million

Northwestern University has agreed to pay $75 million to the U.S. government in a deal with the Trump administration to end a series of investigations and restore hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding.

President Trump’s administration had cut off $790 million in grants in a standoff that contributed to university layoffs and the resignation in September of Northwestern President Michael Schill. The administration said the school had not done enough to fight antisemitism.

Under the agreement announced Friday night, Northwestern will make the payment to the U.S. Treasury over the next three years. Among other commitments it also requires the university to revoke the so-called Deering Meadow agreement, which it signed in April 2024 in exchange for pro-Palestinian protesters ending their tent encampment on campus.

During negotiations with the Trump administration, interim university President Henry Bienen said Northwestern refused to cede control over hiring, admissions or its curriculum. “I would not have signed this agreement without provisions ensuring that is the case,” he said.

The agreement also calls for Northwestern to continue compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws, develop training materials to “socialize international students” with the norms of a campus dedicated to open debate, and uphold a commitment to Title IX by “providing safe and fair opportunities for women, including single-sex housing for any woman, defined on the basis of sex, who requests such accommodations and all-female sports, locker rooms, and showering facilities.”

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the deal cements policy changes that will protect people on campus from harassment and discrimination.

“The reforms reflect bold leadership at Northwestern and they are a road map for institutional leaders around the country that will help rebuild public trust in our colleges and universities,” McMahon said.

Trump has leveraged government control of federal research money to push for ideological changes at elite colleges he claims are overrun by “woke” ideology.

The fine agreed to by Northwestern is the second-largest behind Columbia, which agreed in July to pay the government $200 million to resolve a series of investigations and restore its funding. Brown and Cornell also reached agreements with the government to restore funding after antisemitism investigations.

Harvard, the administration’s primary target, remains in negotiations with the federal government over its demands for changes to campus policies and governance. The Ivy League school sued over the administration’s cuts to its grant money and won a court victory in September when a federal judge ordered the government to restore federal funding, saying the Trump administration “used antisemitism as a smokescreen.”

This fall, the White House tried a different approach on higher education, offering preferential treatment for federal funds to several institutions in exchange for adopting policies in line with Trump’s agenda. The administration received a wave of initial rejections from some universities’ leadership, including USC’s, citing concerns that Trump’s higher education compact would suffocate academic freedom.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump says he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and is promising to seek to expel millions of immigrants from the United States by revoking their legal status.

Trump is blaming immigrants for problems from crime to housing shortages as part of what he calls “social dysfunction” in America and demanding “REVERSE MIGRATION.”

His most severe social media post against immigration since returning to the Oval Office in January came after the shooting Wednesday of two National Guard members who were patrolling the streets of the nation’s capital under his orders. One died and the other is in critical condition.

A 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan war is facing charges. The suspect came to the U.S. as part of a program after U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to resettle those who had helped American troops.

Trump’s threat to stop immigration would be a serious blow to a nation that has long defined itself as welcoming immigrants.

Since Wednesday’s shooting near the White House, administration officials have pledged to reexamine millions of legal immigrants, building on a 10-month campaign to reduce the immigrant population. In a lengthy social media post late Thursday, the Republican president asserted that millions of people born outside the U.S. and now living in the country bore a large share of the blame for America’s societal ills.

“Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!”

Trump was elected on a promise to crack down on illegal migration, and raids and deportations undertaken by his administration have disrupted communities across the country. Construction sites and schools have been frequent targets. The prospect of more deportations could be economically dangerous as America’s foreign-born workers account for nearly 31 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The president said on Truth Social that “most” foreign-born U.S. residents “are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels” as he blamed them for crime across the country that is predominantly committed by U.S. citizens.

There are roughly 50 million foreign-born residents in the U.S., and multiple studies have found that immigrants are generally less likely to commit crimes than are people who were born in the country.

The perception that immigration breeds crime “continues to falter under the weight of the evidence,” according to a review of academic literature last year in the Annual Review of Criminology.

“With few exceptions, studies conducted at both the aggregate and individual levels demonstrate that high concentrations of immigrants are not associated with increased levels of crime and delinquency across neighborhoods and cities in the United States,” it said.

A study by economists initially released in 2023 found immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than people born in the U.S. Immigrants have been imprisoned at lower rates for 150 years, the study found, adding to past research undermining Trump’s claims.

Trump seemed to have little interest in a policy debate in his post, which the White House, on its own rapid response social media account, called “one of the most important messages ever released by President Trump.”

He pledged to “terminate” millions of admissions to the country made during the term of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. He also wants to end federal benefits and subsidies for those who are not U.S. citizens, denaturalize people “who undermine domestic tranquility” and deport foreign nationals deemed “non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

Trump claimed immigrants from Somalia were “completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota” as he used a dated slur for intellectually disabled people to demean that state’s governor, Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee last year.

On Wednesday night, Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who had entered under the Biden administration. On Thursday, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said the agency would take additional steps to screen people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum degree possible.”

Edlow did not name the countries. But in June, the administration banned travel to the U.S. by citizens of 12 countries and restricted access from seven others, citing national security concerns.

The shooting of the two National Guard members appeared to trigger Trump’s anger over immigrants, yet he did not specifically refer to the event in his social media post.

The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is accused of driving across the country to the District of Columbia and shooting two West Virginia National Guard members, Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. Beckstrom died Thursday; Wolfe is in critical condition.

Lakanwal, currently in custody, was also shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening.

Trump was asked by a reporter Thursday if he blamed the shootings on all Afghans who came to the U.S.

“No, but we’ve had a lot of problems with Afghans,” the president said.

Boak writes for the Associated Press.

Nearby in Desert Hot Springs, mark Dec. 13 on the calendar for a tree lighting that kicks off with a parade of lights and culminates in a holiday festival with free carnival rides, face painting, live music and a meet-and-greet with Santa.

On Dec. 4 in Rancho Mirage, enjoy views stretching over the entire valley from the beautifully-perched Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage, which welcomes the public to its tree-lighting celebration. The event occurs 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. with light refreshments served and carol singer performances. It’s free to attend, though registration is required here.

The next day in La Quinta, the town’s tree lighting takes place in Civic Center Park from 6 to 8 p.m., along with snow play, festive lights and a visit from Santa; on Dec. 13, Cathedral City’s tree lighting is part of the city’s free Snowfest party, which will also include a train ride, ugly sweater contest, elf workshop, a cameo from Santa and 10 tons of real snow.

The Palm Springs tree lighting is marked on this map. The Desert Hot Springs parade route starts at 5:45 p.m. Dec. 13 at Palm and Mission Lakes Boulevard and ends at Palm and 2nd Street. The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage tree lighting Dec. 4 starts at 5:30 p.m., at 68900 Frank Sinatra Drive in Rancho Mirage. The La Quinta tree lighting Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. is in Civic Center Park, located at 78495 Calle Tampico. Snowfest in Cathedral City takes place Dec. 13 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Cathedral City Civic Center Plaza, located at 68700 Avenida Lalo Guerrero. All are free to attend.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s a Superman comic beyond most of our price range!

A pristine copy of “Superman” No. 1 sold for $9.12 million at Heritage Auctions on Thursday, making it the most expensive comic book ever sold at auction. The closing price smashed the record previously set by another Superman-related comic, a copy of “Action Comics” No. 1, which sold for $6 million through Heritage Auctions in 2024.

The first issue of “Superman” was among a small trove of comic books found by three brothers in Northern California who were sorting through their late mother’s belongings. The collection had been tucked under a pile of old newspapers and cobwebs in the attic of their family home, according to a press release from Heritage Auctions.

The copy of “Superman” No. 1 was graded 9.0 on a 10-point scale by the Certified Guaranty Company (CGC), a third-party service that authenticates and grades collectibles, including comics, trading cards and video games. It’s the highest-ever graded copy of the 1939 comic book. (That newspapers helped preserve the comic’s condition would make reporters Lois Lane and Clark Kent proud.)

Superman made his comic book debut in 1938 in “Action Comics” No. 1. The anthology comic is often credited as kicking off the superhero genre in comics. The popularity of the Man of Steel — created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster — led to the launch of his own comic book series in 1939.

In addition to the launch issue of “Superman,” the mother’s comic book collection included issues of “Action Comics” Nos. 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21.

According to Heritage Auctions, this copy of “Superman” No. 1 is one of just seven known copies with a CGC grade of 6.0 or higher. A CGC graded 8.0 copy of “Superman” No. 1 sold for $5.3 million in 2022.

WASHINGTON — Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison for a case in which he was convicted of illegally funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to then-President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.

Michel, 52, declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him.

In April 2023, a federal jury convicted Michel of 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The trial in Washington, D.C., included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions.

Justice Department prosecutors said federal sentencing guidelines recommended a life sentence for Michel, whom they said “betrayed his country for money” and “lied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his schemes.”

“His sentence should reflect the breadth and depth of his crimes, his indifference to the risks to his country, and the magnitude of his greed,” they wrote.

Defense attorney Peter Zeidenberg said his client’s 14-year sentence is “completely disproportionate to the offense.” Michel will appeal his conviction and sentence, according to his lawyer.

Zeidenberg had recommended a three-year sentence. A life sentence would be an “absurdly high” punishment for Michel given that it is typically reserved for deadly terrorists and drug cartel leaders, Michel’s attorneys said in a court filing.

“The Government’s position is one that would cause Inspector Javert to recoil and, if anything, simply illustrates just how easily the Guidelines can be manipulated to produce absurd results, and how poorly equipped they are, at least on this occasion, to determine a fair and just sentence,” they wrote.

Michel, a Brooklyn native whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti, was a founding member of the Fugees along with childhood friends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean. Their hip-hop band won two Grammy Awards and sold tens of millions of albums.

Michel obtained more than $120 million from Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho — also known as Jho Low — and steered some of that money through straw donors to Obama’s campaign.

Michel also tried to end a Justice Department investigation of Low, tampered with two witnesses and perjured himself at trial, prosecutors said.

Low, who has lived in China, was one of the primary financiers of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a movie starring DiCaprio. Low is a fugitive but has maintained his innocence.

“Low’s motivation for giving Mr. Michel money to donate was not so that he could achieve some policy objective. Instead, Low simply wanted to obtain a photograph with himself and then-President Obama,” Michel’s attorneys wrote.

In August 2024, the judge rejected Michel’s request for a new trial based in part on his defense attorney’s use of a generative AI program during his closing of the trial’s arguments. The judge said that and other trial errors didn’t amount to a serious miscarriage of justice.

Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.

MIAMI — U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida has been indicted on charges accusing her of stealing $5 million in federal disaster funds and using some of the money to aid her 2021 campaign, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

The Democrat is accused of stealing Federal Emergency Management Agency overpayments that her family healthcare company had received through a federally funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, federal prosecutors said. A portion of the money was then funneled to support her campaign through candidate contributions, prosecutors allege.

“Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said in a statement. “No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain. We will follow the facts in this case and deliver justice.”

A phone message left at Cherfilus-McCormick’s Washington office was not immediately returned.

Cherfilus-McCormick was first elected to Congress in 2022 in the 20th District, representing parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, in a special election after Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021.

In December 2024, a Florida state agency sued a company owned by Cherfilus-McCormick’s family, saying it overcharged the state by nearly $5.8 million for work done during the pandemic and wouldn’t give the money back.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management said it made a series of overpayments to Trinity Healthcare Services after hiring it in 2021 to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations. The agency says it discovered the problem after a single $5-million overpayment drew attention.

Cherfilus-McCormick was the chief executive of Trinity at the time.

The Office of Congressional Ethics said in a January report that Cherfilus-McCormick’s income in 2021 was more than $6 million higher than in 2020, driven by nearly $5.75 million in consulting and profit-sharing fees received from Trinity Healthcare Services.

In July, the House Ethics Committee unanimously voted to reauthorize an investigative subcommittee to examine allegations involving Cherfilus-McCormick.

LA28 hopes to sell more tickets for the 2028 Games than any other Olympic organizing committee in history, and the private group launched a fundraising campaign Thursday to help keep those tickets accessible to local fans.

The fundraising effort invites local sports teams, philanthropists and partners to fund ticket donations that will go to local organizations that will distribute tickets within their communities. The Rams are the inaugural partners, donating $5 million to the campaign.

“The 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games are for everyone,” LA28 president Casey Wasserman said in a statement. “This program is about making sure that the people who live, work and contribute to the spirit of Los Angeles can access the Games taking place in their hometown. We’re incredibly thankful to Stan Kroenke and the Rams for being the first to step up for the people of their city. This is true partnership in action, and we look forward to welcoming others for this meaningful initiative.”

Registration for tickets will open in January and single tickets will start at $28. Amid concerns about skyrocketing prices for sporting events, LA28 said it will not use dynamic pricing that is common for large sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup.

Tickets for the FIFA World Cup coming to Canada, Mexico and the United States next year will start at $60 for some group-stage matches and climb to $6,730, the international soccer governing body said this year. Excluding the opening or closing ceremonies, tickets for the Paris Games ranged between 24 euros (about $27) and 950 euros ($1,097).

Leading up to the Games, the Paris organizing committee set aside more than 1 million tickets at 24 euros each and ensured half of the tickets on sale to the general public would be 50 euros or less. Hoping to keep the Games relatively affordable to fans, Paris 2024 used an “adapted pricing policy” that aimed to use the 15% of the tickets offered at the highest rates to allow the millions of lower-priced tickets.

The Paris Games sold a record 12 million tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics, which helped the organizing committee blow past its initial ticketing and hospitality revenue estimate by $365 million.

LA28 organizers expect to make 14 million tickets available for the largest Olympics in history and the first Paralympics in L.A.

After fans register for the ticket lottery beginning in January, purchasing windows will open that spring. Fans living near Olympic venue cities will have access to presale opportunities.

The Olympics are spread across more than 40 venues, with most clustered in L.A., Long Beach, Inglewood and Carson. Southern California residents and those living in Oklahoma City where softball and canoe slalom events will take place who are selected for the presale window will have access to all tickets for all venues.

Tickets for the Paralympics will go on sale in 2027.

WASHINGTON — National Public Radio will receive approximately $36 million in grant money to operate the nation’s public radio interconnection system under the terms of a court settlement with the federal government’s steward of funding for public broadcasting stations.

The settlement, announced Monday, partially resolves a legal dispute in which NPR accused the Corporation for Public Broadcasting of bowing to pressure from President Trump to cut off its funding.

On March 25, Trump said at a news conference that he would “love to” defund NPR and PBS because he believes they are biased in favor of Democrats.

NPR accused the CPB of violating its 1st Amendment free speech rights when it moved to cut off its access to grant money appropriated by Congress. NPR also claims Trump, a Republican, wants to punish it for the content of its journalism.

On April 2, the CPB’s board initially approved a three-year, roughly $36-million extension of a grant for NPR to operate the “interconnection” satellite system for public radio. NPR has been operating and managing the Public Radio Satellite System since 1985.

But corporation officials reversed course and announced that the federal funds would go to an entity called Public Media Infrastructure. NPR claimed the CPB was under mounting pressure from the Trump administration when the agency redirected the money to PMI, a media coalition that didn’t exist and wasn’t statutorily authorized to receive the funds.

CPB attorneys denied that the agency retaliated against NPR to appease Trump. They had argued that NPR’s claims are factually and legally meritless.

On May 1, Trump issued an executive order that called for federal agencies to stop funding for NPR and PBS. The settlement doesn’t end a lawsuit in which NPR seeks to block any implementation or enforcement of Trump’s executive order. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss is scheduled to preside over another hearing for the case on Dec. 4.

The settlement says NPR and CPB agree that the executive order is unconstitutional and that CPB won’t enforce it unless a court orders it to do so.

NPR, meanwhile, agreed to drop its request for a court order blocking CPB from disbursing funds to PMI under a separate grant agreement.

Katherine Maher, NPR’s president and CEO, said the settlement is “a victory for editorial independence and a step toward upholding the 1st Amendment rights of NPR and the public media system.”

Patricia Harrison, the corporation’s CEO, said CPB is pleased that the litigation is over “and that our investment in the future through PMI marks an exciting new era for public media.”

On Aug. 1, CPB announced it would take steps toward closing itself down after being defunded by Congress.

Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta spent nearly half a million dollars in campaign funds last year on personal attorneys to represent him as he spoke to federal investigators about alleged corruption in Oakland.

Bonta paid about $468,000 to law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati last year from his 2026 reelection campaign, according to campaign finance disclosures filed with the state.

Bonta political consultant Dan Newman said the attorney general was approached by federal investigators because he was viewed as a “possible victim” in the alleged corruption case involving a former Oakland mayor and Bay Area business owners.

Newman said “the sole role was to assist by providing information that would be helpful to the investigation.”

“This was all completed in 2024, over a year ago, and the AG’s involvement is over,” Newman said.

Bonta’s payments to the legal team were first reported by Sacramento’s KCRA-TV.

The U.S. Department of Justice in January charged former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao in an alleged bribery scheme involving local businesspeople David Trung Duong and Andy Hung Duong.

Thao ran for Oakland mayor in 2022 and was recalled from office by city voters in 2024 after growing voter frustration over crime and the city’s budget woes. She was arrested in early 2025 by the FBI.

According to the indictment, Thao, then a mayoral candidate, engaged in a quid pro quo scheme with the Duong brothers in which she promised to take official actions as the mayor to help their recycling and modular homes businesses.

The Duong brothers and Thao have pleaded not guilty.

The San Jose Mercury News reported in January 2025 that campaign finance regulators had also been closely scrutinizing Andy Duong. The Duong family viewed Bonta as a political ally, according to the newspaper.

Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021 selected Bonta, then an Assembly member representing the Oakland area, as the attorney general to serve the remaining term of Xavier Becerra, whom President Biden nominated to become the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary.

Bonta has emerged as a key player in California’s battle against President Trump, filing dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration.

Bonta eventually returned $155,000 in campaign contributions from the Duong family after the federal investigation became public, according to multiple news reports.

Newman, Bonta’s consultant, said that the attorney general was ultimately found not to be a victim in the case. When asked why so much money was spent on attorneys, he said that multiple lawyers worked over a period of several months.

A representative for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on Newman’s assertions.

Nov. 14 (UPI) — Jaguar Land Rover reported a loss of $637 million over the three months ending in September, when it was hit by a cyberattack that shut down production.

In the same quarter last year, the company reported $523 million in profits. The company also reported additional costs of $258 million, which included outside consultants and other support after the attack, the BBC reported.

The company had to shut down production through all of September and early October because the attack disabled its computer systems.

Retail sales dropped in all markets. In the United Kingdom they were down by 32.3%. Sales fell by 12.1% in Europe, 9% in North America, 22.5% in China and 15.8% in the Middle East and North Africa.

Revenues for the quarter fell 24%, from $8.5 billion last year to $6.4 billion, the company told BBC.

JLR also had phased out several models as part of a plan to become an all-electric brand. Those new models are now delayed until at least 2026. The JLR CFO Richard Molyneux wouldn’t confirm a launch date.

“We will launch it when it is perfectly right,” he said.

The English manufacturer has confirmed that all plants are back up and running at capacity or near it.

“JLR has made strong progress in recovering its operations safely and at pace after the cyber incident,” said outgoing JLR CEO Adrian Mardell, The Guardian reported. “In our response we prioritized client, retailer and supplier systems, and I am pleased to confirm that production of all our luxury brands has resumed.

“The speed of recovery is testament to the resilience and hard work of our colleagues. I am extremely grateful to all our people who have shown enormous commitment during this difficult time,” Mardell said.

Auto production in the United Kingdom was at its lowest level for September since 1952, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

With the longest U.S. government shutdown over, state officials said Thursday that they are working quickly to get full SNAP food benefits to millions of people, though it could still take up to a week for some to receive their delayed aid.

A back-and-forth series of court rulings and shifting policies from President Trump’s administration has led to a patchwork distribution of November benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. While some states had already issued full SNAP benefits, about two-thirds of states had issued only partial benefits or none at all before the government shutdown ended late Wednesday, according to an Associated Press tally.

The federal food program serves about 42 million people, or about 1 in 8 Americans, in lower-income households. They receive an average of about $190 monthly per person, though that doesn’t necessarily cover the full cost of groceries for a regular month.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the program, said in an email Wednesday that funds could be available “upon the government reopening, within 24 hours for most states.” But the agency didn’t say whether that timeline indicates when the money will be available to states or when it could be loaded onto the electronic cards used by beneficiaries.

West Virginia, which hadn’t issued SNAP benefits, should have full November benefits for all recipients by Friday, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Thursday.

The Illinois Department of Human Services, which previously issued partial November benefits, said Thursday that it is “working to restore full SNAP benefits.” But it won’t happen instantly.

“We anticipate that the remaining benefit payments will be made over several days, starting tomorrow,” the department said in a statement, and that “all SNAP recipients will receive their full November benefits by November 20th.”

Colorado officials said late Wednesday that they are switching from delivering partial to full SNAP benefits, which could be loaded onto electronic cards starting as soon as Thursday.

Missouri’s Department of Social Services, which issued partial SNAP payments Tuesday, said Thursday that it is waiting for USDA guidance on how to issue the remaining November SNAP benefits but would move quickly once that guidance is received.

Paused SNAP payments stirred stress for some families

The delayed SNAP payments posed a new complication for Lee Harris’ family since his spouse was laid off a few months ago.

Harris, 34, said his North Little Rock, Ark., family got help from his temple and received food left by someone who was moving. With that assistance — and the knowledge that other families have greater needs — they skipped stopping by the food pantry they have sometimes used.

Harris’ family, including his three daughters, hasbeen able to keep meals fairly close to normal despite missing a SNAP payment this week. But they have still experienced stress and uncertainty.

“Not knowing a definite end,” Harris said, “I don’t know how much I need to stretch what I have in our pantry.”

Federal legislation funds SNAP for a year

The USDA told states Oct. 24 that it would not fund SNAP benefits for November amid the government shutdown. Many Democratic-led states sued to have the funding restored.

After judges ruled the Trump administration must tap into reserves to fund SNAP, the administration said it would fund up to 65% of its regular allocations. When a judge subsequently ordered full benefits, some states scrambled to quickly load SNAP benefits onto participants’ cards during a one-day window before the Supreme Court put that order on hold Friday.

Meanwhile, other states went forward with partial benefits, and still others issued nothing while waiting for further USDA guidance on the situation.

Amid the uncertainty over federal SNAP funding, some states tapped into their own funds to provide direct aid to SNAP recipients or additional money for nonprofit food banks.

The legislation to reopen the U.S. government provides full SNAP benefits not only for November but also for the remainder of the federal fiscal year, which runs through next September. Citing that legislation, the Justice Department on Thursday dropped its request for the Supreme Court to continue blocking a judicial order to pay full SNAP benefits.

Mulvihill and Lieb write for the Associated Press. AP writers John O’Connor in Springfield, Ill.; John Raby in Charleston, W.Va.; and Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report.

Democrats’ caterwauling this week after a few of their senators caved to end the government shutdown couldn’t completely drown out another noise: the sound of President Trump pinballing dumb “policy” ideas as he flails to respond to voters’ unhappiness that his promised Golden Age is proving golden only for him, his family and his donors.

On social media (of course) and in interviews, the president has been blurting out proposals that are news even to the advisors who should be vetting them first. Rebates of $2,000 for most Americans and pay-downs of federal debt, all from supposed tariff windfalls. (Don’t count on either payoff; more below.) New 50-year mortgages to make home-buying more affordable (not). Docked pay for air traffic controllers who didn’t show up to work during the shutdown, without pay, and $10,000 bonuses for those who did. (He doesn’t have that power; the government isn’t his family business.) Most mind-boggling of all, Trump has resurrected his and Republicans’ long-buried promise to “repeal and replace” Obamacare.

It’s been five years since he promised a healthcare plan “in two weeks.” It’s been a year since he said he had “concepts of a plan” during the 2024 campaign. What he now calls “Trumpcare” (natch) apparently amounts to paying people to buy insurance. Details to come, he says, again.

With all this seat-of-the-pants policymaking, Trump only underscores the policy ignorance that’s been a defining trait since he first ran for office. No other president in memory put out such knee-jerk junk that’s easily discounted and mocked.

In his first term, Trump didn’t learn how to navigate the legislative process, and thus steer well-debated ideas into law. He didn’t want to. Even more in his second term, Trump avoids that deliberative democratic process, preferring rule by fiat and executive order (even if the results don’t outlast your presidency, or they fizzle in court). For Trump, ideas don’t percolate, infused with expertise and data. They pop into his head.

But diktats are not always possible, as the shutdown dramatized when Republicans couldn’t agree with Democrats on the must-pass legislation to keep the government funded.

With Republicans controlling the White House and Congress (and arguably the Supreme Court: see recent decisions siding with the Trump administration to block SNAP benefits), the Democrats were never going to actually win the shutdown showdown — not if winning meant forcing Republicans to agree to extend health insurance tax credits for millions of Americans. Expanding healthcare coverage has never been Republicans’ priority. Tax cuts are, mainly for the wealthy and corporations, and Republicans pocketed that win months ago with Trump’s big, ugly bill, paid for mainly by cuts to Medicaid.

Yet Democrats won something: They shoved the issue of spiraling healthcare costs back onto politics’ center stage, where it joins the broader question of affordability in an economy that doesn’t work for the working class. Drawing attention to the cruel priorities of Trump 2.0 is a big reason that I and many others supported Democrats forcing a shutdown, despite the unlikelihood of a policy “W.” (I did not support the Senate Democrats’ caving just yet, not so soon after Democrats won bigger-than-expected victories in last week’s off-year elections on the strength of their fight for affordability, including health insurance.)

The fight isn’t over. The Senate will debate and vote next month on extending tax credits for Obamacare that otherwise expire at year’s end, making coverage unaffordable for millions of people. Even if the Democrats win that vote — unlikely — the subsidies would be DOA in the House, a MAGA stronghold. What’s not dead, however, is the issue of rising insurance premiums for all Americans. It’s teed up for the midterm election campaigns.

Such pocketbook issues have thrown Trump on the defensive. The result is his string of politically tone-deaf remarks and unvetted, out-of-right-field initiatives.

On Monday night, having invited Fox News host Laura Ingraham into the White House for an interview and a tour of his gilt-and-marble renovations, he pooh-poohed her question about Americans’ anxiety about the costs of living with this unpolitic rejoinder: “More than anything else, it’s a con job by the Democrats.” When Ingraham, to her credit, reminded Trump that he’d slammed President Biden for “saying things were great, and things weren’t great,” Trump stood his shaky ground, sniping: “Polls are fake. We have the greatest economy we’ve ever had.” (False.)

On Saturday, Trump had posted that Republicans should take money “from the BIG, BAD Insurance Companies, give it to the people, and terminate” Obamacare. He told Ingraham, “Call it Trumpcare … anything but Obamacare.” Healthcare industry experts pounced: Such direct payments could allow younger, healthy people to get cheaper, no-frills coverage, but would leave the insurance pools with disproportionately more ailing people and, in turn, higher costs.

As for Trump’s promised $2,000 rebates and reductions in the $37 trillion federal debt, he posted early Sunday and again on Monday that “trillions of dollars” from tariffs would make both things possible soon. On Tuesday night, he sent a fundraising email: “Would you take a TARIFF rebate check signed by yours truly?”

Maybe if he’d talked to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who professed ignorance about the idea on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday, Trump would have learned that tariffs in the past year raised not trillions but $195 billion, significantly less than $2,000 rebates would cost. Not only would there be nothing to put toward the debt, but rebates would add $6 trillion in red ink over 10 years. That would put Trump just $2 trillion short of the amount of debt he added in his first term.

When Ingraham asked where he’d get the money to pay bonuses to air traffic controllers, Trump was quick with a nonanswer: “I don’t know. I’ll get it from someplace.” And when she told him the 50-year mortgage idea “has enraged your MAGA friends,” given the potential windfall of interest payment for banks, Trump was equally dismissive: “It’s not even a big deal.”

Not a big deal: That’s policymaking, Trump-style.

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The former chief executive of WPP’s Motion Content Group — the producer behind “Love Is Blind” and other reality TV shows — is suing the ad agency, saying he was fired after he flagged alleged improper billing practices.

In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, Richard Foster said he was ousted after he repeatedly warned senior managers about alleged “kickback practices” involving the company’s “rebate-driven deals” that he said “were unsustainable, unlawful, and a significant threat to the Company.”

Foster, a 17-year veteran, led WPP’s media division that is the producer and co-financier of “Love Island” and some 2,500 other television shows around the world. The division was rebranded in 2023 as GroupM Motion Entertainment in the North America.

Foster alleged in his lawsuit that GroupM leveraged “client budgets to secure inventory deals” from media companies that included cash rebates, inventory discounts and other financial incentives, and that these transactions were not always transparent or disclosed to clients.

Over the last five years, the lawsuit states, the company “generated rebate-driven deals valued between $3 [billion] and $4 billion, of which it improperly retained approximately $1.5 [billion] to $2 billion.”

But rather than confront the issues, Foster claims executives “marginalized him, and ultimately terminated him and his team to cover up their own improper practices.”

WPP disputed the claims.

“The Company is aware of a lawsuit in the New York State Court filed by a former employee who was let go in a recent organizational restructuring,” a WPP spokesperson said in a statement. “The court has not yet made any findings in relation to the allegations and we will defend them vigorously.”

In December, Foster submitted a 35-page internal report emphasizing that there were opportunities to establish a new entertainment division, but warned that its use of rebates could pose “possible legal and reputational” risks to the company.

At one point, Foster alleged that he told one executive, that “WPP and GroupM have ‘been sleepwalking to the edge of a cliff and people don’t want to hear it.’”

In January, Foster said he was asked to discuss the report with Brian Lesser, global CEO of GroupM, who “expressed concern about the legal risks tied to GroupM Trading and said he would investigate this further.” Days later Foster claimed that he received a text from Lesser asking him to send a “sanitized version of the report” and “to exclude any overt criticism of [GroupM Trading] as that is not in the spirit of working together.”

Eventually, Foster said he was terminated on July 10. He is seeking $100 million in damages.

“Richard Foster devoted nearly two decades to helping build one of the world’s most successful media and entertainment creation operations,” his attorney, William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors, said in a statement. “When he stood up for transparency and accountability at WPP, he was let go. This case will shine a light on systemic misconduct and the retaliation faced by an executive who refused to go along to get along.”

Grindr has helped expand access to at-home HIV testing with Together TakeMeHome.

Back in 2023, the CDC announced the launch of Together TakeMeHome, “a project to distribute up to 1 million free HIV self-tests over the next five years.”

“HIV testing is a critical HIV prevention strategy and a key first step in the continuum of HIV care, yet too many people are unaware of their HIV status,” they said in a statement.

“By offering free HIV self-tests through mail delivery, TTMH addresses common barriers to HIV testing, such as stigma, privacy concerns, cost, and lack of access to HIV clinics, giving people who otherwise might not have tested an opportunity to know their status.”

After just two years, Together TakeMeHome has achieved its goal of distributing one million free HIV self-tests, with major help from one of its partners, Grindr.

According to the LGBTQIA+ social media company, nearly half of the kits were ordered through the app, with one in four people being first-time testers.

In a statement, the Managing Director of Grindr for Equality, Mohan Sundararaj, celebrated the major milestone, teasing that “it’s just the beginning.”

“The need for accessible testing remains urgent, especially as funding cuts and anti-LGBTQ laws threaten to reverse progress,” said Together, TakeMeHome proves that there’s a way forward that relies on collaboration, innovation, and the belief that everyone deserves the right to know their status,” Sundararaj wrote in a blog post via the Grindr website.

“At Grindr for Equality, we’re continuing to expand this model globally with public health officials, local advocates, and community organizations to remove barriers to prevention. Every test sent out is an act of care, an act of trust, and a step toward a healthier, more equitable world.”

Building Healthy Online Communities (BHOC) co-founder Jen Hecht echoed similar sentiments in a separate statement.

“Together TakeMeHome shows what’s possible when public health meets people where they are: online, in their communities, and on their terms. Reaching one million test kits is an incredible milestone for our program and the communities it serves,” Hecht said.

This program helps overcome barriers to testing, such as transportation, time, and concerns about privacy and judgment. We hear from our users that they appreciate the ease and convenience of ordering online and testing at home.

“This program is supported not only by the reach of Grindr’s digital platform but also by its advocacy, which has made a significant difference in our ability to navigate funding challenges and keep this work moving forward. It’s a powerful example of what partnership looks like in action – and we’re only getting started.”

Fortunately, the Together TakeMeHome program is showing no signs of slowing down. In September, an additional funding request for the project was approved, allowing it to distribute another 360,000 free HIV tests over the next year.

Free HIV at-home testing kits are now available for US Grindr users via the app or at together.takemehome.org

2025 has been a busy year for Grindr. Over the past few months, the company has introduced a range of new features and changes to its app.

In August, the platform introduced its new Grindr Presents feature, allowing users to access original content directly within the app.

Now, the company’s popular entertainment offerings, such as the Katya-hosted Who’s The Asshole podcast, the viral Daddy Lessons series, editorials, music drops, and more, will all be available via an in-app content hub.

In addition to making it easier for users to access their content, Grindr revealed that it will all be uncensored, so say goodbye to the unwanted bleeps and hello to Katya and friends’ uncut, profanity-filled interviews.

Lastly, the social media company teased that Grindr Presents isn’t a one-off decision; instead, it’s a “bigger shift“ into “making Grindr not just where the gays are, but where the culture is.”

A few months prior, Grindr announced an expansion of its new Right Now feature – first implemented in Australia and the greater Washington D.C. area in 2024.

The intent-based option enables users seeking an immediate connection to upload text and photos to a real-time feed, separate from the main grid.

In a statement, AJ Balance, the Chief Product Officer at Grindr, provided insight into the new feature, stating that it “empowers users to find exactly what they want, when they want it – without the guesswork.“

TOPEKA, Kan. — A rural Kansas county has agreed to pay a little more than $3 million and apologize over a law enforcement raid on a small-town weekly newspaper in August 2023 that sparked an outcry over press freedom.

Marion County was among multiple defendants in five federal lawsuits filed by the Marion County Record’s parent company, the paper’s publisher, newspaper employees, a former Marion City Council member whose home also was raided, and the estate of the publisher’s 98-year-old mother, the paper’s co-owner, who died the day after the raid. An attorney for the newspaper, Bernie Rhodes, released a copy of the five-page signed agreement Tuesday.

Eric Meyer, the paper’s editor and publisher, told the Associated Press he is hoping the size of the payment is large enough to discourage similar actions against news organizations in the future. Legal claims against the city and city officials have not been settled, and Meyer said he believes they will face a larger judgment though he doesn’t expect those claims to be resolved for some time.

“The goal isn’t to get the money. The money is symbolic,” Meyer said. “The press has basically been under assault.”

The raid triggered a national debate about press freedom focused on Marion, a town of about 1,900 people set among rolling prairie hills about 150 miles southwest of Kansas City, Mo. Meyer’s 98-year-old mother, Joan, lived with him and died of a heart attack that he blamed on the stress of the raid.

Three days after the raid, the local prosecutor said there wasn’t enough evidence to justify it. Experts said Marion’s police chief at the time, Gideon Cody, was on legally shaky ground when he ordered the raid, and a former top federal prosecutor for Kansas suggested that it might have been a criminal violation of civil rights, saying: “I’d probably have the FBI starting to look.”

Two special prosecutors who reviewed the raid and its aftermath said nearly a year later that the Record had committed no crimes before Cody led the raid, that the warrants signed by a judge contained inaccurate information from an “inadequate investigation” and the searches were not legally justified. Cody resigned as police chief in October 2023.

Cody is scheduled to go to trial in February in Marion County on a felony charge of interfering with a judicial process, accused by the two special prosecutors of persuading a potential witness to withhold information from authorities when they later investigated his conduct. He had pleaded not guilty and did not respond to a text message Tuesday seeking comment about the county’s agreement.

Attorneys for the city and the county and the county administrator did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Sheriff Jeff Soyez issued an apology that mentioned the Meyers by name, along with former council member Ruth Herbel and her husband.

“The Sheriff’s Office wishes to express its sincere regrets to Eric and Joan Meyer and Ruth and Ronald Herbel for its participation in the drafting and execution of the Marion County Police Department’s search warrants on their homes and the Marion County Record,” the sheriff’s statement said.

The Marion County Commission approved the agreement Monday after discussing it in private for 15 minutes.

A search warrant tied the raid — which was led by Marion’s police chief — to a dispute between the newspaper and a local restaurant owner who had accused the Marion County Record of invading her privacy and illegally accessing information about her and her driving record.

Meyer has said that he believed the newspaper’s aggressive coverage of local politics and issues played a role and that his newsroom had been examining the police chief’s work history.

Hanna and Hollingsworth write for the Associated Press.

Nov. 9 (UPI) — The Trump administration has ordered states to stop distributing benefits to 42 million food insecure Americans, including critical nutrition and aid to the Women, Infants and Children program.

The move follows an order last week by two federal judges that ordered the administration to provide the benefits that hungry children rely on.

A memo from the U.S.D.A. Food and Nutrition Service directs states to “immediately undo any steps taken to issue” full payments to recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

The Administration has called on states to issue partial payments, about 65% of a typical monthly SNAP benefit, to recipients.

The memo threatens states with total cuts in federal funding they need to pay SNAP administrative costs if they don’t heed the warning.

As of Sunday morning, officials in many states said they were unsure how the USDA order will affect their aid, the fate of which has been uncertain as courts and the Trump administration volley back and forth over the amount to be distributed, if any.

Washington funds SNAP, but the federal government and states share the administrative costs of distributing the benefits to recipients.

Friday night, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson blocked a Rhode Island judge’s order that, earlier in the week, directed the Trump administration to issue full SNAP benefits for the month of November.

The Trump administration said Friday that it was working to distribute the aid, and it appealed to the Supreme Court to block the Rhode Island judge’s order.

The SNAP program provides aid to more than 42 million Americans, including elderly people, children and low-income families.

It has been at the center of the historically long government shutdown, as recipients have been unsure, often on a day-to-day basis, whether they are going to receive the funds they need to buy food they need to survive.

The Trump administration is demanding states “undo” full SNAP benefits paid out under judges’ orders last week, now that the Supreme Court has stayed those rulings, marking the latest swing in a seesawing legal battle over the anti-hunger program used by 42 million Americans.

The demand from the U.S. Department of Agriculture came as more than two dozen states warned of “catastrophic operational disruptions” if the administration does not reimburse them for those SNAP benefits they authorized before the Supreme Court’s stay.

Nonprofits and Democratic attorneys general sued to force the Trump administration to maintain the program this month. They won the favorable rulings last week, leading to the swift release of benefits to millions in several states.

But, even before it won a stay on those rulings through an appeal to the Supreme Court on Friday night, the Trump administration balked at reimbursing states for the initial round of SNAP payments. Wisconsin, for example, loaded benefits onto cards for 700,000 residents, but after the U.S. Treasury froze its reimbursements to the state, it anticipates running out of money by Monday, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration warned in a lengthy statement Sunday.

The lack of money could leave vendors unpaid and trigger escalating legal claims, the states warned. “States could face demands to return hundreds of millions of dollars in the aggregate,” the filing at the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals says.

That situation “would risk catastrophic operational disruptions for the States, with a consequent cascade of harms for their residents,” the filing concludes.

That filing arrived as the Department of Agriculture on Saturday told states it would now consider any payments made last week to be “unauthorized.”

“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” Patrick Penn, deputy undersecretary of Agriculture, wrote to state SNAP directors. “Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.”

Evers issued a quick response to the Trump administration’s demand. “No,” the governor said in a statement.

“Pursuant to and consistent with an active court order, Wisconsin legally loaded benefits to cards, ensuring nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites, including nearly 270,000 kids, had access to basic food and groceries,” Evers said. “After we did so, the Trump Administration assured Wisconsin and other states that they were actively working to implement full SNAP benefits for November and would ‘complete the processes necessary to make funds available.’ They have failed to do so to date.”

Bauer and Riccardi write for the Associated Press.