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Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Student protests over immigration must not disrupt class, Florida education chief says

Current News / News & Features /

School districts across Florida have heard rumblings lately about student plans to walk out of classes to protest federal immigration enforcement actions, such as the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Some walkouts have already taken place, including in Escambia and Leon counties, while others are being discussed for the coming days, ...Read more

Jared Kaufman/St. Paul Pioneer Press/TNS

After 'ICE out' messages were destroyed, snow sculptors re-create their works in Minneapolis

Current News / News & Features /

ST. PAUL, Minn. — After a pair of anti-ICE snow sculptures were partially or completely destroyed in two separate competitions this month, the sculptors behind both pieces have reprised their original works in a combined sculpture in Minneapolis.

In late January, Team USA’s sculpture for the World Snow Sculpting Championship in downtown ...Read more

Andrew Leyden/Zuma Press/TNS

After a year of tensions, Colombia's Petro and Trump make peace

Current News / News & Features /

President Trump recently called Colombia’s leader, Gustavo Petro, a “sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”

Petro, meanwhile, has labeled Trump a murderer and compared him to Adolf Hitler.

But on Tuesday, the two leaders made nice — mostly — at a closed-door meeting at the White House that both ...Read more

Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel/TNS

Florida DOGE report has local officials asking: Where's the waste?

Current News / News & Features /

Florida auditors who crossed the state looking to expose fraud and waste in government spending recently issued a report on their findings. But local government officials say that they failed to identify any examples of egregious waste.

The state’s Department of Governmental Efficiency started scrutinizing various county and city governments ...Read more

Jerry Holt/Star Tribune/TNS

Walz demands DHS stop detaining Minnesota children

Current News / News & Features /

Gov. Tim Walz denounced how Operation Metro Surge is treating Minnesota’s children on Tuesday, Feb. 3, and sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, demanding her agency stop tactics that put kids at risk.

“These are the people that our children should be around,” he said of education leaders by his side...Read more

Handout/Getty Images North America/TNS

Epstein files to remain online after DOJ agrees to 'expeditiously' scrub names of victims

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NEW YORK — The Jeffrey Epstein files will remain online after victims of the disgraced financier on Tuesday said the Justice Department had committed to “expeditiously” scrubbing their identities from a tranche of case files released to the public, creating what one woman called a “careless and dangerous” situation.

Lawyers for the ...Read more

Specialist 3rd Class Clint Davis/U.S. Navy/TNS

US jet shoots down Iranian drone near carrier in Arabian Sea

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump reiterated that the U.S. and Iran are maintaining diplomatic talks, even after an earlier skirmish in the Arabian Sea spooked oil markets amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

“We are negotiating with them right now” and “they’d like to do something,” Trump told reporters at the ...Read more

Tom Gralish/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Gov. Josh Shapiro proposes $53.2 billion state budget focusing on affordability, development, and raising Pennsylvania's minimum wage

Current News / News & Features /

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday unveiled a $53.2 billion state budget that focuses on making Pennsylvania a more affordable place to live — while proposing a 6.2% spending increase over last year and renewing his pitches to create new revenue streams to fill a significant budget deficit as he runs for reelection.

Shapiro’s ...Read more

News briefs

Current News / News & Features /

Maryland House and Senate pass bills banning ICE cooperation deals

BALTIMORE — In separate party-line votes Tuesday, the Maryland House and Senate passed legislation to end local law enforcement cooperation agreements with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, fast-tracking two identical bills that have ignited heated debate across ...Read more

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America/TNS

Top Republicans throw cold water on 'nationalizing' elections

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — As many Republicans in Congress push for action on a voter ID bill, its future remains uncertain — and key voices in the GOP say they are wary of increasing federal involvement in elections.

“I’m supportive of only citizens voting and showing ID at polling places. I think that makes sense … but I’m not in favor of ...Read more

David Goodhue/Miami Herald/TNS

Bird-flipping driver pleads guilty to 'brake checking' Border Patrol van

Current News / News & Features /

A Michigan motorist accused of flipping off federal agents and cutting off a Border Patrol van has pleaded guilty to charges, according to court records.

Jacob Nathaniel Len, 30, of Ypsilanti, entered the plea last month in U.S. District Court in Detroit, court documents said.

The filings also said he was sentenced to six months of probation, ...Read more

Natalie Behring/Getty Images North America/TNS

California doctor sent abortion pills to Texas woman. Under a new law, her boyfriend is suing

Current News / News & Features /

A California doctor this week became the first physician to be sued under a new Texas law that allows private citizens to pursue civil legal action against anyone who provides abortion medication in Texas.

In the lawsuit, first filed in Texas federal court in July 2025, Jerry Rodriguez alleged that San Francisco Bay Area doctor Remy Coeytaux ...Read more

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

NASA's Artemis II launch delayed until at least March after test run falls short

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NASA’s test run of its Artemis II countdown ran into problems Monday at Kennedy Space Center, scrapping any chance of the moonbound mission launching this month.

Instead, the agency is targeting March as the earliest possible date for Artemis II, which will be the first crewed mission on the Orion spacecraft and the first time humans will fly...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Catalina Island's deer will be killed to restore its ecosystem

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California wildlife officials have approved a plan to eradicate Catalina Island’s entire deer population as part of a broader effort to restore the island ecosystem, sparking fierce opposition from an unusual coalition of hunters and animal welfare advocates.

Per the plan conceived by the Catalina Island Conservancy, professional hunters will...Read more

Saul Loeb/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Analysis: Trump borrowing from past presidents he has long lambasted

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump shared the head table at an exclusive Washington dinner Saturday night with George W. Bush. It was fitting, considering the 47th president has increasingly been borrowing from the playbooks of predecessors he’s long criticized.

While Trump’s second-term penchant for stretching or obliterating laws and ...Read more

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has spent at least $573 million on immigration

Current News / News & Features /

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has spent $573 million from an emergency response fund on immigration efforts over the last three years, including millions to equip agencies with radios and high-tech cameras, his administration informed the Legislature last week.

In a report issued Saturday, the Division of Emergency ...Read more

Tom Gralish/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Gov. Josh Shapiro unveils $53.3 billion Pa. budget proposal for 2026-27

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HARRISBURG, Pa. — Highlighting his belief that Pennsylvania continues to be "on the rise" under his watch, Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday unveiled a $53.3 billion state budget proposal for 2026-27 that pumps up spending on K-12 education, seeks to reap billions from skill games regulations, and almost certainly will trigger a fight over tapping ...Read more

Al Diaz/Miami Herald/TNS

'We celebrate, but we do not stop:' Advocates vow to keep fighting after Haiti TPS ruling

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Haitian advocates and Democratic lawmakers in Florida said Tuesday that while they welcome a federal judge’s ruling Monday night to pause the end of temporary immigration protections for more than 300,000 Haitians, they will keep fighting “until protection turns into permanence.”

“We celebrate, but we do not stop,” said Nancy Metayer ...Read more

Tom Williams/ZUMA Press/TNS

Senate panel delays action on satellite licensing bill

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WASHINGTON — Committee debate paused Tuesday on a bill that would speed federal approval of new satellites as Democrats raised concerns about potential automatic approval, especially as Elon Musk’s SpaceX seeks to build a large constellation of artificial intelligence data satellites.

The Senate Commerce Committee recessed a planned markup ...Read more

Ivy Ceballo/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

Florida Senate poised to back off plan giving undeveloped land to charter schools

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Florida public education advocates claimed a victory Monday in their ongoing effort to stop lawmakers from requiring school districts to hand taxpayer funded property to privately run interests.

State Sen. Keith Truenow, R-Tavares, moved to replace his bill (SB 824) that would require school districts that have lost enrollment over three years ...Read more