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Dolly Parton on stage in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 20, 2025, at the premiere of "Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony." Hailing from East Tennessee, Parton’s songwriting, savvy, charm and philanthropy made her a beloved figure globally. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images) Dolly Parton, the personification of Tennessee music, died Tuesday at age 80 after decades of entertaining the world. Parton’s nephew, Bryan Seaver, delivered the news of her death in a video for the family, sparking mourning from her birthplace of Locust Ridge in the mountains of East Tennessee across the state to Nashville, where she found fame, and around the world, where her name brought people happiness in her deeds and passion for life. “Sadness lies with us, but not with Dolly. Dolly has lived in the light, and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by (husband) Carl, her parents and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens,” said Seaver, who le...

The headquarters of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama on February 8, 2023. Heidi Beirich, the former director of a covert program that paid confidential informants embedded with white supremacy groups, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) A former Southern Poverty Law Center executive pleaded not guilty Tuesday to conspiracy charges of wire fraud and making false statements as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s prosecution of the civil rights nonprofit. U.S. Magistrate Judge Kelly F. Pate announced that Heidi Beirich, director of the Intelligence Project for SPLC, would plead not guilty during the arraignment Tuesday afternoon, held over videoconference. Beirich did not appear on the teleconference; her attorneys stood in for her. DOJ charged SPLC in April with 11 counts of fraud over a paid informant system the organization began in the early 1980s to gather information on and dis...

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico speaks during a campaign rally in Laredo, Texas, on July 14, 2026. A major elections forecaster moved the Texas Senate race, in which Talarico faces Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton, as a toss-up, though a Democrat has not won the state since 1994. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Voters throughout much of the country will cast ballots for their U.S. senator this fall, but just nine states hold the power to determine control of the chamber — setting the course for which presidential nominees can secure confirmation and what bills advance during the next two years.  The Senate races, as well as the campaigns for every House seat, will serve as a test of Republican policies after two years of unified control of Congress. The outcome of this year’s midterm elections will also have a substantial impact on the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term.  Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, requiring Democr...

Goodwill Plantation includes a 35-acre lake, which attracts many migrating birds, according to The Conservation Fund. (Photo courtesy of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty) EASTOVER — In its past lifetimes, the Goodwill Plantation was a vast farm worked by slaves, a winter home for circus animals and a family hunting retreat. In its next life, the estate located just south of Columbia could become a state preserve . The Conservation Fund closed a deal on the property for $13.8 million earlier this month, primarily using a state-funded grant. The nonprofit plans to donate the land back to the state Department of Natural Resources to expand the nearby Wateree River Heritage Preserve . The Faulkenberrys’ home sits on a 32-acre lake on the Goodwill Plantation, which recently sold to a conservation nonprofit. (Photo courtesy of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty) The 736 acres include more than a dozen historic buildings dating to 1857, which the owners restored over the ye...

Absentee ballots are prepared to be mailed at the Wake County Board of Elections on September 17, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — With just over two months until the November midterms, a federal district judge in Massachusetts is chastising the Trump administration for sowing confusion and “creating” an emergency by noticing a rule Friday that the U.S. Postal Service will eventually require federally regulated mail-in ballot voting envelopes and state data. A 95-page  notice alerting that the final rule would appear in the Federal Register on Aug. 26 outlined justifications for federal requirements on states to redesign ballot envelopes and provide a list of recipient names and addresses to USPS. The final rule became effective Friday, according to the document. The final rule runs contrary to U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s Aug. 11  preliminary injunction barring the federal government from changing states’ mail-in ...

Michigan State University doctoral students attend the university's doctoral commencement ceremony on May 5, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is planning to drastically increase the fee for hiring high-skilled foreign workers within the United States to $100,000, according to a preview of a proposed rule published Monday.  The administration  noted in the Federal Register that it plans to use the fee to “serve as a dedicated revenue mechanism to help recover a portion of the federal government’s costs of administering the lawful immigration system, including activities carried out by DHS” and the departments of Justice, State and Labor. Currently, it costs anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 for an employer to hire a highly skilled foreign worker through the H-1B visa program. Congress created the program in the 1990s and visas are capped annually at 65,000, with an additional 20,000 for foreign workers who graduate w...