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House Speaker Mike Johnson updates reporters about budget talks on Capitol Hill. AFP/Roberto Schmitt via Getty Images

Journalism may be too slow to remain credible once events are filtered through social media

Current News / News & Features /

In the first weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a strange pattern emerged in Western media coverage. Headlines oscillated between confidence and confusion. Kyiv would fall within days, one story would claim, then another would argue that Ukraine was winning. Russian forces were described as incompetent, then as a terrifying ...Read more

Most U.S. states retain the right to arrest and prosecute children for prostitution. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images

How the law can add to child sex trafficking victims’ existing trauma

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The January 2026 release of additional files related to the Justice Department’s investigation of convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell has brought renewed attention to the late financier’s connections to the world’s rich and powerful.

However, the failure to redact identifying victim information and ...Read more

Precipitation from a severe winter storm in late January 2026, shown in blue and measured in inches, largely missed the areas with the worst drought conditions, indicated by red contour lines.
              UC Merced, NDMC

Sixth year of drought in Texas and Oklahoma leaves ranchers bracing for another harsh summer

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Cattle auctions aren’t often all-night affairs. But in Texas Lake Country in June 2022, ranchers facing dwindling water supplies and dried out pastures amid a worsening drought sold off more than 4,000 animals in an auction that lasted nearly 24 hours – about 200 cows an hour.

It was the height of a drought that has gripped the ...Read more

Some people appreciate relationships with pets to combat loneliness – but others simply prefer dogs' company. Catherine Falls Commercial/Moment via Getty Images

Americans are asking too much of their dogs

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Americans love dogs.

Nearly half of U.S. households have one, and practically all owners see pets as part of the family – 51% say pets belong “as much as a human member.” The pet industry keeps generating more and more jobs, from vets to trainers, to influencers. Schools cannot keep up with the demand for veterinarians.

...Read more

The crowd in Tahrir Square in Cairo just before a speech by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 10, 2011. Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty News Images

Fifteen years after Egypt’s uprising, how faith and politics reshaped a generation

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Fifteen years ago, Egyptians from all walks of life took to the street to demand “bread, freedom, social justice.” They were protesting the oppressive 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt had been under martial law for 31 years. This meant that political opposition was silenced, and opponents were often imprisoned and tortured. ...Read more

Japanese Americans incarcerated at Heart Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming took art classes at the craft shop, using what they could find. Tom Parker, War Relocation Authority, Department of the Interior, via National Archives and Records Administration

Held captive in their own country during World War II, Japanese Americans used nature to cope with their unjustified imprisonment

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With a stroke of a presidential pen, the lives of Izumi Taniguchi, Minoru Tajii, Homei Iseyama and Peggy Yorita irreparably changed on Feb. 19, 1942. On that day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which set in motion their wartime incarceration along with other people of Japanese ancestry who were forcibly removed ...Read more

Rob Kim/Getty Images North America/TNS

Ghislaine Maxwell takes Fifth but offers to talk if Trump issues pardon

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Ghislaine Maxwell invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying to a congressional committee Monday but offered to talk if President Donald Trump grants her clemency for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous sex trafficking ring.

Epstein’s convicted sidekick refused to answer any questions in a virtual appearance before the House ...Read more

Al Diaz/Miami Herald/TNS

Cuba warns airlines it's out of jet fuel, announces drastic measures amid US oil blockade

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Cuban authorities have notified international airlines that they won’t be able to refuel at the island’s airports, as the country’s energy crisis deepens following President Donald Trump’s steps to cut the island’s oil supply in a push for negotiations.

The Federal Aviation Administration published notices Sunday alerting U.S. ...Read more

Rebecca Noble/Getty Images North America/TNS

Nancy Guthrie ransom note demanded $6 million by 5 p.m. Monday. The deadline looms

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The apparent ransom note in the Nancy Guthrie abduction demanded $6 million in bitcoin by 5 p.m. Monday in exchange for her return, sources told the Los Angeles Times.

The looming deadline comes as both law enforcement officials and Guthrie’s family express concerns about the 84-year-old’s health. Officials say she was abducted from her ...Read more

Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman/TNS

The 'degradation of society': Idaho lawmakers push new bathroom bills

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BOISE, Idaho — Two Idaho lawmakers have proposed bathroom bills aimed at making people use the bathroom that corresponds to their biological sex, despite disagreement over whether that was an issue.

State Rep. Cornel Rasor, a Sagle Republican, proposed a bill Friday that could make it a misdemeanor to “knowingly and willfully” enter such ...Read more

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump shrugs off racist meme posting amid rare wave of GOP criticism

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has shrugged off a controversy surrounding a racist meme of the Obamas shared on his social media account, ignoring rare pushback from several Republican lawmakers.

One White House ally, granted anonymity to be candid, dubbed the posting of a meme depicting former President Barack Obama and former first ...Read more

MICHAEL REYNOLDS/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Trump's drug pricing plan gets lukewarm reception

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s unconventional plan to lower prescription drug prices is being met with a skeptical eye from Republicans as Congress places a greater focus on drug pricing ahead of the midterm elections.

Trump’s plan is to establish “most favored nation” pricing to bring U.S. prescription drug pricing more in ...Read more

Alberto Pezzali/WPA Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS

British Prime Minister Starmer catches a break as his Cabinet gives a show of support

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LONDON — Keir Starmer’s Cabinet members voiced their support for the prime minister on Monday, buying him time to shore up his beleaguered premiership after the Labour Party’s leader in Scotland urged him to quit.

One by one, every single Cabinet minister backed Starmer in the hour after Anas Sarwar’s intervention. That included both ...Read more

Carlos Gonzalez/Star Tribune/TNS

Minnesota school leaders fear declining attendance during ICE surge will also lower state funding

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MINNEAPOLIS — The recent surge of federal agents in Minnesota has not only forced businesses that rely on immigrant and refugee workers to curtail their hours and some to close their doors.

It’s hurting schools as well. Especially their finances.

Fears that their children will be approached and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs ...Read more

Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said he's 'working with judges' on redistricting, prompting ethics concerns

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BALTIMORE — When asked recently if Maryland Courts might strike down his efforts to redraw congressional districts to stamp out the state’s only Republican seat, Gov. Wes Moore told “MS NOW” that his team has been “working with judges” to prepare for legal challenges. The statement raised ethical red flags among some law professors ...Read more

Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Minneapolis shelter vandalized more than year ago asked for leniency for attacker as it mends

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MINNEAPOLIS — St. Anne’s Place, a family homeless shelter in north Minneapolis, was attacked by a group of its across-the-street neighbors in the middle of the night, forcing the shelter to relocate 16 mothers and their 30-plus children. More than a year later, shelter staff attended the sentencing of one of the assailants, asking a Hennepin...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

Trump admin fights federal order restoring funding for Hudson River Gateway tunnel project

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NEW YORK — The Trump administration on Monday filed papers to fight a court order that would restore federal funding to the $16 billion Hudson River Tunnel as a deadline looms to resume payments.

Attorneys for the US Department of Transportation filed a notice asking the Second Circuit federal appeals court to pause a Friday night ruling that...Read more

Matt Stone/Boston Herald/TNS

Committee to vote on Mass. bill that would give illegal aliens publicly funded legal defense

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BOSTON — The fate of a bill making its way through the Massachusetts Legislature that would establish a publicly funded program to provide legal representation to illegal immigrants facing deportation proceedings may be decided by the Joint Judiciary Committee this month.

The joint bill, called An Act Ensuring Access to Equitable ...Read more

Alberto Pezzali/WPA Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS

Starmer vows to fight on as UK pm as second top aide quits

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Keir Starmer pledged to press on with his agenda as the departure of a second senior aide in 24 hours left the U.K. prime minister’s grip on power appearing increasingly tenuous.

The resignation of Starmer’s communications director, Tim Allan, on Monday, after just five months on the job will feed the sense of crisis engulfing 10 Downing St...Read more

Pedro Mattey/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Opposition leader Guanipa back in custody hours after release in Venezuela crackdown

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Juan Pablo Guanipa, one of the highest-ranking Venezuelan opposition leaders still behind bars, spent less than 12 hours free before being taken back into custody on Monday, casting fresh doubt on the interim government’s pledge to free political prisoners under a forthcoming amnesty law.

Guanipa’s re-arrest came after he spent part of his ...Read more