In 2023, the Texas Legislature unanimously passed a law raising auto insurance costs for Texans by $1 to combat rampant catalytic converter theft. Three years later, a little-known state agency has devoted at least $30 million of that fee toward supercharging the state’s Flock surveillance network, placing cameras along highways and streets from El Paso […]

When Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi decided he wanted pandas at the Honolulu Zoo, he approached the Chinese Consulate-General in Los Angeles, who gave him some advice: Go to China. The trip, a 10-day whirlwind this past spring taken by Blangiardi and his wife, who was born in Beijing, cost taxpayers roughly $30,000 and involved the […]

MIAMI (AP) — A controversial policing tactic that permitted staggering amounts of deadly fentanyl to reach the streets as federal authorities sought to build bigger drug cases is now under investigation by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee. The committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, sent a letter Monday to Attorney General […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is dropping a categorical hiring ban on applicants who have had sexual encounters with prostitutes and will instead consider in a more holistic manner at least some candidates who have engaged in the practice in the past, according to people familiar with the matter. The move away from an automatic […]

CHICAGO (AP) — A beluga whale died days after it was transported hundreds of miles to a Chicago aquarium from a shuttered Ontario park as part of an ongoing effort to rescue Canada’s last captive whales. The whale, a 23-year-old female named Peekachu, died suddenly Tuesday as caretakers tried to rehydrate her, Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium […]

Tennessee National Guard members assigned to a federal anti-crime task force in Memphis fatally shot an armed 20-year-old man in the back, according to an autopsy report obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, contradicting police accounts that said the man was facing the troops when they fired. Authorities have said that Tyrin Johnson turned toward […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Blake Lively will get just over $400,000 of the $8 million she sought in legal costs from actor and director Justin Baldoni after they settled their fight over the production of their 2024 film “It Ends With Us,” a federal judge ruled Wednesday. Judge Lewis J. Liman explained in a written […]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — At 71 and a few years into retirement, Linda Henry felt like she was in good health, and only went to her doctor in Southern California for the occasional checkup. So it was a shock when she found out in 2024 that she had been enrolled in hospice, a specialized end-of-life […]

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia will repatriate 1,476 Myanmar nationals next month in the first phase of a voluntary program, the Home Ministry said on Thursday, as the government moves to address the country’s long-running refugee and undocumented migrant issue. The repatriation is part of a broader program involving 5,000 eligible Myanmar nationals who […]

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Kids under 18 will soon see a host of changes to their Instagram and Facebook experiences thanks to a historic $18 billion settlement Meta Platforms reached Wednesday with 48 U.S. states. Besides the money, which will be paid out over a decade, Meta has agreed to strengthen its age estimates to […]

State taxpayers will spend up to $50 million on the polarizing Copperwood copper mine in the far western Upper Peninsula following a vote Tuesday by the Michigan Strategic Fund. Toronto-based Highland Copper Inc. pitched the project in 2023 as a $425 million mine that will create 380 jobs during its 11-year lifecycle — and one […]

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s data protection regulator on Tuesday fined TikTok parent company ByteDance more than 153 million reais (nearly $30 million) because of alleged failures in the handling of personal data of children and teenagers. It’s the South American nation’s latest move against social media companies. The regulatory body said in its ruling […]