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You can still be arrested in Delaware for smoking weed in public. A new bill might change that

Current News / News & Features /

While weed is legal in Delaware, with a baker’s dozen worth of dispensaries to buy it from, people can still face jail time for public marijuana use under current state law.

State Rep. Eric Morrison, a Democrat, introduced a bill last month that would ease those punishments. House Bill 252 would reduce the penalties for public marijuana ...Read more

California law let a politician avoid jail for child abuse charges. Lawmakers are furious

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A mental health diversion granted to a former Kern County politician is coming under fire from numerous California lawmakers and child welfare advocates, who say a repeatedly amended state law is allowing an accused child abuser to avoid prosecution and possible jail time.

Zack Scrivner, a former Kern County supervisor, was charged with felony ...Read more

Marcus Dorsey/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

Kentucky lawmakers supported criminal justice reform. Then Ronald Exantus was released

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Some Kentucky lawmakers say they plan to end a 15-year-old program that has released thousands of state prison inmates onto parole supervision six months before their incarceration is scheduled to end so the inmates can be monitored while reentering the community.

The lawmakers are targeting “mandatory reentry supervision�...Read more

Pedro Portal/El Nuevo Herald/TNS

Lack of affordable child care is a billion-dollar problem for Miami-Dade

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MIAMI — A billion-dollar crisis is brewing among Miami-Dade parents with young children — and their employers.

Child care costs are draining parents’ wallets and hitting their employers’ bottom lines, according to a new study published by The Women’s Fund Miami-Dade.

The average cost of day care for an infant has hit $13,560 per year...Read more

Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'Active shooter' or ICE agent's victim? What happened in LA New Year's Eve killing?

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LOS ANGELES — When Adrian Metoyer first heard government officials describing his best friend as an “active shooter” and threat to his community, he was furious.

Keith “Pooter” Porter was a lot of things: a jack of all trades who worked dozens of jobs, a proud “girl dad” to his two daughters, an avid fisherman, a die-hard San ...Read more

SERGIO LIMA/Getty Images North America/TNS

Lula talks to Carney, Sheinbaum, Petro to regroup post-Maduro

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Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva talked to a trio of regional counterparts about Venezuela on Thursday, as leaders across the Americas search for a response to the stunning U.S. raid that toppled Nicolás Maduro.

Lula spoke by phone with Canadian Premier Mark Carney, Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, ...Read more

Mark Mainz/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump rejects Diddy's pardon request after receiving personal letter

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President Donald Trump has said a pardon for Sean “Diddy” Combs is off the table after reportedly receiving a personal letter from the disgraced hip-hop mogul.

During an interview with The New York Times, the 79-year-old MAGA leader said that Diddy “asked me for a pardon through a letter,” but that he was not considering granting his ...Read more

Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America/TNS

Federal agents involved in shooting of 2 people in Portland, Oregon

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Two people were shot by federal agents on Thursday in Portland, Oregon, according to local police.

The episode occurred a day after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, touching off angry protests across the country against President Donald Trump’s heightened immigration enforcement.

The ...Read more

Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump set to meet Machado in opening for Venezuela's opposition

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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said he planned to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient María Corina Machado as soon as next week, as he weighs the future governance of the nation following the weekend operation to capture strongman Nicolas Maduro.

“I understand she’s coming in next week ...Read more

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Gov. JB Pritzker signs sweeping Illinois energy law boosting batteries and renewables that GOP opposed

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Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday signed into law sweeping energy-related legislation that promotes battery storage and makes wind and solar power more effective, among other initiatives, with the goal of reducing electricity prices amid rising utility bills for consumers.

“This was one of the most comprehensive responses to the energy crisis that...Read more

PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Washington state cuts off ICE access to data system used for immigration enforcement

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SEATTLE — The state Department of Licensing revoked Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to a data search system Wednesday after discovering the federal agency used it to get information about a Kirkland man targeted for deportation.

The use of that data for immigration enforcement, confirmed by the state after a KING 5 investigation, ...Read more

Anthony Souffle/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

State freezes enrollment of new providers in Medicaid programs at risk for fraud

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As part of ongoing efforts to prevent and combat the fraud that has roiled social services programs meant to help Minnesotans in need, the state Department of Human Services announced Thursday, Jan. 8, that it will freeze enrollment of new providers in 13 Medicaid services considered high risk for fraud.

Services include integrated community ...Read more

Clarens Siffroy/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Haiti police raids trigger deadly gang clashes, cutting off medical care in Port-au-Prince

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The humanitarian aid group Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name Médecins Sans Frontières, is once again suspending medical services at a clinic in Haiti’s gang-ridden capital of Port-au-Prince.

The latest suspension affects a clinic in the Bel-Air neighborhood, where residents report that intensified police raids — which...Read more

U.S. citizen swept up in ICE enforcement as Twin Cities operation continues

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A 20-year-old Crystal man was detained by immigration agents in Robbinsdale early Jan. 8 in an encounter his family described as violent and that a relative livestreamed on Facebook.

The man, Jose Roberto Ramirez, was born in Minneapolis, according to a copy of his birth certificate provided to the Minnesota Star Tribune by his family. Ramirez ...Read more

Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom blasts Trump's climate retreat while defending his own green agenda

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s State of the State address came a day after President Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from dozens of international and United Nations organizations, including the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change — the foundational U.N. agreement that has guided international cooperation to combat the ...Read more

Mario Tama/Getty Images North America/TNS

New US dietary guidelines are heavy on meat and carbon emissions

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At the top of the new U.S. food pyramid are a bright red steak and a packet of ground beef. That reflects the new U.S. dietary guidelines’ emphasis on animal proteins. Plant-based sources of protein like almonds and peanuts are tucked farther down, and whole grains appear at the bottom.

The new recommendations, released Wednesday by the U.S. ...Read more

News briefs

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Watch out for AI fakes and misinformation in the wake of ICE shooting

MINNEAPOLIS — The fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by a federal agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7 has already spurred a flood of online misinformation that may be shared unwittingly by people with good intentions.

Here are three examples and some tips for telling fake...Read more

Jintak Han/The Denver Post/TNS

Colorado attorney general expands lawsuit to challenge Trump 'revenge campaign' against state

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DENVER — Attorney General Phil Weiser on Thursday expanded a lawsuit filed to keep U.S. Space Command in Colorado to now encapsulate a broader “revenge campaign” that he said the Trump administration was waging against Colorado.

Weiser named a litany of moves the Trump administration had made in recent weeks — from moving to shut down ...Read more

Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman/TNS

Idaho murder victims' families sue university Kohberger attended for damages

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BOISE, Idaho — The families of all four University of Idaho murder victims sued on Wednesday the university attended by the man who killed their loved ones, alleging gross negligence, wrongful death and violations of federal education protections.

Led by Steve Goncalves, the father of victim Kaylee Goncalves, who pledged last year to file a ...Read more

HECTOR AMEZCUA/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Trump claims crime is rampant in California. Newsom counters with stats showing historic lows

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Gov. Gavin Newsom used his final State of the State address to underscore California’s jaw-dropping crime figures — stats that he said refute the president’s claims about widespread murder and mayhem.

To put in perspective some of the numbers cited by the governor on Thursday:

The last time homicides were this low in Oakland, Rev. Dr. ...Read more