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Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump-class warship may be among costliest military vessels

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WASHINGTON — The first of the Navy’s proposed “Trump-class” battleships could cost up to $22 billion, a price tag that would make it one of the most expensive U.S. military vessels in U.S. history, according to an early analysis.

The initial cost estimate for the ship was released on Thursday by Congressional Budget Office naval forces ...Read more

Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune/TNS

Minnesotans can report on impacts of federal actions on state AG website

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Attorney General Keith Ellison launched a form on a website where Minnesotans can report on impacts of the federal actions in the state.

Residents can report on incidents that have impacted them or those close to them or things they have witnessed, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

“These incident reports may be critical in...Read more

Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune/TNS

White House expresses anger, FBI offers reward in connection with damage, theft from government vehicles in Minneapolis

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MINNEAPOLIS — The White House is expressing anger while the FBI is putting up a reward in hopes of tracking down whoever damaged agents’ vehicles and stole government documents during unrest that followed a federal officer shooting and wounding a man on Jan. 14 in north Minneapolis.

FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Jan. 15 that his ...Read more

Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump threatens to invoke Insurrection Act over Minneapolis ICE clashes

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President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy military troops on the streets of Minneapolis amid escalating clashes between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carrying out his mass deportation push.

The White House threat, which came after ICE agents shot and wounded a suspect ...Read more

Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Operation Metro Surge has no end date. How long could it last?

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MINNEAPOLIS — As Operation Metro Surge nears the 50-day mark, federal officials won’t say when it will end, an ambiguity consistent with how similar immigration enforcement campaigns have unfolded elsewhere in the country.

Similar questions emerged last fall in Chicago, where federal officials launched a large-scale enforcement effort with ...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

Venezuela opposition leader Machado says she 'presented' her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump

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WASHINGTON — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said Thursday that she “presented” her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Trump during a private meeting at the White House, but he has not changed his view that she does not have the support to lead her country.

Machado, who won the prize last year for her work to promote...Read more

News briefs

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GOP rep. hints Greenland invasion could trigger bipartisan Trump impeachment

Republican Rep. Don Bacon indicated there could be bipartisan support to impeach President Donald Trump for a third time if he invades Greenland.

Days after the Trump administration attacked Venezuela and took its leader into custody, the president began expressing ...Read more

ALEJANDRO PAREDES/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

White House stashes Venezuela oil cash in Qatar banks, report says

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The White House has reportedly stashed millions of dollars from sales of Venezuelan oil in Qatari banks since the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro, raising huge questions about how the money will be allocated and if Congress and the American public will have a say.

An estimated $500 million from the first Venezuelan oil sales has already been...Read more

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds,Odd Andersen/Getty Images North America/TNS

Germany says NATO will push back on Russia, China in Arctic

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A stalemate between Denmark and the United States over Greenland is prompting Europeans to establish a military presence on the Arctic island after a high-level meeting failed to defuse U.S. threats over its future.

Germany will send a reconnaissance team to Greenland on Friday together with other NATO partners in a show of unity, the defense ...Read more

Tom Gralish/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Racist NJ mayor told cops to 'keep Black people out' of city, AG says

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A North Jersey mayor caught on secret recordings using the N-word directed police to keep Black people out of the city, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin alleged Thursday in a lawsuit.

Longtime Clark Township mayor Salvatore Bonaccorso told Clark Police Department leadership to “keep chasing the spooks out of town,” using a racial...Read more

DREW ANGERER/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Machado presents Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump in White House meeting

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Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said Thursday that she presented President Donald Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal during her meeting with him at the White House, where the two discussed the South American country’s future.

Neither Machado nor the White House has said whether Trump accepted the medal, which was ...Read more

Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

Demings, Jolly unknown to most Fla. voters, poll says, while Donalds leads GOP

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Republican Byron Donalds enjoys a “significant early lead” among GOP voters in the race to be Florida’s next governor while Democrats have “no clear favorite” yet among their candidates, according to a new poll.

But many voters are still undecided — and do not even know the men who want to replace Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to the...Read more

David Guralnick/The Detroit News/TNS

Trump's 'Great Healthcare Plan' aims to lower drug prices and insurance premiums

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is asking Congress to pass legislation to implement health care reforms he unveiled Thursday aimed at lowering drug prices and insurance premiums, as he moves to address one of his party’s political liabilities ahead of midterm elections.

“I’m calling on Congress to pass this framework into law ...Read more

Emmy Martin/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

ACLU sues feds over alleged racial profiling in Twin Cities immigration surge

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The ACLU of Minnesota filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government on Thursday, Jan. 15, accusing immigration agents of racially profiling Somali and Latino people through unlawful stops and arrests during the current enforcement surge across the Twin Cities.

Catherine Ahlin-Halverson, a lawyer for the civil rights group, said it...Read more

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump threatens to invoke Insurrection Act in Minnesota. What is it?

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MINNEAPOLIS — President Donald Trump is threatening to use the Insurrection Act in Minnesota to tamp down unrest and the pushback against ICE agents working in the state.

Trump gave the warning early Thursday, Jan. 15, in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, after a federal agent shot a man in the leg Wednesday night in north ...Read more

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Judge who blasted Operation Midway Blitz use-of-force tactics will hear new lawsuit by city, state

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CHICAGO — The federal judge who issued a landmark preliminary injunction in November limiting the use of force by immigration agents agreed Thursday to take over a new lawsuit filed by the state and city of Chicago alleging a much broader swath of illegal actions during the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz.

U.S. District Judge ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

New Office of Inspector General data portal details misconduct patterns among Chicago police officers, crews

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CHICAGO — In recent decades, some of the Chicago Police Department’s most notorious scandals were perpetrated by officers assigned to the same team or unit, including Jerome Finnigan of the special operations section and Ronald Watts of the public housing unit.

But it took extensive searches to connect individual accusations and see wider ...Read more

Lucy Marques/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

Prosecutors decline to file hate crime charges in USF Muslim harassment case

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TAMPA, Fla. — Hillsborough County prosecutors declined to pursue hate crime charges against three men who harassed a group of Muslim students while they prayed on the University of South Florida’s Tampa campus in November.

Instead, Richard Penkoski, 49, Christopher Svochak, 40, and Ricardo Yepez, 28, are charged with disturbing a religious ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin slashes Councilwoman's Vickie Paladino's assignments due to 'abhorrent' posts

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NEW YORK — New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin is only letting Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino serve on two committees this session due to her “abhorrent” social media posts about Muslims and other minorities.

Paladino, one of the Council’s most far-right Republicans, is only going to serve as a member of the Council’s ...Read more

Gardiner Anderson/Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/TNS

Mamdani names campaign adviser Afua Atta-Mensah head of racial justice office

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NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday appointed Afua Atta-Mensah, who was a top official on his mayoral campaign, to head the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice.

Atta-Mensah was the senior political director during Mamdani’s general election run. She led outreach efforts to Black voters, a demographic the then-candidate ...Read more