Not just Big Bird: Things to know about the Center for Public Broadcasting and its funding cuts

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and television stations as well as programs like “Sesame Street” and “Finding Your Roots,” said Friday that it would close after the U.S. government withdrew funding. The organization told employees that most staff positions will end with the fiscal year on … Read more

Appeals court keeps order blocking Trump administration from indiscriminate immigration sweeps

LOS ANGELES — A federal appeals court ruled Friday night to uphold a lower court’s temporary order blocking the Trump administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in Southern California. A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing Monday afternoon at which the federal government asked the court … Read more

Generations come together at a county fair dubbed Mississippi’s ‘giant house party’

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. — Each summer, hundreds of brightly colored cabins come to life with the sound of children playing and smells of Southern comfort food in what’s known as Mississippi’s “giant house party,” the Neshoba County Fair. The fair touts itself as the largest campground fair in the country, where attendees cram into more than … Read more

How an alleged Ponzi scheme targeting Republicans left investors and politicians reeling

CEDARTOWN, Ga. — A federal receiver is on the hunt to recover $140 million lost in an alleged Ponzi scheme that benefited some Republicans in the top ranks of their party in Georgia and Alabama. He’s looking to claw back funds, including almost 1,000 political donations totaling more than $1 million, that often backed far-right … Read more

DeSantis set a Florida record for executions. It’s driving a national increase

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In the final moments of a life defined by violence, 60-year-old Edward Zakrzewski thanked the people of Florida for killing him “in the most cold, calculated, clean, humane, efficient way possible,” breathing deeply as a lethal drug cocktail coursed through his veins. With his last breath, strapped to a gurney inside a … Read more

Rural US high schools are offering more college-level classes, but college can still be a tough sell

PERRY, N.Y. — As a student in western New York’s rural Wyoming County, Briar Townes honed an artistic streak that he hopes to make a living from one day. In high school, he clicked with a college-level drawing and painting class. But despite the college credits he earned, college isn’t part of his plan. Since … Read more

A Tunisian musician was detained in LA after living in US for a decade. His doctor wife speaks out

LOS ANGELES — Dr. Wafaa Alrashid noticed fewer of her patients were showing up for their appointments at the Los Angeles area hospital where she works as immigration raids spread fear among the Latino population she serves. The Utah-born chief medical officer at Huntington Hospital understood their fear on a personal level. Her husband Rami … Read more