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Oil prices are skyrocketing, but this is why companies won't rush to drill in California

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — If you are an oil producer with wells in California and global oil prices have risen to over $100 a barrel in the last week, are you going to drill new wells?

It’s a question that touches the lives of hundreds of thousands of Californians who either live near oil wells or receive royalty checks as mineral rights owners.

...Read more

Sahar Al Attar/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump calls for countries to send warships to reopen Hormuz

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U.S. President Donald Trump stepped up calls to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz, saying warships will “hopefully” be sent to the area near Iran’s coast to help commercial vessels sail through safely.

His comments on Truth Social — which didn’t provide a timeline — came hours after he ordered a strike on military sites on Kharg ...Read more

SpaceX celebrates birthday with launch from Cape Canaveral

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ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX has lit many more candles than needed for its birthdays since it was founded by Elon Musk in 2002.

It lit one more Saturday at 8:37 a.m. with a Falcon 9 rocket that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 flying another 29 Starlink satellites to orbit.

For the company’s 24th ...Read more

Sahar Al Attar/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump calls for countries to send warships to reopen Hormuz

Current News / News & Features /

U.S. President Donald Trump stepped up calls to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz, saying warships will “hopefully” be sent to the area near Iran’s coast to help commercial vessels sail through safely.

His comments on Truth Social — which didn’t provide a timeline — came hours after he ordered a strike on military sites on Kharg ...Read more

Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/TNS

California national parks set attendance record, despite controversy

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LOS ANGELES — Despite morale-sapping staff layoffs, bizarre executive orders and a 43-day federal government shutdown last fall, the grandeur and serenity of national parks in California remain irresistible to outdoors lovers looking to unwind.

The nine national parks in the Golden State — including Yosemite, Death Valley and Joshua Tree �...Read more

Toxic pollution from Iran war will spread and last for decades

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News of black rain falling on Tehran felt all too familiar to Nejat Rahmanian as he scrolled through alerts on social media feeds and tried to contact relatives on March 8.

Israeli drone strikes hit giant oil depots and refineries on the outskirts of the Iranian capital a few hours earlier, setting fuel on fire and releasing columns of black ...Read more

ATTILA KISBENEDEK/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Orban's election campaign turns to Russia for help in final stretch

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A surprise guest appeared at a recent campaign rally for Viktor Orban’s party in eastern Hungary: a Ukrainian prisoner of war freed from Moscow’s captivity.

How he got there illustrates the way in which Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to help the Hungarian prime minister survive next month’s election.

Orban has frequently ...Read more

Pharmacists see themselves as vital gatekeepers – but at times, some critics treat them as physicians' sidekicks. Witthaya Prasongsin/Moment via Getty Images

Conflict at the drugstore: When pharmacists’ and patients’ values collide

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Imagine walking into your pharmacy, handing over your prescription and having it denied. Now imagine that the reason is not insufficient insurance coverage or the wrong dose, but a pharmacist who personally objects to your medication. What right does a pharmacist have to make moral decisions for their patients?

Lawmakers have wrestled...Read more

Demonstrators arrive for a protest ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 19, 2025.  AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

Is it wrong to have too much money? Your answer may depend on deep-seated values – and your country’s economy

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Across cultures, people often wrestle with whether having lots of money is a blessing, a burden or a moral problem. According to our new research, how someone views billionaires isn’t just about economics. Judgment also hinges on certain cultural and moral instincts, which helps explain why opinions about wealth are so polarized.

...Read more

Oriane Laromiguiere/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Greenland refocuses on tourism as Trump's takeover threats wane

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Not long before Greenland became a geopolitical talking point, it was a hot topic for avid travelers — particularly, Americans.

In June 2025, United Airlines introduced the first-ever direct flights from the US, bringing more than 300 passengers weekly to the capital city of Nuuk. Throughout the busy summer season, those flights deposited ...Read more

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

In dispute over electronic monitoring releases, are Las Vegas police flouting court orders?

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LAS VEGAS — Judges in multiple recent cases have ordered the release of defendants on electronic monitoring, a program run by the Metropolitan Police Department, only to have police refuse to follow the decisions.

The conflict is now before the Nevada Supreme Court, with pending challenges filed by both Metro and the Clark County public ...Read more

Erik Marmor/Getty Images North America/TNS

Beale AFB tanker plane lands with damage, linked to deadly KC-135 crash in Iraq

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A KC-135 Stratotanker that made an emergency landing in Israel after a mission in Iraq — where another tanker crashed, killing six U.S. service members — appeared to be assigned to Beale Air Force Base near Marysville, California.

U.S. Central Command said the KC-135 Stratotanker went down Thursday in western Iraq while flying in friendly ...Read more

Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Trump administration orders restart of oil drilling along California coast amid Iran war

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President Donald Trump is asserting executive authority to demand the controversial resumption of offshore oil drilling along California’s coastline as gas prices soar amid the ongoing war with Iran.

On Friday, Trump signed an executive order giving the Department of Energy the ability to use a Cold War-era law known as the Defense Production...Read more

K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

This Southern Nevada city is the state's only Lake Mead user that doesn't send water back

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LAS VEGAS — Boulder City proudly proclaims itself as the home of Hoover Dam.

But for decades, despite its proximity to Lake Mead, it has only taken water from the reservoir without giving any back, lagging behind other Southern Nevada cities that now recycle nearly every drop used indoors.

That could change soon, officials say.

“We’ve ...Read more

Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Trump officials direct Sable to resume California oil operations

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday took action to clear the way for oil production off the California coast in a bid to ease the global fuel pressures created by the war with Iran.

The announcement by Energy Secretary Chris Wright follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Friday and directs Sable Offshore ...Read more

News briefs

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Armed Services members in the dark on details of war costs

WASHINGTON — The House and Senate Armed Services panels have yet to be briefed on the costs of the Iran war, members and aides said Thursday.

This week, Pentagon officials gave the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee an estimate of $11.3 billion for the war’s first week, a ...Read more

Mauro Pimentel and Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images North America/TNS

Cuba, reeling from oil crisis, acknowledges talks with Trump

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MEXICO CITY — Cuba, reeling from an oil shortage, has begun direct talks with the United States in an effort to solve “bilateral differences” between the two countries, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Friday.

The comments, broadcast nationwide in Cuba, are the first confirmation of negotiations between the Trump administration ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Travis Kalanick debuts plan for 'gainfully employed robots'

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Uber Technologies Inc. co-founder Travis Kalanick has launched a new venture that will focus on creating “gainfully employed robots” for the food, mining and transport industries.

Kalanick is remaking his real estate company, City Storage Systems, which owns ghost-kitchen operator CloudKitchens, and renaming it Atoms, according to a ...Read more

Matt Stone/Boston Herald/TNS

Massachusetts Gov. Healey, AG Campbell launch new online portal for residents to report ICE misconduct

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BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell have launched a new online portal that will allow residents to report misconduct by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducting operations in the state.

“Please use this form to report potentially unlawful activity or misconduct by ICE and other federal agents ...Read more

Marco Bello/Getty Images North America/TNS

Epstein orbited Peter Thiel for years over money, connections and advice

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A few weeks after allegations surfaced in the global media that Jeffrey Epstein forced a teenager to have sexual relations with Prince Andrew, the financier contacted tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel to say he had two finance ministers and “a bunch of bankers” for him to meet in New York.

“Does my bad press give you pause,” Epstein added ...Read more