Current News

/

ArcaMax

Alex Kormann/Star Tribune/TNS

Swapped, covered and removed: The license plate tactics ICE is using in Minnesota

Current News / News & Features /

MINNEAPOLIS — A Jeep Cherokee left the Henry Bishop Whipple Building near Fort Snelling on a January afternoon. As it drove away, protesters quickly captured its Minnesota license plate to share with others tracking immigration agents.

But the plates didn’t belong to the Cherokee. They were last registered in 2014 to a Porsche 911 Turbo.

...Read more

Lawsuit accuses Washington state detention center staff of assault, sexual abuse

Current News / News & Features /

SEATTLE — One man held at the federal government's immigrant detention center in Tacoma was allegedly groped by a guard. Another was allegedly slammed to the floor by officers, then made to strip in front of a female staffer, who recorded a video. Guards allegedly beat a third detained man so badly he had to be moved by stretcher.

A lawsuit ...Read more

AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Iran, US hold indirect talks to de-escalate Mideast tensions

Current News / News & Features /

Iran and the U.S. held indirect talks on Friday to reduce tensions that have threatened to spiral into war, with Tehran saying the meetings will be the first stage of a longer diplomatic process.

“The consultations focused on creating the appropriate conditions for the resumption of diplomatic and technical negotiations,” Oman’s Foreign ...Read more

Hector Retamal/Getty Images North America/TNS

Russia says top intelligence official wounded in shooting

Current News / News & Features /

A top Russian military intelligence officer was wounded in an assassination attempt in Moscow, according to the country’s Investigative Committee.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev was hospitalized after a gunman fired several shots in a residential building in northwest Moscow on Friday, Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman ...Read more

Oleksandr Gimanov/Getty Images North America/TNS

Ukraine says Russia keeps up pressure on frontline amid talks

Current News / News & Features /

The situation on the frontline in Ukraine’s east “remains difficult” as Russian attacks persist despite talks to end the war, Kyiv’s top military general said.

“The enemy continues to launch offensive actions along the entire contact line,” Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told reporters on Thursday.

He said that the ...Read more

Farooq Naeem/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bomb blast at mosque in Pakistan's capital kills at least 31

Current News / News & Features /

A blast at a mosque in Pakistan’s capital killed at least 31 people and injured more than a hundred, local reports said, the latest incident of violence in the South Asian nation facing a surge in militant attacks.

The incident occurred during Friday prayers at a Shiite mosque in Tarlai, a suburb of Islamabad, a police spokesperson Taqi Jawad...Read more

More than half the races for Massachusetts state House seats have gone uncontested by one of the two major parties in every election since at least 2010. Phil Roeder/Getty Images

There’s a competition crisis in America’s state legislatures – and that’s bad for democracy

Current News / News & Features /

Many Americans report frustration with the two-party system, in which the Democratic and Republican candidates are seen as the only viable options for elective office.

But an alarming trend in many state legislative elections is lowering the bar even further, to something more like a one-party system. In dozens of states, an ...Read more

Homeownership, often considered key to the American Dream, is difficult to achieve for many families due to rising housing costs. Kingfisher Productions via Getty Images

What is the American Dream, and has it become harder to achieve in recent years?

Current News / News & Features /

Few ideas are as central to the nation’s identity as that of the American Dream.

With the 250th birthday of the United States coming up in July 2026, it’s worth stepping back to examine a concept essential to the nation’s self-image.

The term “American Dream” was actually coined in the 1930s by historian James ...Read more

A baby orangutan was seized by Thai police in an anti-trafficking operation in May 2025. Thai police Central Investigation Bureau via AP

New technologies are stepping up the global fight against wildlife trafficking

Current News / News & Features /

In late 2025, Interpol coordinated a global operation across 134 nations, seizing roughly 30,000 live animals, confiscating illegal plant and timber products, and identifying about 1,100 suspected wildlife traffickers for national police to investigate.

Wildlife trafficking is one of the most lucrative illicit industries worldwide. It...Read more

The vast majority of people who get measles are not vaccinated against the measles virus.   Andrzej Rostek/istock via Getty Images Plus

US experiencing largest measles outbreak since 2000 – 5 essential reads on the risks, what to do and what’s coming next

Current News / News & Features /

The measles outbreak in South Carolina reached 876 cases on Feb. 3, 2026. That number surpasses the 2025 outbreak in Texas and hits the unfortunate milestone of being the largest outbreak in the U.S. since 2000, when the disease was declared eliminated here.

The outbreak is exposing the breadth of dangers the disease can pose. South ...Read more

The quest to restrict Planned Parenthood's funding has made headway. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Federal and state authorities are taking a 2-pronged approach to make it harder to get an abortion

Current News / News & Features /

Anti-abortion conservatives have long sought to force Planned Parenthood’s clinics to close their doors and to make it harder, if not impossible, to get abortion pills as part of a two-pronged approach to limit access to abortion.

First, undermine Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers by questioning their credibility and ...Read more

David Cargo, a Dungeons & Dragons player, dressed as one of his characters named Thorn Woodson, browses through board games at Portland Comic Expo on Oct. 27, 2019, in Portland, Ore.  Ariana van den Akker/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

Whether it’s yoga, rock climbing or Dungeons & Dragons, taking leisure to a high level can be good for your well-being

Current News / News & Features /

What do collecting old editions of Dungeons & Dragons monster manuals, securing the same tailgate spot for over 20 years and mastering yoga postures have in common? They are all forms of “serious leisure.”

These pursuits are different from casual hobbies in several ways. They require participation over longer periods, which ...Read more

Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America/TNS

States move to ban NDAs that silence survivors of child sexual abuse

Current News / News & Features /

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.

____

Cindy Clemishire was 12 years old on Christmas night in 1982 when a traveling evangelist staying with her family first abused her.

According ...Read more

Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Vandenberg Space Force Base is ready to take off. Not everyone is on board

Current News / News & Features /

The rolling grasslands and rocky beaches of Vandenberg Space Force Base, home to more than a dozen at-risk species, easily could pass for a peaceful nature preserve — but that’s an illusion.

The nearly 100,000-acre base was a testing ground in the 1960s for early generation ballistic missiles, and today it’s a launch site for satellites, ...Read more

Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

What are the political goals of California Gov. Gavin Newsom's new memoir?

Current News / News & Features /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In 2004, Gavin Newsom, at the time the mayor of San Francisco, posed with his then-wife Kimberly Guilfoyle for a magazine photograph that quickly became infamous.

In the photo, the couple lay entwined on a fancy carpet, wearing dinner attire, in a posh San Francisco home owned by the oil rich Getty family with a sweeping ...Read more

Alex Kormann/Star Tribune/TNS

Faculty, students push University of Minnesota to denounce ICE and killing of alumnus Alex Pretti

Current News / News & Features /

MINNEAPOLIS — When Minneapolis’ immigrant communities were targeted by ICE in December, University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham’s message spoke of students feeling “vulnerable and afraid” but didn’t mention who was affected or why.

After Renee Good was shot, Cunningham sent an email about “anger, grief and sadness,”...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Is Charlotte at risk for bigger measles outbreak as cases climb in the Carolinas?

Current News / News & Features /

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The spread of a highly contagious disease is creeping into the Charlotte region. But experts say there are steps the community can take to prevent the kind of widespread outbreaks springing up in other parts of the country.

Mecklenburg County in recent weeks reported three cases of measles. Nearby Union County sent out more ...Read more

Elizabeth Flores/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Minnesota refugees and immigrants are hiding in 'a prison of fear'

Current News / News & Features /

MANKATO, Minn. — The pickup truck with Texas plates rolled slowly past as the driver looked at the home, then his phone, before turning the corner.

Inside the mobile home, two families — three adults and six children — huddled behind drawn curtains and locked doors, waiting for the feared pounding on the door. Minutes passed before they ...Read more

'Blood Pond Hell 'detail depicted in a 1940 Taipei Hell Scroll.  The Trustees of the British Museum

How women are reinterpreting the menstrual taboos in Chinese Buddhism

Current News / News & Features /

In many religions and cultures, women who are menstruating or who just gave birth are not allowed to enter sacred sites, such as temples, or participate in religious rituals. This is because they are often seen as ritually impure.

Early Christians cited menstruation as the reason for not allowing female deacons or priests. Modern ...Read more

Oral Wegovy pills were approved by the Food and Drug Administration in December 2025 and became available for purchase in the U.S. in January 2026.
              UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

You’ve reached your weight loss goal on GLP-1 medications – what now?

Current News / News & Features /

GLP-1 drugs have ushered in a new era in weight loss.

In just a few years, medications such as semaglutide and tirzepatide, known by the brand names Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound, have gone from niche diabetes treatments to household names, reshaping how America thinks about weight loss.

A November 2025 Kaiser Family ...Read more