Kendrick Lamar sets a victory lap show for Juneteenth: Forum gig is first since Drake feud (2024)

DENVER — Schools involved in Colorado’s universal preschool program can discriminate on the basis of religion, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. However, the judge stopped short of granting schools enrolled in the program the power to discriminate against other protected characteristics, includ…

BALTIMORE — Baltimore Police want to hire more civilians, free more police up for patrol and get officers out of their cars, engaging with the public on foot.

More than 1.2 million rechargeable lights are under recall in the U.S. and Canada following a report of one consumer death. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Good Earth Lighting’s now-recalled integrated light bars have batteries that can overheat — and cause the unit to catch on fire. That can pose serious burn and smoke inhalation risks. To date, the CPSC notes that there’s been one report of a consumer who died, as well as another who was treated for smoke inhalation when the light caused a fire in their home last year. Both regulators and Good Earth Lighting urge those in possession of these recalled products to stop using them immediately — and contact the company for a free replacement.

LAS VEGAS — The U.S. Department of the Interior announced Thursday it will invest $700 million in federal funding for long-term water conservation projects across the Lower Colorado River Basin, including Lake Mead.

The women of pop are not putting up with speculation about their bodies today.

LOS ANGELES — Kendrick Lamar, the widely acknowledged champion of this year's most brutal rap feud, will be taking an onstage victory lap this month in the form of a live Juneteenth performance in Inglewood, he announced Tuesday.

Americans broadly support LGBTQ+ people living as they wish, with large majorities backing same-sex marriage, same-sex couples raising children and laws to protect queer people from job discrimination, according to a new nationwide poll for the Los Angeles Times.

WASHINGTON — The Michigan Democratic Party has called for a federal probe into the relationship between Grand Rapids-area Republican congressional candidate Paul Hudson and a political action group supporting him.

It can sometimes be difficult for child actors to shed public conceptions of them as a kid on screen, hindering these stars from being taken seriously in Hollywood as adults. But at 30, Dakota Fanning is feeling better than ever about her creative voice and agency and has found herself drawn to complicated characters. The realness of her character in “The Watchers,” a psychological horror fantasy film which hits theaters Friday, is part of what drew her to the role, something she and director Ishana Night Shyamalan bonded over.

A former 911 dispatcher in Pennsylvania is no longer facing prosecution for involuntary manslaughter based on allegations he failed to send an ambulance to the rural home of a woman who was found dead a day later of internal bleeding. Greene County District Attorney Brianna Vanata said she acted to end the case against Lee Price this week after reviewing an investigator’s report that said he felt charges weren't justified in the July 2020 death of 54-year-old Diania Kronk. Price’s defense lawyer says Price is moving forward and happy to put the charges behind him. Trial in the case had been scheduled for next week.

The United States won the toss and elected to field against Pakistan in their Group A game at the T20 World Cup. The U.S. made a winning start to the tournament by beating Canada by seven wickets at the same venue in the opening game of the event, which it is co-hosting with the West Indies. The home team made one change and brought in Nosthush Kenjige in place of all-rounder Shadley van Schalkwyk. Pakistan had a setback on the eve of its opening World Cup game when all-rounder Imad Wasim was ruled out due to a side strain.

Officials say residents in Atlanta no longer must boil water before drinking it. The advisory was lifted on Thursday, six days after an initial water main break west of downtown began causing problems for the city’s water system. While the first rupture was repaired on Saturday, a second leak that began later Friday wasn’t fixed until Tuesday. Normal water flow and pressure was restored citywide on Wednesday, but more time was required to test for bacteria to ensure the water was safe to drink. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is supporting a plan to spend $5 million to reimburse businesses for losses during the water outage. He also promises to assess the city’s infrastructure and deploy monitors to detect leaking pipes.

Michigan State has added former Michigan assistant and Lansing native Saddi Washington to Tom Izzo’s coaching staff. The move was announced Thursday, two months after Mark Montgomery left the Spartans to lead Detroit Mercy. Izzo also promoted Jon Borovich and Austin Thornton to assistant coaching roles to join Thomas Kelley and named Doug Wojcik associate head coach. Washington was an assistant coach for the Wolverines for eight seasons, a run that ended when Dusty May was hired to replace Juwan Howard.

A change is coming for one of the best horses running in the Belmont Stakes after experiencing some difficulties in the Kentucky Derby. Sierra Leone lost to Mystik Dan by a nose after veering side to side down the stretch and might have won easily with a straightforward run. Trainer Chad Brown as a result is experimenting with a different kind of bit in the horse's mouth in the hope of giving new jockey Flavien Prat more control. Sierra Leone opened as the favorite in the field of 10 horses running in the final leg of the Triple Crown.

The Premier League says clubs will trial two new forms of spending caps from next season. Teams in England’s top division will trial a “Squad Cost Rules” system limiting spending on players to 85% of a club’s soccer revenue and net profit or loss on player sales. A second system called “Top to Bottom Anchoring” limits spending to a multiple of the lowest combined prize money and cash from TV rights forecast to be earned by a team.

Leaders of the United Methodist Church have expressed regret over last week’s decision by the branch in Côte d’Ivoire to leave the union following the church’s decision to repeal a long-standing ban on LGBTQ+ clergy but pledged to accept it. The developments were the latest in a series of ripple effects in conservative Africa, which is home to the vast majority of United Methodists outside the United States, amid disputes on sexuality and theology that have shaken the Methodist churches. The church’s Council of Bishops said on Wednesday that “while we grieve” the Côte d’Ivoire’s decision to sperate from the United Methodists, “we commit to work with them through the process of becoming an Autonomous Methodist Church.”

You have questions. I have some answers.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — John Indergand was 19 when he joined the U.S. Army in March of 1943, some 15 months after the nation entered World War II.

Britain’s July 4 election is less than a month away. The campaign has already produced drama and disputes, even before the parties unveil their manifestos with detailed lists of promises in the coming days. This week saw Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Labour Party rival, Keir Starmer, spar in their first televised debate. The two parties tussled over a disputed Conservative claim that Labour would hike household taxes. Meanwhile, populist firebrand Nigel Farage returned to dent Conservative hopes of retaining power after 14 years in office. The left-of-center Labour Party remains the favorite to win the most seats in the 650-seat House of Commons.

The Belmont Stakes will be run at 1 1/4 miles instead of the traditional 1 1/2-mile distance that has long distinguished the third leg of the Triple Crown. It’s being shortened because of the shape of the track at Saratoga Race Course, which is hosting for the first time while Belmont Park is renovated. But the change is a big reason why so many of the top 3-year-olds are running in the 10-horse field. It's the first time in more than a decade the Belmont has the winners of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

Son Heung-min scored twice as South Korea thrashed Singapore 7-0 to advance to the final round of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, while China still has work to do after a 1-1 draw with Thailand. South Korea stayed top of Group C with 13 points from five games, with China second on eight points. Thailand is three points behind in third with one round to go, with the top two teams from each of the nine groups progressing to the final round of qualifying.

- Prestigious International Awards Program Recognizes Outstanding Educational Technology Products and Companies -

British paratroopers, who parachuted into the historic D-Day drop zone in Normandy to recreate the airborne part of the battle that started 80 years ago and had led to the liberation of Europe from Nazi Germany have been met by French customs and passport control upon landing. Paratroopers who had landed near the Normandy village of Sannerville on Wednesday, assembled their parachutes and walked across a field to a makeshift border post manned by French border officials, some wearing uniforms of the country's customs agency. The U.K. Ministry of Defense confirmed the incident. British tabloid The Sun called the incident, "a ridiculous moment.”

Federal investigators are preparing to vote on the probable cause of an airport close call last year in which two planes nearly collided in Austin, Texas. An air traffic controller had cleared both pilots to use the same runway. National Transporation Safety Board investigators said during a hearing on Thursday that a FedEx cargo plane came within less than 200 feet of a Southwest Airlines jet carrying 128 passengers and crew members. The incident happened in February 2023 at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The FedEx co-pilot saw the Southwest jet just in time to avoid a collision. The incident was among several close calls last year that raised questions about aviation safety.

The greatest joke of HBO’s “Succession” was the inability of aging fictional CEO Logan Roy to name his replacement. Talk about the ultimate failure! But there are egomaniacal men who will go to their graves before envisioning a world that exists without them. That’s the animating through lin…

Thursday

Two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek eliminates Coco Gauff in straight sets to reach the French Open final.

Iga Swiatek has eliminated Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4 in the French Open semifinals. The top-ranked Swiatek stretched her winning streak at Roland Garros to 20 matches with Thursday's victory as she tries to become the first woman with three consecutive titles in Paris since Justine Henin from 2007 to 2009. Swiatek improved to 11-1 against Gauff overall and has defeated her at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament three years in a row. That includes in the 2022 final and last year's quarterfinals. Swiatek will face No. 12 seed Jasmine Paolini or unseeded 17th-year-old Mirra Andreeva in Saturday's title match. Swiatek is 4-0 in major finals so far.

Retired NASCAR driver Tighe Scott, his adult son and two other Pennsylvania men are facing felony charges stemming from confrontations with police during the Jan. 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol. Scott and three Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, residents were arrested Wednesday by the FBI. Court records did not list attorneys for any of the men. Tipsters helped identify the men after authorities posted photos and videos of the riot online, including one who recognized Scott from his racing days. Officials say the four men entered the restricted grounds of the Capitol during the insurrection and physically engaged with police.

North Macedonia’s president has formally asked center-right leader Hristijan Mickoski to form a new government following his victory in last month’s parliamentary elections. A coalition led by Mickoski’s VMRO-DPMNE party won just over 43% of the vote in the May 8 election, gaining 58 of parliament’s 120 seats, three short of the number needed to govern alone. After weeks of negotiations, Mickoski announced an initial coalition government deal with an ethnic Albanian party and a small leftist party. Mickoski now has 20 days to form a government, but says he hopes to do so much faster.

At first, fossil-hunting diver Alex Lundberg thought the lengthy object on the sea floor off Florida’s Gulf Coast was a piece of wood. But he says it turned out to be something far rarer: a large section of tusk from a long-extinct mastodon. Lundberg and his diver companion had found fossils in the same area before, including mammoth teeth, bones of an ancient jaguar and parts of a dire wolf. They also have found small pieces of mastodon tusk, but nothing this big and intact. The tusk measures about 4 feet and weighs 70 pounds. That is according to Lundberg. It’s currently sitting in a glass case in his living room. State officials will determine its scientific value.

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 6, 2024--

Thursday

SpaceX launched its Starship spacecraft into orbit Thursday in a fourth test flight intended to assess its ability to control the craft's descent.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 6, 2024--

Russia’s top state criminal investigation agency says a French citizen has been arrested on charges of collecting information on military issues. The arrest comes as relations between Russia and France have grown increasingly tense over the fighting in Ukraine. The Investigative Committee said Thursday that the suspect, whom it didn’t identify, has been accused of failing to register with authorities as a foreign agent while collecting “information about military and military-technical activities of the Russian Federation.” It added that the information could be used to the detriment of the country’s security. The charges carry a penalty of up to five years in prison. There was no immediate comment from French authorities.

California is hailed as a national leader for voting access, but visually impaired voters and their advocates say they still face unnecessary barriers. They argue that people should be able to return ballots electronically. Disability advocates are asking a federal judge to compel Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office to allow voters who have difficulty using printed materials to return their ballots via fax in the November election. Weber’s office declined to speak about the lawsuit, but opposed a 2022 bill that sought to let voters return ballots electronically. Weber cited security concerns including the threat of cyber attacks. The case is set to be heard this month in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Rescuers are searching for dozens of workers who were trapped when a gold mine collapsed in northcentral Nigeria. Authorities and residents say the pit collapsed on Monday in Niger state’s remote Shiroro district after heavy rains softened the soil. State emergency services said one person was confirmed dead and at least 30 others were missing. Residents, however, said as many as 44 remain trapped. Much of northern Nigeria is rich in minerals, but corruption, illegal operations and poor working conditions are common in mining operations because the deposits are mostly in remote areas with a minimal government presence. On Thursday, distraught families watched as rescuers worked to remove the remaining debris.

Spain's hopes of making a deep run at the European Championship will rest on a pair of young, fast forwards. Sixteen-year-old Lamine Yamal will be Spain’s wild card in Germany. He has proven almost unstoppable on Barcelona's right flank and should stretch defenses with Athletic Bilbao's Nico Williams also speeding down the other flank. The question for coach Luis de la Fuente is who will score if Álvaro Morata doesn't get the job done? Spain will be aiming for a record-extending fourth European Championship. It drew a tough Group B along with reigning champion Italy, Croatia, and Albania.

- Despite a contentious election, not a single act of violence was reported throughout the country -