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​All seven defendants face wire fraud and arson-related federal charges. (FBI photo) Federal prosecutors in Louisiana charged seven people on Tuesday, in an alleged insurance fraud and arson scheme involving about 13 residential fires between 2019 and 2026. Authorities say the group rented homes, obtained insurance policies and then allegedly caused fires at the properties…

Oprah Winfrey committed $10 million to help build Angel Lane in Houston for hurricane evacuees. (Photo: Oprah.com) When Oprah Winfrey committed $10 million to help create a new Houston neighbourhood for families displaced by Hurricane Katrina, the project was envisioned as more than a collection of houses. It was intended to give evacuees a fresh…

A Texas city will pay at least $175,000 after the SpaceX site it owns pumped 128 million gallons of groundwater above permitted limits over three years; the settlement includes monitoring payments for 25 years/Image: Facebook City of McGregor A groundwater dispute involving SpaceX’s sprawling Texas operations has left the city of McGregor facing at least…

Alderman Merriam’s Shells, 1951​ Everyone peeks at an estate sale. He did too. He thought he would get his hands on some records or perhaps some mid-century furniture. That’s when he saw a painting hanging in the dark corner of a hallway. For most people, it may not necessarily have been an extraordinary painting. All…

Donald Trump’s climate cuts left thousands of federal workers jobless, prompting a new response. (Photo: Reuters) The United States’ climate science community faced a dramatic upheaval after President Donald Trump began his second term, with his administration cutting billions of dollars in research funding and firing thousands of federal employees across agencies including the Environmental…

Retired FBI agent Dave Benscoter turned his retirement into a mission to find ‘lost’ apples. (Photo: Dave Benscoter) Retirement from the FBI gave Washington native Dave Benscoter plenty of time on his hands in 2012. Little did he know that a routine day of yard work would eventually lead him on a more than decade-long…

A painting bought for just $100 in 1939 turned into one of the more remarkable discoveries featured on PBS’ Antiques Roadshow. The work, by Hungarian-born California Impressionist Joseph Kleitsch, was brought to the programme decades later by the daughter of the couple who originally purchased it. In 2014, New York-based art expert Debra Force gave…

Crop prices and yields can change, while a wind turbine can provide relatively stable revenue Iowa is known for its farms, but its landscape is also filled with wind turbines. The state produced 59% of its energy from wind in 2023, the highest share of any US state. For many farmers, wind energy is not…