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Three dead in Haiti in landslides from Tropical Storm Melissa; Jamaica begins shut down

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Though the full effects of Tropical Storm Melissa have yet to be felt in the Caribbean, Haiti’s disaster office said Friday three people have already died and another was injured in a landslide attributed to the storm’s heavy rains.

Two people were killed Thursday in Fontamara, a community south of Port-au-Prince, in the West regional ...Read more

Win McNamee/Getty Images North America/TNS

NY Attorney General Letitia James pleads not guilty in bank fraud case brought by Trump DOJ

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New York Attorney General Letitia James pleaded not guilty in a fraud case brought by one of President Donald Trump’s handpicked Justice Department officials at a hearing in Virginia on Friday.

James entered a plea of not guilty to counts of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution before Federal Judge Jamar Walker in...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

2 earthquakes reported just hours apart in NC mountain community, USGS reports

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Two earthquakes were recorded within hours of each other near Marion, North Carolina, and witnesses report they felt shaking miles away, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quakes registered as a 2.2 around 1:20 a.m. and a 2.1 around 6:35 a.m., and both were centered about two miles north, northwest of the popular tourist town in ...Read more

Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Deputies in LA County jails to be equipped with body-worn cameras

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LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County's jails are set to be under the watch of thousands of new digital eyes.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department has purchased 4,641 body-worn cameras for deputies to wear in the facilities, which have seen a spike in inmate deaths this year.

The department has also reached an agreement to implement the ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

As Mega Millions pot hits $680 million, here's a list of California's luckiest lotto stores

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LOS ANGELES — The Mega Millions jackpot has ballooned to an estimated $680 million, landing it in the top 10 list of the game's highest jackpots of all time, with millions of people across the country hoping to hit it big on Friday. Lucky for Californians, lotto stores in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the state have a strong record of producing...Read more

Handout/The Catholic Spirit/Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis/TNS

Sophia Forchas celebrated as she leaves hospital 2 months after Annunciation shooting

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Sophia Forchas, the 12-year-old who doctors worried would not survive wounds she sustained during the Annunciation Church and School mass shooting, received back-to-back joyous and boisterous receptions Thursday upon her release from the hospital nearly two months later.

Under escort by Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara and...Read more

Alfredo Estrella/Getty Images North America/TNS

Asylum seekers face deportation over failure to pay new fees -- before being notified

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WASHINGTON — Late last month, an immigrant seeking asylum in the U.S. came across social media posts urging her to pay a new fee imposed by the Trump administration before Oct. 1, or else risk her case being dismissed.

Paula, a 40-year-old Los Angeles-area immigrant from Mexico, whose full name The Times is withholding because she fears ...Read more

Handout/National Hurricane Center/TNS

Melissa hits the brakes in the Caribbean, dumping deadly rain on islands

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Tropical Storm Melissa is effectively parked in the central Caribbean, dumping devastating amounts of rain on Haiti and Jamaica that has already claimed at least one life and injured others. And more rain is on the way.

The National Hurricane Center doesn’t expect Melissa to pick up the pace for days. Over the weekend, the storm is expected ...Read more

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America/TNS

US senators ramp up Palisades fire probe but give Eaton fire short shrift

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LOS ANGELES — The firestorms that broke out in January ravaged two distinctly different stretches of Los Angeles County: one with grand views of the Pacific Ocean, the other nestled against the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

But so far, a push from congressional Republicans to investigate the Jan. 7 firestorm and response has been ...Read more

Nathan Howard/Pool/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

How one road and an Israeli settlement could end dreams for one Palestinian city

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EZARIYA, West Bank — Hanging by the desk of the mayor of Bethany — Ezariya, in Arabic — is a blown-up aerial photo from 1938 showing this Palestinian town on Jerusalem's edge how it once was:

Before the Israeli separation wall severed its access to Jerusalem to the west, before the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim settlement took root ...Read more

Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/TNS

10 years since Aliso Canyon: Disaster was wake-up call for US on dangers of underground gas

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LOS ANGELES — On an evening 10 years ago, Porter Ranch resident Matt Pakucko stepped out of his music studio and was walloped by the smell of gas — like sticking your head in an oven, he recalled.

Pakucko called the fire department. It turned out crews had already been up to the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility in the Santa Susana ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

New report urges more individualized justice system responses for women

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A new report from the nonpartisan think tank Council on Criminal Justice warns that policies and practices across the nation’s criminal justice systems are failing to address the distinct factors that drive women into the system — and in doing so, are harming families and undermining public safety.

The report, which was released early this ...Read more

Dave Chan/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump says Canada trade talks terminated, citing tariff ad ire

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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said he would immediately halt all trade negotiations with Canada, citing a Canadian advertisement against his signature tariffs plan featuring the voice of former President Ronald Reagan.

“TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A.,” Trump wrote. “Based on ...Read more

New NC political map quickly challenged in court as racial discrimination

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A group of voters is challenging North Carolina’s new Republican-drawn congressional map in federal court.

Their complaint Thursday came in the form of a new legal filing in an existing lawsuit challenging a previous round of redistricting. It was just one day after lawmakers, heeding President Donald Trump’s call for more favorable maps ...Read more

SpaceX launches Spanish military satellite after 1-day delay

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SpaceX had to wait a day, but on Thursday night managed the second launch this year of a communications satellite for the Spanish military.

A Falcon 9 on the SpainSat NG II mission lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:30 p.m. A planned Wednesday attempt was called off for reasons SpaceX did not ...Read more

Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump says US eyes land strikes next after drug boat attacks

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said “the land is going to be next” in his campaign to halt the flow of drugs into the U.S. from Venezuela, the clearest indication yet that he’s preparing to broaden strikes that have so far been limited to targets at sea.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump directed Defense ...Read more

Department of Justice/ZUMA Press Wire/TNS

Palisades fire suspect pleads not guilty during first appearance in Los Angeles courtroom

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LOS ANGELES — The man accused of igniting the deadly Palisades fire was back in California on Thursday, making his first appearance in a federal courtroom in downtown Los Angeles.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is charged with destruction of property by means of fire; one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce; and one ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Judge blocks Trump cuts to WA climate resilience money

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A federal judge in Seattle this week blocked the Trump administration’s termination of more than $9 million for work in Washington state intended to help adapt to climate change.

The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges Tribal Steward Program received about $9.3 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to train more than 2,000 ...Read more

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino accused of violating judge's order by throwing tear gas at crowd in Chicago

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CHICAGO — Attorneys in an ongoing federal lawsuit Thursday accused Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino who, according to recent testimony is the head official leading “Operation Midway Blitz,” of violating a temporary restraining order by personally throwing tear gas toward a crowd of protesters during an immigration enforcement operation ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Harvard says latest freshman class is more Asian, less Black

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Harvard University reported admissions data showing that the share of Asian American students in its freshman class rose while the percentage of Black students fell for the second straight year.

Asian American students make up 41% of the latest group of first-year students at Harvard College, up from 37% a year earlier, according to a report ...Read more