Nation and World
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40 years later, a new look at lessons from the Challenger disaster
Jan 28, 2026 3:46 pm - As high school teacher Christa McAuliffe prepared to be strapped into the space shuttle Challenger, Brian Russell, an official at the company that built the craft’s solid rocket boosters, had just participated in a fateful teleconference from his Utah headquarters.Like every other engineer in the conference room at Morton Thiokol on that day four decades ago, the 31-year-old Russell opposed launching because the bitterly cold temperature at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center threatened the O-rings that sealed the rocket boosters.
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Trump signals interest in easing tensions, but Minneapolis sees little change on the streets
Jan 28, 2026 2:33 pm - President Donald Trump seemed to signal a willingness to ease tensions in Minneapolis after a second deadly shooting by federal immigration agents, but there was little evidence Wednesday of any significant changes following weeks of harsh rhetoric and clashes with protesters.
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FBI executes search warrant at Fulton County elections office near Atlanta
Jan 28, 2026 12:37 pm - FBI agents were executing a search warrant at the Fulton County elections office near Atlanta on Wednesday, an agency spokesperson confirmed.
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Eating snow cones or snow cream can be a winter delight, if done safely
Jan 28, 2026 9:55 am - Experts say eating a bit of snow is probably fine if you live someplace with generally clean air, but staying away from plowed snow is a sensible precaution. It might contain deicing chemicals, debris and other contaminants.
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A new report warns that combined war casualties in Russia's war on Ukraine could soon hit 2 million
Jan 28, 2026 9:10 am - A new report warns that the number of soldiers killed, injured or missing on both sides of Russia's war on Ukraine could hit 2 million by the spring, with Russia suffering the largest number of troop deaths recorded for any major power in any conflict since World War II.
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Federal Reserve keeps interest rates unchanged even as Trump continues to insist they be lowered
Jan 28, 2026 7:28 am - WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve pushed the pause button on its interest rate cuts Wednesday, leaving its key rate unchanged at about 3.6% after lowering it three times l...
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Amazon cuts about 16,000 corporate jobs in the latest round of layoffs
Jan 28, 2026 7:25 am - Amazon is slashing about 16,000 corporate jobs in the second round of mass layoffs for the ecommerce company in three months.
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‘Doomsday Clock’ moves closer to midnight over threats from nuclear weapons, climate change and AI
Jan 27, 2026 6:49 pm - Earth is closer than it's ever been to destruction as Russia, China, the U.S. and other countries become “increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic,” a science-oriented advocacy group said Tuesday as it advanced its “Doomsday Clock” to 85 seconds till midnight.
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Activists say Iran’s crackdown has killed at least 6,159 people, as the country’s currency plunges
Jan 27, 2026 4:02 pm - Iran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests has killed at least 6,159 people while many others still are feared dead, activists said Tuesday, as a U.S. aircraft carrier group arrived in the Middle East to lead any American military response to the crisis. Iran's currency, the rial, meanwhile fell to a record low of 1.5 million to $1.
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Families of men killed in boat strikes sue Trump administration
Jan 27, 2026 3:53 pm - The families of two Trinidadian men killed in October during a U.S. strike on boats off the coast of Venezuela filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday.