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People take part in an anti-ICE protest outside the governor's residence in St. Paul, Minn., on Feb. 6, 2026.  AP Photo/Ryan Murphy

Why standing in solidarity with immigrants is an act of accompaniment in Catholic philosophy

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In Portland, Oregon, people wearing inflatable frog costumes – The Portland Frog Brigade – danced outside immigration offices. In Chicago, parents and neighbors walked children to and from school, forming “magic schoolbuses” for families who feared detention.

Thousands of Americans have taken to the streets since fall 2025 to...Read more

Thousands of HIV/AIDS patients in Florida could soon lose access to lifesaving medications. Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Florida’s proposed cuts to AIDS drug program threaten patient care and public health

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More than 128,000 Floridians are living with HIV. The state has the second-highest rate of new HIV diagnoses after Georgia, with approximately 4,500 new diagnoses in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available.

But access to treatment could be in jeopardy if potential budget cuts, announced in January 2026 by the Florida ...Read more

An oil pipeline runs under the Straits of Mackinac, connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and separating Michigan's Lower Peninsula from its Upper Peninsula. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio

Supreme Court’s Michigan pipeline case is about Native rights and fossil fuels, not just technical legal procedure

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What began as a straightforward question from one water-quality advocate has morphed into a high-stakes battle over an oil pipeline at the highest levels of the U.S. government – with implications that go far beyond the fate of a technical legal conflict.

The question arose after a 2010 Enbridge Energy oil spill in Michigan. The ...Read more

Posters memorialize Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two white Minneapolis residents killed by federal agents. AP Photo/Ryan Murphy

When civil rights protesters are killed, some deaths – generally those of white people – resonate more

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Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two white Minneapolis residents killed in January 2026 by federal agents while protesting the Trump administration’s immigration policy, have become household names. National media outlets continue to focus on their deaths and the circumstances around them.

Neither of them was the first person to be shot ...Read more

Most other democratic countries spend only a fraction of what the U.S. does on elections. Greggory DiSalvo, iStock/Getty Images Plus

50 years ago, the Supreme Court broke campaign finance regulation

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In 2024, spending on federal elections totaled almost US$15 billion in the United States. The United Kingdom, in contrast, spent approximately $129 million on its 2024 parliamentary elections – less than 1% of 2024 U.S. spending – despite having a population one-fifth the size of the U.S.

Indeed, most other democratic countries ...Read more

The Colorado Springs City Council took weeks to pass a symbolic gesture recognizing February as Black History Month.  Claire Oberon-Garcia

Honoring Colorado’s Black History requires taking the time to tell stories that make us think twice

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For the past eight years, the Colorado Springs City Council has issued proclamations and recognitions paying homage to the achievements of its African American citizens.

In 2005, the Colorado Springs City Council and Mayor Yemi Mobolade jointly issued a Black History Month proclamation.

This year, the mayor’s office issued ...Read more

A police officer in Ipswich, Mass., wears a WatchGuard body camera on July 29, 2020. Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Why ICE’s body camera policies make the videos unlikely to improve accountability and transparency

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Amid growing demands by Democrats to overhaul U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after federal immigration officials killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in early February 2026 that agents in Minneapolis will be issued body-worn cameras.

But can body cameras on federal officials ...Read more

Mario Tama/Getty Images North America/Getty Images

At a moment of turmoil, an embattled Trump is set to address a divided Congress

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will deliver his annual State of the Union address Tuesday night at a moment of unusual upheaval, confronting a cascade of crises that have left Washington unsettled and his own political standing diminished early in his second term.

When lawmakers gather to hear the president's agenda for the year ahead, ...Read more

Mexico's big cartel win also risks more violence ahead

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The killing of “El Mencho,” one of Mexico’s most wanted drug lords, risks being both a blessing and curse for President Claudia Sheinbaum.

It was a political win both at home and abroad, and the clearest sign yet that she had stepped out of her predecessor’s shadow with a major assault on one of the most heavily armed drug-trafficking ...Read more

4 years into Putin's war, Ukraine peace push is stalling

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President Donald Trump’s efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are stalling with peace talks deadlocked and the fighting largely at a stalemate after four years of war.

Allies say the U.S. is pushing for a deal before Trump hosts the 250th anniversary celebrations of American independence on July 4. But there’s no indication that ...Read more

Trump says Iran strike would be 'easily won' but wants deal

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President Donald Trump pushed back on reports that the Pentagon was concerned that an extended military campaign against Iran could prove difficult, even as he insisted Monday his preference was still to strike a diplomatic deal.

“Everything that has been written about a potential War with Iran has been written incorrectly, and purposefully ...Read more

SpaceX plans launch today while NASA delays Artemis rollback

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The cold weather isn’t delaying SpaceX’s plans to launch another Starlink mission Tuesday, but did delay NASA’s plans to roll back the Artemis II rocket from the launch pad.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying 29 of its internet satellites is targeting liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 4:03 p.m. during ...Read more

A soldier stands guard by a charred vehicle in Michoacán state, Mexico, on Feb. 22, 2026. AP Photo/Armando Solis

Violent aftermath of Mexico’s ‘El Mencho’ killing follows pattern of other high-profile cartel hits

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The death of a major cartel boss in Mexico has unleashed a violent backlash in which members of the criminal group have paralyzed some cities through blockades and attacks on property and security forces.

At least 73 people have died as a result of the operation to capture Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, or “El Mencho.” The head of ...Read more

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Red and blue states alike want to limit AI in insurance. Trump wants to limit the states

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It’s the rare policy question that unites Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and the Democratic-led Maryland government against President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California: How should health insurers use AI?

Regulating artificial intelligence, especially its use by health insurers, is becoming a politically divisive topic,...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Southern California air board rejected pollution rules after AI-generated flood of comments

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LOS ANGELES — The opposition appeared overwhelming: Tens of thousands of emails poured into Southern California’s top air pollution authority as its board weighed a June proposal to phase out gas-powered appliances. But in reality, many of the messages that may have swayed the powerful regulatory agency to scrap the plan were generated by a ...Read more

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/ZUMA Press/TNS

Florida officials, lawmakers probe stalled Medicaid application

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WASHINGTON — The state of Florida and the Trump administration are at odds over the status of a multibillion-dollar application for a Medicaid program that boosts payments to state hospitals.

Inaction by the administration has prompted members of Florida’s Republican congressional delegation, who less than a year ago voted to rein in these ...Read more

Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Rubio credited Spain for the origins of the American cowboy. Mexico begs to differ

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MEXICO CITY — Few figures occupy as prominent a niche in U.S. lore as the American cowboy, that embodiment of rugged individualism celebrated in dime novels, vintage radio, TV and Hollywood blockbusters.

But recent musings from Secretary of State Marco Rubio have fueled a sometimes-acrimonious debate — mostly on social media — about the ...Read more

Lincoln Beddoe/Dreamstime/TNS

Commentary: Stop the world, I want to step off

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At 84, I am an analog guy in a digital world. Sure, I do Zoom meetings and check my smartphone too often. Yet my mental health suffers, I swear, from the almost vertical rate of societal change; political mayhem; transition from a human to digital-dominated world, and the sense that Big Brother’s cameras know my every move.

Stop the world, I ...Read more

HECTOR AMEZCUA/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

California mother with legal permission to live in US deported in under 24 hours

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez confidently walked to her green card appointment in downtown Sacramento on Wednesday morning.

She had seen the reports of other immigrants arrested at similar check-ins. Estrada Juarez believed her case would be different.

In her hands, she carried a white binder chronicling 27 years in ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Screws tightening for immigrant detainees swept up in Operation Midway Blitz as arrests continue

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CHICAGO — Many of the most in-your-face signs of Operation Midway Blitz have evaporated from public life in Chicago.

There’s no more tear gas or pepper balls in the streets. The Broadview processing center that saw so much chaos still draws protests and demonstrations, but last week, a religious group reported that just four people were ...Read more