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New DHS secretary vows to 'ease the pain' after slow Western North Carolina Helene recovery under Noem

Current News / News & Features /

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — New Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin made his first official trip Tuesday to Western North Carolina, where local leaders say federal red tape is still slowing recovery 18 months after Hurricane Helene.

Mullin spent the morning in Lake Lure and Chimney Rock — two of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Helene in ...Read more

Andy Rathbun/St. Paul Pioneer Press/TNS

Judge declines to block Trump administration's $243 million Medicaid pause in Minnesota

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — A judge has declined to block the federal government from withholding $243 million in Medicaid funding from the state of Minnesota over allegations of fraud in state programs.

The Trump administration has been threatening to withhold federal money from Minnesota for months and, in late February, moved to freeze $259 million ...Read more

Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump says US in 'heated' Iran talks amid extension request

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he was in “heated negotiations” involving the war with Iran after Pakistan, in the role of mediator, asked for a two-week extension of his Tuesday deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“I can’t tell you, because right now we’re in heated negotiations,” Trump said in a ...Read more

Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images North America/GET

Trump delays Iran infrastructure bombing by 2 weeks after threatening 'whole civilization'

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WASHINGTON — The United States and Iran reached an 11th-hour ceasefire deal on Tuesday night, pausing for two weeks the threat of military strikes that President Donald Trump had warned would wipe out a "whole civilization" unless Tehran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The agreement, announced by Trump in a social media post just over ...Read more

Federal agency to release extra water into Sacramento River for salmon migration

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The Bureau of Reclamation announced Tuesday that it will temporarily release more water from Keswick Dam into the Sacramento River to help juvenile Chinook salmon safely make their journey to the ocean.

The move came about two weeks after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released more than 6.2 million young salmon from Coleman Hatchery into ...Read more

Matt Stone/Boston Herald/TNS

Legislature, Gov. Healey approve $300M supplemental budget to cover soaring health care costs

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BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey and the Massachusetts Legislature have passed and signed another supplemental budget, this time appropriating $300 million to fund health insurance for public employees as health care costs continue to burden the state budget.

The House and Senate both passed the emergency legislation (H. 5348) during informal ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'Gladiator fight' cases against LA juvenile hall staffers are falling apart

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LOS ANGELES — More than a year after California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced indictments against 30 probation officers accused of coordinating or allowing so-called “gladiator fights” between youths inside L.A. County juvenile halls, almost half of the criminal cases are falling apart.

In recent weeks, state prosecutors dismissed ...Read more

News briefs

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Iran attempting cyberattacks against US critical infrastructure, officials say

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence agencies are “urgently warning” private sector companies throughout the nation that Iranian actors “are conducting exploitation activity” that has resulted in “disruptions across several U.S. critical infrastructure,” ...Read more

Austin R. Ramsey/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

Trump Forest Service shakeup to shutter University of Kentucky lab dedicated to woodland health

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A University of Kentucky lab researching Eastern U.S. forest resiliency and conservation efforts is slated for closure under a sweeping federal overhaul the U.S. Forest Service unveiled last week.

The Forest Health Research and Education Center housed on UK’s campus is the Lexington-based USFS research and development facility listed for ...Read more

LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Epstein made millions off DOJ settlement with famed European bank dynasty

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Jeffrey Epstein made millions of dollars after the U.S. Justice Department settled an investigation into Switzerland-based private bank Edmond de Rothschild Group in 2015.

The institution, founded by the French branch of the storied centuries-old Rothschild banking dynasty, was the subject of a Justice Department probe under the Obama ...Read more

Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Baltimore's Key Bridge case: $350 million insurer settlement reached, trial moves forward

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BALTIMORE — ACE American Insurance Company has reached a $350 million settlement with the owner and operator of the cargo ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, resolving a major insurance claim while leaving the broader, multibillion-dollar legal fight intact.

The agreement with Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Group...Read more

Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump delays new Iran attacks for 2 weeks to clinch ceasefire

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump postponed by two weeks his threat to attack civilian infrastructure across Iran, as negotiators inched closer to a ceasefire deal that will see Tehran reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump posted on social media Tuesday that the agreement would be “subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the ...Read more

José Luis Villegas/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Swalwell's anti-ICE campaign collides with his past backing of sheriff tied to agency

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SAN JOSE, Calif. — As Rep. Eric Swalwell makes keeping federal agents out of California a key tenet of his campaign for governor, the Castro Valley Democrat faces scrutiny for votes supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as his endorsement of a former Republican Alameda County sheriff who cooperated with ICE.

All eight ...Read more

President Donald Trump mimics an Iranian protester being shot while holding a news conference in the White House on April 6, 2026. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

When a president is unfit for office, here’s what the Constitution says can happen

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Bipartisan calls for President Donald Trump’s removal from office increased on April 7, 2026, after he issued threats to destroy “a whole civilization” if Iran refuses to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

These calls have come from across the political spectrum, from Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Melanie ...Read more

Hannah Ruhoff/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Amid furor over California's elderly parole releases, Democrats look for middle ground

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Democrats have made a push to change the state’s elderly parole law after several controversial decisions by the state’s Board of Parole Hearings earlier this year.

Assembly member Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk Grove, scored a victory Tuesday when the Assembly Public Safety Committee approved her bill that would ...Read more

Stefan Jerrevang/TT News Agency/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bill Gates to appear before House Epstein panel on June 10

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Tech billionaire Bill Gates will appear before the House panel investigating disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on June 10, said a person familiar with the plans.

The Microsoft Corp. co-founder was among a group of prominent figures with ties to Epstein that House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer requested appear for transcribed ...Read more

Andy Alfaro/The Modesto Bee/TNS

ICE agents in Northern California shoot man after he allegedly tries to run them over

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Northern California shot and wounded a man wanted for murder after he allegedly tried to use his vehicle to run over an officer — a claim previously made in several shootings involving the agency.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a written statement that agents conducted a vehicle ...Read more

Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Trump's threat to eliminate Iran is 'the epitome of an illegal order,' Rep. Chrissy Houlahan says

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President Donald Trump’s threat Tuesday to eliminate the “whole civilization” of Iran unless its leaders capitulate to his demands would be the “epitome of an illegal order” if he followed through, said U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force veteran who has been an outspoken critic of Trump on military issues.

Houlahan, D.-Chester, ...Read more

Alex Wroblewski/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump holding off on permanent DOJ pick as Blanche takes reins

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is in no hurry to tap a permanent attorney general to replace Pam Bondi following her ouster, according to people familiar with the matter, allowing Todd Blanche time to settle into his role as the U.S. Justice Department’s acting chief.

Bondi was removed from her post as the nation’s top prosecutor ...Read more

Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/TNS

Black Lives Matter demands max sentence for 'Cooler Cop' NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran

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NEW YORK — Black Lives Matter activists on Tuesday demanded the maximum prison sentence for “Cooler Cop” NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran, who killed a fleeing suspect by hurling a cooler at him following a Bronx buy-and-bust operation.

A small group of activists, including BLM of Greater New York co-founders Hawk Newsome and his sister Chivona ...Read more