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Updated August 17, 2026 at 4:56 PM CDT On a spring morning so blustery that the National Weather Service issued a small craft advisory, a Samish Indian Nation research boat, called the Chinook (Yómech), set out from Anacortes, Washington, just east of the San Juan Islands. A team of divers crammed into the cabin as the small craft bounced and slammed across Rosario Strait.

A federal prosecutor who was fired earlier this year is suing the Justice Department, alleging that she was unlawfully dismissed for political reasons tied to her work prosecuting a case against anti-abortion activists. The lawsuit filed by Sunita Doddamani, who worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan, is the latest to be lodged by a former career Justice Department employee alleging they lost their jobs for improper political reasons.

Updated August 17, 2026 at 5:00 PM CDT Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona is calling for an investigation into conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, citing an account from the grandmother of a sailor who said her grandson has lost significant weight during the carrier's extended deployment.

The House Ethics Committee announced Monday that it is investigating allegations of sexual misconduct against Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif, including "inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer." "The Committee, pursuant to Committee Rule 18(a), is reviewing allegations that Representative Jimmy Gomez may have engaged in sexual misconduct in violation of the Code of Official Conduct or any other applicable standard of conduct," the committee said in a statement.

This one is special. Paul Yoon's slim, devastating novel, Etna, is in a category of its own — a category that contains adjectives like "profound," and "uncanny." Narrated by a battle-scarred ex-military dog named Etna, Yoon's novel inevitably invites comparisons to that other story out this summer about a weary warrior trying to make his way home. I'm no help here, given that I haven't seen Christopher Nolan's movie yet and I haven't read Homer's Odyssey in years. No matter.

After U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tried to track down a New York man at his home, an airport and a hotel to confront him over a critical email he sent to the former head of ICE five months prior, federal officials are defending such investigations in court filings. The same court filings say the investigation into the man, David Streever, was closed at the end of June.

Gun rights groups are celebrating a federal ruling that lifts restrictions on the purchase of silencers, used to lessen the sound of gunshots, and certain firearms. Judge James Wesley Hendrix out of the Northern District of Texas invalidated key components of the nearly 100-year-old National Firearms Act (NFA) in more than a dozen states. Hendrix gave the Justice Department one week to submit an emergency appeal before his decision went into effect. But the DOJ never did.

JOPLIN — Ashley Allen had worked almost four years as a child abuse and neglect investigator for the Missouri Children’s Division when she quit in April. Some days it seemed like the printer in her Jasper County office never stopped churning out reports from the state’s child abuse and neglect hotline, Allen told The Independent. She’d get two or three reports each day — more, if colleagues called out. Usually, she had 24 hours to verify a child’s safety. For emergencies, she had three.

Missouri health officials say 1,950 people in the state have now tested positive for cyclosporiasis, an increase of hundreds of cases in the ongoing outbreak of the intestinal illness linked to contaminated iceberg lettuce. The numbers released Sunday afternoon by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services represent a 24% increase from the previous week. Case numbers have gone up steadily this summer as the illness spreads and more people are tested.

Want more news about agriculture and the environment? Sign up for the Harvest newsletter for our latest reporting, plus behind-the-scenes exclusives. Researchers at the University of Missouri say purple corn could offer a natural alternative to artificial food dyes and new opportunities for farmers in the region. Their latest study comes as food and drug manufacturers face mounting pressure from consumers and state and federal agencies to phase out petroleum-based dyes.