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Leila Navidi/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Minneapolis bars immigration enforcement staging on city-owned lots

Current News / News & Features /

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday signed an executive order blocking federal, state and local agencies from using any city-owned parking lots, ramps, garages or vacant lots to stage immigration enforcement operations.

The directive, effective immediately, follows reports that the Trump administration is preparing targeted enforcement ...Read more

Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Newsom, Bonta want Californians to report federal agents' misconduct. Here's how

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Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta on Wednesday announced the creation of an online portal to report alleged misconduct of federal agents in California.

The online portal, which sends the submitted information to the California Department of Justice, allows people to submit video and photos. The state leaders said the ...Read more

Msphotographic/Dreamstime/TNS

1.5 million bags of shredded cheese have been recalled. Check your fridge for these brands

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More than 1.5 million bags of different shredded cheeses sold at major retailers, including in California, have been voluntarily recalled due to possible metal contamination, authorities said.

The recall was initiated in early October by Great Lakes Cheese Co., an Ohio-based company, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The ...Read more

Tom Williams/ZUMA Press/TNS

ACA marketplace allowed fake enrollees, possible fraud, Government Accountability Office says

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The federal health insurance exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act allowed the enrollment of fake beneficiaries and the payout of accompanying premium subsidies, a Government Accountability Office report published Wednesday found.

The report, which included identity testing, analysis of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ...Read more

News briefs

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Lawmakers seek update from DOJ on Epstein disclosure law

A bipartisan group of five lawmakers has asked the Justice Department for a briefing by Friday on any new information that could interfere with the department’s ability to release files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein by a mid-December deadline.

Congress overcame initial ...Read more

Martin Bernetti/Getty Images North America/TNS

Ex-Venezuelan spy chief alleges Maduro regime runs drugs, gangs, spies in U.S.

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Hugo Carvajal Barrios, a former three-star Venezuelan general and once one of the most powerful figures within the Caracas socialist regime, has released a letter from a U.S. federal prison making sweeping allegations about the Venezuelan government’s involvement in narcotics trafficking, organized crime and intelligence operations inside the ...Read more

Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS

Bessent under discussion to also lead National Economic Council

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Donald Trump’s aides and allies are discussing the possibility of making Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent the top White House economic adviser — in addition to his current job — should the president pick Kevin Hassett as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, according to people familiar with the matter.

Tapping Bessent to lead the White ...Read more

Robert Willett/The News & Observer/TNS

NC Board of Education chair rips Border Patrol, closing US Education Department

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State Board of Education chair Eric Davis is speaking out against the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education and recent federal immigration enforcement actions in North Carolina.

At the start of Wednesday’s state board meeting in Raleigh, Davis gave a seven-minute speech warning about what he called the negative changes to public ...Read more

Trevor Metcalfe/The Virginian-Pilot/TNS

Virginia lost 10% of community pharmacies over 5 years, study finds

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The number of community pharmacies in Virginia — including chains — has declined by nearly 10% since 2019.

That’s according to a new report from the Joint Commission on Health Care, which was tasked with studying access to pharmacy services in Virginia. Legislative staff presented the findings to the commission Wednesday in Richmond.

“...Read more

John McCall/South Florida Sun Sentinel/TNS

U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds jet crashes near Death Valley, pilot survives

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An F-16 fighter jet crashed in the desert town of Trona, California, on Wednesday, authorities said.

The pilot safely ejected from the aircraft and was in stable condition, according to U.S. Air Force Sgt. Jovante Johnson. The F-16C Fighting Falcon was assigned to the Air Force Thunderbirds, an aerial acrobatic demonstration team based at ...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

Congress is back. But that doesn't mean momentum for a health insurance deal

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If you thought lawmakers in Congress would return from a Thanksgiving break ready to buckle down and find a deal on the expiring insurance subsidies under the Obama health law, think again.

There was little evidence of any momentum in the hallways of the Capitol this week. Instead, it felt more like Congress will let the subsidies expire and ...Read more

Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America/TNS

Alaska National Guard members to help ICE in Anchorage office

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Five members of the Alaska National Guard are set to help federal officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at their office in Anchorage as the Trump administration seeks to increase deportations and restrict migration.

"The ICE Homeland Security Investigation Anchorage office requested National Guard assistance, the Office of the...Read more

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images North America/TNS

Rollins says USDA will withhold food stamp funds from blue states

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The Agriculture Department plans to freeze federal funding for 21 states starting next week as it escalates its crackdown on possible fraud in the food stamp program, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday.

The USDA requested states in February to turn over data about benefit recipients under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance ...Read more

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

NASA nominee denies conflict of interest with Musk

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Jared Isaacman, the on-off-on again nominee to lead NASA, on Wednesday denied allegations of a potential conflict of interest because of his friendship with billionaire Elon Musk, adding he doesn’t know why President Donald Trump withdrew his nomination earlier this year only to renominate him last month.

Isaacman made the comments at a ...Read more

Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

California leaders launch online portal where 'federal agent misconduct' can be reported

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California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a new online portal Wednesday allowing residents to report what they believe to be excessive force, misconduct or other potentially illegal activity by federal agents or members of the military working in the state.

Videos, photos and other information submitted through the portal ...Read more

TNS

Adoptive mom of pregnant Wexford victim tried to protect her, knew suspect was 'dangerous'

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Stephanie Park said she spent years trying to shield her adopted daughter from her biological mother, who is accused of killing the 22-year-old pregnant Wexford County woman while attempting to cut a baby from the victim's womb.

The victim, Rebecca Park, did not have a close relationship with her biological mother, Cortney Bartholomew, ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

University of Delaware student facing weapons charges after plotting attack on campus police, feds say

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A University of Delaware student who planned to target a campus police building with firearms was arrested last week and charged with federal weapons crimes, authorities said.

Luqmaan Khan, 25, of Wilmington, vowed to “kill all” as he mapped out violent schemes in his journal — ones that involved Glock pistols, stun grenades, an assault ...Read more

Haiti gang king 'Yonyon' gets life in US prison for kidnapping missionaries

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WASHINGTON — Germine Joly, the self-described “king” of Haiti’s notoriously violent 400 Mawozo gang, was sentenced on Wednesday to life in federal prison without parole for orchestrating the kidnapping of 17 missionaries — 16 of whom were U.S. citizens, including an eight-month-old baby.

The life sentence, handed down in a District of...Read more

Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald/TNS

Autism, vaccines center latest battle between Mass. Gov. Healey and Trump administration

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Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey is slamming Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over statements he made relating to childhood vaccines and their potential links to Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Healey hosted a forum Wednesday at the Department of Public Health headquarters in Boston, where she urged members of the ...Read more

Phillip Faraone/Getty Images North America/TNS

Matthew Perry's 'Dr. P' sentenced to prison for supplying actor with ketamine before death

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A former physician who supplied ketamine to “Friends” star Matthew Perry in the weeks leading up to the actor’s death was sentenced Wednesday to serve 30 months — about two and a half years — in federal prison.

Salvador Plasencia, known to Perry as “Dr. P,” according to court filings, appeared before a federal judge Wednesday in ...Read more