thursday

LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries, the pinnacle of a two-decade campus transformation, will officially open April 19.

That Sunday, a ribbon-cutting ceremony will kick off two weeks of priority member access to the galleries, with general admission beginning May 4, the museum said Thursday. Online ticket reservations open Thursday to members.

The announcement comes nearly a decade after news broke of business magnate David Geffen’s record-high $150-million donation toward the construction of a new museum building to be designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor. Since the beginning, the Brutalist design has been polarizing — Angelenos have cheered or jeered the concrete vision.

The $720-million Geffen Galleries, which museum members got a first look at over the summer, will serve as the new home for LACMA’s permanent collection. It will display 2,500 to 3,000 objects at a time from its collection of approximately 170,000 objects. Stretching across Wilshire Boulevard, the structure houses 110,000 square feet in 90 exhibition galleries that will be organized thematically rather than by medium or chronology.

“The idea is for you to make your own path — not to speak at you, but to let you wander like you would through a park or a place,” LACMA Director and Chief Executive Michael Govan said in an interview with The Times. “That change in attitude, and how the building is built, is really exciting.”

Of the $720 million, Govan said, the majority came from private donors, with $125 million funded by L.A. County. Aside from paying off interest and principal, additional funds from a $875-million fundraising campaign will go toward public art, collection moving costs, office renovations and general landscaping.

The inaugural installation will use global bodies of water as an “organizing framework, emphasizing the cultural exchange, migration and commerce prevalent throughout the history of art,” LACMA said in a statement. Standout entries include Georges de La Tour’s “The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame” (c.1640), Vincent van Gogh’s “Tarascon Stagecoach” (1888) and Henri Matisse’s “La Gerbe” (1953). Art installation is currently in progress.

Guests tour the Geffen Galleries for an early preview on June 26, 2025.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The four buildings that the Geffen Galleries replaced were “all broken up into little, tiny pieces, and they were not well traveled,” Govan said. The new structure is meant to make LACMA’s eclectic permanent collection more accessible on one extra-long floor.

“It’s kind of a worldview,” the executive said. “It’s big enough that it can hold the world.”

While the new building does not boast more gallery space than its predecessors — a point of public contention — Govan said that was never the plan due to county size regulations. Instead, the complementary additions of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum in 2008 and the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion in 2010 added 100,000 square feet of gallery space. In all, the campus transformation brought LACMA’s total exhibition space from 130,000 square feet in 2007 to 220,000 square feet at present. (The Pavilion for Japanese Art, which has been undergoing a retrofit and renovation, is 10,000 square feet. It remains closed and will reopen at some point after the David Geffen Galleries.)

A guest tours one of the 90 galleries within the new space during a preview opening on June 26, 2025.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Along with complaints about the building’s size, the Geffen Galleries’ heavy use of concrete had been criticized as an impractical choice for hanging art. According to LACMA’s preparators, that’s not a problem given the right tools.

Among the building project’s donors were Tony Ressler, co-chair of the museum board of trustees, after whom the Geffen Galleries’ south wing will be named, the museum also announced Thursday. Willow Bay, a longtime board member, will join Ressler as board co-chair.

“LACMA is a global cultural force that brings millions of people together through the power of art, connecting communities across Los Angeles and around the world,” Bay said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful for Tony’s leadership and generosity, and honored to join him as co-chair at this transformative moment in LACMA’s history as we advance our mission of enhancing access to art and education.”

Bay and her husband, outgoing Disney CEO Bob Iger, in 2018 made a “historic capital contribution” to support the preservation of Chris Burden’s “Urban Light,” which has become an iconic L.A. landmark. (Disney earlier this week named parks chief Josh D’Amaro as Iger’s successor.)

LACMA previously announced that the north wing of the Geffen Galleries would be named in honor of the late former board co-chair Elaine Wynn, who contributed $50 million toward the construction project.

As LACMA looks to the future, Govan said the museum isn’t ruling out future expansion. But any additions would be off the Wilshire campus, in areas such as South L.A and the Valley.

The idea is, Govan continued, “Let’s change the model. Let’s just put the wings, you know, the rest of the museum, in other places and strategically located.”

The new David Geffen Galleries building is part of LACMA’s ambitious expansion plans.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Expansion, he said, is important for an encyclopedic museum, responsible for chronicling art history across many genres, geographies and media.

“If you’re the Frick and you only collect things of a certain period, you don’t have to expand,” Govan said. “But if your job is to keep up with the practice of artists and the world being bigger and bigger in terms of what people recognize as art, then you have to keep expanding.”

For now, though, he’s content to create a “big, beautiful gathering place” for Los Angeles.

“I always refer to our plaza as the living room for Los Angeles,” Govan said. “So this idea of the public space was so important from the beginning, and you see how the campus integrates with this.”

Zumthor’s building design, which includes overhanging canopies, intentionally creates shade with outdoor events in mind, the executive explained. It’s all about diversity of experience.

“You can take your selfie at ‘Urban Light.’ You can go to the jazz concerts, go see dozens of masterpieces outdoors… you can go inside somewhere and really focus quietly on a single work of art,” Govan said. “I wanted the range of all those experiences in a package where you wanted to hang out for the day.”

Twisted Sister has canceled all of its 50th anniversary performances following the departure of lead singer Dee Snider because of “a series of health challenges.”

In a statement posted Thursday on Instagram, the heavy metal band said all scheduled shows beginning April 25 in São Paulo and through the summer have been canceled “due to the sudden and unexpected resignation” of Snider. The “I Wanna Rock” singer is no longer able to perform in the way that he used to because of multiple heath issues.

“I don’t know of any other way to rock,” Snider said in a statement accompanying the band’s announcement. “The idea of slowing down is unacceptable to me. I’d rather walk away than be a shadow of my former self.”

“The future of Twisted Sister will be determined in the next several weeks,” the band’s statement read.

The separate statement regarding Snider’s health explained that a “lifetime of legendarily aggressive performing has taken its toll on Dee Snider’s body and soul.”

Also posted to the “We’re Not Gonna Take It” singer’s Instagram account, the statement said that Snider “has had several surgeries over the years” to help manage his degenerative arthritis. His condition meant he had only been able to “perform a few songs at a time in pain.”

“Adding insult to injury, Dee has recently found out the level of intensity he has dedicated to his life’s work has taken its toll on his heart as well,” the statement continued. “He can no longer push the boundaries of rock ‘n’ roll fury like he has done for decades.”

BUENOS AIRES — Argentina and the United States said they reached an expansive trade deal Thursday, boosting President Javier Milei as he moves to open up the South American nation’s notoriously protectionist economy and reflecting the close alliance between the radical libertarian and President Trump.

Argentina’s foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, posted a selfie on social media showing him and several diplomats beaming after emerging from a meeting in Washington where he said they’d signed the pact.

“Congratulations to our team and thanks to the U.S. Trade Representative’s team for building this great agreement together,” Quirno wrote. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative also confirmed the deal.

The countries announced a framework for the agreement in November, saying Argentina would ease restrictions on a range of American imports, including cattle, dairy products, medicines, chemicals, machinery, medical devices and vehicles. Those were key concessions for Argentina, where local industries long protected by steep tariffs have expressed concern about their ability to compete with American manufacturers.

The U.S., for its part, would remove reciprocal tariffs on imports of “certain unavailable natural resources” and ingredients for pharmaceutical goods from Argentina, according to the framework.

At the time, the White House reached similar frameworks with Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador — part of what it described as an effort to improve the ability of American firms to sell industrial and agricultural products in Latin American countries and bring down food prices for U.S. consumers.

Officials did not immediately offer details about the final version of the U.S.-Argentina deal signed Thursday.

The agreement marks the latest development in the close alliance between Trump and Milei, who has reshaped Argentine foreign policy to align with the U.S., earned Trump’s praise for stabilizing his nation’s crisis-prone economy and traveled to the U.S. more than a dozen times in the last two years. Milei is scheduled to appear at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate next week to speak at a gala.

Trump supported Milei’s fiscal program last year with a $20-billion credit line that succeeded in calming markets and boosting Milei’s prospects in a crucial midterm election in October. The U.S. Treasury also directly purchased U.S. dollar-denominated Argentine bonds that ratings agencies were classifying as “junk” at the time and snapped up the volatile local currency that Argentines were dumping in droves.

The extraordinary intervention drew backlash from across the U.S. political spectrum.

Trump’s MAGA base questioned the need to bail out a far-flung country that’s not only of little importance to the U.S. but also directly competes with its exports of corn, wheat, meat and oil.

Democratic lawmakers expressed outrage that Trump was staking taxpayer money on a political gift to an ideological soulmate.

That criticism has continued, with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, on Thursday appealing to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to end the $20-billion lifeline.

In a letter, she wrote that even though the Treasury promised its credit line for Argentina “was for an acute, short-term, and urgent purpose, it appears … to have left open the possibility of continued use.”

Debre writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of cyberstalking and threatening to kill or assault Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers involved in the crackdown in Minnesota.

Federal prosecutors said in a statement that Kyle Wagner, 37, of Minneapolis, was charged by complaint, and that a decision to seek an indictment, which is necessary to take the case to trial, would be made soon.

Court records in Detroit, where the case was filed, did not list an attorney who could speak on Wagner’s behalf. The complaint was filed Tuesday and unsealed Thursday.

Atty. Gen. Pamela Bondi alleged in a statement that Wagner doxed and threatened law enforcement officers, claimed an affiliation with antifa and “encouraged bloodshed in the streets.”

And at the White House on Thursday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt held up Weber’s photo at the daily briefing and said such conduct by “left-wing agitators” won’t go unpunished.

“And if people are illegally obstructing our federal law enforcement operations, if they are targeting, doxing, harassing and vilifying ICE agents, they are going to be held accountable like this individual here who, again, is a self-proclaimed member of antifa. He is a domestic terrorist, and he will be held accountable in the United States,” Leavitt told reporters.

President Trump announced in September that he would designate antifa a “major terrorist organization.” Antifa, short for “anti-fascists,” is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups and is not a singular entity. It consists of groups that resist fascists and neo-Nazis, especially at demonstrations.

When Trump administration border policy advisor Tom Homan announced Wednesday that about 700 federal officers deployed to Minnesota would be withdrawn immediately, he said a larger pullout would occur only after there’s more cooperation and protesters stop interfering with federal personnel.

According to prosecutors, Wagner repeatedly posted on Facebook and Instagram encouraging his followers to “forcibly confront, assault, impede, oppose, and resist federal officers” whom he referred to as the “gestapo” and “murderers.”

The complaint alleges Wagner posted a video last month that directly threatened ICE officers with an obscenity-laden rant. “I’ve already bled for this city, I’ve already fought for this city, this is nothing new, we’re ready this time,” he said, concluding that he was “coming for” ICE.

The complaint further alleges that Wagner advocated for physical confrontation in another post, stating: “Anywhere we have an opportunity to get our hands on them, we need to put our hands on them.”

It also details how Wagner used his Instagram account to dox a person identified only as a “pro-ICE individual” by publishing a phone number, birth month and year, and address in the Detroit suburb of Oak Park. The complaint says Wagner later admitted that he doxed the victim’s parents’ house.

Federal prosecutors didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on why the case was filed in Michigan instead of Minnesota. The alleged doxing was the only Michigan connection listed in the complaint.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota has been hit by the resignations of several prosecutors in recent weeks amid frustrations with the surge and its handling of the shooting deaths of two people by government officers. One lawyer, who told a judge that her job “sucks,” was removed from her post.

Trump’s chief federal prosecutor for Minnesota, Dan Rosen, told a federal appeals court in a recent filing that his office is facing a “flood of new litigation” and is struggling to keep up just with immigration cases, while his division that handles civil cases is down 50%.

Rosen wrote that his office has canceled other civil enforcement work “and is operating in a reactive mode.” He also said his attorneys are “appearing daily for hearings on contempt motions. The Court is setting deadlines within hours, including weekends and holidays. Paralegals are continuously working overtime. Lawyers are continuously working overtime.”

Karnowski writes for the Associated Press. AP reporters Eric Tucker and Nathan Ellgren in Washington contributed to this report.

Feb. 5 (UPI) — The White House is expected to launch its new prescription drug platform, TrumpRx, on Thursday evening, showcasing the president’s new “most favored nation” drug pricing policy.

President Donald Trump initially announced his plan in September with the launch of the TrumpRx website.

The idea is to sell prescription drugs at lower prices via the website, so that people without insurance can pay less. But users have to pay in cash because the site will not accept insurance.

The White House said at the time in a fact sheet, “foreign nations can no longer use price controls to freeride on American innovation by guaranteeing MFN prices on all new innovative medicines Pfizer brings to market.”

At the time, Pfizer was the only company on board. Since then, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Amgen, Gilead, GSK, Sanofi, Roche’s Genentech, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, EMD Serono and Novartis have joined.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the event on X.

“TONIGHT AT 7PM: President Trump, Dr. Oz, and National Design Studio Director Joe Gebbia will be officially unveiling TrumpRx — a state of the art website for Americans consumers to purchase low cost prescription drugs. This historic announcement will save millions of Americans money. You won’t want to miss it! Tune in.”

The Clippers have acquired high-scoring wing Bennedict Mathurin, center Isaiah Jackson and two draft picks from the Indiana Pacers for center Ivica Zubac, a person with knowledge of the deal not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said Thursday.

Los Angeles will receive Indiana’s protected 2026 first-round draft pick and a 2029 first-round pick. This year’s selection is protected if the Pacers have a top four selection or if it falls between selections 10 and 30.

The Pacers get the center they’ve needed since losing Myles Turner in free agency last summer. Zubac, who will turn 29 next month, is signed through the 2027-28 season and was a second team Allll-Defensive team selection last year. He’s averaging 14.4 points and 11.0 rebounds while shooting 61.3% from the field.

Mathurin, 23, was set to become a restricted free agent next summer, and it wasn’t clear if the Pacers could afford to keep him. He recently returned from toe and thumb injuries that kept him out for most of January. He’s averaging 17.8 points and 5.4 rebounds this season and has improved significantly as a defender during his fourth season.

Jackson has started 14 times in 38 games this season and is averaging 6.4 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 58.2% from the field.

The move comes just days after the Clippers also traded James Harden to Cleveland for Darius Garland in a swap of point guard and adds more draft picks to Los Angeles’ growing stockpile of selections.

Ray J is under doctor’s orders to stay on bed rest, take all his prescribed medications and avoid drinking alcohol or smoking because of his damaged heart.

The R&B singer, who revealed this week that his heart is pumping at far below capacity because of damage from his heavy use of alcohol and other substances, shared those directives with TMZ in an interview published Thursday. Doctors told him he likely has only months to live, with the former “Love & Hip-Hop: Hollywood” star predicting that he would die by 2027.

Doctors told Ray J — real name William Ray Norwood Jr. — that he should prepare for the chance that he might need a pacemaker or defibrillator soon, the singer told the celebrity site. He expects to get an update when he goes back in two weeks for a check-up.

The brother of actor-singer Brandy said that if he manages to survive his current health crisis, he expects to emerge a “stronger and a better person.”

Ray J told followers in a video posted Sunday that he wanted to “thank everyone for praying for me.”

“I was in the hospital,” he said. “My heart is only beating like 25%, but as long as I stay focused and stay on the right path, then everything will be all right.”

He said elsewhere that his heart was beating at 60%. The number likely refers to Ray J’s heart’s ejection fraction, which measures the volume of blood coming out of the heart’s left ventricle or being drawn into the right ventricle when the heart beats. Right-sided heart failure is far less common, according to WebMD.

The man who was with Kim Kardashian in her career-launching sex tape said in other video livestreams that the right side of his heart was “black. It’s like done.”

“I thought I could handle all the alcohol, I could handle all the Adderall,” he said. Now, he told TMZ, he’s been taking eight different drugs, including Lipitor, Jardiance and Entresto, and physicians’ warnings for him to avoid smoking and drinking are a challenge.

Doctors have told him he has only months to live, Ray J said in his recent livestreams, and he believes he won’t last past this calendar year.

He is 45.

California Democrats have assumed leading roles in their party’s counter-offensive to the Trump administration’s massive immigration crackdown — seizing on a growing sense, shared by some Republicans, that the campaign has gotten so out of hand that the political winds have shifted heavily in their favor.

They stalled Department of Homeland Security funding in the Senate and pushed the impeachment of Secretary Kristi Noem in the House. They strategized against a threatened move by President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and challenged administration policies and street tactics in federal court. And they have shown up in Minneapolis to express outrage and demanded Department of Justice records following two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens there.

The push comes at an extremely tense moment, as Minneapolis and the nation reel from the fatal weekend shooting of Alex Pretti, and served as an impetus for a spending deal reached late Thursday between Senate Democrats and the White House to avert another partial government shutdown. The compromise would allow lawmakers to fund large parts of the federal government while giving them more time to negotiate new restrictions for immigration agents.

“This is probably one of the few windows on immigration specifically where Democrats find themselves on offense,” said Mike Madrid, a California Republican political consultant. “It is a rare and extraordinary moment.”

Both of the state’s Democratic senators, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, came out in staunch opposition to the latest Homeland Security funding measure in Congress, vowing to block it unless the administration scales back its street operations and reins in masked agents who have killed Americans in multiple shootings, clashed with protestors and provoked communities with aggressive tactics.

Under the agreement reached Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security will be funded for two weeks — a period of time that in theory will allow lawmakers to negotiate guardrails for the federal agency. The measure still will need to be approved by the House, though it is not clear when they will hold a vote — meaning a short shutdown still could occur even if the Senate deal is accepted.

Padilla negotiated with the White House to separate the controversial measures in question — to provide $64.4 billion for Homeland Security and $10 billion specifically for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — from a broader spending package that also funds the Pentagon, the State Department and health, education and transportation agencies.

Senate Democrats vowed to not give more money to federal immigration agencies, including ICE and Customs and Border Protection, unless Republicans agree to require agents to wear body cameras, take off masks during operations and stop making arrests and searching homes without judicial warrants. All Senate Democrats and seven Senate Republicans blocked passage of the broader spending package earlier Thursday.

“Anything short of meaningful, enforceable reforms for Trump’s out-of-control ICE and CBP is a non-starter,” Padilla said in a statement after the earlier vote. “We need real oversight, accountability and enforcement for both the agents on the ground and the leaders giving them their orders. I will not vote for anything less.”

Neither Padilla nor Schiff immediately responded to requests for comment on the deal late Thursday.

Even if Democrats block Homeland Security funding after the two-week deal expires, immigration operations would not stop. That’s because ICE received $75 billion under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year — part of an unprecedented $178 billion provided to Homeland Security through the mega-bill.

Trump said Thursday he was working “in a very bipartisan way” to reach a compromise on the funding package. “Hopefully we won’t have a shutdown, we are working on that right now,” he said. “I think we are getting close. I don’t think Democrats want to see it either.”

The administration has eased its tone and admitted mistakes in its immigration enforcement campaign since Pretti’s killing, but hasn’t backed down completely or paused operations in Minneapolis, as critics demanded.

This week Padilla and Schiff joined other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in calling on the Justice Department to open a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by immigration agents in Minneapolis. In a letter addressed to Assistant Atty. Gen. for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, they questioned her office’s decision to forgo an investigation, saying it reflected a trend of “ignoring the enforcement of civil rights laws in favor of carrying out President Trump’s political agenda.”

Dhillon did not respond to a request for comment. Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche said there is “currently no basis” for such an investigation.

Schiff also has been busy preparing his party for any move by Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would give the president broad authority to deploy military troops into American cities. Trump has threatened to take that move, which would mark a dramatic escalation of his immigration campaign.

A spokesperson confirmed to The Times that Schiff briefed fellow Democrats during a caucus lunch Wednesday on potential strategies for combating such a move.

“President Trump and his allies have been clear and intentional in laying the groundwork to invoke the Insurrection Act without justification and could exploit the very chaos that he has fueled in places like Minneapolis as the pretext to do so,” Schiff said in a statement. “Whether he does so in connection with immigration enforcement or to intimidate voters during the midterm elections, we must not be caught flat-footed if he takes such an extreme step to deploy troops to police our streets.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Robert Garcia of Long Beach, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, announced he will serve as one of three Democrats leading an impeachment inquiry into Noem, whom Democrats have blasted for allowing and excusing violence by agents in Minneapolis and other cities.

Garcia called the shootings of Good and Pretti “horrific and shocking,” so much so that even some Republicans are acknowledging the “severity of what happened” — creating an opening for Noem’s impeachment.

“It’s unacceptable what’s happening right now, and Noem is at the top of this agency that’s completely rogue,” he said Thursday. “People are being killed on the streets.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) went to Minneapolis this week to talk to residents and protesters about the administration’s presence in their city, which he denounced as unconstitutional and violent.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has gone after a slew of Trump immigration policies both in California and across the country — including by backing a lawsuit challenging immigration deployments in the Twin Cities, and joining in a letter to U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi denouncing the administration’s attempts to “exploit the situation in Minnesota” by demanding local leaders turn over state voter data in exchange for federal agents leaving.

California’s leaders are far from alone in pressing hard for big changes.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the head of the Archdiocese of Newark (N.J.) and a top ally of Pope Leo XIV, sharply criticized immigration enforcement this week, calling ICE a “lawless organization” and backing the interruption of funding to the agency. On Thursday the NAACP and other prominent civil rights organizations sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) arguing that ICE should be “fully dissolved” and that Homeland Security funding should be blocked until a slate of “immediate and enforceable restrictions” are placed on its operations.

Madrid, the Republican consultant, said California’s leaders have a clear reason to push for policies that protect immigrants, given the state is home to 1 in 4 foreign-born Americans and immigration is “tied into the fabric of California.”

And at a moment when Trump and other administration officials clearly realize “how far out of touch and how damaging” their immigration policies have become politically, he said, California’s leaders have a real opportunity to push their own agenda forward — especially if it includes clear, concrete solutions to end the recent “egregious, extra-constitutional violation of rights” that many Americans find so objectionable.

However, Madrid warned that Democrats wasted a similar opportunity after the unrest around the killing of George Floyd by calling to “defund the police,” which was politically unpopular, and could fall into a similar pitfall if they push for abolishing ICE.

“You’ve got a moment here where you can either fix [ICE], or lean into the political moment and say ‘abolish it,’” he said. “The question becomes, can Democrats run offense? Or will they do what they too often have done with this issue, which is snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?”

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday he has informed acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez that he’s going to be opening up all commercial airspace over Venezuela and Americans will soon be able to visit.

Trump said he instructed U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and U.S. military leaders to open up the airspace by the end of the day.

“American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe there,” the Republican president said.

Venezuela’s government did not immediately comment on Trump’s announcement.

Earlier this week, Trump’s administration notified Congress that it was taking the first steps to possibly reopen the shuttered U.S. Embassy in Venezuela as it explores restoring relations with the South American country following the U.S. military raid that ousted then-President Nicolás Maduro.

In a notice to lawmakers dated Monday and obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, the State Department said it was sending in a regular and growing contingent of temporary staffers to conduct “select” diplomatic functions.

“We are writing to notify the committee of the Department of State’s intent to implement a phased approach to potentially resume Embassy Caracas operations,” the department said in separate but identical letters to 10 House and Senate committees.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries collapsed in 2019, and the U.S. State Department warned Americans shouldn’t travel to Venezuela, raising its travel advisory to the highest level.

The State Department on Thursday still listed a travel advisory for Venezuela at its highest level, “Do not travel,” warning that Americans face a high risk of wrongful detention, torture, kidnapping and more.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a message Thursday inquiring about whether it was changing its warning.

In November, as Trump was ramping up pressure on Maduro, he declared that the airspace “above and surrounding” Venezuela should be considered as “closed in its entirety.”

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which has jurisdiction generally over the U.S. and its territories, then told pilots to be cautious flying around the country because of heightened military activity.

After that FAA warning, international airlines began canceling flights to Venezuela because of heightened military activity.

American Airlines, which was the last U.S. airline flying to Venezuela when it suspended flights there in March 2019, announced Thursday that it intends to reinstate nonstop service there from the U.S. in the coming months.

“We have a more than 30-year history connecting Venezolanos to the U.S., and we are ready to renew that incredible relationship,” Nat Pieper, American’s chief commercial officer, said in a statement. “By restarting service to Venezuela, American will offer customers the opportunity to reunite with families and create new business and commerce with the United States.”

American said it would share additional details about the return to service in the coming months as it works with federal authorities on security assessments and necessary permissions.

Price writes for the Associated Press. AP reporters Matthew Lee in Washington and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

PORTLAND, Maine — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Thursday that immigration officials have ceased their “enhanced operations” in the state, the site of an enforcement surge and more than 200 arrests since last week.

Collins, a Republican, announced the development after saying she had spoken directly with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

“There are currently no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations here,” Collins said in a statement, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “I have been urging Secretary Noem and others in the Administration to get ICE to reconsider its approach to immigration enforcement in the state.”

The announcement came after President Trump seemed to signal a willingness to ease tensions in Minneapolis after a second deadly shooting there by federal immigration agents.

Collins said ICE and Border Patrol officials “will continue their normal operations that have been ongoing here for many years.”

An email seeking comment was sent Thursday to the Department of Homeland Security.

Collins’ announcement comes more than a week after immigration officers began an operation dubbed “Catch of the Day” by ICE. Federal officials said about 50 arrests were made the first day and that roughly 1,400 people were operational targets in the mostly rural state of 1.4 million residents, 4% of whom are foreign-born. ICE said more recently that more than 200 people have been arrested since the operation started.

In Lewiston, one of the cities targeted by ICE, Mayor Carl Sheline called the scale-down welcome news, describing the agency’s operations as “disastrous” for the city and others.

“ICE operations in Maine have failed to improve public safety and have caused lasting damage to our communities. We will continue working to ensure that those who were wrongfully detained by ICE are returned to us,” said Sheline, who leads a city where the charter requires the mayoral position to be nonpartisan.

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin last week touted that some of the arrests were of people “convicted of horrific crimes including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child.” Court records painted a slightly different story: While some had been convicted of felonies, others were detainees with unresolved immigration proceedings or who were arrested but never convicted of a crime.

Collins, a veteran senator, is up for reelection this year. Unlike a handful of Republican senators facing potentially tough campaigns, Collins has not called for Noem to step down or be fired. She’s also avoided criticizing ICE tactics, beyond saying that people who are in the U.S. legally should not be the target of ICE investigations.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who announced her Senate candidacy in October and could face Collins in the general election, has challenged immigration officials to provide judicial warrants, real-time arrest numbers and basic information about who is being detained in Maine. She also called on Collins to act after the House’s GOP majority defeated Democrats’ efforts to curtail ICE funding.

Mills’ office did not immediately respond to an Associated Press email seeking comment on Collins’ announcement.

Meanwhile, first-time Democratic candidate Graham Platner — who is running against Mills in the primary — has criticized both Mills’ and Collins’ handling of ICE and has demanded the agency be dismantled. Platner organized a protest Thursday outside Collins’ office in Portland, Maine, where dozens of supporters held signs and sang along with him.

Platner said he would host a separate protest later outside Collins’ Bangor, Maine, office.

Several prominent Maine Democrats expressed guarded optimism about the ICE drawdown while also criticizing the agency’s actions.

“If these enhanced operations have in fact ceased, that may reduce the visible federal presence in our state,” said U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, who represents the Portland area. “But I think it is important that people understand what we saw during this operation: individuals who are legally allowed to be in the United States, whether by lawful presence or an authorized period of stay, following the rules, and being detained anyway.

Whittle and Kruesi write for the Associated Press. Kruesi reported from Providence, R.I. AP writer Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H., contributed to this report.

It’s time to see which Mission League basketball teams are ready for some March Madness in February.

The tournament is set to begin Thursday after Tuesday’s final results clarified seedings.

The final game of the night was Crespi pulling out a 65-61 win over Loyola when Isaiah Barnes scored while falling down with 15 seconds left for the game-clinching basket. Despite the loss, Loyola claimed fourth place in the seedings while finishing in a three-way tie for fourth with Crespi and St. Francis.

The Cubs, though, are 14-14 and will need a win Saturday against the winner of Thursday’s Bishop Alemany (No. 8) vs. St. Francis (No. 5) game to keep alive their Southern Section playoff hopes. You need a .500 or better record to be considered for an at-large berth.

The other Thursday game has No. 7 Chaminade at No. 6 Crespi. That winner will play at Harvard-Westlake on Saturday.

Crespi was led by 6-foot-9 Rodney Mukendi, who scored 17 points. Deuce Newt had 15 points for Loyola.

Harvard-Westlake 90, St. Francis 56: Joe Sterling got back his shooting touch, making seven threes and finishing with 27 points. Amir Jones added 17 points for Harvard-Westlake. St. Francis did not play center Cherif Millogo.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 81, Bishop Alemany 48: The Knights claimed second place in the Mission League and an automatic spot for the Southern Section playoffs. Zach White had 26 points and 10 rebounds. Notre Dame played without NaVorro Bowman.

Sierra Canyon 79, Chaminade 28: Brandon McCoy had 18 points and Maxi Adams added 17 points for the Mission League regular-season champions.

Crean Lutheran 76, La Habra 67: The Saints took over first place in the Crestview League.

Mira Costa 53, Peninsula 41: Logan Dugdale has 17 points and 10 rebounds for Mira Costa (23-4).