LA

Feb 15 2026CRIME

Big Money, Big Parties: How a Convicted Man Still Paid for Fame

Jeffrey Epstein, even after his 2008 sex‑crime conviction, kept donating large sums to a Harvard‑linked club called the Hasty Pudding Institute. The club, which runs a social group, plays theater and sings a cappella, accepted yearly gifts of at least $50, 000. Because of these payments, Epstein

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Feb 15 2026ENTERTAINMENT

Vegas Strip Lounges: A New Era of Local Music

The Las Vegas Strip once thrived on big-name performers, with jazz legends taking center stage in showrooms while small lounges offered a relaxed backdrop for up-and-coming artists. Back then, music was the heart of every Vegas visit and sessions could stretch into the early morning. Today that wil

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Feb 15 2026SCIENCE

The Secret Language of Plant Immunity

Plants have a clever chemical called salicylic acid that acts like an alarm system when attackers arrive. In the common lab plant Arabidopsis, scientists first mapped out how this alarm works: a special route called the isochorismate pathway makes salicylic acid, proteins named NPR bind to it, an

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Feb 15 2026POLITICS

New Land Rules Spark Tension in West Bank

Israel’s cabinet has just passed a new plan that will let settlers buy land more easily in the West Bank, a move Palestinians say is a step toward full annexation. The decision marks the first time since 1967 that Israel has opened a formal land‑registration process for this occupied territory. T

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Feb 15 2026FINANCE

Rising Minimum Wage Sparks Job Crunch for Young Workers

The Bank of England’s policy adviser, Catherine Mann, warned that a steep climb in Britain’s minimum wage for younger employees has pushed up joblessness among 18‑to‑24‑year‑olds. Recent data show this group’s unemployment rate hit 13. 7% in the last quarter of 2023, a jump from 10. 2% three years e

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Feb 15 2026SCIENCE

NK Cells Fight Back: How Platinum Helps Cancer Immunotherapy

The battle against breast cancer often feels like a tug‑of‑war. In one common type, the tumor keeps growing because it hides from the body’s own defenders. Scientists used fancy lab tools to look inside these tumors. They found many natural killer (NK) cells that were ready to attack. In normal con

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Feb 15 2026POLITICS

Build Faster, Build Better: Why New York Needs Less Red Tape

The state of New York faces a housing crunch and growing needs for parks, schools, and clean water. A long‑time builder group says the governor’s “Let Them Build” plan can help. They argue that rules meant to protect the environment are too strict for many projects. The law called SEQRA ask

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Feb 15 2026SCIENCE

Plant Stress Defense: How Tiny Proteins Turn Off Key Enzymes

Plants use a tagging system called ubiquitination to control the life span of many proteins. In the case of phenylpropanoid production, which supplies important compounds like lignin and flavonoids, several enzymes are marked for destruction by this system. F‑box proteins act as the taggers. They

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Feb 15 2026POLITICS

Crypto Kiosks: Why Washington Needs New Rules

People in Washington shops are finding small machines that look like ATMs but let you buy or sell digital money. These kiosks are not backed by banks and do not follow the same rules that protect regular banking transactions. They can be handy, but many scammers use them to steal from people who tru

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Feb 15 2026FINANCE

Big Bitcoin Shake‑Up: How Wall Street Options Took the Spotlight

When Bitcoin slipped to about $60, 000 in February, the move didn’t just shake online exchanges; it sent a huge wave through U. S. markets. A single day saw the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) trade over 284 million shares, worth more than $10 billion in notional terms. Even more striking was the optio

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