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A popular charter faces closure to make more room for an LAUSD school
LOS ANGELES -- A divided Los Angeles school board has voted to shut down a popular charter school to make more space for its own program on the same Echo Park campus, pushing the boundaries of state law and school district authority over charters.
The 4-3 vote late Tuesday denied a renewal authorization for Gabriella Charter School, which means...Read more

'Concerned' judge orders ICE field director into court to address use of tear gas, requires agents to use body-worn cameras
CHICAGO -- A federal judge in Chicago on Thursday said she is “profoundly concerned” that immigration agents are violating her orders restricting the use of tear gas on media and protesters and ordered the field director for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement into court to answer questions.
U.S. District Judge Sarah Ellis also modified...Read more

LA County gets a new tool to find and save vulnerable people with cognitive disabilities
LOS ANGELES — Janet Rivera cares for both her 79-year-old mother, who has dementia, and her 25-year-old son, who has a genetic condition called Fragile X syndrome. Despite their differing diagnoses, both of her loved ones share a common symptom: They are prone to wander away from home, and have cognitive impairments that make it hard to find ...Read more

Newsom signs veteran-backed bill to accelerate study of psychedelics for PTSD, mental health
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a bill to fast-track the study of psychedelic drugs, which a coalition of veterans say hold enormous potential to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
More veterans die from suicide in America on a daily basis than average daily combat deaths in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan combined, according ...Read more
Trump keeps name-checking the Insurrection Act. It could give him extraordinary powers
There are few laws President Donald Trump name-checks more frequently than the Insurrection Act.
A 200-year-old constellation of statutes, the act grants emergency powers to thrust active-duty soldiers into civilian police duty, something otherwise barred by federal law.
Trump and his team have threatened to invoke it almost daily for weeks �...Read more
Echoing the raids in LA, parts of Chicago are untouched by ICE, others under siege
CHICAGO — Since the Trump administration announced its intention to accelerate and forcefully detain and deport thousands of immigrants here, the Chicago area is a split screen between everyday life and a city under siege.
As many people shop, go to work, walk their dogs and stroll with their friends through parks, others are being chased ...Read more
Russia strikes Ukraine's gas sector as Zelenskyy readies for US
Russia attacked Ukraine’s natural-gas infrastructure overnight, dealing a fresh blow to output as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares for talks in Washington.
The Ukrainian leader is set to visit the U.S. capital after Moscow ramped up strikes against his country’s energy facilities, knocking out nearly 60% of gas production this month. ...Read more
Zelenskyy readies list of promises to win over Trump on weapons
Ukraine is getting creative in seeking U.S. help for its war effort, with some suggesting President Donald Trump may turn his full attention to pressuring Russia now that he’s secured a deal in Gaza.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be meeting the U.S. leader at the White House on Friday to discuss air defense, long-range weaponry and urgent energy ...Read more
Xi's rare earth shock gives Trump a chance to win over US allies
Donald Trump’s tariff war alienated longtime allies and gave China an opportunity to woo the world. Now Beijing’s hardball tactics are sparking a global pushback.
China’s decision to unveil unprecedented export controls on the rare-earth supply chain dominated meetings at an annual huddle of global economic chiefs in Washington this week....Read more

Nuclear weapons safety oversight in decline with Trump, Biden inaction
SEATTLE — The lone independent federal agency responsible for ensuring safety at U.S. nuclear weapons sites will lose its ability to issue recommendations for safer work by January if the Trump administration doesn’t replenish its board, which this month dwindles to one member.
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board ensures adequate ...Read more

Former Marine -- and current VP -- JD Vance will help Corps at Camp Pendleton celebrate 250 years
A few months after hiking with a Marine battalion along Camp Pendleton’s steep hills, Vice President JD Vance will hit the beach at the sprawling Southern California base to welcome amphibious vehicles and aircraft doing a beach landing demonstration in honor of the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary, according to White House officials.
On ...Read more

University of California researchers, patients wary of Trump cuts even as some dollars flow again
In August, an 80-year-old woman walked into the emergency room at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She was lucid but experiencing a stroke. Within minutes, doctors asked for permission to pull out the stroke-causing clot before any more brain damage could occur.
She hesitated. The procedure was part of a clinical trial, and she’d heard ...Read more

How a brutal Grindr date helped LAPD link a man to two unsolved killings
LOS ANGELES — When his date pulled out handcuffs, the man thought it was for consensual sex.
He submitted to having his wrists cuffed and ankles bound together. Then the other man pulled out a baseball bat.
The Feb. 22 incident, recounted in a detective's affidavit, began on Grindr, a hookup app for gay men. It ended with the handcuffed man ...Read more

Trump called Digital Equity Act 'racist.' Now internet money for rural Americans is gone
Megan Waiters can recite the stories of dozens of people she has helped connect to the internet in western Alabama. A 7-year-old who couldn’t do classwork online without a tablet, and the 91-year-old she taught to check health care portals on a smartphone.
“They have health care needs, but they don’t have the digital skills,” said ...Read more

Illegal street takeovers -- with stunts and noise -- are growing as states try to crack down
Just before 2 a.m. on Sept. 14, engines roared in a Landover, Maryland, shopping center parking lot as a crowd gathered to watch souped-up cars spin in tight circles under the glow of streetlights. Then one car lost control.
Police say the white Infiniti sedan careened into a woman standing nearby, throwing her against another car. Police ...Read more

The West's power grid could be stitched together -- if red and blue states buy in
For years, Western leaders have debated the creation of a regional energy market: a coordinated grid to pool solar power in Arizona, wind in Wyoming, hydro in Washington and battery storage in California.
The shared resources would meet the demands of 11 different states, bolstering utilities’ local power plants with surplus energy from ...Read more

Tribal traditional healing gets Medicaid reimbursement in 4 states
CHANDLER, Ariz. — Art Martinez has seen the power of ceremony.
Martinez, a clinical psychologist and member of the Chumash Tribe, helped run an American Indian youth ceremonial camp. Held at a sacred tribal site in Northern California, it was designed to help kids’ mental health. He remembers a 14-year-old girl who had been struggling ...Read more

The earthquake app on Californians' phones will buzz Thursday morning. Here's why it's (probably) not an earthquake
People all across California will dive under desks Thursday at 10:16 a.m. Pacific time to take cover.
That’s not a prediction of a major earthquake. Rather, it’s part of increasingly popular statewide and international earthquake preparedness event.
The Great California Shakeout is a one-minute drill in which people at more than 9,000 ...Read more

Penn faculty senate overwhelmingly votes to urge university leaders to reject Trump compact
The University of Pennsylvania’s faculty senate Wednesday joined a growing chorus of concern over the compact proposed by President Donald Trump’s administration, voting overwhelmingly to urge Penn’s leaders to reject it “and any other proposal that similarly threatens our mission and values.”
The one-page document passed by the ...Read more

Police veterans with reform chops emerge as potential NYPD commissioner picks for Mamdani
At least two law enforcement experts with deep experience in police reform efforts are emerging as possible contenders to become Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s choice for NYPD commissioner should he win next month’s election, the Daily News has learned.
The two potential picks — Rodney Harrison and Isa Abbassi — both ...Read more