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US news

“Elected authoritarians, when they come to power, try to convert the state, which is supposed to be a neutral arbiter, into both a weapon and a shield,” said Levitsky, who co-authored the book How Democracies Die. “It's a weapon to be deployed against political rivals, and it is a shield to protect themselves and to protect their allies who engage in authoritarian or illegal behavior.”

Two men are facing charges after they were accused of trafficking 260 pounds of methamphetamine to New Jersey by truck, federal prosecutors announced on Tuesday. Marcos Cesar Acosta, 47, of Chicago, and Carlos H. Cordero-Gutierrez, 53, of Mexico, were both arrested on April 28. They were each charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, with up to life in prison as a maximum possible sentence, along with a fine of up to $10 million, according to the Justice Department.

The pandemic-era backslide in math and reading scores for students across the U.S. was not a sudden catastrophe but the continuation of a brutal, decade-long "learning recession" that began years before COVID-19's arrival.

Jason Collins, the NBA's first openly gay player who went on to become a pioneer for inclusion and an ambassador for the league, has died after an eight-month battle with an aggressive form of a brain tumor, his family announced Tuesday. Collins spent 13 years as a player in the league for six different franchises. He revealed in 2013 that he was gay, an announcement that came toward the end of his playing career. Collins had been diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma, which has an extremely low survival rate. He was 47.

The man who was fatally struck on Friday by a departing Frontier Airlines flight on the runway of Denver international airport died by suicide, the city's medical examiner said Tuesday at a news conference. On Friday evening, the man, identified as 41-year-old Michael Mott, jumped an 8-ft fence with barbed wire onto the runway, according to Phillip Washington, the airport's chief executive. Roughly 2 mins lapsed between Mott's breach of the runway and when he was hit by the Frontier aircraft.

CHRIS COONS: Director, I have to ask you one last question. You attended the Olympics in Milan. How much did your trip cost? And to what extent did that help you carry out your mission as director of the FBI? KASH PATEL: I greatly appreciate the question, senator. As you know, the FBI and [Department of Homeland Security] are responsible for the security of the Olympics, the World Cup, the F1, the Super Bowl, and everything else. We had 250,000 Americans travel to Milan. We're proud that we stood up our jock there and had zero major security incidences involving American citizens.

On May 8, Maine police arrested Stephen Bouchard, 63, and charged him with murder in connection to the death of Alice Hawkes, Maine State Police said in a press release. Bouchard and Hawkes were dating and lived together in a Westbrook, Maine apartment at the time of her murder, police said.

“The mass deportations in Trump 2.0 are not helping the labor market overall and not creating more job opportunities for U.S.-born workers,” East says. In fact, she and her co-author find evidence that, if anything, the clampdown has hurt the employment prospects of U.S.-born workers, particularly working-class men who work in industries that are heavily reliant on undocumented workers, like construction.

Growing up, Kevin Gonzalez, 18, dreamed of going to college and becoming a lawyer. But as he lay in a hospital bed in Chicago this winter, his gaunt frame ravaged by colon cancer, those aspirations narrowed to one final wish: seeing his parents before he died. Fulfilling that dream meant a desperate fight against time in his final weeks of life as his father, Isidoro Gonzales Aviles, and his mother, Norma Anabel Ramirez Amaya, sat in President Trump's immigration-detention system.

“Marty is a great guy. He's a friend of mine. He's a wonderful man, and he's going to be off and the assistant, the deputy, is taking over temporarily,” Trump said. “He was having some difficulty, you know, he's a great doctor, and he was having some difficulty. But he's going to go on and he's going to do well.”

The European Union unanimously agreed on Monday to impose new sanctions on the leaders of the Palestinian militant Hamas group and the Israeli settler movement, diplomats said, a decision sparked by growing outrage over the devastation in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war. However, the foreign ministers of the 27-nation bloc meeting in Brussels stopped short of endorsing stronger economic measures against the Israeli government, sought by some in Europe. Though Monday's meeting resulted in political agreement, the EU still has to settle on which organizations and individuals will be hit with sanctions, and a committee will finalize the draft list.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos later assessed that Nancy had been kidnapped, with the Los Angeles Times reporting that investigators had found blood and signs of forced entry at her home, and that her wallet, cellphone, and car were still inside the property. The sheriff stated that he was not aware of any previous threats to Nancy, and confirmed she has no cognitive problems and is "very alert" and of "very sound mind," but struggles with mobility and does take a medication that puts her at risk if she does not have it every day.

Eileen Wang, who was elected to the City Council in November 2022, entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors over charges that she acted under the control of the People's Republic of China to promote propaganda in the U.S. between 2020 and 2022, according to the unsealed court filing.

A federal appeals court has temporarily halted Thursday's scheduled execution of Texas death row inmate Edward Busby, citing concerns over his eligibility for capital punishment because of intellectual disability. The 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is in place "pending further order" of the court. Busby argued that a federal district court improperly denied the inmate's request for funding to test him for intellectual disability. The appeal also provided two new tests from experts, including one provided by the state, that his lawyers argue prove Busby is intellectually disabled.

“I had my car and a basket of clothes,” Roberts recalled. “Medical bills were not something I could have afforded.” Roberts sought financial assistance from CentraCare, the St. Cloud-based health system that treated her. It's a nonprofit charity that receives millions of dollars in federal, state, and local tax breaks. In exchange, it's obliged to offer charity care to patients who can't afford their medical bills. But Roberts said CentraCare told her she made too much to qualify.

I've been reporting on food and affordability for NPR for our new series What's Eating America. And in talking to people, business owners and experts, I've picked up some strategies to help keep my family's food costs in check without sucking all the fun out of eating. Keep an eye out for those stories.

A Moroccan military search team found the Soldier in the water along the shoreline at approximately 8:55 a.m. local time May 9, within roughly one mile of where both Soldiers reportedly entered the ocean, U.S. Army Europe and Africa said in a statement.

The evidence NAD+ is a crucial molecule that has many functions in the body. It's deeply involved in how our mitochondria produce energy and helps our cells survive and stay healthy, including by repairing our DNA. The field of longevity research has homed in on NAD+ as a potential therapy because of evidence that our levels decline as we get older, which may also contribute to the risks of age-related diseases, says Dr. Shalender Bhasin, who directs the Boston Pepper Aging Research Center at Brigham and Women's Hospita

When Rachel Negro-Henderson started shopping at Aldi regularly during the pandemic a change her family made when her husband lost his income as a crew coach she'd sometimes have awkward run-ins with acquaintances. "People would not want to talk about why they were here, like it was a mistake," the healthcare administrator said. "They just stumbled into a grocery store because they needed a tomato." But after just a few years, those interactions have changed.

The biggest threat stems from homegrown violent extremists, often lone actors that may have become radicalized online by extreme political views or jihadists such as the Islamic State (Isis), said four counter-terror experts interviewed. We need to protect not only each venue, but all the other links in the chain that get to the point of the game, said Javed Ali, associate professor at the University of Michigan, who previously served in the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and as national security council senior director for counter-terrorism.

The stadium sits on state land inside a county that enforces 1700s-era blue laws, which limit what people can buy on the Christian Sabbath. Sales of clothing, furniture, home decor, appliances and building supplies are off-limits on county land, making the laws some of the strictest in the nation. Grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations and other "essential" businesses are allowed to remain open.

Simply chatting with strangers has a lasting impact: It can make the participants happy. Even smiling and waving hello to a vendor you see regularly can boost your spirits, says psychologist Gillian Sandstrom, who delved into the benefits of social ties after her own uplifting exchanges with a hot dog seller during a time when she was feeling really isolated.