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Most pregnant women in the U.S. aren't meeting dietary recommendations, especially in rural communities.  ArtistGNDphotography/Getty Images

New dietary guidelines prioritize ‘real food’ – but low-income pregnant women can’t easily obtain it

Current News / News & Features /

The federal government’s message in its new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released in January 2026, couldn’t be simpler: “Eat real food.”

But for pregnant women in rural America, that straightforward advice runs headlong into a harsh reality: Rural women have less access to healthy whole foods.

We are a public ...Read more

A grainy photograph of Clementine Barnabet. A 1912 edition of The Atlanta Constitution newspaper via Wikimedia Commons

Revisiting the story of Clementine Barnabet, a Black woman blamed for serial murders in the Jim Crow South

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In April 1912, a young Black woman named Clementine Barnabet confessed to murdering four families in and around Lafayette, Louisiana. The widespread news coverage at the time effectively branded her a serial killer.

Her confession, however, did not align with the timeline of crimes that had gripped America’s rice belt region with ...Read more

Greenland's cryolite mine, essential for U.S. airplane production, was below sea level and vulnerable to Nazi sabotage. Reginald Wilcox, ca. 1941. Peary–MacMillan Arctic Museum, Bowdoin College

In World War II’s dog-eat-dog struggle for resources, a Greenland mine launched a new world order

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On April 9, 1940, Nazi tanks stormed into Denmark. A month later, they blitzed into Belgium, Holland and France. As Americans grew increasingly rattled by the spreading threat, a surprising place became crucial to U.S. national security: the vast, ice-capped island of Greenland.

The island, a colony of Denmark’s at the time, was ...Read more

Coffee wilt disease has spread widely in Africa. The first outbreak before the 1950s affected mainly central and western Africa (left map) while the second outbreak originated in central Africa and spread east (right map). Affected countries are colored by the decade the disease was first detected.
              Peck et al 2023/Plant Pathology, CC BY-SA

Coffee crops are dying from a fungus with species-jumping genes – researchers are ‘resurrecting’ their genomes to understand how and why

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For anyone who relies on coffee to start their day, coffee wilt disease may be the most important disease you’ve never heard of. This fungal disease has repeatedly reshaped the global coffee supply over the past century, with consequences that reach from African farms to cafe counters worldwide.

Infection with the fungus Fusarium ...Read more

Mari Faiello/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

Florida House passes bill to add transparency on conservation land decisions

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The Florida House unanimously passed a bipartisan bill Tuesday that would shed more light on state conservation decisions after a series of recent public lands controversies gave little room for public input.

The measure, House Bill 441, would require a month’s notice when the state considers selling or trading conservation land. The bill ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

White House proposes new taxes to boost US shipbuilding

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday proposed a new set of cargo taxes on goods entering the United States as part of a sweeping plan to revitalize domestic commercial shipbuilding capacity and port infrastructure.

To help fund shipyard improvements, the administration wants to impose a new fee on all foreign-built commercial ...Read more

Evelyn Hocksteinamer/Amer Hilabi/Pool/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

US, Iran hail progress in nuclear talks after Trump threats

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The U.S. and Iran made progress in nuclear talks in Geneva on Tuesday, with Tehran’s negotiators scheduled to return with a new proposal in two weeks, a U.S. official said on Tuesday, a cautiously upbeat assessment that suggests the chances of an imminent military clash are low.

The official, who asked not to be named, said Iran would return...Read more

Jay Paul/The Virginian-Pilot/TNS

Virginia General Assembly passes paid family and medical leave

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RICHMOND, Va. — Both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly voted Tuesday to pass legislation that would create an insurance program for paid family and medical leave. The benefit program would cover up to 12 weeks a year of paid leave for childbirth and adoption, long-term illness or injury, or caring for a family member with a serious ...Read more

Alex Wroblewski/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Armed man arrested after running toward Capitol, police say

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WASHINGTON — A man was arrested Tuesday after running toward the Capitol with a loaded shotgun, Capitol Police said.

The suspect, whose name had not been released as of Tuesday afternoon, was confronted by Capitol Police officers after parking a white Mercedes-Benz SUV on the 100 block of Maryland Avenue Southwest and exiting his vehicle ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Political leaders across Illinois mourn Rev. Jesse Jackson's death: 'A giant of the civil rights movement'

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CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday ordered public buildings across the city and state to fly flags at half-staff in honor of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died at 84 after rising from an upstart Chicago organizer to a national leader of the Civil Rights Movement.

Their announcements joined messages from political ...Read more

Kevin Hardy/Stateline/TNS

Communities fight ICE detention centers, but have few tools to stop them

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Outrage erupted last month when Oklahoma City residents learned of plans to convert a vacant warehouse into an immigration processing facility.

Making matters worse was the secrecy of the federal government: City leaders received no communication from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aside from a mandated disclosure related to historic ...Read more

Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Cardboard coffins, rotting garbage, end of surgeries: Images of Cuba's humanitarian crisis

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In Velasco, a town in the eastern Cuban province of Holguín, a man was buried in a cardboard box, his body carted on a wheelbarrow to the cemetery because of a lack of both of wooden coffins and fuel.

In the capital city of Holguín, residents are cooking with wood and coal outside their homes, on sidewalks and empty streets.

In Guantánamo, ...Read more

Worker for ICE accused of answering police sting ad, agreeing to pay for sex at Twin Cities hotel

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A man who’s been doing background checks for ICE during the federal government’s immigration enforcement crackdown is charged with being among many people snared in a prostitution sting in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Brashad Antwaun Johnson, 36, of St. Michael, Minn., was charged on Feb. 17 in Hennepin County District Court with a gross ...Read more

Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

Stephen Colbert calls out CBS for cutting James Talarico interview

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Stephen Colbert blasted CBS for refusing to air his interview with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico — which wound up being shared online anyway.

“We were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,” Colbert claimed on Monday night’s episode of...Read more

Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images North America/TNS

Schumer, Hochul hit back at Trump over 'vital' Gateway Tunnel project

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Sen. Chuck Schumer is hitting back at President Trump as the pair escalate their feud over the $16 billion Gateway Tunnel rail project connecting New York and New Jersey.

After Trump denounced Gateway as a “boondoggle” that he claimed would be plagued by delays, Schumer accused him of playing politics with the sprawling public works project...Read more

Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS

Analysis: 'It doesn't matter': Trump looked very much like a second-term president this week

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump had himself a week, just not the kind political observers have become accustomed to, spending much of it behind closed doors while unable to broker a deal with Senate Democrats.

He dissed a Republican icon over trade policy. He backed down on plans to exclude Democratic governors from an annual gathering of...Read more

FBI/TNS

Someone knows who kidnapped Nancy Guthrie, authorities say. Video likely holds key

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The grainy black-and-white image has become the center of the investigation into Nancy Guthrie.

At 1:47 a.m. Feb. 1, an individual appears at the door of her Tucson home. The person is wearing a balaclava, gloves and a backpack. A gun is holstered by the person’s waist, positioned at the front of their body and easily visible.

The person ...Read more

Matt Stone/Boston Herald/TNS

High-tax Massachusetts loses 182,000 people to other states in last 5 years

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BOSTON —People are fleeing high-tax Massachusetts at a much higher rate than those moving to the Bay State, resulting in a net domestic out-migration of 182,145 over the past five years, according to a new watchdog report.

The Pioneer Institute has released a report detailing the state’s persistent challenge with losing educated working ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

NC mayor blasts 'status quo' after 6 men and kids shot in 6 days

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Hours after another shooting claimed the life of a teenage boy on Monday, Leo Williams, mayor of Durham, N.C., slammed the “status quo” of the city’s anti-violence efforts.

“Whether the headlines report a fatality or a close call, the trauma to our community is the same,” Williams wrote in a Facebook post Monday afternoon. “I know ...Read more

Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/TNS

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani to propose property tax hike, blasts Gov. Kathy Hochul's reluctance to tax rich

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NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani is expected to propose raising property taxes to balance the city budget on Tuesday, in the face of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s continued resistance to raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

The mayor is set to reveal his preliminary budget plans Tuesday afternoon at City Hall.

“We do have a big gap to ...Read more