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Washington state had 8 inmates on death row when executions ended. Are they still alive?

Current News / News & Features /

TACOMA, Wash. — It’s been more than 15 years since Washington state executed a death row inmate.

In 2014, then-Gov. Jay Inslee placed a moratorium on executions for the remainder of his term. This followed continuing federal conversations on capital punishment and increasing actions by states to pause or prohibit the practice.

Four years ...Read more

Fadel Itani/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump says Iran to suspend nuclear program, won't get funds

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Iran agreed to suspend its nuclear program indefinitely, and will not receive any frozen funds from the Untied States.

Trump said in a phone interview Friday that a deal to end the war, which the U.S. and Israel began with Iran in late February, is mostly complete. Talks over a lasting agreement will �...Read more

Washington state launches study on reparations for descendants of slavery

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SEATTLE — Washington has launched its study into reparations for descendants of enslaved people to address the enduring repercussions of chattel slavery in America.

During this first phase of the multiyear project, researchers are collecting historical data, combing through archival documents and gathering testimony to better understand the ...Read more

Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Cuba lawmaker slams poll showing Cuban Americans support military action against regime

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A member of Cuba’s National Assembly has lashed out at a new Miami Herald poll showing overwhelming support among Cuban Americans in South Florida for U.S. military intervention in Cuba, dismissing the findings as politically skewed even as the survey underscores hardening attitudes within the exile community.

Carlos Miguel Pérez Reyes, a ...Read more

Alejandro A Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Prosecutors say Pa. man targeted cemeteries in Luzerne and Lancaster counties in his bone-robbing spree

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PHILADELPHIA — Delaware County prosecutors on Friday expanded their already-sprawling case against Jonathan Christian Gerlach, filing new burglary charges tied to break-ins at cemeteries in Luzerne and Lancaster counties.

Gerlach, who was arrested in January, is charged with more than 500 offenses stemming from a series of break-ins in Mount ...Read more

Clarens Siffroy/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Plotters in Haiti president's assassination were cast as 'avenging angels,' witness says

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MIAMI — The FBI informant at the center of the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse nearly five years ago saw himself as an angel — and assigned the plot’s participants angelic names.

But Arcángel Pretel Ortiz, who helped managed Counter Terrorist Unit Security, a firm based in Doral, Florida, that hired a squad of ...Read more

Photo by Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/TNS

Florida colleges to pull sociology from general education offerings

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Saying the course promotes ideology, Florida's State Board of Education on Friday removed sociology from the list of general education offerings available at the state’s 28 public colleges.

With its unanimous vote, the board directed trustees at the 23 schools that included sociology on their course lists for 2026-27 to remove them as soon as...Read more

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump says he's going after Medicaid fraud, but is mostly focusing on blue states

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The Trump administration is taking aim at what it calls rampant fraud in state Medicaid programs. But by focusing almost exclusively on Democratic-led states, it has handed ammunition to critics who say it mainly wants to embarrass its political enemies, not save taxpayer dollars.

In announcing earlier this month that Vice President JD Vance ...Read more

Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

One week later, Artemis II astronauts grapple with weight of what they witnessed

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Days after their capsule splashed down in the Pacific, the four astronauts of Artemis II have had time to contemplate the gravity of their historic mission around the moon — but they still haven’t fully weighed what it all means.

“Where I keep coming back to is what kept grabbing my attention when the lighting was right and we were ...Read more

Cannabis plants are seen at Harborside Oakland Dispensary on Aug. 11, 2025, in Oakland, Calif. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Why the future of marijuana legalization remains hazy despite high public support

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Thousands of Americans will soon gather to celebrate April 20 – or “4/20” – the most important day of the year for cannabis enthusiasts.

But this year, a cloud of uncertainty will hang over these celebrations. After years of success, the movement to legalize recreational and medical cannabis has stalled.

It’s a ...Read more

Haruna Furuhashi/Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS

Xi welcomes slew of world leaders as Trump fights allies

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President Xi Jinping is wrapping up what’s been an unusually busy week of diplomacy in Beijing, showcasing the fervent interest of world leaders to develop ties with China while the U.S. is embroiled in a conflict with Iran.

Xi has held at least five high-profile tête-à-têtes, despite the lack of any formal gathering in China’s capital ...Read more

Demonstrators in New York City take part in a protest against growing Islamophobia in March 2019.    Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Image

How Islamophobic rhetoric leaves an impact on the mental health of Muslim Americans

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The war with Iran has led to a surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric – spilling into political discourse.

U.S. Rep. Randy Fine of Florida posted on X that “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” and added in another post, “We need more Islamophobia, not less.” Similarly, U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas called ...Read more

One of scores of murals Diego Rivera painted in the interwar period that sits above the Secretariat of Public Education in Mexico City, Mexico. Apolline Guillerot-Malick/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Trump’s coercive tactics in Latin America evoke era of gunboat diplomacy – and the rise of anti-imperialism it helped spur

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In Latin America, as in other parts of the world, the second Trump administration has adopted an increasingly aggressive policy.

From drone strikes on purported drug traffickers to increased tariffs on imports, and from the blockade on fuel shipments and threats of invasion in Cuba to the Jan. 3 military incursion into Venezuela, the ...Read more

Chemicals in your tooth enamel record evidence of your diet that can last millions of years. Zelalem Bedaso

Ancient teeth reveal clues to the environment humans’ early ancestors evolved in millions of years ago

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Teeth are like tiny biological time capsules. They tell stories about ancient diets and environments long after their owners have died and landscapes have changed.

After bones break down, tooth enamel stays hard and unchanged, even in fossilized teeth that have been buried under sediment and rock for millions of years and are now ...Read more

Congress has not used its constitutionally granted power to influence the war in Iran. Bloomberg Creative via Getty Images

Trump sidelined Congress’ authority over war on Iran – and lawmakers allowed it, extending a 75-year trend

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Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives set April 21, 2026, as the date to hear from and question top Pentagon officials Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, and Gen. Dagvin R.M. Anderson, head of U.S. Africa Command, about the war in Iran. But Republican legislators put off the hearing for a month, giving up – for now...Read more

First-of-its-kind study allows some liver transplant recipients to stop antirejection drugs

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PITTSBURGH — As Barbara Bowser was preparing for a liver transplant in 2018, doctors at the University of Pittsburgh asked her if she’d be willing to participate in a study.

She said yes, happy to repay the good fortune of receiving a liver and help science in the process.

“We were just looking at research in the future,” she said. “...Read more

Fadel Itani/Getty Images North America/TNS

Israel-Lebanon truce in force as Trump eyes imminent Iran deal

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President Donald Trump claimed Iran has made key concessions in an ongoing negotiation to end the seven-week war, while a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon increased the prospect of a broader peace.

Trump said it may not be necessary to renew an April 7 truce with the Islamic Republic before it expires next week, defying ...Read more

Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images North America/TNS

A year after DOGE, Trump administration is quietly hiring again

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During the first year of his second presidency, President Donald Trump dispatched a chainsaw-wielding billionaire to loudly eliminate more than 300,000 federal jobs in an unsparing attempt to shrink the government.

Now, the Trump administration is quietly hiring again.

Job announcements posted to the federal government’s main hiring portal ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Surging gas prices have hit these US cities the hardest

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Gas prices have skyrocketed across the U.S. as a result of the Iran war, but the surge is causing more economic pain in some cities than others.

And it’s not necessarily in the places where gas prices have risen the most, like Chicago or Los Angeles. Instead, it’s in smaller, more spread-out cities, like Nashville or Indianapolis, according...Read more

Juan Barreto/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

International Monetary Fund restores ties with Venezuela in economic turning point

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The International Monetary Fund on Thursday formally reengaged with Venezuela under acting President Delcy Rodríguez, a breakthrough that could unlock billions of dollars in financing and marks a turning point in the country’s return to the global economic system.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the decision reflects the ...Read more