Current News

/

ArcaMax

News briefs

Current News / News & Features /

Denver homicides fall nearly 50% to 11-year low as overall crime plunges

Denver’s homicides fell nearly 50% to an 11-year low in 2025, plunging to levels rarely seen over the last three decades as crime overall largely declined across the city.

Thirty-seven people were killed in Denver in 2025, the third-lowest number on record for any year ...Read more

Massachusetts father who sued school district over kindergarten books with LGBTQ characters scores win in court

Current News / News & Features /

A local father who sued a school district because he wants his 5-year-old son kept away from books with LGBTQ characters has scored a win in court.

A Boston federal judge recently granted a preliminary injunction for the father, Alan L., whose son J.L. attends kindergarten in Lexington Public Schools.

The judge ordered that the school district...Read more

TNS

Massive brawl erupts in New Haven courtroom as murder suspect faces charges

Current News / News & Features /

Chaos erupted this week in a Connecticut courthouse, where a 21-year-old man was arraigned for the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend in East Haven.

Tyreek Black appeared in a New Haven courtroom on Wednesday after being arrested for the Tuesday morning murder of 21-year-old Destiny Rumley. The defendant had allegedly confessed to the killing in ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

NYC Mayor Mamdani defends revoking Adams antisemitism executive order amid criticism

Current News / News & Features /

Under fire from an array of Jewish and pro-Israel groups, Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday defended his decision to revoke an executive order issued by his predecessor under which New York City adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism.

Eric Adams, whose term ended at midnight Wednesday, issued the ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

NYC Mayor Mamdani begins term by wiping out 15 months of Adams' orders

Current News / News & Features /

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani rescinded all executive orders issued by his predecessor over the last 15 months as part of a flurry of actions as the city’s new leader took office Jan. 1.

The directive revoked all executive orders former mayor Eric Adams had issued since Sept. 26, 2024, the day he was indicted on federal corruption ...Read more

Leila Navidi/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

What to know as Minnesota faces another deadline over its high school transgender athlete policy

Current News / News & Features /

The Trump administration’s latest deadline for Minnesota to change its rule that allows transgender girls to participate in high school girls sports appears to expire Jan. 2, yet exactly what happens next — and when — has not yet been determined.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on Sept. 30 declared ...Read more

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/TNS

For first time, Gov. Jared Polis skips year-end pardons and commutations for convicted Coloradans

Current News / News & Features /

For the first time in his tenure, Gov. Jared Polis did not end the year by granting clemency to any individuals convicted of crimes in Colorado.

It had become an annual holiday tradition for the governor in late December to fully pardon or commute the sentences for Coloradans convicted of a wide variety of offenses.

But the Christmas and New ...Read more

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America/TNS

More Venezuela-bound oil ships U-turn amid US blockade

Current News / News & Features /

More oil tankers are turning away from Venezuela as the U.S. threatens to seize vessels transporting oil that helps fund the regime of President Nicolas Maduro.

At least seven ships have reversed course or halted at sea, according to ship movements tracked Friday by Bloomberg. That adds to four others that turned away in the immediate ...Read more

Jintak Han/The Denver Post/TNS

Denver homicides fall nearly 50% to 11-year low as overall crime plunges

Current News / News & Features /

Denver’s homicides fell nearly 50% to an 11-year low in 2025, plunging to levels rarely seen over the last three decades as crime overall largely declined across the city.

Thirty-seven people were killed in Denver in 2025, the third-lowest number on record for any year since 1990, according to records kept by the Denver Police Department. ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Flu surge prompts masking mandates at Eastern Shore hospitals

Current News / News & Features /

BALTIMORE — Several Eastern Shore hospitals have reinstated masking mandates this week, joining a growing number of health care centers in Maryland reporting unusually high numbers of influenza cases.

On Friday, TidalHealth announced that protective masking is required at its locations, which include TidalHealth Peninsula Regional in ...Read more

Elizabeth Flores/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Mayor Kaohly Her pledges to 'always show up' for St. Paul in inaugural address

Current News / News & Features /

MINNEAPOLIS — Mayor Kaohly Her launched a new era of leadership in St. Paul with an inaugural pledge to fight both national and local challenges, from what she described as a “hostile” federal administration to a billion dollars in city maintenance needs.

And she plans to do that while keeping residents’ concerns at the forefront.

“...Read more

Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Lesbian couple makes history as Chicago's first marriage of 2026

Current News / News & Features /

CHICAGO — Elizabeth Branske rescheduled her first date with her now-wife, Melissa Nunez, three times before they met up at Emporium Arcade Bar in Logan Square two years ago.

The wait ended up being worth it, though, Branske said. It was the most fun she’d ever had on a first date. Nunez wasn’t intimidated by her competitiveness at games,...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

NYC Mayor Mamdani creates 'Office of Mass Engagement' to help drive community participation

Current News / News & Features /

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a new Office of Mass Engagement Friday to foster community participation as he looks to retain the grassroots momentum that helped him win in November.

The mayor, who was formally sworn in at a chilly New Year's Day ceremony on Thursday, said he wants New Yorkers to help him in advocating for his affordability ...Read more

Man charged with slamming 72-year-old into subway train in unprovoked attack is Brooklyn doctor

Current News / News & Features /

The man accused of attempted murder after allegedly knocking a 72-year-old man unconscious by shoving him into a moving Bronx subway train in an unprovoked attack near Yankee Stadium is a medical resident form Brooklyn, cops and the assailant’s lawyer said.

Anton Aleshin is also facing assault, harassment, and reckless endangerment charges ...Read more

Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald/TNS

Massachusetts POST Commission suspends Boston Police officer's certification

Current News / News & Features /

BOSTON — A Massachusetts commission overseeing law enforcement in the state has suspended the certification of Boston Police Officer Ricardo Alexandre.

Alexandre was arrested by a different police agency on Tuesday, according to a Boston Police Department spokesman. The Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission ...Read more

Douglas Hook/Hartford Courant/TNS

As people die in the cold, chorus of advocates says Connecticut's homeless services system is buckling under demand

Current News / News & Features /

With Connecticut officials speculating more than a dozen people have died out in the cold in the past two months, advocates are calling for more resources to help the rising number of unhoused in the state.

Citing a 45% increase in the unhoused population in the state, a scarcity of resources and an affordable housing crisis, the homeless ...Read more

Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appoints former UF football coach Urban Meyer to New College board

Current News / News & Features /

BRADENTON, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed College Football Hall of Fame coach and sportscaster Urban Meyer to fill a seat on the New College of Florida’s Board of Trustees.

The appointment is one of three that DeSantis announced in a press release on Tuesday. DeSantis also reappointed Mark Bauerlein and Debra Jenks, who currently serves...Read more

Andrew Harnik/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Trump, Iran trade threats as protesters seek economic relief

Current News / News & Features /

President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. is ready to aid protesters in Iran if authorities crack down on the unrest, prompting a top Iranian official to threaten retaliation against U.S. forces in the region.

Trump’s comments in an early-morning Truth Social post — including a warning that the U.S. is “locked and loaded and ready to go�...Read more

Gaston County jail/TNS

Charlotte-area teen charged with planning ISIS-inspired New Year's Eve attack

Current News / News & Features /

An 18-year-old from Mint Hill planned to use knives and hammers to kill people in a grocery store and fast-food restaurant in an ISIS-inspired New Year’s Eve attack, U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson said Friday.

FBI agents foiled Christian Sturdivant’s plans and charged him with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist ...Read more

Sergei Supinsky/Getty Images of North America/TNS

Zelenskyy names top military spy to replace key aide Yermak

Current News / News & Features /

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Ukraine’s head of military intelligence to become his chief of staff, filling one of the country’s most influential positions after Andriy Yermak stepped down amid a corruption scandal.

Zelenskyy offered the post of head of the presidential office to Kyrylo Budanov, the Ukrainian leader said Friday on ...Read more