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Seven incarcerated firefighters from Nevada are suing state forestry and prison officials who they allege mocked and ignored burn injuries the prisoners received in April 2021 in a wildfire area carpeted by hot soil and burning embers. In emails, state Division of Forestry and Department of Corrections officials declined Thursday to comment. The lawsuit alleges that when one plaintiff’s boot melted off, a forestry supervisor duct-taped it back on and told her to keep working. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit Wednesday in state court in Las Vegas. The civil complaint includes allegations of negligence and infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. It seeks at least $700,000 in damages along with training and policy changes.

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Seven incarcerated firefighters from Nevada are suing state forestry and prison officials who they allege mocked and ignored burn injuries the prisoners received in April 2021 in a wildfire area carpeted by hot soil and burning embers. In emails, state Division of Forestry and Department of Corrections officials declined Thursday to comment. The lawsuit alleges that when one plaintiff’s boot melted off, a forestry supervisor duct-taped it back on and told her to keep working. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit Wednesday in state court in Las Vegas. The civil complaint includes allegations of negligence and infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. It seeks at least $700,000 in damages along with training and policy changes. Read moreLawsuit: Officials ‘mocked’ Nevada prison-firefighter burns

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Lawmakers in states including Colorado, California, Texas and New York are taking big, legislative swings at the eating disorder crisis. It’s estimated that around 30 million Americans — about the population of Texas — will struggle with an eating disorder in their lifetime. Every year about 10,000 die from the illness. The proposals include prohibiting the sale of weight loss pills to minors, blocking the use of body mass index or BMI in determining treatment and restricting social media algorithms from promoting content that could exacerbate the illness. Among the most common eating disorders is anorexia, which typically involves restrictive eating habits and extreme thinness. It can cause abnormally low blood pressure and organ damage. Read moreSurge in eating disorders spurs state legislative action

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Four Honolulu police officers are pleading not guilty to charges related to their roles in a cover-up of a high-speed chase that resulted in a crash and a traumatic brain injury to the driver of another car. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported the officers entered their pleas in Circuit Court on Thursday. Joshua Nahulu pleaded not guilty to a charge for a collision that resulted in serious bodily injury. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Officers Erik Smith, Jake Bartolome and Robert Lewis III pleaded not guilty to hindering prosecution and conspiracy. Read moreHonolulu police officers plead not guilty in crash, cover-up

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An asteroid big enough to wipe out a city will zip harmlessly between Earth and the moon's orbit this weekend. Saturday’s close encounter will offer astronomers the chance to study a space rock from just over 100,000 miles away. That’s less than half the distance from here to the moon. While asteroid flybys are common, NASA says a big one like this comes this close only once a decade. Scientists estimate its size somewhere between 130 feet and 300 feet. It won't be back this way again until 2026. Read moreLarge asteroid coming close, but zero chance of hitting us

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A new report from the American Library Association says attempted book bannings and restrictions at school and public libraries continue to surge, setting a record in 2022. The report released Thursday says more than 1,200 challenges were recorded by the association in 2022, nearly double the then-record total from 2021. Deborah Caldwell-Stone is the director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. She says she has "never seen anything like this,” and calls the past two years "exhausting, frightening, outrage inducing.” Librarians around the country have told of being harassed, and threatened with violence or legal action. Read moreBook ban attempts hit record high in 2022, library org says

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A judge has temporarily blocked Wyoming’s new abortion ban. Wednesday's decision means abortion is legal again in Wyoming. The new ban took effect Sunday, making abortion illegal in Wyoming despite earlier rulings by Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens that blocked a previous ban. Owens’ decision suspends the ban for at least two weeks amid a new lawsuit. Owens is not weighing in for now on another new Wyoming abortion law being challenged in her court, a first-in-the-nation ban on abortion pills. Gov. Mark Gordon says he's disappointed by the ruling but looks forward to the state defending the abortion ban in court. Read moreJudge halts Wyoming abortion ban days after it took effect

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Authorities say a student shot and wounded two school administrators after a handgun was found during a daily search of a student at a Denver high school. The vehicle of suspect Austin Lyle was found later Wednesday in a mountain community about 50 miles southwest of Denver, but he remains at large. A shelter in place order has been issued by authorities around the small town of Bailey, in Park County. The shooting occurred at a school shaken by frequent lockdowns and violence. Denver school officials, facing criticism over lax security, say they will put armed officers into the city’s public high schools. Read morePolice: Boy shoots 2 administrators at Denver high school

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The Federal Reserve extended its year-long fight against high inflation by raising its key interest rate by a quarter-point despite concerns that higher borrowing rates could worsen the turmoil that has gripped the banking system. Fed Chair Jerome Powell sought to reassure Americans that it is safe to leave money in their banks, two weeks after a rush of depositors pulled funds from Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed in the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history. Signature Bank fell soon afterward. “We have the tools to protect depositors when there’s a threat of serious harm to the economy or to the financial system,” Powell said. “Depositors should assume that their deposits are safe.” Read moreFed raises key rate by quarter-point despite bank turmoil

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Scientists have pulled DNA from Ludwig van Beethoven's hair to look for clues about his many health problems and hearing loss. They weren't able to figure out why the famous composer lost his hearing and had severe stomach problems. But they reported Wednesday that they did find clues about the liver disease that is widely believed to have killed the German composer. Beethoven's genome showed that he had a high risk for liver disease and was infected with the liver-damaging hepatitis B. The researchers concluded that those factors, along with his drinking, likely contributed to his death nearly 200 years ago. Read moreWhat made Beethoven sick? DNA from his hair offers clues

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Thai police have busted a gang that operated call centers to deceive elderly U.S. citizens into wiring them money, netting more than $87 million. Police say they have arrested 21 people after simultaneously raiding nine locations across four Thai provinces on Tuesday, seizing bank accounts, mobile phones, two cars, a gun and multiple real estate properties. One Thai suspect was arrested Wednesday. U.S. agents took part in the raids. The suspects have been charged with transnational crime, fraud, money laundering and other offenses. Police said they told their victims they were carrying out a criminal investigation, and their funds were suspicious so needed to be transferred to them to be verified. Some victims’ computers were also hacked. Read moreThai police bust call scammers who preyed on older Americans

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Newly obtained surveillance video shows a group of sheriff’s deputies and other employees at a Virginia mental hospital pinning a patient to the floor until he was motionless and limp. The video shows unsuccessful resuscitation efforts then began on Irvo Otieno. Otieno's death at the hospital March 6 has led to second-degree murder charges against seven deputies and three hospital workers. The surveillance video was available through a link included in public court records. It shows the workers pressing down on a prone Otieno who was handcuffed and shackled. Final autopsy findings in Otieno's death have not been made public. Defense attorneys for several defendants have indicated they plan to vigorously fight the charges. Read moreVideo shows Irvo Otieno pinned to floor before his death

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Conservationists want South Carolina to make the Venus fly trap the state’s official carnivorous plant. Supporters say honoring the Venus fly trap isn’t about one extra thing students see on an elementary school worksheet. Instead, it’s to protect and increase awareness of an interesting species found only in the upper part of the South Carolina coast and a small sliver of southeast North Carolina. In all, South Carolina has about five dozen different official state things, such as the state bird, state opera and even a state snack, which is boiled peanuts. Read moreSnap! Venus fly trap fans ask South Carolina to honor plant

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Residents of a Louisiana parish located in the heart of a cluster of polluting petrochemical factories filed a lawsuit in federal court raising allegations of civil rights, environmental justice and religious liberty violations. In the lawsuit, filed against the St. James Parish, residents and environmental organizations claim that the parish council approved the construction of several factories in two Black districts of the parish that emit harmful amounts of toxic chemicals that negatively affected the health of the areas Black residents. The lawsuit calls for a moratorium on the construction of new petrochemical plants like one under construction by Formosa Plastics, which was approved by the council in 2019. Read moreResidents sue Louisiana parish to halt polluting plants

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A handful of red-state Democrats were instrumental in helping Republicans secure a rollback of banking regulations sought by then-President Donald Trump in 2018. Now those changes are being blamed for contributing to the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank that prompted a federal rescue and stoked anxiety about a broader banking contagion. The rollback was leveraged with a lobbying campaign that cost tens of millions of dollars and drew an army of more than 1,000 lobbyists into the effort. It also was seeded with ample campaign contributions. It  offers a fresh reminder of the power that bankers wield in Washington, where the industry spends prodigiously. Read moreArmy of lobbyists helped water down banking regulations

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The failures of two U.S. banks this month meant losses for U.S. public-sector pension systems that invested in them. Experts don't see the holdings in Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank as especially risky for the funds, which provide retirement incomes for teachers, firefighters and other public workers. But there are worries that the funds have too many risky holdings. More aggressive investing is one way funds have narrowed funding gaps over the last decade. After years of benefit increases and funding contribution cuts in the early 2000s, funds were hit hard by the 2008 financial crisis. Read morePublic pension plan losses from bank failures seen as minor

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President Joe Biden has issued the first veto of his presidency in an early sign of shifting White House relations with the new Congress since Republicans took control of the House in January. With his veto on Monday, Biden is seeking to kill a Republican measure that bans the government from considering climate change or potential lawsuits when making investment decisions for Americans’ retirement plans. The environmental and social investment authorization has strong support in Congress, making it unlikely Biden's veto could be overridden. The veto serves as a prelude to bigger battles with GOP lawmakers on government spending and the nation’s debt limit. Read moreBiden issues first veto, taking on new Republican House

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For the third year in a row, Miami Beach finds itself struggling with spring break violence, including two fatal shootings and unruly crowds, despite a massive police presence and activities designed to give people alternatives to drinking and roaming the streets. The party-all-the-time vibe in the South Beach section of the barrier island city has already led officials to ban alcohol sales at larger clubs after 2 a.m. Police are stationed everywhere, including in mobile towers that give officers a birds-eye view of the streets. Art, music, yoga and volleyball tournaments were added this year, but the violence continues at night. The city imposed an overnight curfew that ended Monday morning but the city commission decided against another one this weekend. Read moreMiami Beach struggles with spring break violence, big crowds

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Medicaid will end for millions of Americans in the coming months, and that pushes many into unfamiliar territory: the health insurance marketplace. States will start cutting people from the government-funded coverage when they no longer qualify based on income, a process that has been paused since shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The timing of these cuts will vary. But all states have insurance markets where people who lose Medicaid can buy new coverage with help from subsidies. Shopping for insurance that covers regular doctors and prescriptions can be daunting. But experts see several steps to make it easier. Read moreHow to shop for new insurance if you lose Medicaid coverage

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Attorneys for the family of a Black Virginia man who died in law enforcement custody say video of the incident shows seven sheriff’s deputies pushing down “every part of his body” with “absolute brutality.” Mark Krudys, one of the lawyers for the family of Irvo Otieno, spoke Thursday at a news conference along with civil rights attorney Ben Crump and members of Otieno’s family. Krudys says he “was not really prepared to see” the video footage and stressed that Otieno was in handcuffs and leg irons. He says, “You can see that they’re putting their back into it. Every part of his body is being pushed down with absolute brutality.” Seven deputies and three hospital employees have been charged with second-degree murder in Otieno's death March 6. Read more10 charged in Irvo Otieno’s death at mental hospital

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A member of the United States Army Parachute Team has died after sustaining injuries during a training jump at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Homestead, Florida. The Army says Sgt. 1st Class Michael Ty Kettenhofen died Monday. He joined the Golden Knights parachute team in 2020, and had over 1,000 jumps with the Army. The Golden Knights commander Lt. Col. Andy Moffitt says they are deeply saddened by the loss. The accident remains under investigation and the Army said no additional details are available. The Golden Knights are made up of several expert teams, including parachute teams and aircraft pilots. Read moreU.S. Army parachute team member dies in training accident

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A federal grand jury has indicted a former University of Wisconsin-Madison student accused of threatening people at the school. Prosecutors announced Wednesday that the grand jury sitting in Madison indicted 32-year-old Arvin Raj Mathur on six counts of transmitting communications containing threats to injure other persons.  Mathur is accused of emailing threats to graduate students, staff or professors at UW-Madison in February. He was arrested Friday at a Detroit-area airport after traveling from Cophenhagen. Prosecutors initially charged him via complaint on March 8. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted on each count. Read moreEx-Wisconsin college student faces federal threat charges

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California’s 11th atmospheric river has left the storm-soaked state with a bang. It has flooded roadways, landslides and toppled trees to the southern part of the state. It has also brought drought-busting rainfall that meant the end of water restrictions for nearly 7 million people. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s decision brought relief amid the state’s historic drought. Meanwhile, residents are struggling to clean up before the next round of winter arrives in the coming days. Some 27,000 people are still under evacuation orders statewide. An additional 61,000 people are under evacuation warnings, and emergency shelters house more than 650 people. Read moreStorms end Southern California water restrictions for 7M

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For the first time in three decades, the American Kennel Club says the U.S. has a new favorite dog breed. The club announced Wednesday that the French bulldog became the nation’s most prevalent purebred dog last year. Frenchies ousted Labrador retrievers from the top spot after a record 31 years. Owners describe the push-faced, perky-eared, droll little bulldogs as comical, friendly and loving companions. Yet their popularity worries fans and critics alike. Frenchies have been targeted in thefts, and there’s concern that demand is engendering quick-buck breeders and unhealthy dogs. Besides Frenchies and Labs, the AKC's other top 10 breeds are golden retrievers, German shepherds, poodles, bulldogs, Rottweilers, beagles, dachshunds and German shorthaired pointers. Read moreBeloved and debated, French bulldog becomes top US dog breed

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Moonwalking astronauts will have sleeker, more flexible spacesuits that come in different sizes when they step onto the lunar surface later this decade. The spacesuits will be white like they were during NASA’s Apollo program more than a half-century ago to reflect heat and keep future moonwalkers cool. The company behind the next-generation spacesuits said Wednesday the design is proprietary. NASA awarded Axiom Space a $228.5 million contract to provide the moonsuits. The space agency is targeting late 2025 at the earliest to land two astronauts on the moon’s south pole. Read moreFuture NASA moonwalkers to sport sleeker spacesuits

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Honda is recalling a half-million vehicles in the U.S. and Canada because the front seat belts may not latch properly. The recall covers some of the the automaker’s top-selling models including the 2017 through 2020 CR-V, the 2018 and 2019 Accord, the 2018 through 2020 Odyssey and the 2019 Insight. Also included is the Acura RDX from the 2019 and 2020 model years. Honda says in documents posted Wednesday by U.S. safety regulators that a manufacturing issue can cause the seat belt buckle channel to interfere with the release button, stopping the buckle from latching. Dealers will replace the release buttons or assemblies if needed. Owners will be notified by letter starting April 17. Read moreHonda recalling 500,000 vehicles to fix seat belt problem

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A pioneer for women’s and family rights in Congress, former Colorado Rep. Pat Schroeder, has died at the age of 82. Schroeder’s former press secretary says Schroeder suffered a stroke recently and died Monday night at a hospital in Florida, the state where she had been residing. Schroeder was the first woman elected to Congress from Colorado, and she went on to serve 12 terms. She became one of the most influential Democrats for two decades but never chaired a major committee. Schroeder was best known for getting a family leave bill passed, providing job protection for care of a newborn, sick child or parent. Schroeder was born in Portland, Oregon. Read moreFormer Rep. Pat Schroeder, pioneer for women's rights, dies

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Nebraska state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh is three weeks into a pledge to filibuster every bill that comes before the Legislature — even the ones she supports. The Omaha lawmaker is pontificating on the Senate floor about everything from her favorite Girl Scout cookies to the plot of the animated movie “Madagascar” in protest against conservatives' advancement of a bill that would outlaw gender-affirming therapy for those 18 and younger. Cavanaugh declared she would “burn the session to the ground” in an effort to stymie the bill. And so far, she has, slowing the Legislature's business to a crawl. Wednesday marks the halfway point of this year’s 90-day session, and not a single bill will have passed thanks to the filibuster. Read moreNebraska lawmaker 3 weeks into filibuster over trans bill

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Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has signed a bill that will restrict electric car manufacturers from selling vehicles in person unless they open franchised dealerships. Reeves enacted the measure into law Tuesday despite calls from some fellow Republicans in the Legislature to veto it. The law will force electric car companies to sell vehicles through franchises rather than company-owned stores. Reeves says small dealerships in the state are seeking assurances that big manufacturers like Tesla don't retain a competitive advantage. Republican opponents say the law will interfere with the automobile market and stop electric carmakers from bringing new technology and jobs to the state. Read moreBill restricting electric car stores now law in Mississippi

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The Federal Reserve is facing stinging criticism for missing what observers say were clear signs that Silicon Valley Bank was at high risk of collapsing into what became the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. The Fed was the primary federal supervisor of the bank, based in Santa Clara, California, though the bank was also overseen by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. Critics point to many red flags that had surrounded Silicon Valley Bank, including its rapid growth since the pandemic, its unusually high level of uninsured deposits and its over-investment in long-term government bonds and mortgage-backed securities, which tumbled in value as interest rates rose. Read moreFed criticized for missing red flags before bank collapse

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The recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which catered mostly to the tech industry, may have you worried about your money. They were the second- and third-biggest bank failures in U.S. history. There's no need to worry if your money is in a bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and you have less than $250,000 there. If the bank fails, you’ll get your money back. If you have over $250,000 in one bank, that amount is considered uninsured and experts recommend that you move the remainder of your money to a different financial institution. Read moreIs my money safe? What you need to know about bank failures

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The federal government has announced $2.5 billion in grants to fund the construction of EV charging stations and alternative fueling infrastructure, aiming in part at increasing access in underserved neighborhoods. Known as the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure program, the grants will be doled out over a five-year period, with an emphasis on both highway chargers and locations in underserved and disadvantaged urban, rural and tribal communities. The funding is split evenly into two tracks: a Community Program which seeks to strategically distribute chargers in underserved locations in cities and communities; and a Corridor Program, which will focus on highways with the goal of establishing Alternative Fuel Corridors to enable gasoline-free cross-country travel and long-haul trucking. Read more$2.5B in grants for EV chargers aim at underserved US areas

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Court documents say a man and woman charged in the fatal shootings of four people at a Dallas apartment where an infant was found unharmed told police they’d broken into the home to take money. Police said Monday that 18-year-old Artemio Maldonado and 20-year-old Azucena Sanchez have been charged with capital murder. Jail records do not list an attorney for either suspect. Police responding Sunday evening to the apartment in northwest Dallas found two men and two women who had been shot. They all died at the scene. The suspects were arrested after their vehicle was found a few miles away. Read morePolice: 4 die in shooting at Dallas apartment building

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The search for the man suspected of killing one small-town Missouri police officer and badly injuring another ended Monday when the man came out of a home after police fired tear gas inside. The shooting happened about 9:30 p.m. Sunday in Hermann, which is about 80 miles west of St. Louis. Detective Sgt. Mason Griffith of the Hermann Police Department died, and 31-year-old Officer Adam Sullentrup was hospitalized in stable condition. Missouri State Highway Patrol identified the suspect as 35-year-old Kenneth Lee Simpson of St. Louis County. The patrol confirmed Monday afternoon that the suspect was taken into custody after exiting the home. Read moreSuspect caught in shooting that left 1 officer dead, 1 hurt

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Americans have long had an intense conversation about what race and ethnicity says about who they are. Now the U.S. government is contemplating changes to how it sorts people into racial and ethnic groups. New proposals by the Biden administration would update racial and ethnic classifications for the first time since 1997. One idea would create a new category for people of Middle Eastern and North African descent who are currently classified as white. Another proposal would combine race and ethnic origin questions into a single query. The White House Office of Management and Budget will host three virtual town halls to discuss the ideas this week. Read moreWhat do race and ethnicity mean? The US government is asking

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Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen has testified before a Manhattan grand jury investigating hush money payments he arranged and made on the former president’s behalf. Cohen arrived at the courthouse accompanied by his lawyer shortly in advance of his closed-door testimony. He spent about three hours inside answering questions. His closed-door appearance before the grand jury comes as the Manhattan district attorney’s office closes in on a decision on whether to seek charges against Trump. The former president denies having affairs with the women. Trump's lawyer has characterized the payments as extortion. Read moreCohen testifies before grand jury in Trump hush money probe

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Advocates for open government are ringing alarms about plans by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration that could make it harder to learn what public officials are doing and to speak out against them. Florida has a long tradition of having some of the nation's strongest meetings and records laws. But DeSantis has asserted an “executive privilege” while declining to disclose some records. His office also has reviewed records requests made to some other state agencies, slowing down a response. And DeSantis has proposed to make it easier to sue media for alleged defamation. Open government advocates say that could stifle rights of free speech and press. Read moreIs DeSantis darkening Florida's sunny open-records laws?

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A coalition representing the Maine lobster industry is suing an aquarium on the other side of the country for recommending that seafood customers avoid buying a variety of lobster mostly harvested in their state. The industry groups are suing California's Monterey Bay Aquarium because of sustainability recommendations it made via its conservation program, Seafood Watch. Seafood Watch has American lobster from the U.S. and Canada on its “red list” due to the threat posed to endangered right whales by entanglement in fishing gear. The seafood groups say that constitutes defamation. The aquarium says there's extensive evidence that Maine's fishing practices threaten the rare whales. It recommends buying other types of lobster. Read moreDo-not-eat listing draws lawsuit from Maine lobster industry

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Depositors withdrew savings, and investors broadly sold off bank shares as the federal government raced to reassure Americans that the banking system is secure following two bank failures. President Joe Biden insisted Monday that the system is safe after the second- and third-largest bank failures in the nation’s history happened in the span of 48 hours. In response to the crisis, regulators guaranteed all deposits at the two banks. They also created a program that effectively thew a lifeline to other banks to shield them from a run on deposits. Read moreGovernment races to reassure US that banking system is safe

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The Pentagon intends to load up on advanced missiles, space defense and modern jets in its largest defense request in decades in order to meet the threat it perceives from China. The Defense Department's chief financial officer says the spending path would have the military's annual budget cross the $1 trillion threshold in just a matter of years. The administration’s request for the 2024 budget year is $842 billion. With just a normal rate of growth for inflation, military spending would cross the trillion dollar-mark in just a few years, if Congress approves the request. Read moreDefense budget speeds toward $1 trillion, with China in mind

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A bill that would ban evidence-based health care for transgender minors in West Virginia is headed to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice. The Republican governor has not taken a public stance on the measure and it’s unclear whether he will sign it into law. A 2017 study by UCLA Law’s The Williams Institute estimated West Virginia had the highest per capita rate of transgender youth in the country. Every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association, supports gender-affirming care for youths. West Virginia is estimated to have more transgender youth per capita than any other state in the nation. Read moreWest Virginia GOP Legislature passes transgender care ban

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Wet, miserable weather is continuing across huge swaths of California as an atmospheric river that caused major flooding flowed eastward. As it moves out, weather officials say another onslaught of rain and snow could yet again pummel the region as soon as Monday night. The next torrent could exacerbate the severe flooding that overwhelmed the area in recent days, including a levee failure that prompted widespread evacuations in farming communities near the state’s Central Coast. The next storm could bring gusts as strong as 50 mph, which has the potential of snapping tree branches and downing power lines. Read moreAs atmospheric river exits, a new storm threatens California

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As President Joe Biden prepares a final decision on the huge Willow oil project in Alaska, his administration says he will prevent or limit oil drilling in 16 million acres in Alaska and the Arctic Ocean. Plans announced Sunday night will bar drilling in nearly 3 million acres of the Beaufort Sea — closing it off from oil exploration — and limit drilling in more than 13 million acres in a vast swath of land known as the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska. The moves come as regulators prepare to announce a final decision on the $8 billion Willow project, a controversial oil drilling plan pushed by ConocoPhillips in the petroleum reserve. Read moreAs Biden weighs Willow, he blocks other Alaska oil drilling

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The U.S. government took extraordinary steps Sunday to stop a potential banking crisis after the historic failure of Silicon Valley Bank, assuring depositors at the failed financial institution that they would be able to access all of their money quickly. The announcement came amid fears that the factors that caused the Santa Clara, California-based bank to fail could spread, and only hours before trading began in Asia. Regulators had worked all weekend to try and come up with a buyer for the bank, which was the second largest bank failure in history. Those efforts appeared to have failed as of Sunday. Read moreUS government moves to stop potential banking crisis

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Michigan Democrats are poised to bring an 11-bill package to the Legislature that would implement safe storage laws, universal background checks and extreme risk protection orders, also known as red flag laws. A mass shooting on the Michigan State University campus less than a month ago has pushed Democrats to act fast on legislation they had already planned to prioritize after a 2021 shooting at Oxford High School that killed four students. Key Democratic leaders say this is just the start to gun reform in the state. Republicans say current gun laws need to be better enforced, not altered. Read moreGun bills coming in Michigan after 2nd school mass shooting

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A bill to prohibit minors from getting married in West Virginia has been resurrected a day after its defeat in a Senate committee. The about-face doesn’t necessarily give the bill a clear path to passage. Several senators gave impassioned speeches after the bill was brought back, some of whom defended the right of teenagers in love to marry. After a Senate Committee rejected the bill Wednesday, it was brought back to the Senate floor and will be up for passage Friday. Currently, children can marry as young as 16 in West Virginia with parental consent. Seven states have set the minimum age for marriage at 18. Read moreChild marriage ban bill resurrected in West Virginia Senate

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The first in a new series of atmospheric rivers has pushed into California and forecasters warn that widespread heavy rain will raise the threat of flooding in a state still digging out from earlier storms. Rain spread across the north Thursday but forecasters said the heart of the atmospheric river wouldn’t arrive until late in the day, then last into early Friday. The flood threat will come from the combination of rain and melting of lower portions of the huge snowpack built in California’s mountains by nine atmospheric rivers early in the winter and later storms fueled by a blast of arctic air. The new atmospheric river is known as a “Pineapple Express” because it originates near Hawaii. Read moreNew atmospheric river storm pushes into California

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The Cincinnati Zoo has taken in an African serval cat after the animal was recovered from a wild adventure. The cat named Amiry was found with cocaine in its system after local animal control officials captured the cat in January from a tree. Animal experts say the cats should not be treated as normal house cats and that they require more specialized attention. Amiry escaped from his owner during a traffic stop, when the cat jumped from the car and into a tree. The cat's story has gained attention online with social media users dubbing the cat “cocaine cat.” Read more'Cocaine cat' escaped owner, will now live at Cincinnati Zoo

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Americans who came of age during the pandemic are skipping college in big numbers. Many have shunned traditional college paths, turning instead to hourly jobs or careers that don’t require a degree. Still others feel locked out, deterred by high tuition and the prospect of student debt. Colleges nationwide saw enrollments drop 8% from 2019 to 2022, with continued declines even after the return to in-person classes, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse. Economists say the impact could be dire. Fewer college graduates could worsen labor shortages in fields from health care and engineering to information technology. Read moreJaded with education, more Americans are skipping college

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Active-service members and veterans have provided first-hand testimony in the House of Representatives about the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, describing in harrowing detail the carnage and death they witnessed on the ground. The initial hearing Wednesday of a long-promised investigation by House Republicans displayed the open wounds from the end of America’s longest war in August 2021, with witnesses recalling how they saw mothers carrying dead babies and the Taliban shooting and brutally beating people. Testimony focused not on the decision to withdraw, but on what witnesses depicted as a desperate attempt to rescue American citizens and Afghan allies with little U.S. planning and inadequate U.S. support. They implored Congress to help the allies left behind. Read moreVeterans testify of 'catastrophic' impact of Afghan collapse

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The defamation lawsuit against Fox News by a voting machine company is revealing some bluntly negative behind-the-scenes Fox attitudes toward Donald Trump. One text message from Fox prime-time host Tucker Carlson says outright, “I hate him passionately.” Carlson also says, in what he believed was a private conversation on Jan. 4, 2021, that “there really isn’t an upside to Trump.” The messages, contained in court filings, were released at the same time the former president was praising Carlson on social media as doing a “great job” in public for showing U.S. Capitol security video — which Carlson used to produce a false narrative of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Read moreTucker Carlson's scorn for Trump revealed in court papers

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