Tallahassee police are investigating a possible trespassing incident after Leon County Commissioner David O'Keefe and City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow visited the site of the new Police Department as work crews removed 20 oak trees that community members had tried to save. Heather Merritt, a TPD spokesperson, confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the incident is under investigation but she could not say who was being investigated. "We are aware of an incident that occurred at the future headquarters of TPD and the investigation is ongoing," Merritt said. The commissioners' visit to the construction site on Jan. 25 was hardly a secret ― Matlow went live on Facebook with video from the scene as he offered scathing criticism of the decision to remove the trees and filmed video of the tree-cutting through a fence. Others also visited the site that morning, including City Commissioner Jack Porter and concerned citizens from neighborhoods around the old Northwood Centre property.

Footage released by the DA's office shows the cops initiated the arrest of a migrant in Times Square after he made a remark about "Ugly Betty."

The bill requires people be held on bail for dozens of new, small-time charges—and virtually eliminates charitable bail funds.

While once we dreamed of eradicating COVID, now much of society has resigned itself to SARS-CoV-2’s constant presence—a surrender that would once have been unthinkable. --- Let me stop you there, because the USA government never thought that and acted accordingly

A jury said Mann was defamed 12 years ago when a pair of conservative writers compared his depictions of global warming to a convicted child molester.

A Utah high school student needs police protection after a state school board member publicly singled out and suggested the student was transgender — without evidence — inciting threats from her followers on social media. Natalie Cline later apologized — but not before many commenters personally attacked the player, the student’s school district had to provide extra security for her, and the lawmaker who wrote the state’s anti-transgender athlete bill weighed in sharing private information possibly in violation of her own measure.

It’s amoral. It’s desperate. It’s politically reckless. It’s wrong no matter how you look at it. How do Democrats justify this lurch toward increased brutality at the border? Some appear to view it as a clever maneuver to beat the GOP at their own game. By adopting Republican framing and policy on immigration, and still getting rebuffed, this thinking goes, Democrats will show voters that Trump-driven hysteria is to blame for the supposed “crisis” at the border. It’s a confounding and amoral “gotcha” strategy, in which people seeking to move across the border in pursuit of safety, work, and a new home amount to little more than a mechanism for media narrative point-scoring. The messaging gambit from the White House and leading Senate Democrats is equal parts vulgar, xenophobic, and too cute by half. They are, they readily proclaim, giving Republicans “what they asked for.” And then, when Republicans reject it, Democrats say those Republicans want “border chaos” and are simply pawns of Trump and Trumpism. Republicans “appointed the Republican negotiator,” Senator Chris Murphy, one of the architects of the border bill, tweeted on Tuesday. He then told reporters, “We followed [Republicans’] instructions to the letter.” Republicans “got what they wanted,” Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said on social media. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) would add, with feigned credulity, “Just gobsmacked. I’ve never seen anything like it. [Senate Republicans] literally demanded specific policy, got it, and then killed it.” This line may have sounded clever in whatever West Wing whiteboarding session it emanated from, but the whole gambit rests on a confusing moral narrative: Do Democrats now agree with the Republican party on immigration, ideologically? Their outward messaging appears to accept the premise that this hard-right bill will “fix the border” (whatever this means), so it seems they do. Top Democratic senators are proudly boosting an endorsement of the bill by the Border Patrol union, a far-right union with a history of promoting white nationalism and avidly backing Trump. MSNBC personality Al Sharpton, much to the right-wing media’s gratification, said in an interview with Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) Tuesday that “we’re looking every day at the invasion of migrants”—positively Trumpian rhetoric. This seems like quite a pivot after Democratic party messaging ran in 2020 on criticizing Trump’s border policies and rhetoric as akin to Nazism. If so, do the Democrats now owe the GOP an apology?

Biden and aides handled classified material carelessly but prosecutors decided no chargeable crime was committed, special counsel says in report. To secure a conviction, officials would need to prove to a jury that Biden retained the information willfully. Ultimately, the report said a jury would find Biden to be a sympathetic figure and “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Hur said it would be "difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him -- by then a former president well into his eighties -- of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness,” the report said.

The presidential field is basically set, but before the Trump vs. Biden rematch begins in earnest, there are still a bunch of highly contentious primaries for the House and Senate left to be decided. On the Democratic side, none will draw more attention and money than the campaign to knock the Squad—the famed young, progressive legislators of color—out of Congress. And now, thanks to the most recent round of fundraising reports filed to the Federal Election Commission, we know exactly who’s funding that campaign. Surprise! It’s Republican billionaires and megadonors. Let’s back up: During the 2022 midterms, one of the super PACs affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group—called the United Democracy Project—spent more than any other outside group during the Democratic primaries. Yes, it was spending on Democrats. But it boosted only conservative Democrats who were in races against progressive legislators, in part because progressives are, as a whole, willing to criticize Israel, and sometimes even question unconditional military aid to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Over 30 public sector bargaining units in Florida have been decertified since October.

The 911 caller, who is a friend of the family, described the suspect, Brian Mcgann Jr., as a "delusional conspiracy theorist."

An expert witness testified hydrazine was likely formed during an electrolysis process. Editor note: see also this footage of testimony from the https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=3165&v=j_7emVHVGf0&feature=youtu.be

"He would not be one for chemotherapy. He's always argued against it. He's a great believer in natural herbs and potions and things like that. "So my guess is that at the moment he's taking advice from a man called Michael Dixon, who he's championed for many years, has headed his own natural alternative medicinal institute discredited by many people.

Fika Juliana Putri, a 19-year-old shopkeeper in East Jakarta, plans to vote in Indonesia's presidential election next week for a once-feared former special forces commander. She likes him, she says, because he's cuddly. A doe-eyed cartoon version of Gen. Prabowo Subianto - produced using generative AI - is emblazoned on billboards across Indonesia. It's reproduced on sweatshirts and stickers, and featured prominently on #Prabowo-tagged posts that have some 19 billion views on TikTok. Prabowo is Indonesia's defence minister. But on social media, his chubby-cheeked AI avatar makes Korean-style finger hearts and cradles his beloved cat, Bobby, to the delight of Gen Z voters. About half of Indonesia's 205 million voters are under 40.

WFAE's Ann Doss Helms found records for one school in Mecklenburg County receiving the scholarships last year, but couldn't find the physical school. Six months later, Teaching Achieving Students Academy still receives state money and she still can’t find it. Helms joined WFAE's Marshall Terry on Morning Edition to talk about it.

A federal court docket shows the Thursday arrests of two Columbus police officers, accused of stealing and selling cocaine, is related to a previous drug trafficking case involving two more Columbus officers. On Thursday, former Columbus officers Joel Mefford, 34, of London and John Castillo, 31, of Grove City were arrested. Indictments against the pair include accusations of stealing from evidence rooms and investigation scenes, as well as passing off the narcotics to another individual to be sold.

Swift's camp accused Jack Sweeney of effectively providing “individuals intent on harming her, or with nefarious or violent intentions, a roadmap to carry out their plans".

Recently, Warren Throckmorton launched a podcast called “Telling Jefferson Lies” that chronicles the career Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton and exposes the ways in which Barton misrepresents and misuses history to promote his far-right political agenda. The podcast is centered about the new second edition of the book Throckmorton co-authored with Michael Coulter called “Getting Jefferson Right: Fact-Checking Claims About Thomas Jefferson,” which was a rebuttal to Barton’s 2012 book, “The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You’ve Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson.”

The ad, which features AI images of pristine beaches and laughing children, has prompted backlash, including a planned protest outside Hulu’s headquarters.

Terence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne were found not guilty of murdering a police officer. But a judge sentenced them to life in prison.