Jacksonville federal court to ...Read more

MAURO PIMENTEL/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Rapper Akon briefly 'Locked Up' in Georgia on bench warrant

Current News / News & Features /

“Locked Up” rapper Akon was briefly arrested in Georgia last week on a bench warrant allegedly stemming from a suspended license and a prior failure to appear.

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to TMZ on Wednesday that Chamblee police arrested the Grammy-nominated “Konvicted” artist shortly after 11 a.m. Friday on an out-of...Read more

Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Attorneys plan logistics for tour of Illinois ICE facility in Broadview; temporary restraining order to be extended

Current News / News & Features /

CHICAGO — Attorneys who are alleging inhumane conditions at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview will be able to take photographs, talk to detainees and include a detention expert in an unusual tour of the west suburban facility, which will unfold over four hours on Thursday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura ...Read more

Carl Juste/Miami Herald/TNS

Cuban rapper wanted to avenge his friend El Taiger's killing. He's guilty, jury says

Current News / News & Features /

MIAMI — The Cuban rapper accused of attempting to solicit a murder-for-hire plot to avenge the killing of a fellow artist was found guilty in a Miami courtroom on Wednesday.

Prosecutors say Chocolate MC, whose legal name is Yosvanis Sierra Hernandez, schemed to kill Damian Valdez-Galloso, who is behind bars after being accused of murdering ...Read more

Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Texas woman gets 27 months for threatening to kill Jan. 6 judge

Current News / News & Features /

A Texas woman who threatened to kill the federal judge overseeing President Donald Trump’s criminal case over the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Wednesday to two years and three months in prison.

Abigail Jo Shry, a 45-year-old Alvin resident, apologized in court, reported CBS News. She told the judge the “abhorrent” and ...Read more

News briefs

Current News / News & Features /

Trump-Greene spat exposes friction on right over his second-term priorities

WASHINGTON — The latest friction between President Donald Trump and Georgia Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene has exposed cracks in the MAGA coalition over perceptions that the president has failed to live up to his economic campaign promises.

Even before the longest ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

Brother of NY man found hanging dead in Pa. ICE facility sues feds for answers

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — The brother of a Chinese migrant from Queens who hanged himself while in ICE custody months ago is suing the federal government, demanding answers and transparency about his brother’s death and the agency facility where it happened.

Relatives of Chaofeng Ge, 32, said he was isolated and desperate when he hanged himself in the ...Read more

Tom Gralish/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

What to know about Pennsylvania's long-overdue state budget

Current News / News & Features /

An end to Pennsylvania’s protracted budget impasse has finally arrived.

Passed with a 156-47 vote in the House and a 40-9 vote in the Senate, the $50.1 billion package moved through both chambers with bipartisan support. Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was a lead negotiator in the deal, signed the budget Wednesday afternoon, formally approving the ...Read more

Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Federal defense lawyers 'face financial ruin' after months without pay, memo says

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — California defense attorneys facing the threat of eviction. Some paying for case-related expenses out of pocket. Others forced to stop taking federal court appointed cases to ensure financial survival.

Defense attorneys laid out the dire circumstances in a Tuesday memo to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of ...Read more

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Federal judge says he'll order release of hundreds of 'Operation Midway Blitz' arrestees on bond

Current News / News & Features /

A federal judge on Wednesday said he plans to grant bond to hundreds of immigrants whose arrests during “Operation Midway Blitz” are being challenged under a consent decree that limits so-called “warrantless arrests” that occur without a prior warrant or probable cause.

In a packed hearing at Chicago’s federal courthouse, U.S. ...Read more

Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Illinois congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh and 5 others plead not guilty in Broadview ICE protest case

Current News / News & Features /

CHICAGO — Congressional candidate and digital creator Katherine “Kat” Abughazaleh and five co-defendants pleaded not guilty Wednesday on federal charges of conspiring to block a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent from entering ICE’s facility in west suburban Broadview during a protest in September.

Abughazaleh, 26, who is ...Read more