U.S.

MINNEAPOLIS — U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi on Monday announced two more arrests following a protest at a Minnesota church against the immigration crackdown, bringing the number of people arrested to nine.

The nine were named in a grand jury indictment unsealed Friday. Independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were among four people arrested Friday. Three others were arrested earlier in the week, including prominent local activist Nekima Levy Armstrong.

A grand jury in Minnesota indicted all nine on federal civil rights charges of conspiracy and interfering with the 1st Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul. A pastor at the church is also a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official. The protest generated strong objections from the Trump administration.

In a social media post Monday, Bondi named the latest two arrestees as Ian Davis Austin and Jerome Deangelo Richardson. She gave no details of their arrests.

Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has said he had no affiliation to the group that disrupted Sunday service by entering the church. He has described himself as an independent journalist chronicling protesters.

The indictment alleges that Richardson traveled to the church with Lemon while he was streaming and that Richardson told Lemon they needed to catch up to the others. It also alleges that Austin stood in the aisles of the church and loudly berated a pastor with questions about Christian nationalism.

Online jail records show Austin was arrested Friday. It wasn’t immediately clear when Richardson was taken into custody.

Austin’s attorney, Sarah Gad, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Court records don’t list an attorney for Richardson who could comment on his behalf.

The Justice Department began its investigation after the group interrupted services by chanting, “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.

Cities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads ICE’s St. Paul field office.

Karnowski writes for the Associated Press.

It all began after a viral video alleging fraud in Somali-run child-care centers in Minneapolis: strangers peering through windows, right-wing journalists showing up outside homes, influencers hurling false accusations.

In San Diego, child-care provider Samsam Khalif was shuttling kids to her home-based center when she was spooked by two men with a camera waiting in a car parked outside, prompting her to circle the block several times before unloading the children.

“I’m scared. I don’t know what their intention is,” said Khalif, who decided to install additional security cameras outside her home.

Somali-run child-care centers across the United States have become targets since the video caught the attention of the White House amid the administration’s immigration crackdown. Child-care providers worry about how they can maintain the safe learning environments they have worked to create for young children who may be spending their first days away from their parents.

In the Minneapolis area, child-care providers, many of them immigrants, say they’re being antagonized, exacerbating the stress they face from immigration enforcement activity that has engulfed the city.

One child-care provider said she watched someone emerge from a car that had been circling the building and defecate near the center’s entrance. The same day, a motorist driving by yelled that the center was a “fake day care.” She’s had to create new lockdown procedures, is budgeting for security and now keeps the blinds closed to shield children from unwanted visitors and from witnessing immigration enforcement actions.

“I can’t have peace of mind about whether the center will be safe today,” said the provider, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted. “That’s a hard pill to swallow.”

Video’s claims disproved

The day after Christmas, right-wing influencer Nick Shirley posted a lengthy video with allegations that members of Minneapolis’ large Somali community were running fake child-care centers so they could collect federal child-care subsidies.

The U.S. occasionally has seen fraud cases related to child-care subsidies. But the Minneapolis video’s central claims — that business owners were billing the government for children they were not caring for — were disproved by inspectors. Nonetheless, the Trump administration attempted to freeze child-care funding for Minnesota and five other Democratic-led states until a court ordered the funding to be released.

President Trump has repeatedly targeted Somali immigrants with dehumanizing rhetoric, calling them “garbage” and “low IQ” and suggesting that Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who was born in Somalia, should be deported: “Throw her the hell out!” In Minnesota, 87% of foreign-born Somalis are naturalized U.S. citizens.

Trump has zeroed in on a years-old case in which a sprawling network of fraudsters — many of them Somali Americans — bilked Minnesota of an estimated $300 million that was supposed to help feed children and families. His rhetoric intensified after Shirley’s video was posted.

Activists take it upon themselves to investigate

In Federal Way, Wash., and Columbus, Ohio, both home to large Somali communities, right-wing journalists and influencers began showing up unannounced at addresses for child-care operations they pulled from state websites.

In one video, a man arrives at a bungalow-style building in Columbus. He films through the glass front door, showing a foyer with cheerful posters that read “When we learn, we grow” and “Make today happy.”

“It does not look like a child-care center at all,” the man says.

Ohio dispatched an inspector to the address and found that it was, in fact, a legitimate child-care center. The center’s voicemail was hacked, so parents calling heard a slur-laden message calling Somalis “sand rats” and saying they “worship a false religion of baby-raping terrorists,” according to WOSU-FM.

In Washington state, child-care workers called police on the right-wing journalists who kept appearing outside their homes.

Journalists with the right-leaning Washington outlet Center Square filmed themselves pressing a woman for proof that she ran a child-care center for which she was collecting federal subsidies. She refused to answer questions.

“Are you aware of the Somali day-care fraud? We’re just trying to check out if this is a real day care,” one of the journalists said. “Where are the children?”

Local officials speak out

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson posted a statement on X saying she would not tolerate anyone trying to “intimidate, harass or film Somali child care providers.” Then, Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, issued her own warning: “Asking questions/citizen journalism are NOT HATE CRIMES in America — they are protected speech, and if Seattle tries to chill that speech, @CivilRights will step in to protect it and set them straight!”

In Ohio, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine held a news conference to debunk a right-wing influencer’s fraud claims about a Columbus child-care center and assured people the state diligently monitored centers that receive public money. He said a child-care provider refusing to let in a stranger should not be read as a sign of fraud.

“It shouldn’t be a shock when someone sees something on social media, and someone is going, ‘I can’t get into this place, no one will let me in,’” DeWine said in a news conference in January. “Well, hell, no! No one should let them in.”

Even after DeWine refuted the claims, Republicans in the Statehouse introduced legislation to more closely monitor child-care centers, including one measure that would require those that take public money to provide live video feeds of their classrooms to state officials.

Advocates say fraud claims are a distraction

Child-care advocates say the fraud allegations are detracting from more pressing crises.

Child-care subsidy programs in many states have lengthy waiting lists, making it difficult for parents to return to work. The programs that subsidize child care for families that struggle to afford it are also facing funding threats, including from the Trump administration.

Ruth Friedman, who headed the Office of Child Care under President Biden, accused Trump and Republicans of manufacturing a crisis for political gain.

“They are using it to try to discredit the movement toward investing in child care,” said Friedman, who is now a senior fellow at the left-leaning think tank Century Foundation.

Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement that the department “rejects the claim that concerns about child care program integrity are manufactured.” He urged people to report suspected fraud to the government.

Balingit and Kramon write for the Associated Press.

Feb. 2 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has threatened to sue Trevor Noah over a joke the comedian made while hosting Sunday night’s Grammy Awards.

“It looks like I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless dope of an M.C., and suing him for plenty$,” Trump said Sunday night in a statement on his Truth Social media platform.

Trump frequently pursues lawsuits against critics and media organizations over comments he says damaged his reputation, drawing criticism from opponents who accuse him of trying to silence dissent.

Noah, a South African comedian who has hosted the Grammy Awards since 2021, attracted the ire of the American president with a joke about Trump’s relationship with the convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

After awarding singer Billie Eilish the song of the year award, Noah remarked: “That is a Grammy every artist wants — almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense, I mean, because Epstein’s island is gone he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton.”

There is no verified evidence that either president visited Epstein’s Little Saint James Island, which has been linked to sex crimes committed by Epstein against minors.

“Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!” Trump said in his statement.

“I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media.”

Trump and Epstein, who died in jail by apparent suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex-trafficking charges, were friends dating back to the 1980s. The American president said in July that they had a falling out in the early 2000s after Epstein “stole” spa staff from his Mar-a-Lago resort including Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April.

On Friday, the Justice Department released millions of pages from its investigation into Epstein. Included in the documents were unverified claims and allegations submitted to the FBI that mention Trump in connection with alleged sex crimes involving minors.

Trump has denied wrongdoing. Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that allegations included in the documents against Trump and others were “very quickly determined to not be credible.”

A central question in the congressional investigation of the firings of eight U.S. attorneys is whether Carol C. Lam in San Diego was dismissed, and Debra Wong Yang in Los Angeles eased out, to try to derail corruption probes of prominent California Republicans.

Whatever officials in Washington might have intended, Yang and Lam’s departures had no effect on the investigations, which continue unabated, sources close to the inquiries said this week. And several present and former federal prosecutors said it would be extremely difficult — though not impossible — to quash an investigation for political reasons.

“Most criminal prosecutors are an independent sort with a strong sense of pursuing truth and justice,” said William W. Carter, a Los Angeles federal prosecutor for 14 years before moving to the firm Musick, Peeler & Garrett in November. “They would be repulsed, and rebel, against any political order. There would be an uproar.”

Although the nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys are political appointees, their offices are staffed with career prosecutors who are tasked with pursuing justice without regard for any political agenda.

Those prosecutors — assistant U.S. attorneys — often come from top-flight law schools and see the job as a noble calling. Many of them could make much more money in private practice.

Calling a prosecutor off a case — particularly if the motive were transparently political — would cause an uproar, said Loyola Law School professor and former federal prosecutor Laurie L. Levenson. “You’d have to suspend reality to think you could get away with it,” she said.

The U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego is moving forward on the expanding investigation that netted Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Rancho Santa Fe), the sources said. And prosecutors in Los Angeles continue to examine Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) over various dealings with lobbyists and contractors during the time he was chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

Neither Lam nor Yang had direct involvement in the corruption investigations, the sources said. According to one source close to the Lewis inquiry, Yang never asked to be briefed by her prosecutors, nor did she give them any input. “It was just nothing … which was good.”

The sources close to the probes requested anonymity because a Justice Department policy bars public comment on ongoing investigations.

Yang emphatically denied that she was pushed out or that she or her successor was asked to stop a politically charged investigation.

“You have so many players involved, it’s ridiculous that you could make an investigation disappear, especially one that is high profile — because those are the ones all the assistants want to work on,” she said.

Levenson said there are subtle ways, however, to let a case “die a slow death.”

Supervisors could assign the prosecutors other matters to work on or divert resources away from the case. They could balk at issuing subpoenas or seeking approvals of various sorts from Washington. And when it comes time to seek an indictment, particularly if the case is not a slam-dunk, the U.S. attorney or even the Justice Department in Washington could waver and tell the prosecutors that they need to do more investigating.

Yet even this scenario is more likely to happen in a John Grisham novel than in real life, Levenson said.

Congressional investigators first focused on the possibility that Lam was fired because of the expanding Cunningham inquiry or the Lewis investigation. Although Lam’s office was not involved in the Lewis probe, those involved in the firings might not have known that because both cases involved the same prominent lobbyist, several prosecutors suggested.

Now some of the focus has shifted to Yang, with testimony indicating that the White House might have been looking to push her out.

In October 2006 — less than two months before the firings — Yang announced her resignation to take a job at the Los Angeles firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which was defending Lewis and has strong Republican ties. Her new salary is reportedly about $1.5 million a year.

Yang said at the time that, as a recently divorced mother of three, she needed to enter the private sector to support her family.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, was questioned Thursday about Yang’s resignation, but insisted that she left of her own accord.

But in recent testimony to congressional investigators, D. Kyle Sampson, the Justice Department aide who coordinated the firings, said the White House had inquired in September about pushing Yang out to “create a vacancy.”

“I remember [White House Counsel] Harriet Miers asking me about Debra Yang … and what her plans were, whether she might be asked to resign,” Sampson told investigators last month, according to a senior congressional aide.

An opinion piece by a New York Times editorial editor, Adam Cohen, suggested that Gibson Dunn might have lured Yang away with the rich salary offer to get her off the Lewis investigation.

Gibson Dunn lawyers took offense at the suggestion.

“It’s absurd,” said Randy Mastro, co-chairman of the firm’s crisis management group with Yang.

It was well known that Yang was looking for something new, he added, and at least three top firms were actively recruiting her.

As for her being pushed out, he said Yang notified Miers in January 2006 that she planned to leave by the end of summer.

Mastro would not comment specifically on the Lewis investigation.

joe.mozingo@latimes.com

Feb. 1 (UPI) — One police officer was killed and another wounded in a shooting Sunday at a suburban Atlanta hotel, according to authorities, who said the gunman has been arrested.

The shooting occurred Sunday morning in Stone Mountain, located northeast of Atlanta, the Gwinnett County Police Department said in a statement.

Two officers with the Gwinnett County Police Department were responding to a fraud call at the Holiday Inn Express on 1790 E. Park Place Boulevard shortly before 8 a.m. EST. After the officers made contact, the subject opened fire, striking both Gwinnett County officers.

The suspect, who has since been identified as 35-year-old Kevin Andrews of Decatur, Ga., was struck by return fire, sustaining non-life-threatening injuries.

Officer Pradeep Tamang died from injuries sustained in the shooting, the Gwinnett County Police Department said, adding that the other officer, David M. Reed, underwent surgery at a hospital where he remains in critical but stable condition.

“Our hearts are with the families of Officer Pradeep Tamang and with MPO David Reed, their loved ones and the entire Gwinnett County Police Department during this incredibly difficult time,” Nicole Love Hendrickson, chair of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners, said in a statement.

“We are deeply grateful for their continued dedication, and we stand united with our officers, their families and all of you as we navigate this challenging time together.”

Tamang joined the Gwinnett County Police Department in July 2024. Reed, a master police officer, has been with the force since September 2015.

Andrews, the suspect, will be transported to Gwinnett County Jail once he is released from the hospital, authorities said.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the shooting, said in a statement that the officers were called to the hotel in response to a South Carolina individual stating their credit card had been fraudulently used there.

The hotel desk manager advised Tamang and Reed that the room in question was being rented to Andrews, whom they spoke to about the alleged fraudulent use of the credit card.

After learning Andrews had an active warrant for failure to appear in DeKalb County, Tamang and Reed attempted to arrest the man, who allegedly pulled out a handgun and fired on the officers.

Andrews has been charged with one count each of malice murder, felony murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and two counts of aggravated assault upon a public safety officer.

“Today, we join @GwinnettPD in mourning the loss of a brave officer and are praying for the swift recovery of another,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement on X.

“This is the latest reminder of the dangers law enforcement face on a daily basis, and we are grateful for every one that puts themselves in harm’s way to protect their fellow Georgians.”

Feb. 1 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s efforts to head off a proposed 25% U.S. tariff increase stalled after trade talks in Washington ended without agreement, prompting the auto industry to accelerate investment plans in the United States.

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Kim Jeong-kwan returned to South Korea after two days of discussions with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on President Donald Trump’s proposed reciprocal tariff hike. The talks, held Wednesday and Thursday in Washington, concluded without concrete results, the ministry said.

During the meetings, Kim stressed that South Korean companies were prepared to expand U.S. investment and said the government was coordinating with the National Assembly to swiftly pass a special law aimed at supporting large-scale Korean investment in the United States.

The proposed legislation is intended to reduce uncertainty for Korean firms and institutionalize strategic economic cooperation between the two countries. Seoul argued that the bill would boost U.S. job creation and economic growth.

U.S. officials, however, reportedly questioned whether the Korean government’s position would translate into concrete action, signaling that legislative intent alone would not be sufficient.

The stalled talks have heightened concerns in South Korea’s auto industry. Hyundai Motor Group, a major exporter to the U.S., is expected to adjust its existing investment strategy to accelerate the pace of spending.

Hyundai Motor President José Muñoz told The Wall Street Journal on Friday that he believes President Trump understands Hyundai’s commitment to the U.S. market and said the company is focused on speeding up its investment plans.

Hyundai previously announced plans to invest $26 billion (about 37.7 trillion won) in the United States by 2030, with a goal of locally producing 80% of the vehicles it sells there.

Industry analysts expect uncertainty surrounding the proposed tariff hike to continue until at least mid-March, as South Korea’s National Assembly plans to process the U.S. investment bill in late February or early March.

Democratic Party policy chief Han Jeong-ae said the bill would first be reviewed by the National Assembly’s finance and economy committee, adding that passage is likely within that timeframe.

The Trump administration has previously indicated it would not discuss tariff reductions until the legislation is approved, suggesting that negotiations on easing the proposed 25% tariff may resume only after the bill’s passage.

Some experts described the tariff threat as a temporary pressure tactic. Kim Pil-soo, a professor of automotive engineering at Daelim University, said the move appears aimed at showcasing policy achievements ahead of U.S. midterm elections, adding that continued investment and passage of the bill could eventually lead to a resolution.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260201010000191

Feb. 1 (UPI) — After adjusting its timeline for the last remaining tests of the Artemis II space launch system and Orion capsule because of freezing cold temperatures in Florida, NASA is now pressing ahead in preparation for its launch to the moon.

NASA had planned to start the fueling phase of the wet dress rehearsal for the rocket’s launch cadence on Saturday night, but a blast of Arctic air reached all the way down to Kennedy Space Center in Florida making it too cold to load propellants into the ship’s fuel tanks.

As a result, the fueling tests were pushed back to Monday — and launch will now happen no earlier than Feb. 8 — as the agency held off on powering up the SLS rocket’s core stage until Sunday morning.

“NASA continues to press ahead through the countdown for the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal,” NASA said in a statement. “Teams monitored all systems throughout the overnight hours [Saturday] during cold temperatures and high winds.”

The wet dress rehearsal is a test of the full launch team and the series of complex steps involved in a space launch, which includes engineers in Florida, at Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston and at other NASA facilities.

The tanking phase of the wet dress rehearsal involves loading more than 700,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, as will happen before the actual launch.

The test involves filling, topping off and replenishing the tanks over a series of loading milestones.

Engineers also will start preparing to charge the Orion space capsule’s flight batteries and the core stage battery, in addition finishing preparations of the umbilical arms and a walk down at the launch pad, NASA said.

Tanking operations require an overall outdoor temperature above 41 degrees, and cannot dip below 40 for more than 30 consecutive minutes, during both the rehearsal and actual launch.

The full wet dress rehearsal is a complete countdown simulation — the wet dress countdown started Sunday at minus-39 hours and 30 minutes — and will end with a simulated launch window on Monday around 9:00 p.m. EST, NASA said.

Artemis II’s launch window is currently set for Feb. 8 to Feb. 11, but NASA has previously said that if the rocket is not ready to launch next week that additional launch windows in March and April have been identified.

Feb. 1 (UPI) — Another blast of Arctic winter weather froze the East Coast, as temperatures farther north dropped below zero, the Carolinas were blanketed with snow and freeze warnings were issued as far south as Miami.

North and South Carolina were hit especially hard with nearly two feet of snow expected over the weekend and wind chills expected to be below zero from Virginia south to Georgia, but most of the Northeast region of the country will see its normal cold winter temperatures, the New York Times reported.

In addition to blizzard conditions in North Carolina, two major highways in Mississippi have remained closed because of icy conditions, power is out in some places and 16 people have died, while in Nashville tens of thousands of people were waiting for their electricity to be turned back on as a result of the massive winter storm.

In Florida, decades old records were broken as temperatures dropped below the 30s nearly everywhere in the state, WPLG reported.

According to weather reports, temperatures were as low as 30 degrees in parts of Miami-Dade County, Pembroke Pines in South Florida saw a wind chill of 24 degrees, Orlando broke a 90-year-old record as temperatures dipped below 30 degrees and snow flurries were seen as far south as Tampa.

The extended period of winter weather in places that normally do not expect it will continue into this week, although the Northeast — New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, specifically — will see bitter cold continue but the chance for snow is expected to increase.

Feb. 1 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1790, the U.S. Supreme Court convened in New York City for its first session. Only three of the six justices were present so there was no quorum.

In 1861, Texas seceded from the United States.

In 1865, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.

In 1896, Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Boheme premiered in Turin, Italy.

In 1946, Norwegian Trygve Lie was selected to be the first U.N. secretary-general.

In 1947, members of the Jewish underground launched pamphlet bombs throughout Tel Aviv, warning British military authorities to expect further retaliation against its drive to suppress violence in the Holy Land.

In 1951, the Defense Department, responding to needs to effectively execute its Korean War strategy, ordered drafting of 80,000 men during April for assignment to the U.S. Army.

File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI

In 1960, four Black students, later known as the Greensboro Four, staged the first of a series of non-violent protests at a Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, NC.

In 1968, the communist Viet Cong began a major offensive in the Vietnam War with a fierce attack on the South Vietnamese city of Hue.

In 1978, famed director Roman Polanski escaped to France after pleading guilty to charges of having sex with an underage girl.

In 1991, South African President F.W. De Klerk announced he would seek repeal of key laws on which the apartheid system was based.

File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI

In 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart during its descent over the southwestern United States. All seven astronauts aboard were killed.

In 2004, Janet Jackson had a “wardrobe malfunction” in her appearance with Justin Timberlake during the halftime of Super Bowl XXXVIII.

In 2009, Iceland swore in its first female prime minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir.

In 2011, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, with hundreds of thousands of protesters demanding his departure after a reign of nearly 30 years, announced he wouldn’t seek re-election.

In 2012, at least 73 people were killed and 200 hurt in a fight between fans and players at a soccer match in Port Said, Egypt.

In 2021, the Myanmar military took control of the government and announced a nationwide state of emergency hours after detaining leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other high-ranking elected government officials in a coup.

In 2023, seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady announced his re-retirement from the NFL after 23 seasons in the league.

File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI

Jan. 31 (UPI) — Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul lost their bid to have a federal court order the Department of Homeland Security to end its immigration enforcement effort in the state.

U.S. District Court of Minnesota Judge Katherine Menendez on Saturday denied a motion to enjoin the federal government from continuing its immigration law enforcement surge in the Twin Cities.

“Even if the likelihood of success on the merits and the balance of harms each weighed more clearly in favor of plaintiffs, the court would still likely be unable to grant the relief requested: An injunction suspending Operation Metro Surge,” Menendez wrote in her 30-page ruling.

She cited a recent federal appellate court ruling that affirmed the federal government has the right to enforce federal laws over the objections of others.

“The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently vacated a much more circumscribed injunction, which limited one aspect of the ongoing operation, namely the way immigration officers interacted with protesters and observers,” Menedez said.

“The injunction in that case was not only much narrower than the one proposed here, but it was based on more settled precedent than that which underlies the claims now before the court,” she explained.

“Nonetheless, the court of appeals determined that the injunction would cause irreparable harm to the government because it would hamper their efforts to enforce federal law,” Menendez continued.

“If that injunction went too far, then the one at issue here — halting the entire operation — certainly would,” she concluded.

Menendez said her ruling does not address the merits of the case filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on behalf of the state and two cities, which are named as the lawsuit’s three plaintiffs.

Those claims remain to be argued and largely focus on Ellison’s claim that the federal government is undertaking an illegal operation that is intended to force state and local officials to cooperate with federal law enforcement.

Menendez said Ellison has not proven his claim, which largely relies on a 2013 ruling by the Supreme Court in a case brought by Shelby County, Ala., officials who challenged the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The act placed additional restrictions on some states based on “their histories of racially discriminatory election administration,” Menendez said.

The Supreme Court ruled a “departure from the fundamental principle of equal sovereignty” requires the federal government to show that geographically driven laws are “sufficiently related to the problem that it targets” to be lawful, she wrote.

Ellison says that the ruling “teaches that the federal government cannot single out states for disparate treatment without strong and narrowly tailored justification,” according to Menendez.

But he does not show any other examples of a legal authority applying the “equal sovereignty ‘test'” and does not show how it would apply to a presidential administration’s decision on where to deploy federal law enforcement to “enforce duly enacted federal laws,” she said.

“There is no precedent for a court to micromanage such decisions,” and she can ‘readily imagine scenarios where the federal executive must legitimately vary its use of law enforcement resources from one state to the next,” Menendez explained.

Because there is no likelihood of success in claims based on equal sovereignty, she said Ellison did not show there is a likelihood that plaintiffs will succeed in their federal lawsuit, so the motion to preliminarily enjoin the federal government from continuing Operation Metro Surge is denied.

Former President Joe Biden appointed Menendez to the federal bench in 2021.

Jan. 31 (UPI) — The Iranian military intends to conduct two days of live-fire naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz, starting on Sunday, despite warnings against it from the U.S. military.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is conducting the drills amid civic unrest and U.S. President Donald Trump deploying a “massive armada” to the area, led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

“U.S. forces acknowledge Iran’s right to operate professionally in international airspace and waters. Any unsafe and unprofessional behavior near U.S. forces, regional partners or commercial vessels increases risks of collision, escalation, and destabilization,” CENTCOM officials said in a statement on Saturday.

“CENTCOM will ensure the safety of U.S. personnel, ships, and aircraft operating in the Middle East. We will not tolerate unsafe IRGC actions, including overflight of U.S. military vessels engaged in flight operations, low-altitude or armed overflight of U.S. military assets when intentions are unclear, high-speed boat approaches on a collision course with U.S. military vessels, or weapons trained at U.S. forces,” CENTCOM said.

The Strait of Hormuz connects the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, with Iran situated along its northern shore and Oman and the United Arab Emirates along its southern shoreline.

More than 100 merchant vessels per day sail through the strait, which makes it an “essential trade corridor” that supports the region’s economy, CENTCOM said, as reported by Fox News.

The deployment comes as the Trump administration considers potential military intervention in the Iranian unrest.

Various estimates place the number of protestors and other civilians killed at between 6,000 and more than 30,000 since protests began on Dec. 28.

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman attended a private briefing in Washington, D.C., on Friday and warned that Iran would grow stronger if the United States does not act in Iran is warranted if military action is warranted, Axios reported.

Trump has threatened to target Iran’s leadership with military strikes if widespread killings of protesters continued, but he delayed any strikes after Saudi leaders cautioned against it.

Salman’s comments on Friday indicate a change among Saudi Arabia’s leadership regarding potential military action in Iran.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday accused the U.S. military of trying to dictate how the Iranian military conducts “target practice on their own turf.”

“Freedom of navigation and safe passage of commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz are of vital importance for Iran, as much as it is for our neighbors,” Araghchi added.

“The presence of outside forces in our region has always caused the exact opposite of what is declared: promoting escalation instead of de-escalation,” he said.

The pending military exercise also is scheduled after Iranian state media reported an explosion damaged a nine-story residential building and killed a young girl and injured 14 in Bandar Abbas, which is an Iranian port city located on the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Fars News Agency denied reports that IRGC Navy leader Brigadier Gen. Alireza Tangsiri died in the blast, which local officials said likely was caused by a gas leak.

“The initial cause of the building accident in Bandar Abbas was a gas leak and buildup, leading to an explosion,” Bandar Abbas Fire Chief Mohammad Amin Lyaghat told Iranian state media. He called the explanation an “initial theory.”

HOUSTON — Democrat Christian Menefee won a Texas U.S. House seat in a Saturday special election that will further narrow Republicans’ slim majority.

Menefee, the Harris County attorney, prevailed in a runoff against fellow Democrat Amanda Edwards, a former Houston City Council member. He will replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, who died in March 2025.

The seat representing the heavily Democratic Houston-based district has been vacant for nearly a year.

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t schedule the first round of voting until November. Menefee and Edwards were the top vote-getters in a 16-candidate, all-parties primary. They advanced to a runoff because no candidate won a majority of the vote.

Abbott argued that Houston officials needed the six months between Turner’s death and the first round of voting to prepare for the special election, but Democrats criticized the long wait as a move designed to give the GOP a slightly bigger cushion in the House for difficult votes. The 18th District is safely Democratic with minority residents making up most of the voters.

Menefee, 37, was endorsed by several prominent Texas Democrats including former presidential candidate and congressman Beto O’Rourke and Rep. Jasmine Crockett. He was joined Saturday by Crockett, who is running for the U.S. Senate.

“I”m looking to bring a fight to Washington, D.C., and I need your help to do it,” he said as he stood beside Crockett in a social media video.

Menefee ousted an incumbent in 2020 to become Harris County’s first Black county attorney, representing it in civil cases, and he has joined legal challenges of President Trump’s executive orders on immigration.

Edwards served four years on the Houston City Council starting in 2016. She ran for U.S. Senate in 2020 but finished fifth in a 12-person primary. She unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the 2024 primary, and when Lee died that July, local Democrats narrowly nominated Turner over Edwards as Lee’s replacement.

Menefee finished ahead of Edwards in the primary, but Edwards picked up the endorsement of the third-place finisher, state Rep. Jolanda Jones, who said Edwards had skills “best suited to go against Trump.”

After Saturday, yet another election lies ahead in little over a month. Menefee and Edwards are on the ballot again on March 3, when they will face Democratic Rep. Al Green in another election — this one a Democratic primary in a newly drawn 18th Congressional District, for the full term that starts in 2027.

GOP lawmakers who control Texas state government drew a new map last summer for this year’s midterms, pushed by Trump to create five more winnable seats for Republicans to help preserve their majority.

Winter weather added to voters’ confusion, forcing local officials to cancel two days of advance voting this week, prompting civil rights group to go to court to win a two-day extension, into Thursday.

Hanna writes for the Associated Press.

Jan. 31 (UPI) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials must release Adrian Arias and his 5-year-old son, Liam, from detention, a federal district court judge ruled on Saturday.

U.S. District Court of Western Texas Judge Fred Biery Jr. on Saturday granted a writ of habeas corpus petition naming the father and son.

Biery likened his strongly worded ruling to placing a “judicial finger in the constitutional dike.”

The petitioners “seek nothing more than some modicum of due process and the rule of law,” Biery wrote.

“The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently, even if it requires traumatizing children,” he said.

“This court and others regularly send undocumented people to prison and orders them deported but do so by proper legal procedures,” Biery added.

He accused the federal officers of violating the Fourth Amendment via an unlawful search-and-seizure and said only judicial warrants enable them to arrest or detain people when there is no probable cause to do so.

“Civics lesson to the government: Administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster,” he said.

“That is called the fox guarding the henhouse,” Biery said. “The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer.”

He ordered the federal government to release both from custody no later than Tuesday.

Former President Bill Clinton appointed Biery to the federal bench in 1993.

Federal officers arrested Adrian Arias and detained Liam while enforcing an administrative warrant for the father on Jan. 20 in the Greater Minneapolis area.

The two were transferred to a detention center in Texas, while awaiting deportation.

Liam’s mother, Erika Ramos, told media that she watched from a window as ICE officers detained her son and partner.

She said they led her son to the door and knocked while her son asked her to open the door, but she wouldn’t because she feared she would be arrested.

“When I didn’t open the door, they took Liam to the ICE van,” Ramos said, adding that she thought the officers were using her son as “bait.”

Ramos said she is pregnant and has another child, whom she feared leaving alone if she had opened the door and was arrested.

Homeland Security officials on Jan. 22 said the ICE officers wanted Ramos to open the door so that they could leave her son with her.

“Our officers made multiple attempts to get the mother inside the house to take custody of her child. Officers even assured her that they would NOT take her into custody.

“She refused to accept custody of the child. The father told officers he wanted the child to remain with him.”

They said the officers’ primary concern was the child’s safety and welfare and that the father is from Ecuador and subject to deportation.

Jan. 31 (UPI) — A northeasterly storm has created blizzard conditions in the Carolinas and triggered state of emergency declarations in North and South Carolina and Georgia on Saturday.

The intensifying storm system is centered over the Atlantic Ocean and near the Carolinas and Georgia coastline after its central pressure dropped by up to 40 millibars over the past 24 hours.

Hurricane-force wind gusts of between 60 mph and 80 mph are contributing to blizzard conditions along the Outer Banks coastal plains areas, and more than 10,000 flights have been canceled through the weekend.

The Hampton Roads area of Virginia also is getting pummeled with wintry weather from the storm system, and the National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning through 7 p.m. EST on Sunday for the commonwealth’s coastal areas and parts of North Carolina.

The winter storm is delivering the most snow in two decades to areas that rarely see significant amounts of snowfall.

Icy road conditions caused hundreds of collisions as of Saturday afternoon, and wave action from the storm’s strong winds and a high tide is threatening to damage or destroy homes along the coast.

The National Weather Service is forecasting between 5 and 9 inches of snowfall and sustained winds of between 33 and 41 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph, along the coastal areas of the Carolinas and into neighboring areas in Virginia and northern Georgia.

The snowfall likely will end during the overnight hours, but northwest winds will remain strong, with sustained wind speeds of between 28 and 33 mph and gusts of up to 50 mph into Sunday afternoon.

Although windy, the clouds are predicted to clear during the afternoon hours.

SAN ANTONIO — A 5-year-old boy and his father must be released by Tuesday from the Texas center where they’ve been held after being detained by immigration officers in Minnesota, a federal judge ordered Saturday in a ruling that harshly criticized the Trump administration’s approach to enforcement.

Images of Liam Conejo Ramos, with a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack being surrounded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, have been a rallying point in the outcry over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. It also led to a protest at the Texas family detention center and a visit by two Democratic members of Congress.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, an appointee of President Clinton, said in his ruling that “the case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”

Biery had previously ruled that the boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, could not be removed from the U.S., at least for now.

In his order Saturday, Biery wrote: “Apparent also is the government’s ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence,” suggesting the Trump administration’s actions echo those that Thomas Jefferson enumerated as grievances against England.

Biery also included in his ruling a photo of Liam Conejo Ramos and references to two lines in the Bible: “Jesus said, ’Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,’” and “Jesus Wept.”

He’s not the only federal judge who has been tough on ICE recently. A Minnesota-based judge with a conservative pedigree said this week that ICE had disobeyed nearly 100 court orders in the last month.

Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff for policy, has said there’s a target of 3,000 immigration arrests a day. It’s that figure that the judge seemed to describe as a “quota.”

Spokespersons from the departments of Justice and Homeland Security did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Neighbors and school officials say that federal immigration officers in Minnesota used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer. The Department of Homeland Security has called that description of events an “abject lie.” It said the father ran off and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.

The government says the elder Arias entered the U.S. illegally in December 2024. The family’s lawyer says he has a pending asylum claim that allows him to remain in the country.

During a visit Wednesday to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, by U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett, the boy slept in the arms of his father, who said Liam was frequently tired and not eating well at the detention facility housing about 1,100 people, according to Castro.

Detained families report poor conditions including worms in food, fighting for clean water, and poor medical care at the detention center since its reopening last year. In December, a report filed by ICE acknowledged it held about 400 children longer than the recommended limit of 20 days.

Jan. 30 (UPI) — Frigid temperatures have delayed NASA’s preparations for its wet dress rehearsal for the Artemis II launch, the space agency announced Friday.

NASA was expected to begin the tanking operation Saturday night in preparation for a possible Feb. 6 or Feb. 7 launch date, but those “are no longer viable opportunities,” a release said.

The agency now expects to set Monday as the tanking day with an earliest possible launch set for Feb. 8 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Tanking operations involve loading propellants into a fuel tank near the launch pad. The outdoor temperature plays a crucial role in that process — it can’t be below 40 degrees Fahrenheit for more than 30 consecutive minutes. The overall average temperature must be above 41 degrees for the rehearsal and launch, WESH-TV in Orlando, Fla., reported.

AccuWeather forecasters said temperatures were expected to plummet this weekend to levels not seen since 1966 in some areas. Temperatures between 20 degrees to 30 degrees were expected Sunday morning in Cape Canaveral.

“Adjusting the timeline for the rest will position NASA for success during the rehearsal, as the expected weather this weekend would violate launch conditions,” a release from NASA said.

In the meantime, the Artemis II crew members are expected to stay in quarantine in Houston. The crew includes Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist.

Artemis II is NASA’s first crewed mission aboard its deep space rocket, the Space Launch System, and Orion spacecraft. It’s the second flight of the SLS and the first crewed mission near the moon since 1972.

Over 10 days, Artemis II will travel around the moon and back to Earth as the crew tests whether the spacecraft operates as it should in deep space. The long-term goal of the Artemis program is reestablish a human presence on the moon in preparation for the ultimate aim of putting a human on Mars.

NASA has shared a live stream of the launch pad on YouTube as it prepares for the wet dress rehearsal launch.

Leading Democrats have rolled out a new and unvarnished message — that the U.S. Department of Justice cannot be trusted.

“Let’s be really clear: We can’t trust anything the DOJ does. The DOJ is corrupt. They’re corrupt on every major issue in front of this country,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, said Friday at a news conference in his district.

“We cannot trust the Department of Justice. They are an illegitimate organization right now under the leadership of [Atty. Gen.] Pam Bondi and the direction of Donald Trump,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said during his own news conference in Washington, D.C.

The remarks — which hold profound implications in a two-party democracy meant to be protected and served by a nonpartisan justice system, and which a White House spokesperson called “shameful” — followed a week of equally stunning actions by the Justice Department, where President Trump has installed staunch loyalists, including Bondi, to high-ranking positions.

In recent days, the Justice Department has resisted launching civil rights investigations into two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents. It has since reversed course and launched such an investigation into the second of those incidents, in which 37-year-old Alex Pretti was shot while surrounded by agents, on the ground and disarmed, but has held firm in its decision not to investigate the earlier shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was shot while trying to drive away from a tense exchange with agents.

On Wednesday, the FBI raided and seized voter ballots and other information from the election headquarters of Fulton County, Ga., long a target of Trump’s baseless and disproven claims that widespread voter fraud helped Democrats steal the 2020 election. Bondi was an early backer of those baseless claims, as were other Justice Department appointees.

On Friday, federal agents arrested former CNN anchor Don Lemon and other journalists after their coverage of a protest at a conservative church in Minneapolis. Justice Department officials rejected the defense that Lemon and the other journalists were exercising their 1st Amendment rights as journalists, and accused them of violating the rights of churchgoers.

Also Friday, Justice Department officials released more documents from the Epstein files — a trove of records related to the sexual abuse of minors by the late, disgraced billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats argued that the release was still not complete, in violation of a law passed by Congress mandating that they be made public.

In a statement to The Times, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly dismissed Jeffries’ and Garcia’s remarks as “shameful comments by Democrats who cheered on Joe Biden’s weaponization of the Department of Justice against his political enemies, including President Trump,” and said Trump, Bondi and other administration officials “have quickly Made America Safe Again by taking violent criminals off the streets, cracking down on fraud, holding bad actors accountable, and more.”

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment, but officials there have broadly defended the department’s actions as not only justified but necessary for ensuring the rule of law and holding alleged criminals to account.

Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego, said both the actions of the Justice Department and the latest statements from Democrats ratcheted up the stakes in the nation’s already tense political standoff — as institutions such as the Justice Department “need to be trusted in the long term” for American democracy to be successful.

“Trust goes up and down in the people in institutions over history, but there’s been a baseline level of support for our Constitution, the way our government is built, and the seal on the building — even if people didn’t trust who was in that building,” Kousser said. “What we may be risking as a country is losing the trust in the building itself, if people think that the might of the federal government is being used to pursue a narrow agenda of one party or one leader.”

Jeffries’ assertion that the Justice Department can’t be trusted came as he denounced Lemon’s arrest. Jeffries said there was “zero basis to arrest” Lemon, and that the arrest was an attempt by the Trump administration to weaponize government against people they disagree with.

Jeffries added that distrust in the federal agency is one of the reasons why House Democrats are pushing for legislative action to require independent investigations by local and state law enforcement in cases when federal agents engage in violent incidents and are accused of wrongdoing — such as the shootings in Minneapolis.

Other leading Democrats have also slammed the Justice Department over the journalists’ arrests.

“The American people deserve answers as to why Trump’s lawless Justice Department is arresting journalists for simply doing their jobs,” said Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

“The arrest of journalists for covering a protest is a grave attack on the 1st Amendment and freedom of the press,” said Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). “And proof the Trump administration is not de-escalating.”

Garcia’s comments came in a wide-ranging news conference at which he also discussed taking on a leading role in impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who has been overseeing the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, including through the deployment of Immigration and Custom Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents to Minneapolis, Los Angeles and other major cities.

Garcia denounced the Trump administration’s handling of the Good and Pretti shootings, arguing that independent investigations were needed — as he said were conducted after police shootings in Long Beach when he was mayor there.

“They should bring in either a special counsel [or] some type of special master to oversee an independent investigation,” he said.

He said that was especially necessary given the fact that Noem and other administration officials immediately bad-mouthed Good and Pretti as violent actors threatening agents before any of the facts were gathered — and in direct contradiction to video evidence from the scenes.

“What happened to Renee Good and Alex Pretti was murder by our own government, and our committee is working right now on a major report on both of those incidents so that those that are responsible are held accountable,” Garcia said.

He also called Lemon’s arrest “horrifying,” saying Lemon was “out there reporting” and is now being “essentially attacked” by the Justice Department. “The arrest of Don Lemon might be the single largest attack on the free press and the 1st Amendment in the modern era.”

Garcia noted that the Justice Department had first shopped Lemon’s arrest around to multiple judges, who denied issuing a warrant for his arrest. Administration officials said a federal grand jury handed down an indictment for the journalist, but Garcia suggested the indictment was fraudulently obtained based on the government putting forward information “we cannot trust.”

Decisions around the two Minneapolis shootings and the arrest of the journalists would have passed through the office of Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Dhillon did not respond to a request for comment Friday. However, she has broadly defended her office’s actions online. For days before Lemon’s arrest, she had slammed his actions, writing on X that she and Bondi “will not tolerate harassment of Americans at worship — especially from agitators posing as ‘journalists.’”

Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche — a former personal attorney to Trump — has broadly defended the department’s actions in Minneapolis, where he said a civil rights investigation into Good’s shooting was unwarranted, and on the Epstein files, which he said have been released in accordance with the law and Trump’s own demands for transparency.

The latter was also something Garcia took issue with Friday, slamming the Justice Department for continuing to withhold some of the files.

“Donald Trump and the Department of Justice just made it clear right now that they intend to withhold approximately 50% or half of the Epstein files while claiming to have fully complied with the law. This is outrageous and incredibly concerning,” Garcia said.

He said his committee subpoenaed all of the files over the summer, and Bondi has yet to comply with that subpoena in violation of the law.

Previously released Epstein records included allegations that Trump was involved in Epstein’s schemes to abuse young women and girls, which Trump — once a friend of Epstein’s — has strenuously denied.

The Justice Department has also taken the unusual step of defending the president in the matter directly, including by releasing a statement last month that the released documents “contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump.”

“To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already,” the department’s statement said.

Kousser, the politics professor, noted that this is not the first time that concerns about partisanship within the Justice Department have been voiced. He said similar concerns were raised by many Republicans when the Justice Department was prosecuting Trump during the Biden administration.

Such arguments raise serious alarms, he said, regardless of which way they are directed politically.

“If people feel like the Justice Department is only doing the bidding of whoever won the last election, that moves it from a law enforcement body to a political operation in the eyes of average Americans,” he said. “And that would be a huge loss for our democracy.”

Jan. 30 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s presidential office said Friday that financial authorities are in close communication with the U.S. Treasury Department after Washington redesignated South Korea on its foreign exchange monitoring list.

The office said the Treasury reaffirmed in its latest currency report that the recent weakening of the won was not consistent with South Korea’s economic fundamentals.

At the same time, the office said it understood the redesignation was made in a “mechanical” way based on the Treasury’s evaluation criteria.

South Korea was removed from the monitoring list in November 2023 after being listed since April 2016, but was added back in November 2024 and remained on the list in the latest report, according to the office and South Korean media reports.

The Treasury cited South Korea’s sharply larger current account surplus and its expanded goods and services surplus with the United States as reasons it continues to warrant monitoring, the report said.

In the January report, the Treasury said its monitoring list includes 10 economies: China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260130010013828

Jan. 30 (UPI) — The federal government mostly will go unfunded at least through Monday after the Senate on Friday approved a bill package to fully fund all but the Department of Homeland Security.

Five budget bills would fund the majority of the federal government through the 2026 fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, but Homeland Security only is funded through Feb. 13 in a sixth bill.

The two-week extension enables lawmakers to debate proposed changes regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection enforcement activities.

The six measures must be approved by the House of Representatives, which will take them up on Monday and send them to President Donald Trump for signing if House members concur with the changes made in the Senate.

The Senate voted 71-29 to approve House Resolution 7148 early Friday evening.

While the measure awaits approval in the House and eventual signing by the president, the federal government mostly will shut down at 12:01 a.m. EST on Saturday, but lawmakers expect that lull to be short and over by Tuesday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Friday told media that he expects to fast-track the voting by suspending the House floor rules and immediately approve the budget measures, which only require a simple majority in the House versus at least 60 votes in the Senate.

The vote to suspend the rules, though, requires a two-thirds vote of House members.

The Homeland Security budget still would need to be debated and could lapse if it is not approved and signed into law by the end of the day on Feb. 13.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told media he does not expect Homeland Security to be funded by Feb. 13.

“I believe this is a horrible bill,” he said on Friday. “I can’t believe we’re not funding ICE.”

He said he doesn’t believe it will be funded in two weeks, either.

Congressional Democrats are demanding an end to sweeps through targeted cities, want ICE and CBP officers unmasked and wearing body cameras, and want judicial warrants instead of administrative warrants issued to target and arrest individuals.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was unhappy that the Senate removed a provision approved by the House that would have enabled him and others to sue the Department of Justice for seizing his phone records during the Biden administration’s Operation Arctic Frost.

Graham was among eight Republican senators whose phone records were accessed by the DOJ, which he called illegal.

“Every Senator should make sure this never happens again,” he told media on Thursday.

Congressional Democrats generally were happy that the Homeland Security funding was separated from a six-bill package to fund the entire government.

They also successfully rejected an effort to reduce the maximum Pell Grant amount by $1,000 and blocked the president’s proposal to lower rental assistance funding and reduce the National Institutes of Health budget.

Democrats were especially pleased that measures approved by the Senate give the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program $20 million more in funding, while the Child Care and Development Block Grant and Head Start each get another $85 million.

For years at CNN, Don Lemon had been a thorn in the side of President Trump, frequently taking him to task during his first term over his comments about immigrants and other matters.

On Friday, the former CNN anchor — now an independent journalist who hosts his own YouTube show — was in a Los Angeles federal courtroom and charged with conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul.

Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles on Friday, along with a second journalist and two of the participants in the protest of the federal government’s immigration enforcement tactics in Minneapolis.

Lemon identified himself at the protest as a journalist. His attorney said in a statement Lemon’s work was “constitutionally protected.”

“I have spent my entire career covering the news,” Lemon told reporters after he was released on his own recognizance Friday afternoon. “I will not stop now. There is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable. Again, I will not stop now. I will not stop, ever.”

The scene of a reporter standing before a judge and facing federal charges for doing his job once seemed unimaginable in the U.S.

The arrest marked an extraordinary escalation in the Trump administration’s frayed relations with the news media and journalists.

Earlier this month, the FBI seized the devices of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson in a pre-dawn raid as part of an investigation into a contractor who has been charged with sharing classified information. Such a seizure is a very rare occurrence in the U.S.

Last spring, the Associated Press was banned from the White House. The AP sued White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and two other administration officials, demanding reinstatement.

Even the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization that monitors and honors reporters imprisoned by authoritarian government regimes overseas, felt compelled to weigh in on Lemon’s arrest.

“As an international organization, we know that the treatment of journalists is a leading indicator of the condition of a country’s democracy,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement. “These arrests are just the latest in a string of egregious and escalating threats to the press in the United States — and an attack on people’s right to know.”

For Lemon, 59, it’s another chapter in a career that has undergone a major reinvention in the last 10 years, largely due to his harsh takes on Trump and the boundary-pushing moves of his administration. His journey has been fraught, occasionally making him the center of the stories he covers.

“He has a finely honed sense of what people are talking about and where the action is, and he heads straight for it in a good way,” said Jonathan Wald, a veteran TV producer who has worked with Lemon over the years.

A Louisiana native, Lemon began his career in local TV news, working at the Fox-owned station in New York and then NBC’s WMAQ in Chicago where he got into trouble with management. Robert Feder, a longtime media columnist in Chicago, recalled how Lemon was suspended by his station for refusing to cover a crime story which he felt was beneath him.

“A memorable headline from that era was ‘Lemon in Hot Water,’ ” Feder said.

But Lemon’s good looks and smooth delivery helped him move to CNN in 2006, where his work was not always well-received. He took over the prime time program “CNN Tonight” in 2014 and became part of the network’s almost obsessive coverage of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. (Lemon was ridiculed for asking an aviation analyst if the plane might have been sucked into a black hole).

Like a number of other TV journalists, Lemon found his voice after Trump’s ascension to the White House. He injected more commentary into “CNN Tonight,” calling Trump a racist after the president made a remark in the Oval Office about immigrants coming from “shit hole countries” to the U.S.

After George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020, Lemon’s status as the lone Black prime time anchor on cable news made his program a gathering place for the national discussion about race. His ratings surged, giving CNN its largest 10 p.m. audience in history with 2.4 million viewers that month.

Lemon’s candid talk about race relations and criticism of Trump made him a target of the president’s social media missives. In a 2020 interview, Lemon told the Times that he had to learn to live with threats on his life from Trump supporters.

“It’s garnered me a lot of enemies,” he said. “A lot of them in person as well. I have to watch my back over it.”

Lemon never let up, but CNN management had other ideas. After Warner Bros. Discovery took control of CNN in 2022, Chief Executive David Zaslav said the network had moved too far to the political left in its coverage and called for more representation of conservative voices.

Following the takeover, Lemon was moved out of prime time and onto a new morning program — a format where CNN has never been successful over its four decade-plus history.

Lemon’s “CNN Tonight” program was built around his scripted commentaries and like-minded guests. Delivering off-the-cuff banter in reaction to news of the moment — a requirement for morning TV news — was not his strong suit.

Lemon had a poor relationship with his co-anchors Poppy Harlow and Kaitlin Collins. The tensions came to a head in Feb. 2023 after an ill-advised remark he made about then Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley.

Lemon attempted to critique Haley’s statements that political leaders over the age of 75 should undergo competency testing.

“All the talk about age makes me uncomfortable — I think it’s a wrong road to go down,” Lemon began. “She says politicians, or something, are not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime — sorry — when a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s, maybe 40s.”

Harlow quickly interjected, repeatedly asking Lemon a couple of times, “Prime for what?” Lemon told his female co-anchors to “Google it.” It was one of several sexist remarks he made on the program.

Lemon was pulled from the air and forced to apologize to colleagues, some of whom had called for his dismissal. He was fired in April 2023 on the same day Fox News removed Tucker Carlson .

Lemon was paid out his lucrative CNN contract and went on to become one of the first traditional TV journalists to go independent and produce his own program for distribution on social media platforms.

“Others might have cowered or taken time to regroup and figure out what they should do,” said Wald. “He had little choice but to toil ahead.”

Lemon first signed with X in 2024 to distribute his program as the platform made a push into longer form video. The business relationship ended shortly after new X owner Elon Musk sat down for an interview with Lemon.

Musk agreed to the high-profile chat with no restrictions, but was unhappy with the line of questioning. “His approach was basically ‘CNN but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying,” Musk wrote.

An unfazed Lemon forged ahead and made his daily program available on YouTube, where it has 1.3 million subscribers, and other platforms. He has a small staff that handles production and online audience engagement. In addition to ad revenue from YouTube, the program has signed its own sponsors.

While legacy media outlets have become more conscious of running afoul of Trump, who has threatened the broadcast TV licenses of networks that make him unhappy with their coverage, independent journalists such as Lemon and his former CNN colleague Jim Acosta, have doubled down in their aggressive analysis of the administration.

Friends describe Lemon as relentless, channeling every attempt to hold him back into motivation to push harder. “You tell him ‘you can’t do it,’ he just wants to do it more,” said one close associate.

Wald said independent conservative journalists should be wary of Lemon’s arrest.

“If I’m a conservative blogger, influencer, or YouTube creator type, I would be worried that when the administration changes, they can be next,” Wald said. “So people should be careful what they wish for here.”

Jan. 30 (UPI) — The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday said the Producer Price Index rose by a half percent in December, which raises concern that inflation could rise as a result.

The index measures the cost businesses pay for wholesale goods and is among the factors that potentially affect inflation and unemployment rates.

The nation’s inflation rate currently is 2.7%, while unemployment was 4.4% in December.

“On an over-year-ago basis, core final demand PPI goods rose 3.7%, which points to ongoing pipeline pressures for consumer inflation that appears to be bolstered in part by tariffs,” JPMorgan analysts said in a statement.

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC that the higher Producer Price Index is not matched by the Consumer Price Index, which decreased in December.

“The CPI over the last three months, the annual rate, was lower than 2,” Hassett said.

“I think that right now we’re seeing materials prices like gold and so on are up quite a bit, in part because of all the investment that’s happening for artificial intelligence and data centers and so on,” he added.

December’s half-percent rise in the Producer Price Index was more than double its 0.2% rise in November and 0.1% increase in October, the BLS said.

For the year, wholesale prices, not including foods, energy and trade services, rose by 3.5%, which is slightly less than the 3.6% increase in 2024.

“Over 40 percent of the December increase in prices for final demand services can be traced to a 4.5-percent rise in margins for machinery and equipment wholesaling,” the BLS reported.

The cost of nonferrous metals also rose by 4.5% in December.

Also posting cost increases were the “indexes for guestroom rental; food and alcohol retailing; health, beauty and optical goods retailing; portfolio management; and airline passenger services also advanced,” the bureau said.

“Prices for residential natural gas, motor vehicles, soft drinks and aircraft and aircraft equipment also increased.”

While such costs rose, others declined by significant margins, including the cost for bundled wired telecommunications access services, which declined by 4.4%.

MINNEAPOLIS — When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flooded Minneapolis, Shane Mantz dug his Choctaw Nation citizenship card out of a box on his dresser and slid it into his wallet.

Some strangers mistake the pest-control company manager for Latino, he said, and he fears getting caught up in ICE raids.

Like Mantz, many Native Americans are carrying tribal documents proving their U.S. citizenship in case they are stopped or questioned by federal immigration agents. This is why dozens of the 575 federally recognized Native nations are making it easier to get tribal IDs. They’re waiving fees, lowering the age of eligibility — ranging from 5 to 18 nationwide — and printing the cards faster.

It’s the first time tribal IDs have been widely used as proof of U.S. citizenship and protection against federal law enforcement, said David Wilkins, an expert on Native politics and governance at the University of Richmond.

“I don’t think there’s anything historically comparable,” Wilkins said. “I find it terribly frustrating and disheartening.”

As Native Americans around the country rush to secure documents proving their right to live in the United States, many see a bitter irony.

“As the first people of this land, there’s no reason why Native Americans should have their citizenship questioned,” said Jaqueline De León, a senior staff attorney with the nonprofit Native American Rights Fund and member of Isleta Pueblo.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to more than four requests for comment over a week.

Native identity in a new age of fear

Since the mid- to late 1800s, the U.S. government has kept detailed genealogical records to estimate Native Americans’ fraction of “Indian blood” and determine their eligibility for healthcare, housing, education and other services owed under federal legal responsibilities. Those records were also used to aid federal assimilation efforts and chip away at tribal sovereignty, communal lands and identity.

Beginning in the late 1960s, many tribal nations began issuing their own forms of identification. In the last two decades, tribal photo ID cards have become commonplace and can be used to vote in tribal elections, to prove U.S. work eligibility and for domestic air travel.

About 70% of Native Americans today live in urban areas, including tens of thousands in the Twin Cities, one of the largest urban Native populations in the country.

There, in early January, a top ICE official announced the “largest immigration operation ever.”

Masked, heavily armed agents traveling in convoys of unmarked SUVs became commonplace in some neighborhoods. By this week, more than 3,400 people had been arrested, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At least 2,000 ICE officers and 1,000 Border Patrol officers were on the ground.

Representatives from at least 10 tribes traveled hundreds of miles to Minneapolis — the birthplace of the American Indian Movement — to accept ID applications from members there. Among them were the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe of Wisconsin, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa of North Dakota.

Turtle Mountain citizen Faron Houle renewed his tribal ID card and got his young adult son’s and his daughter’s first ones.

“You just get nervous,” Houle said. “I think [ICE agents are] more or less racial profiling people, including me.”

Events in downtown coffee shops, hotel ballrooms, and at the Minneapolis American Indian Center helped urban tribal citizens connect and share resources, said Christine Yellow Bird, who directs the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation’s satellite office in Fargo, ND.

Yellow Bird made four trips to Minneapolis in recent weeks, putting nearly 2,000 miles on her 2017 Chevy Tahoe to help citizens in the Twin Cities who can’t make the long journey to their reservation.

Yellow Bird said she always keeps her tribal ID with her.

“I’m proud of who I am,” she said. “I never thought I would have to carry it for my own safety.”

Some Native Americans say ICE is harassing them

Last year, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said that several tribal citizens reported being stopped and detained by ICE officers in Arizona and New Mexico. He and other tribal leaders have advised citizens to carry tribal IDs with them at all times.

Last November, Elaine Miles, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon and an actress known for her roles in “Northern Exposure” and “The Last of Us,” said she was stopped by ICE officers in Washington state who told her that her tribal ID looked fake.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe this week banned ICE from its reservation in southwestern South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska, one of the largest in the country.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota said a member was detained in Minnesota last weekend. And Peter Yazzie, who is Navajo, said he was arrested and held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Phoenix for several hours last week.

Yazzie, a construction worker from nearby Chinle, Ariz., said he was sitting in his car at a gas station preparing for a day of work when he saw ICE officers arrest some Latino men. The officers soon turned their attention to Yazzie, pushed him to the ground, and searched his vehicle, he said.

He said he told them where to find his driver’s license, birth certificate, and a federal Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood. Yazzie said the car he was in is registered to his mother. Officers said the names didn’t match, he said, and he was arrested, taken to a nearby detention center and held for about four hours.

“It’s an ugly feeling. It makes you feel less human. To know that people see your features and think so little of you,” he said.

Homeland Security did not respond to questions about the arrest.

Mantz, the Choctaw Nation citizen, said he runs pest-control operations in Minneapolis neighborhoods where ICE agents are active and he won’t leave home without his tribal identification documents.

Securing them for his children is now a priority.

“It gives me some peace of mind. But at the same time, why do we have to carry these documents?” Mantz said. “Who are you to ask us to prove who we are?”

Brewer, Peters and Huntington write for the Associated Press. Brewer reported from Oklahoma City and Peters from Edgewood, N.M.