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State attorneys general across the country are urging people to notify the authorities if they received one of the racist text messages sent Wednesday to scores of Black people, telling them they had been “selected” to pick cotton “at the nearest plantation.” They said anyone who received these texts should contact local law enforcement, the FBI, or file complaints with state agencies if they feel threatened. New York Attorney General Letitia James directed recipients to file a complaint with the office’s civil rights bureau, while Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison encouraged anyone who received the message to fill out a complaint form with his office. The FBI said it is investigating the case but would not confirm to NBC News if they have information on whether ...

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in restive southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including security officers, and wounding about 50 others, some critically, officials said. The attack happened when nearly 100 passengers were waiting for a train to travel to the garrison city of Rawalpindi from Quetta, the capital of the restive Balochistan province, a c cording to Hamza Shafqaat, a senior government administrator. A separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army , claimed the attack in a statement, saying a suicide bomber targeted troops present at the railway station. The outlawed BLA has long waged an insurgency seeking independence from Islamabad. Police said about a dozen security forces are also among...

Tony Todd , an American actor known for leading the “ Candyman ” horror franchise as its eponymous hook-wielding ghost, died Wednesday at his home in Marina Del Rey, California. He was 69. Todd’s death was confirmed by a representative for the actor. A cause of death was not disclosed. A reliable presence in genre fare across four decades, Todd’s series of credits include iconic titles such as Alex Proyas’ comic book adaptation “The Crow,” Michael Bay’s Alcatraz actioner “The Rock” and the elaborate killing-set-piece series “ Final Destination .” One of his earliest film performances came in his early thirties in Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning war epic “Platoon.” On “ Star Trek: The Next Generation ,” Todd donned alien make-up to play Kurn, a Commander...

A brush fire broke out Friday night in Prospect Park, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, amid a drought that has been plaguing the northeastern U.S. for weeks. The New York City Fire Department posted about the fire on X at around 8 p.m. Shortly after, it said units were using drone technology to find hot spots. "The fire's under control, and there are some hotter spots," FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker said at a news conference . Firefighters would be at Prospect Park all night to ensure the fire is contained and that no fires break out from embers carried on the wind, Tucker said. The fire was in an “extremely dense” part of Prospect Park on a hill, and there were no structures nearby to be threatened, he said. The cause of the fire is under investi...

While supporters and relatives of Erik and Lyle Menendez have advocated for their resentencing and possible release from prison , current and former prosecutors who tried the brothers in the 1990s told NBC News that they believe the men are cold-blooded killers and should remain where they are — behind bars. In an exclusive interview, one of the prosecutors cast doubt on a new piece of potential evidence the brothers have presented in court to challenge their convictions. “They killed their parents. They slaughtered their mother,” former Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Pamela Bozanich, who prosecuted the brothers in their first trial, told “Dateline.” “Why should they live among us?” The brothers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of...

Calmer winds helped California firefighters battle the once out-of-control Mountain Fire on Friday as they continued to defend homes from the destructive blaze, officials said. By Friday evening, the fire had burned 20,630 acres, with firefighters achieving 14% containment amid improving weather, Andrew Dowd, Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson, said at a news conference Friday evening. The fire did not expand and made very little movement by the end of the workday on Friday, Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said at the news conference. “The fire has laid down,” he said. “That is fantastic.” Evacuation orders have been lifted for 3,500 homes, with another 2,000 still covered by the orders, Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said. Residents of about 1...

Former President Donald Trump has clinched a second term in the White House, and his Republican Party has won control of the Senate. But control of the House of Representatives is still up for grabs, as is the size of the incoming Senate majority. In the fight for the House, Democrats are facing an uphill climb to net the four seats needed to flip the chamber, while Republicans only need to win a handful more competitive races to hold onto the majority. With more than a dozen House races still uncalled and many looking close, Democrats would need to hang onto all of their competitive seats and flip a few Republican-held seats to get to the 218 seats needed for the majority. With votes still being counted, here's a look at the key races that remain uncalled by the NBC News Decision De...

Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen has won re-election in Nevada, NBC News projects, defeating Republican Sam Brown and holding on to an important seat for her party in a swing state. The victory gives the first-term Rosen another six years in the Senate , continuing Democrats’ winning streak in a state that has become increasingly competitive on the federal level. While the polls showed a tight race for the presidential contest in Nevada, which President-elect Donald Trump ended up winning , the Senate battle was different: Rosen had opened up a lead in the last few months of the race, with Republicans fearing it was slipping away as they were being outspent on the airwaves. Although the margins are often close, Republicans haven’t won a Senate race in Nevada since 2012. ...

In the summer of 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez burst into the den of their family’s Beverly Hills home armed with shotguns and opened fire, killing their mother and father. After the brothers were charged in the murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez , they said they gunned down their parents after years of horrific sexual abuse at the hands of their father — an allegation disputed by prosecutors, who argued the claims were false and the siblings were motivated by financial gain. Their televised trial, which captured the brothers recounting the alleged abuse in grim and graphic detail, ended when the jury could not reach a verdict. After a second trial, the siblings were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. In October, ...

President-elect Donald Trump raised eyebrows when he decided to hold a campaign rally in the Bronx in late May. The New York City borough has been one of the most Democratic-leaning counties in the country for years. Trump won just 15% of the vote there in 2020 and 9% in 2016. Democrats viewed it as a stunt amid his criminal trial in Manhattan . Some suggested the crowd was made up of supporters far from the borough’s borders. In the end, the rally stood out not because of anything Trump said or did, but because of who showed up. It was one of the most diverse rallies of his entire political career. And as Tuesday’s results started pouring in, it was clear Trump was on to something bigger, not just in the Bronx but throughout the country. His coalition had changed. R...