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'Free the kids': Why more Chicago families are turning to homeschooling

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CHICAGO -- Inside an Irving Park bungalow, kids raced barefoot through the dining room, zooming past paper chains taped to the ceiling. Some slouched in couch chairs, trading stories in a game of Dungeons & Dragons. Others lay on the hardwood floor, flipping through picture books.

Teacher Claire Jakubiszyn knelt beside a 7-year-old boy, ...Read more

Washington considers requiring AI companies to add mental health safeguards

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SEATTLE — As artificial intelligence chatbots become better at mimicking human conversations, the potential for damage has grown, particularly for people who turn to them for mental health advice and to discuss plans to harm themselves.

State lawmakers and Gov. Bob Ferguson are seeking to add mental health safeguards to AI chatbots through ...Read more

Poll: Trump's immigration crackdown deeply unpopular in Minnesota

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MINNEAPOLIS — New polling shows Minnesotans and people across the country widely disapprove of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in the state, a shift that’s turned his deportation campaign from a political strength into a potential liability ahead of the midterm elections.

Negative marks on Operation Metro Surge from ...Read more

6 LA power players who found themselves in the Epstein files

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LOS ANGELES — The head of the L.A. 2028 Olympics committee.

A director of Hollywood hits.

An NFL owner.

A celebrity chef.

They are among the boldface names from Los Angeles who have emerged in the latest dump from the Epstein files.

The 3 million pages recently released by the Department of Justice have sent shock waves across the globe. ...Read more

Obamacare sign-ups drop, but the extent won't be clear for months

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More Americans than expected enrolled in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans for this year, after premium subsidies were dramatically cut — but it remains to be seen whether they’ll keep the coverage as their costs mount.

It’s all part of a drama that roiled the ACA’s 2026 open enrollment period. Congressional debate over whether...Read more

What could Trump's wish to 'nationalize' elections mean for Florida voters?

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It is in the U.S. Constitution: States decide how federal elections are run, not the executive branch.

Yet over the last year, the Trump administration has sought to exert more control. In March, President Donald Trump issued a sweeping executive order requiring documented proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. The order has since ...Read more

Bangladesh goes to polls in first election since 2024 revolution

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Bangladesh heads to the polls Thursday in a high-stakes general election that will shape the nation’s transition following the 2024 student-led revolution that ended Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule.

All but one of 300 seats in parliament are up for grabs in a contest that has coalesced around two rival blocs: the mainstream Bangladesh ...Read more

New Landmine Blast Tests Thailand-Cambodia Ceasefire

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A landmine explosion wounded three Thai soldiers near the Cambodian border, in an incident that risks undermining a fragile ceasefire between the two Southeast Asian neighbors.

One soldier lost a leg and two others sustained minor injuries in the blast on Wednesday in Si Sa Ket province, which borders Cambodia, the Thai army said in a statement...Read more

US House defies Trump and votes to end his Canada tariffs

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WASHINGTON — The Republican-led U.S. House passed legislation aimed at ending President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, signaling a growing anxiety over the White House’s economic agenda before midterm elections focused heavily on affordability.

Trump has threatened to veto similar measures, making it unlikely the legislation will ever...Read more

Immigration attorneys call out dirty conditions, 'disarray and chaos' at Minnesota's Whipple detention facility

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Immigration-rights attorneys said they saw “significant disarray and chaos” this week when they inspected the Whipple Federal Building, where hundreds of immigrants have been detained by federal authorities in recent months, according to court documents filed Tuesday, Feb. 10.

Attorneys for Minneapolis nonprofit Advocates for Human Rights ...Read more

Progressive California lawmakers' new tax proposal targets international corporations

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After months of behind-the-scenes meetings, progressive lawmakers in the California Assembly this week introduced what is likely to be their signature revenue raising proposal for 2026 — a bill targeting large global corporations who they say have shifted profits offshore to lower their tax bills for decades.

The effort, which would rewrite ...Read more

Gallup ending presidential approval ratings as Trump's dips below 40%

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Gallup has scrapped its presidential approval tracking polls for good just as President Donald Trump hits rock bottom in its numbers.

The venerable public opinion firm announced Wednesday that it would no longer publish any approval or favorability ratings of any political figures, but suggested the decision has nothing to do with Trump’s ...Read more

Boston City Council looks to create 'immigrant emergency response fund' amid ICE enforcement

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The Boston City Council plans to explore ways to create an immigrant emergency response fund that uses city and private money to provide legal defense, family stabilization and other support in response to the federal immigration crackdown.

Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune on Wednesday introduced an order for a hearing “on a scalable funding model...Read more

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore emphasizes unity amid ongoing tension with Trump, state Senate leader Ferguson

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Gov. Wes Moore on Wednesday struck a neutral note in his fourth State of the State address, amid an escalated feud with President Donald Trump and brewing tension with Maryland lawmakers on various policy issues, including mid-cycle redistricting and a looming projected $1.4 billion budget shortfall.

Moore delivered his ...Read more

Bill would hold data centers responsible for energy costs and environmental protections

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After passing a series of landmark environmental bills in Illinois over the last few years, advocates and legislators are hoping to use that momentum to push through a new law that would regulate the growing data center industry in the state, ensuring efficient energy and water use and protections for ratepayers from rising utility bills.

“We...Read more

Colorado sues to block Trump administration from cutting public health grants

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DENVER — Colorado filed a lawsuit Wednesday to prevent the Trump administration from canceling more than $25 million in grants for public health.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified Congress it wouldn’t pay $600 million worth of grants already awarded in Colorado, California, Illinois and Minnesota — all ...Read more

Illinois sues Trump administration over more than $100 million in planned cuts to health care grants

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President Donald Trump’s administration is moving to cut more than $100 million in federal health care grants for Illinois, a step that was quickly met with a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Kwame Raoul and his peers in three other states.

Illinois, California, Colorado and Minnesota sued the Trump administration Wednesday over the Office ...Read more

Florida state official acknowledges opioid money funded anti-weed campaign

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For the first time on Wednesday, the DeSantis administration acknowledged that it used opioid settlement money to campaign against a recreational marijuana amendment on the 2024 ballot.

Shevaun Harris, the secretary for Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, made the admission during an appearance before a Senate committee as part ...Read more

Stonewall Monument Pride flag removed by Trump admin was installed under Biden in 2022

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NEW YORK — The Trump administration says their removal of a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village is merely reinforcing a decades-old policy — but during the Biden presidency the feds installed a flagpole specifically to fly the LGBTQ flag at the historic site, the Daily News has learned.

On June 1, ...Read more

Trump administration warns Peru that a Chinese port is costing its sovereignty

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LIMA, Peru — The Trump administration warned that Peru is losing sovereignty over a Chinese-owned port near its capital city, after a local judge ruled that the port is exempt from some regulatory oversight.

The sprawling Chancay port on Peru’s Pacific coast was conceived as a crucial new trade link between Asia and Latin America, but its ...Read more