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Emil Cohen/NYC Council Media Unit/TNS/TNS

NYC Council probes $38 billion education budget for cost savings next school year

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — The New York City Council on Monday challenged Chancellor Kamar Samuels to find savings in the Department of Education’s $38 billion proposed budget — the largest of all city agencies.

Mayor Mamdani in January ordered the school system, like the rest of local government, to appoint a “chief savings officer” tasked with ...Read more

Clock is ticking for DNA results as ex-Florida cop faces execution

Current News / News & Features /

All of what James Duckett hopes will spare him from being executed next week exists inside a test tube and at the ends of two cotton swabs.

The tube holds the only remaining genetic material left by the person who raped and murdered 11-year-old Teresa McAbee in 1987. DNA from one of her family members sits on the end of one of the swabs. The ...Read more

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/TNS

Colorado lawmakers advance move to rename César Chávez Day for farmworkers

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DENVER — Colorado lawmakers are quickly advancing legislation to rename a March 31 state holiday for farmworkers and remove its association with labor leader César Chávez, who was accused last week of sexually abusing girls and women.

The House State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee voted unanimously Monday afternoon to ...Read more

Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group/TNS

California governor debate draws backlash over who made the stage

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Only six of the ten leading candidates for California governor will take the stage Tuesday night for the next televised debate, prompting backlash from the excluded candidates — all of whom are major former officeholders — who are accusing organizers of using biased criteria that let in San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan despite similar polling ...Read more

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images North America/TNS

City Council staffer to remain behind bars: judge

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NEW YORK — A Manhattan federal judge on Monday declined to release a City Council staffer detained by ICE as he awaits possible deportation.

Manhattan Federal Judge John Cronan wrote in his denial that the U.S. had lawfully cancelled Rafael Rubio’s temporary protected status, or TPS. His decision to shut down the habeas corpus petition came...Read more

Sarah Reingewirtz/Los Angeles Daily News/TNS

LA County Board of Supervisors to consider erasing name, likeness of Cesar Chavez from county streets, parks

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LOS ANGELES — Shaken by allegations that the late civil rights leader Cesar Chavez had raped women and girls as young as 12 during the 1970s, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will take up a motion on Tuesday to remove his name and image from numerous places in Los Angeles County.

Supervisors Hilda Solis and Lindsey Horvath will ask...Read more

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Tragedy of Loyola student's alleged killing by migrant marked by his clouded history, political reaction

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CHICAGO — Sheridan Gorman spent the early morning hours on Thursday with friends, watching the skyline on the Loyola Beach Pier, prosecutors said, when she noticed someone hiding.

As the group started to run away, Jose Medina, 25, fired a gun, prosecutors alleged Monday, hitting the 18-year-old Loyola University Chicago student in the back ...Read more

AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Trump delays energy strikes, sets 5 days for Iran talks

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said the U.S. would postpone strikes against Iran’s energy infrastructure after what he called “productive conversations” with the country, in comments that spurred confusion over the participants in the talks and parameters of a deal.

Trump told reporters on Monday that he was holding off on striking...Read more

Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America/TNS

Supreme Court sounds ready to limit counts of late-arriving ballots

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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared ready during oral arguments Monday to restrict state laws allowing the counting of late-arriving ballots, in a challenge to Mississippi’s state law on absentee ballots.

Mississippi allows state officials to count mail ballots that were postmarked on or before Election Day but arrive up to five ...Read more

Kevin Richardson/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Md. GOP pushes $449M Medicaid hike to include Ozempic, Wegovy amid budget woes

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Maryland Republicans often accuse Democrats of overspending taxpayer dollars and failing to bring in enough revenue in return. But on Monday, Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey asked his chamber colleagues to pass a bill that would place a $449 million price on annual Medicaid funds, placing a heavier burden on taxpayer dollars used to cover ...Read more

Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Maryland House passes 'bell-to-bell' student cellphone ban

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In a 135-1 vote, the Maryland House of Delegates on Monday passed a bill requiring public schools statewide to sharply limit student use of personal electronic devices during the school day, as lawmakers debated how such restrictions would be enforced in practice.

The Maryland Phone-Free Schools Act, or House Bill 525, would require every local...Read more

Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

States challenge USDA conditions on nutrition program funds

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WASHINGTON — A coalition of states filed a lawsuit Monday challenging a Trump administration effort to impose certain conditions on billions of dollars for key federal nutrition programs from the Department of Agriculture.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts by 20 states and the District of Columbia...Read more

Tim Tai/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Bill Cosby loses civil sex assault lawsuit in Los Angeles County; faces $19 million judgment

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LOS ANGELES — Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted a former waitress in 1972 after escorting her to one of his shows, a civil jury in California concluded Monday, awarding the woman $19.25 million in damages.

The verdict was the latest turn in a series of legal battles the disgraced entertainer, now 88, has faced since allegations that ...Read more

Yong Kim/Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Kermit Gosnell, West Philadelphia abortion doctor convicted of murder, dies while serving prison term

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PHILADELPHIA — Kermit Gosnell, the infamous West Philadelphia abortion doctor who was sentenced to life in prison on murder and manslaughter convictions in 2013, has died.

Gosnell, 85, died earlier this month at a hospital, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections said. He was most recently being held at State Correctional Institution ...Read more

Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post/TNS

Colorado inches closer to new AI regulations -- but agreement is anything but certain in Legislature

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DENVER — A task force of consumer advocates and technology groups released a proposed framework to rewrite Colorado’s artificial intelligence regulations on Tuesday, setting off a renewed public debate on how to govern the new — and rapidly growing — technology.

The new proposal is the third attempt in two years to find agreement on how...Read more

Tyger Williams/The Philadelphia Inquirer/Tyger Williams

A Haverford College student resolution could start a process to consider stripping Howard Lutnick's name from the library

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PHILADELPHIA — Haverford College students plan to discuss and possibly vote on a resolution that calls on President Wendy Raymond to establish a review committee that would consider whether to strip megadonor and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s name from the library.

The move follows concerns expressed by Haverford students and ...Read more

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America/TNS

Feds push Liberia deportation for Abrego Garcia; defense prepares response

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The Trump administration says it is prepared to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia within days. Now his attorneys have two weeks to argue why that should not happen before a federal judge decides.

Under a court-ordered schedule, Abrego Garcia’s legal team was given a two-week window Monday to respond after the administration laid out its ...Read more

Carline Jean/Sun Sentinel/TNS

'Stand your ground' claim upheld, charges dropped against 3 officers in Florida shootout

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Broward County judge has ruled that three Miami-Dade police officers who were involved in a shootout that killed a bystander and a UPS driver taken hostage by jewelry store robbers should not face manslaughter charges based on Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.

Miami-Dade police officers Rodolfo Mirabal, Richard ...Read more

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump tells Senate to skip Easter, pass SAVE Act 'for Jesus'

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President Donald Trump Monday invoked the name of Jesus Christ in a call for lawmakers to scrap their Easter break and stay in Washington, D.C. to try to pass his package of new voting restrictions.

Speaking at a public safety roundtable in Memphis, Trump said the Republican-led Senate should only focus on passing his SAVE Act and shouldn’t ...Read more

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images North America/TNS

2 pilots killed at LaGuardia Airport when jet collides with Port Authority fire truck

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NEW YORK — Two pilots were killed when the jet they were landing at LaGuardia Airport collided with a Port Authority fire truck, authorities said Monday.

The dramatic seconds before and after the crash, which happened about 11:35 p.m. Sunday and left more than 40 survivors hurt, was captured on audio, with an air traffic controller saying he ...Read more