Author: rpnadmin

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — U.S. Customs and Border Protection faced scrutiny Thursday after a watchdog group warned that forced labor persists on sugarcane fields in the Dominican Republic, which exports large amounts of sugar and other products to the U.S. In 2022, the federal agency had imposed a ban on imports of sugar and other products made by Central Romana Corporation, Ltd., accusing the company of isolating workers, withholding wages and fostering abusive working and living conditions. The ban, however, was lifted last year under the Trump administration, sparking an outcry that was revived when the nonprofit Corporate Accountability…

Consumer advocates are calling out “trickflation” — the repackaging of goods in taller or fancier containers that are priced higher than previous packages but offer less substance. Food companies have quietly embraced the practice since the coronavirus pandemic to hide price hikes and dissuade customers from switching to cheaper generic brands, advocates say. “Trickflation is an example of product marketing where firms are attempting to distract consumers from price increases by changing the shape or dimensions of the product,” said Joshua Berning, a Colorado State University food economist. Business analysts said companies use market research to develop packaging and slogans…

D.C. police said late Wednesday that they arrested a preteen boy in connection with the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old boy in Northeast last month. Metropolitan Police said members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force took the 12-year-old suspect into custody on charges of voluntary manslaughter while armed. Authorities sought to arrest the boy after linking him to the July 11 shooting that killed 13-year-old Ahmad Mims in Kingman Park. Police said the shooting erupted shortly before 8:30 p.m. that day in the 1600 block of Rosedale Street Northeast. Upon arrival, police said officers found Ahmad suffering from…

Companies that secretly vary prices based on how much they think individual customers will pay could face federal charges under a proposed policy released Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission. “When consumers see a listed price, they expect it to be same price that everyone else sees, not the retailer’s estimate of how much they are willing to pay based on their personal data,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement. The FTC has had its eye on personalized pricing for several years. In a preliminary report filed in January 2025, the agency found that grocers, clothing companies and…

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri court has rejected a request to let voters decide in November whether to erect some of the nation’s strongest protections for laws passed by citizen initiative. The ruling Wednesday by a Cole County judge upholds a decision by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who had blocked the amendment from the November ballot despite thousands of petition signatures for it. Hoskins asserted that the measure violated the state constitution by containing multiple subjects and restricting a republican form of government. The proposed constitutional amendment would have required 80% of lawmakers to vote in favor…

Tens of thousands of people in northwest Indiana remained without power Wednesday, more than a week after deadly storms leveled trees and knocked down power lines across the region. Northern Indiana Public Service Co., the area’s sole utility, has said its crews have been working nonstop to fix the outages and has restored power to 285,000 customers since Aug. 11. But the utility said 85,000 customers were still without power as of Wednesday morning, including more than 22,000 in Gary, where residents have lined up at community centers for hot meals and chances to charge their phones. Jeremy Spurrier, a…

A tractor-trailer rollover sent a truckload of squid spilling into a Rhode Island roadway, leaving a stench as they sat in the road for hours in the summer heat. Local authorities have dubbed it the “Squidpocalypse of ’26.” It was a warm, sunny day in the coastal town of Narragansett when the spill happened Sunday, and Narragansett Police Capt. Ryan Prest said he was told that the scene “started to smell bad as the squid sat out in the sun for a few hours.” The fully-loaded trailer was taking the squid to a processing facility out of town when the…

FORT HOOD, Texas — The U.S. Army said Wednesday it will resume Apache helicopter training missions after a brief pause prompted by a crash in Texas last week killed two soldiers. The cause of the Aug. 12 crash near Fort Hood remains under investigation by the Combat Readiness Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama. Military officials temporarily halted Apache training flights on Aug. 14. The decision to resume the training came “after a thorough review of safety procedures and flight operations,” the Army said in a statement. “We remain deeply saddened by the loss of our service members. Our thoughts are…

OAKLAND, California — A former engineering director at Meta who has testified before Congress about child safety on Instagram told jurors Wednesday at a landmark trial that the company took a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach on kids under 13 on its platforms. During his second day of testimony, Arturo Béjar said Meta consistently prioritized profits over safety in designing its products, focusing on how often and for how long people used them, even if it was detrimental to their mental well-being. “If you step away from the product, they are not going to make any money,” he said. The…

The longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes has announced his retirement, ending a decades-long career with the military newspaper as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon moves to exert editorial control and eliminate what it asserts are “woke distractions.” Max D. Lederer Jr. announced his retirement, effective at the end of September, in a memo to staff on Tuesday, as well as in an interview with Stars and Stripes. In the memo, seen by The Associated Press, Lederer, the second full-time civilian in the position, wrote that it had “become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the…