A political ad backing a hopeful for California governor will appear during the Super Bowl.

An independent committee supporting the candidacy of San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan bought the 30-second ad on NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service for a reported $1.4 million, the Los Angeles Times said.

It’s the only ad in the governor’s race ...Read more

The Trump administration is monitoring planned Maryland power plant retirements as state officials warn of rising electric bills and tightening supply, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a Jan. 12 letter to Republican lawmakers.

Responding to concerns raised by members of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, Wright wrote that “the Trump ...Read more

Noam Chomsky, the Philadelphia-born and educated intellectual, told Jeffrey Epstein to “ignore” negative media attention as the disgraced financier was being accused of abusing women and girls, emails recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice show.

The exchange occurred in early 2019, after the Miami Herald published a series of ...Read more

Attorney General Keith Ellison settled a lawsuit with the Trump administration over federal funding for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) programs on Friday, Feb. 6.

The settlement ensures $530 million for Minnesota’s K-12 schools while DEIA programs continue. The agreement is part of a multistate lawsuit originally filed ...Read more

Some 80% of evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

But as the immigration crackdown has unfolded in Minnesota — where federal agents killed observers Renee Good and Alex Pretti and where many ordinary people have risen up in protest — some evangelical Christians find Trump’s actions at odds with ...Read more

Local officials in Wyandotte County will soon discuss whether they can pass a rule banning any potential future plans for nonmunicipal jails, like a federal immigration detention center, from moving forward in Kansas City, Kansas.

That resolution, proposed by Third District Commissioner Christian Ramirez last month, would put a moratorium on ...Read more

From protest signs to posters in shop windows to apparel, artists across St. Paul and the greater Twin Cities are responding to the federal immigration enforcement crackdown with a surge of creativity.

In the days after immigration agents shot and killed Renee Good on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis, live painter Noval Noir created a large-scale portrait...Read more

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian described the Friday nuclear talks with Washington as “a step forward,” even as he pushed back against any attempts at intimidation.

“Dialogue has always been our strategy for resolving issues peacefully,” Pezeshkian said in an X posting on Sunday, referring to the talks that featured Iranian Foreign...Read more

Some yarn shops around Philadelphia are running low on skeins of red wool, as local knitters and crocheters turn out scads of “Melt the ICE” caps in solidarity with protesters in Minnesota.

The hats don’t feature a patch or logo that says “Melt the ICE.” In fact, they carry no written message at all. What they offer is a deep scarlet ...Read more

Back in October, Sanae Takaichi struggled to wrangle enough seats in parliament to become prime minister. Now she has the biggest election mandate of any Japanese leader since World War II.

The surprisingly large victory margin allows the staunch conservative to implement her nationalist vision of a more forceful, outspoken, self-sufficient ...Read more

Since the turn of the century, election night has usually been great for pro-democracy reformers and miserable for Thailand’s royalists. Now the establishment has finally backed a winner, and the country may see some stability as a result.

Early results from Sunday’s vote show the ruling Bhumjaithai party is on track to secure 191 seats in ...Read more

Jan. 6 rioter Jake Lang was charged with damaging a $6,000 ice sculpture that a veterans organization displayed on the front steps of the State Capitol.

Lang, 30, of Lake Worth, Fla., recorded social media videos of him on Thursday, Feb. 5, kicking down portions of the ice sculpture that spelled out “prosecute ICE” to instead read “pro ...Read more

Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s pro-royalist party scored a resounding win in Sunday’s election over a progressive group seen as a pre-poll favorite.

His conservative Bhumjaithai Party rode on a wave of nationalism tied to a simmering border clash with neighboring Cambodia and championing the status quo to emerge as the ...Read more

A purported ransom note in Nancy Guthrie’s apparent kidnapping demanded $6 million, according to a report aired Sunday.

Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her Tucson, Ariz., home on Feb. 1 and has not been seen since. Multiple ransom notes have been sent to local news outlets, and one ...Read more

David Yturralde arrived at the mushroom talk in Newport Beach recently armed with a pen and paper and a host of questions. The goal, he said, was to demystify those fascinating fungi that popped up on his grass after heavy winter rain.

He's long been interested in the mushrooms that sprout on the front lawn of his San Clemente home, but he's ...Read more

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is poised for a historic election landslide, positioning her to become the nation’s strongest leader in years in an outcome that may fuel further market volatility.

Her ruling Liberal Democratic Party is on track for the biggest post-war victory for a single-party in a general election in Japan, an ...Read more

Thailand’s ruling conservative party headed for a convincing election win Sunday night, the first victory this century for a party aligned with the country’s royalist establishment and a clear defeat for an emerging progressive movement.

The Bhumjaithai Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, is set to secure 195 seats ...Read more

How can maps fight racism and inequality?

The work of the Black Panther Party, a 1960s- and 1970s-era Black political group featured in a new movie and a documentary, helps illustrate how cartography – the practice of making and using maps – can illuminate injustice.

As these films show, the Black Panthers focused on ...Read more

The United States is in the grips of a loneliness epidemic: Since 2018, about half the population has reported that it has experienced loneliness. Loneliness can be as dangerous to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, according to a 2023 surgeon general’s report.

It is not just individual lives that are at risk. Democracy ...Read more

Despite a barren start to Colorado’s ski season, Winter Park Resort opened on Halloween and served up holiday powder.

The ski area’s secret is a contraption a few miles upwind of the chairlifts that looks like a meat smoker strapped to the top of a ladder. When weather conditions are just right, a Winter Park contractor fires up the machine...Read more