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President Donald Trump's rhetoric has grown increasingly violent. wildpixel/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Presidential words can turn the unthinkable into the thinkable − for better or for worse

Current News / News & Features /

Among the most disorienting things about President Donald Trump’s public language is how easily it can feel numbing and shocking in the same moment. He says something outrageous, the country recoils, and then the recoil itself begins to feel familiar.

As a scholar who studies presidential rhetoric, I know that over time that rhythm ...Read more

Washington state declares unprecedented fourth drought emergency in a row

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SEATTLE — More than two months before the start of summer, Washington officials warn the state is headed for severe drought conditions not seen since the disastrous hot and dry season of 2015.

Washington Department of Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller declared a statewide drought emergency Wednesday morning.

This is the fourth such emergency ...Read more

Phillip Faraone/Getty Images North America/TNS

'Ketamine queen' headed to prison for selling drug that killed Matthew Perry

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LOS ANGELES — A woman known as the “Ketamine queen” who provided the drugs that killed actor Matthew Perry was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison.

Jasveen Sangha, who prosecutors said operated a high-volume drug trafficking business out of her North Hollywood home, pleaded guilty in September to one count of maintaining a ...Read more

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

'Everybody will be unhappy with it': Interior Secretary Burgum calls on states to make concessions for Colorado River deal

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LAS VEGAS — U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum reiterated Tuesday that the federal government favors a negotiated deal between the seven states that share Colorado River water over the resource’s allocation rather than a protracted legal battle.

During a Las Vegas Valley visit, Burgum said the federal government will continue pushing for ...Read more

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America/TNS

Iran ceasefire deal frays as attacks continue; Trump's peace terms remain unclear

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WASHINGTON — A day after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, the tentative truce showed early signs of strain amid continuing attacks across the region and reports that Iran moved to restrict traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The developments tested President Donald Trump’s ability to convert a fragile pause in ...Read more

Mark Acosta/The Press-Enterprise/TNS

Court to release secret warrants that Riverside sheriff who's running for California governor used to seize over 650,000 ballots

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LOS ANGELES — Secret warrants obtained by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department to seize more than 650,000 ballots in a controversial investigation of election fraud allegations will soon be made public.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gail O’Rane on Tuesday ordered the warrants unsealed after several media organization, ...Read more

Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Why the Maryland National Guard's embattled camp for at-risk youth closed

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BALTIMORE — The Defense Department ordered the National Guard Bureau federal agency last week to permanently close three Guard-run camps for at-risk teens, among them the Maryland National Guard Freestate Challenge Academy, to boost national defense spending, a bureau spokesperson said in an email to The Baltimore Sun.

Citing national defense...Read more

Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post/TNS

Colorado advocacy group says Sen. Michael Bennet backed out of governor forum to avoid Gaza questions

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DENVER — U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet backed out of a weekend gubernatorial forum hosted by Colorado Muslims because he didn’t want to address questions about the war in the Gaza Strip, the event’s organizers said.

While a state senator backed up that account, Bennet’s campaign disputed the characterization on Tuesday.

For the Sunday event...Read more

Amy Maxmen/KFF Health News/TNS

These women had their breasts removed to thwart cancer. Then came the pain

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Three weeks after Sophia Bassan’s mastectomy, she felt a stabbing pain beneath her right armpit. In the following months, painful shocks radiated through her chest and back. Her body became so sensitive that at times she couldn’t wear a shirt or lift a fork to her mouth.

Bassan slept sitting up because it hurt to lie down, and she would ...Read more

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump's personnel agency is asking for federal workers' medical records

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The Trump administration is quietly seeking unprecedented access to medical records for millions of federal workers and retirees, and their families.

A brief notice from the Office of Personnel Management could dramatically change which personally identifiable medical information the agency obtains, giving it the power to see prescriptions ...Read more

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Beloved Buddy, the biggest alligator at Florida's Gatorland, has died

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ORLANDO, Fla. — The largest alligator in Gatorland’s history has died.

Buddy, who measured about 13 feet, 8 inches long and weighed nearly half a ton, had been in failing health for a while, according to an announcement on Gatorland’s social media accounts. The animal was under veterinary care, the post said.

“He was on and off ...Read more

Tracy Glantz/The State/TNS

Curbing a 'catastrophe': SC Senate plan would suspend vouchers for homeschool students

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina Senate finance panel has adopted a proposal that freezes the state’s school voucher program at 10,000 students and suspends portions of the law that have been used to award taxpayer-funded scholarships to students educated at home.

The temporary measure grandfathers in roughly 1,000 home-educated students ...Read more

Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/TNS

Marist poll finds NYC Mayor Mamdani approval rating at 48% as he approaches 100 days in office

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NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani has an approval rating of 48%, with a majority of New Yorkers thinking the city is headed in right direction under his leadership, a poll by Marist University found Wednesday.

The poll comes as Mamdani is rounding out his first 100 days in office. Conducted over the last week in March, the Marist survey is the ...Read more

Phillip Faraone/Getty Images North America/TNS

'Ketamine queen' faces prison for selling drug that killed Matthew Perry

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LOS ANGELES — Federal prosecutors are seeking a 15-year prison sentence Wednesday for a woman known as the "Ketamine Queen" who provided the drugs that killed actor Matthew Perry.

Jasveen Sangha, who prosecutors said operated a high-volume drug trafficking business out of her North Hollywood home, pleaded guilty in September to one count of ...Read more

James Carbone/Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS

Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann admits to killing 8 women

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NEW YORK — Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann admitted in a Long Island court Wednesday to murdering eight young women during a nearly two-decade spree — after adamantly denying the charges against him since he was arrested in 2023.

Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty to slaying seven victims before State Supreme Court Justice ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

2 men charged with not dispersing during pro-Palestinian protest at UC Irvine are acquitted

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Two men accused of failing to follow a police order to leave a high-profile pro-Palestinian protest at the University of California, Irvine were acquitted of criminal charges Tuesday, and a mistrial was declared for a third man after the trio became the first of dozens of protesters to take their controversial cases to trial.

After deliberating...Read more

Handout/FBI/TNS

Massachusetts seafood heist: Jamaican national indicted for stealing $325,000 crab order

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BOSTON — A Jamaican national connected to a massive cargo-theft scheme that hit Massachusetts has been indicted for allegedly stealing nearly 34,000 pounds of frozen snow crabs from a Worcester storage warehouse.

Romoy Forbes, 31, of Deer Park, New York, is facing the courts for his alleged spree of thefts that the feds say involved other ...Read more

Tom Williams/ZUMA Press/TNS

Ex-Gov. Youngkin calls Virginia redistricting referendum 'illegal and unconstitutional' on Sean Hannity podcast

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NORFOLK, Va. — Former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin leveled sharp criticism against his successor, Gov. Abigail Spanberger, and called the April 21 redistricting referendum she’s championed “illegal and unconstitutional” during a recent appearance on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s podcast.

Youngkin again dodged questions about a future ...Read more

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson tapping transportation veteran to take over department

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CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson wants to put city government veteran William Cheaks on the frontline of the struggle to move drivers, public transit riders and cyclists through Chicago’s streets as the new head of the city’s Department of Transportation.

Cheaks plans to focus on spending equity across neighborhoods and ramping up ...Read more

Ibrahim Amro/Getty Images North America/TNS

Arab world welcomes ceasefire, but Israel continues offensive in Lebanon

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AMMAN, Jordan — As the 11th-hour ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran came into effect on Wednesday, Middle East governments welcomed the cessation of hostilities even as Israel continued to pound wide swaths of Lebanon.

Regional countries are breathing a sigh of relief after Washington and Tehran announced Tuesday night that they ...Read more