Current News

/

ArcaMax

Atlanta board of education approves school consolidation plan

Current News / News & Features /

ATLANTA — The Atlanta school board voted unanimously Wednesday night to approve a consolidation plan, which would result in some school closures in a couple of years.

Atlanta Public Schools hired consulting firm HPM to help develop the plan. Some schools will close, like Finch, Scott and Dunbar elementary schools. Other campuses would merge. ...Read more

Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Advocacy groups challenge Georgia election law in federal court

Current News / News & Features /

ATLANTA – A federal judge on Wednesday considered whether to dismiss a lawsuit challenging provisions of a 2024 state elections law that changed where homeless voters could receive election mail and strengthened the ability of activists to challenge the eligibility of voters.

The consolidated suit seeks to overturn that voter eligibility ...Read more

Silas Walker/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

KY Senate GOP leadership teases policy, budget priorities ahead of party caucus

Current News / News & Features /

BARDSTOWN, Ky. — During next year’s legislative session, the Kentucky Republican supermajority will craft a budget aimed at incentivizing housing and supporting public education. Policy will closely follow recommendations from experts who testified in Frankfort during the summer months on health, artificial intelligence, aviation and more, ...Read more

NYPD recruit, four months into police academy, arrested for rape

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — An NYPD recruit, four months into his police academy training, was arrested on rape charges in Queens on Thursday, officials said.

Ahmed Elnahtawy, 24, was taken into custody at the NYPD Police Academy in College Point just after 8 a.m. and charged with rape, forcible touching and sex abuse, cops said.

A police source said the ...Read more

Grigory Sysoyev/Pool/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Modi rolls out the red carpet for Putin in state visit to India

Current News / News & Features /

President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi for his first state visit to India since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, showcasing warming ties that have angered the U.S. and led to hefty trade tariffs.

Putin was welcomed at the airport by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who embraced the Russian leader after he disembarked from his ...Read more

Suburban Chicago church's Nativity depicts baby Jesus zip-tied by ICE agents

Current News / News & Features /

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Mother Mary wearing a respirator mask to protect herself from tear gas. Baby Jesus with zip-tied hands, wrapped in a thin blanket that looks like aluminum foil. Masked centurions with sunglasses and green vests labeled “ICE.”

This is how the Lake Street Church of Evanston chose to assemble its Nativity scene for the ...Read more

Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Expected loss of federal funds could push thousands of LA County households into homelessness

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — Local officials are warning that more than 14,500 L.A. County formerly homeless households in subsidized, permanent housing could be forced back onto the streets or into shelters over the next year, mostly because of a loss of federal funding.

The predicted displacement would wipe away the slight reduction in the local homeless ...Read more

Grigory Sysoyev/Pool/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Modi rolls out red carpet for Putin, defying US pressure

Current News / News & Features /

President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi for his first state visit to India since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, showcasing warming ties that have angered the U.S. and led to hefty trade tariffs.

Putin was welcomed at the airport by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who embraced the Russian leader after he disembarked from his ...Read more

ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Ukrainian envoys head to US as Putin rejects parts of peace plan

Current News / News & Features /

Ukrainian negotiators will join a new round of talks in Florida as Russian President Vladimir Putin said some of the points in a U.S.-backed peace plan were unacceptable to him, the latest sign an agreement likely remains distant.

The negotiations are difficult, and Moscow disagrees with some of what’s been suggested by the U.S., Putin said ...Read more

MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

China rejects Japan PM's reaffirmation of Taiwan stance

Current News / News & Features /

China continued to voice its frustration with Japan after new comments from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reaffirming Tokyo’s long-held position that it understands and respects Beijing’s view on Taiwan.

At a regular press briefing on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian questioned Takaichi’s remarks. “Now that Prime ...Read more

ALEXANDR DEMYANCHUK/Getty Images North America/TNS

India clinches $2 billion Russia submarine deal as Putin visits

Current News / News & Features /

India will pay about $2 billion to lease a nuclear-powered submarine from Russia, according to people familiar with the matter, finalizing delivery of the vessel after roughly a decade of talks just as President Vladimir Putin makes a visit to New Delhi this week.

Talks for leasing the attack submarine from Russia had stalled over the years ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

South Florida nursing director found guilty for selling nearly 1,000 fake diplomas

Current News / News & Features /

MIAMI — A former administrator at a South Florida nursing school was found guilty Wednesday on charges of collaborating with the owner and recruiters in selling about 1,000 fake diplomas for millions of dollars to students recruited from Texas.

Stephanie Dorisca, the ex-director of nursing at Techni-Pro Institute in Boca Raton, was convicted ...Read more

Samantha Liss/KFF Health News/TNS

New work requirement adds red tape to Missouri's snarled food aid system

Current News / News & Features /

WARRENTON, Mo. — Distributing food stamps soon could get even harder for Missouri’s food aid system, which a federal judge has already called “broken and inaccessible.”

States depend heavily on federal funds to operate their food stamp programs, which help feed about 42 million people nationwide. But a new federal law has restructured ...Read more

Renée Jones Schneider/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Annunciation principal 'called to show the world what healing looks like'

Current News / News & Features /

MINNEAPOLIS — “GOD IS GOOD!” the principal shouted to the 300 students buzzing in the auditorium at Annunciation Catholic School. They quieted immediately. “ALL THE TIME!” they responded.

It was two months after bullets flew through the adjacent church’s stained-glass windows, terrorizing students in their first Mass of the new ...Read more

Courtesy Larry Humphreys/KFF Health News/TNS

After shutdown, federal employees face new uncertainty: affording health insurance

Current News / News & Features /

Larry Humphreys, a retired Federal Emergency Management Agency worker in Moultrie, Georgia, says he and his wife won’t be traveling much next year after their monthly health insurance premium payment increases more than 40%, to $938.

Humphreys, 68, feels betrayed by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. “As federal employees, we ...Read more

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

California strongly objects to Trump's plan to pump more delta water south

Current News / News & Features /

The Trump administration plans to weaken environmental protections for threatened fish in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and pump more water to Central Valley farmlands, according to letters obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

The letters show Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration strongly criticizing the Trump administration ...Read more

Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Blue Origin's wastewater plans add to Florida's Indian River Lagoon concerns

Current News / News & Features /

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has issued a draft proposal that would allow nearly 500,000 gallons of wastewater daily at Blue Origin’s Merritt Island facilities that would affect the Indian River Lagoon.

The permit would allow Jeff Bezos’ rocket company to operate an industrial wastewater treatment facility that could ...Read more

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Commentary: The rising national debt is eroding American wages

Current News / News & Features /

In almost every election cycle, politicians toot their own horn when it comes to rising wages, pointing to higher paychecks as proof that the average worker is thriving. But under the Biden administration, millions of Americans—faced with mounting grocery bills, rising rent, and shrinking savings—could see that these higher paychecks did not...Read more

Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

How college campus organizing has been upended in Florida's political climate

Current News / News & Features /

TAMPA, Fla. — In September, the Turning Point USA chapter at the University of South Florida’s Tampa campus held a vigil to honor its founder, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was murdered days earlier.

Thousands stretched down the street and attendees waited in the heat with signs and flowers. The chapter, part of the national ...Read more

Chris Bergin/KFF Health News/TNS

Medicaid work rules exempt the 'medically frail.' Deciding who qualifies is tricky

Current News / News & Features /

Eliza Brader worries she soon will need to prove she’s working to continue receiving Medicaid health coverage. She doesn’t think she should have to.

The 27-year-old resident of Bloomington, Indiana, has a pacemaker and a painful joint disease. She also has fused vertebrae in her neck from a spinal injury, preventing her from turning her ...Read more