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Renée Jones Schneider/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Minnesota schools in 'crisis mode' scramble to support students amid ICE surge

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MINNEAPOLIS — On a recent morning, a Fridley middle schooler stopped a school social worker at lunch to ask why he never sees her anymore. “I really miss you,” he said, his voice dipping to a whisper.

“I know. I’ve been busy,” she responded. “I’ve been helping out the families who can’t leave their homes right now.”

The ...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'National Shutdown' brings protests to LA, across the nation calling for the end of ICE violence

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LOS ANGELES — After hours of peaceful protests in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, tensions escalated outside the Metropolitan Detention Center with law enforcement pushing into a crowd of about 200 people and spraying a chemical agent on demonstrators.

Amid the unrest, the city went on tactical alert shortly after 5 p.m., according to the Los...Read more

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump administration's climate skepticism effort violated federal law, judge rules

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A federal judge on Friday ruled that the U.S. Department of Energy violated federal law when it formed a secretive group of researchers to produce a report downplaying the effects of climate change.

The “Climate Working Group” was composed of five scientists hand-picked by Energy Secretary Chris Wright shortly after the White House ...Read more

Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Venezuelan regime to close dreaded Helicoide prison, announces amnesty bill

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Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, announced Friday that El Helicoide, one of the country’s most notorious detention centers, which became emblematic for abuse and torture, will be shut down and converted into a social and sports services center, while also confirming that a bill for a general amnesty for political prisoners ...Read more

Alex Wroblewski/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump, Clinton, Musk named in latest Epstein files release

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Some 3 million pages of documents involving sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, including thousands of videos and photographs, were released Friday by the Department of Justice.

The trove of files included an FBI document, compiled by the agency’s child exploitation division, that listed a number of graphic sexual assault allegations against ...Read more

Mike Pont/Getty Images North America/TNS

Don Lemon's arrest escalates Trump's clashes with journalists

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NEW YORK — For years at CNN, Don Lemon had been a thorn in the side of President Donald 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 ...Read more

Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Mexican president inaugurates new elevated highway in Tijuana near US-Mexico border

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SAN DIEGO — For more than two years, thousands of drivers traveling along Avenida Internacional in Tijuana, one of the city’s busiest corridors running parallel to a section of the U.S.-Mexico border fence, have witnessed the construction of a large-scale elevated highway.

On Friday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was in Tijuana to ...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'National Shutdown' brings protests to LA, across the nation calling for the end of ICE violence

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LOS ANGELES — The afternoon sun beat down on Los Angeles City Hall as Xavi Moreno watched the crowd around him swell, struck by the momentum of it all.

It was a scene of collective anger over the families, fruit vendors, gardeners, day laborers and others who have been targeted for deportation under the Trump administration and a protest ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

9th Circuit upholds California ban on switchblades in San Diego lawsuit

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SAN DIEGO — A three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday unanimously affirmed a San Diego judge’s previous ruling that California’s ban on switchblades does not violate the Second Amendment and can remain in place.

California is one of the last remaining states in the country that still bans individuals from ...Read more

Renee Jones Schneider/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Arrest of ex-CNN anchor Don Lemon in Beverly Hills raises First Amendment concerns

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LOS ANGELES — Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested Friday in Los Angeles by federal agents on charges that he violated federal law during a protest last week at a church in Minnesota.

Lemon, an independent journalist who hosts his own YouTube show, was taken into federal custody in Beverly Hills while covering the upcoming Grammy Awards ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

State Department approves arms sales to Israel, Saudi Arabia

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department has approved the sales of about $6.7 billion of armaments to Israel, including AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, and $9 billion for Patriot missiles to be purchased by Saudi Arabia.

The sales, which remain subject to congressional review and negotiations between the buyers and the manufacturers, was ...Read more

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Jury convicts 'Dances with Wolves' actor in sexual assault trial

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LAS VEGAS — A jury on Friday convicted “Dances with Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse in a sexual assault trial in which he was accused of targeting fellow Native Americans.

Prosecutors had charged Chasing Horse, 49, with 21 counts, including sexual assault with a minor under 16, sexual assault, first-degree kidnapping of a minor, open ...Read more

News briefs

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A pair of teen brothers are in the thick of tracking, documenting ICE activity in Twin Cities

MINNEAPOLIS — In a clip that became instant fodder for memes and late-night TV shows, a federal agent charges toward a Minneapolis protester, slips on a patch of ice and slams onto his backside as cheers and laughter erupt from onlookers.

In another...Read more

Protesters associated with a far-right group known as Nuncio Nacional extend a fascist salute on Jan. 24, 2026, demonstrating that the ideology still has some traction in Spain. Getty Images/Marcos del Mazo

What Franco’s fascist regime in Spain can teach us about today’s America

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Minneapolis residents say they feel besieged under what some are calling a fascist occupation. Thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been swarming a city whose vast majority in 2024 did not vote for Donald Trump – or for a paramilitary roundup of its diverse population.

Tragically, two residents have been ...Read more

Technology doesn't create social movements, but it can supercharge them. Arthur Maiorella/Anadolu via Getty Images

From Colonial rebels to Minneapolis protesters, technology has long powered American social movements

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Tens of millions of Americans have now seen video of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis. The activities organized in response have not been initiated by outside agitators or left-wing zealots, but, rather, by everyday Americans protesting the tactics of federal agents in that city.

...Read more

U.S. Border Patrol agents stand guard at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan. 8, 2026.   Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

I’m a former FBI agent who studies policing, and here’s how federal agents in Minneapolis are undermining basic law enforcement principles

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The Trump administration says federal agents have “absolute immunity” from prosecution in Minneapolis. Department of Justice and Homeland Security officials have indicated that criminal investigations into the killings by immigration agents of Minneapolis protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti are inappropriate, declaring that both were ...Read more

Joshua Boucher/The State/TNS

Ex-SC Rep. RJ May appeals child porn conviction, citing 'ineffective assistance'

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Ex-South Carolina Rep. RJ May III is appealing his child porn conviction and 17.5-year prison sentence to the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. May pleaded guilty in January.

May, 39, is claiming “ineffective assistance of counsel,” a claim that targets his two court-appointed public defender attorneys, Jenny Smith ...Read more

Renee Jones Schneider/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Minnesota law professors call arrests of journalists for documenting church protest an attack on free press

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MINNEAPOLIS — Three Minnesota law school professors say the arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort represent a troubling attack on freedom of the press and a misuse of a federal law that never before been used to prosecute reporters.

Lemon and Fort were arrested on Thursday and Friday, nearly two weeks after they documented an anti...Read more

Mandel Ngan/Pool/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump's Cuba oil tariff threat creates new diplomatic challenge for Mexico's Sheinbaum

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MEXICO CITY — President Trump’s plan to slap tariffs on nations that provide oil to Cuba has created a formidable new challenge for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in her efforts to balance Mexico’s interests with White House demands.

On Friday, Sheinbaum said Mexico would seek a clarification from Washington in a bid to avoid a ...Read more

Steven Hirsch/Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS

Luigi Mangione will not face death penalty in federal trial over CEO slaying

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NEW YORK — The Justice Department was barred from seeking the death penalty against Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, in a Friday ruling by a Manhattan federal court judge.

​Judge Margaret Garnett granted Mangione’s motion to dismiss the capital offense of murder through the use of a firearm and a ...Read more