Milwaukee city council member calls for inquiry into Uline's previous ‘shuttle program' to bring in Mexican workers The statement by JoCasta Zamarripa, who is running for the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin secretary of state ahead of November's election, follows an investigation by the Guardian into Uline's previous use of a so-called “shuttle program”. It involved the company bringing workers from its facilities in Mexico to staff warehouses at its headquarters in Wisconsin, Florida and Pennsylvania, for weeks and even months at a time, using visas that are meant for workers who are being trained – not working regular full-time jobs. “Billionaires fund the crackdown, then exploit the very people targeted by it – because they think money shields them from consequences,” Zamarripa wrote on a post of Facebook. “Wisconsin needs transparency, a real investigation, and accountability that applies to everyone.” A story published by the Guardian earlier this month featured an interview with one Mexican worker, Christian Valenzuela, who came forward to share his previous experience in the shuttle program, including how he was injured while working in Wisconsin, sent back to Mexico and ultimately lost his job. “They always gave us more work, because we were stronger workers. Zamarripa did not respond to a request for an interview. “Now we learn that workers in Pleasant Prairie say Mexican employees were pushed into dangerous, exhausting conditions and punished for speaking up – all while fueling Uline's enormous wealth,” Zamarripa wrote. Zamarripa is a former Wisconsin state representative from Milwaukee and now represents a South Side district in the Milwaukee city council. She has declared her intention to seek the Democratic nomination to run for Wisconsin secretary of state ahead of the primary election in August. The couple donated a total of $1m in the first six months of 2025 to a Wisconsin college Republicans group called the Wisconsin Federation of College Republicans, according to a report by Wisconsin Public Radio. He was also endorsed by Trump, a move that prompted Josh Schoemann, another early candidate for the Republican nomination, to step down from the race.

Federal officials in Los Angeles served the warrants as part of an ongoing investigation, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the probe. The nature of the investigation and what allegations were being examined was not immediately clear. Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the US attorney's office in Los Angeles, confirmed that court-authorized searches were underway Wednesday. The district and the superintendent's office did not immediately respond to emails and a voicemail requesting comment from The Associated Press. TV news footage showed agents in FBI shirts and jackets outside Superintendent Alberto Carvalho's modest home in the San Pedro neighborhood about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. There was no visible sign of agents outside the district headquarters as of mid-morning. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass's office said it had no information about the search and noted the district operates independently of city government. The sprawling Los Angeles Unified School District is the nation's second largest, with more than 500,000 students and covering more than two dozen cities. Carvalho has been its superintendent since February 2022. Before that, he was the longtime superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida. This is a developing story and will be updated.

In its kaleidoscope lens, the future is a canvas to imagine free Black life. In its kaleidoscope lens, the future is a canvas to imagine free Black life. Please support our boldly independent journalism with a donation of any size. I also felt hope from the protests in his name. Now, nearly six years after Floyd's murder, the state violence that took his life has expanded its targets to include white protesters, journalists, and politicians. Two new memorials have been built in Minneapolis. One is for Renee Nicole Good, a lesbian mother and poet, and another for Alex Pretti, a nurse. Both were killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Right-wing state violence, on every level, is trying to stomp out the vision of a multiracial, pluralistic democracy and replace it with plans for a white ethnostate. If the right wing wins, its victory will come at a cost. Already, millions of people in the U.S. have lost faith in the rule of law, a faith that was shaky to begin with. In the face of increasing right-wing violence and national implosion, Black America has to ask questions: What does freedom look like after the U.S.? Black writers have long mapped alternative futures that led away from the “American Dream.” Some are Pan-African. What they share in common is a vision for a Black future free of racism that builds community on the lessons learned from surviving slavery. It is a vision of a new world struggling to be born from the ruins of this one. “I will fucking kill you,” the Indianapolis cop told 17-year-old Black teen Trevion Taylor, dragging him from his car. He and his friends were at an anti-ICE rally when police stopped them, claiming they “smelled weed.” The cop's casual threatening of Taylor's life is just one example of the current widespread increase in state violence. This growing violence includes ICE killings of migrants and protesters. When the people mobilize to protect their rights or each other, they are killed. The tear gas used looks like smoke from a nation on fire. Right-wing state violence is trying to stomp out the vision of a multiracial, pluralistic democracy and replace it with plans for a white ethnostate. “I suspect [we're] integrating into a burning house,” Martin Luther King Jr. told fellow civil rights activist Harry Belafonte in 1968. Belafonte recalled King's warning at a 2005 town hall with Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. President Trump wants to “nationalize” the midterm elections. He transformed ICE into a paramilitary force and more than doubled its personnel from 10,000 to 22,000, luring new recruits by using white supremacist ads. Trump has called Democrats “traitors,” threatened to kill them, and labeled “antifa” a terrorist threat. Meanwhile, Steve Bannon, Trump's former strategist, has urged him to use ICE to “surround the polls” in order to stop Democrats from “stealing the election.” There's a very real constitutional fight ahead. Right now, Black America is in the crosshairs. Trump waited for Black History Month to unleash a racist video of the Obamas portrayed as monkeys. This follows his executive order to cut diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and the “Department of Government Efficiency” cuts that led to a dramatic increase in Black women's unemployment, with nearly 300,000 losing work. Overlap that data with the 25 percent of Black families with single mothers, and it becomes clear that these actions will push whole families and neighborhoods toward collapse. Then, on February 13, Trump said on Truth Social he will issue an executive order mandating voter ID for the midterms. What we see is only the visible part of the larger Project 2025 agenda that also includes rigging the census to undercount Black people, eliminating student loan forgiveness, ending federal consent decrees, shifting oversight of housing programs to the states, and giving a free hand to polluters to poison Black communities. Trump waited for Black History Month to unleash a racist video of the Obamas portrayed as monkeys. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) cited a study that found 51,000 will die annually because of these policy chances. What's more, U.S. allies like Canada are openly saying that U.S. hegemony is over, and their governments intend to make trade deals with China. Politicians may then print money, which could accelerate hyperinflation and financial collapse. Oh, yes, add to that the massive layoffs as businesses adopt AI. Here is the burning house that King predicted nearly 60 years ago. The U.S. threatens to become a charred hollow shell. Black people are stranded in a jobless nation run on algorithms. The government cannot afford welfare or social services. You can be thrown into one of the new, high-tech detention sites for protesting. The American Dream, which has always been mostly fiction, is officially dead. How did the “promised land” become a burning house? Maybe because the very idea was a dead end. “Even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream,” MLK Jr. intoned at the 1963 March on Washington. Yet in his beautiful vision was a trap. Much of Black America chose integration as the dominant strategy for freedom. You see other slaves whipped and killed by the Christian owner who prays to Jesus. We see this in the internalized racism expressed by Phillis Wheatley, the first published Black American poet of modern times, who wrote in 1773, “Remember Christians, Negros Black as Cain / May be refined, and join the angelic train.” Seventy-nine years later, after the American Revolution, in 1852, just shy of the Civil War, Frederick Douglass gave his speech, “What to the Slave Is the 4th of July,” where he said, “your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless.” In his speech, we see Black leveraging of national symbols to force empathy. Meanwhile, in a 1926 essay titled, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes wrote on “this urge within the race toward whiteness … and to be as little Negro and as much American as possible.” Again, an artist tells us the terrible cost of being American. The price of integration was internalized racism, classism, and nationalism. In the 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, Black America grew from approximately 500,000 to now 42 million. Integration sped up a serious class division that is now agonized over by academic Henry Louis Gates Jr. and that was made into a comedy skit by Chris Rock in his 1996 “N***as vs. Black People.” The giant split between the upper-class Black elite and the poor and working classes enables the Democratic Party to use the Black freedom struggle like a poker chip. President Obama's election was sold to us as King's dream come true. Obama waxed poetic on King, saying in 2009, “One of my favorite expressions was Dr. King's expression that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” This from a man who killed 3,797 people with drones, including 324 civilians, and bragged, saying, “Turns out I'm really good at killing people.” He deported more than 3 million people. His housing policy destroyed Black wealth by saving banks rather than homeowners. He was willing to gut Social Security in a “grand bargain” with Republicans. Free and enslaved Africans were buried here before the United States was a nation. The act made one thing clear: Black history did not begin in the U.S. and it will not end here. Our ancestors lost everything but not their humanity. They had a vision of freedom that arced over their lives into ours today. For a long time, more people were drawn toward the first vision, advocating for a Pan-African right of return. This vision flickered in the Black antebellum folklore of slaves who remembered their true language and flew home to Africa. The story was richly sung by Paul Robeson. Versions of it were passed down through generations. You hear it in the speeches of Marcus Garvey. You hear this vision in Malcolm X's call to form a Black nation with the U.S. by “any means necessary.” And most recently we “flew” home during the Black Panther movies. I remember cheers when T'Challa arrived in Wakanda and the holographic curtain was pulled back to reveal a glittering high-tech and free African city. The dream of return can reinforce integration if it just serves as a catch-basin for our rage at fighting racism while integrating. James Baldwin pointed out that whole ways of thinking would have to change in order for Black separatism to become reality. In his famous 1963 essay, “The Fire Next Time,” Baldwin was driven home after meeting with the Nation of Islam's leader Minister Elijah Muhammad. He questioned his driver, “How we were — Negroes — to get this land?” Quietly, Baldwin thought, “I was thinking, your entire frame of reference will have to change, and you will be forced to surrender many things that you know scarcely know you have.” The other vision, Afrofuturism, instead takes us to strange futures. It comes in the novels of Samuel Delany and Octavia Butler. Its themes were crystallized in Mark Dery's 1993 essay, “Black to the Future” that coined the term “Afrofuturism.” In its kaleidoscope lens, the future is a canvas to imagine free Black life: Free from white supremacy. Everything and anything is questioned — even old dreams of liberation, like the American Dream. In Afrofuturism, one work stands out: Octavia Butler's 1993 novel Parable of the Sower. Global warming has set the land on fire. After her gated community is ransacked, she and a small band strike out in search of safety. The only lasting truth Is Change.” Earthseed is a fusion of the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus's ideas of endless flux (hence his saying, “You never step into the same river twice”) and MLK Jr.'s concept of “soul force,” or using nonviolent resistance to transform violence into mutual recognition of each other's humanity. I stood where they were buried, and asked: What does home mean now? Our ancestors lost everything but not their humanity. They had a vision of freedom that arced over their lives into ours today. We are more precious than any nation or religion. We are a river flowing from the beginning of humanity to its end. It's time to wash away the old dream and imagine new ones. In the last weeks, we have witnessed an authoritarian assault on communities in Minnesota and across the nation. The need for truthful, grassroots reporting is urgent at this cataclysmic historical moment. We refuse to let Trump's blatant propaganda machine go unchecked. Untethered to corporate ownership or advertisers, Truthout remains fearless in our reporting and our determination to use journalism as a tool for justice. But we need your help just to fund our basic expenses. Over 80 percent of Truthout's funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors. Truthout has launched a fundraiser, and we have a goal to add 200 new monthly donors in the next 24 hours. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger one-time gift, Truthout only works with your support. This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the following terms: Nicholas Powers is the author of Thirst, a political vampire novel; The Ground Below Zero: 9/11 to Burning Man, New Orleans to Darfur, Haiti to Occupy Wall Street; and most recently, Black Psychedelic Revolution. coalesces his years of reporting on police brutality. Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day. As we rise to confront Trump's fascism, Truthout appeals for your support. Any contribution you can make is a tangible act of resistance.

As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine has been drafting military options for potentially striking Iran, a steady stream of top officials from the Army, Navy and Air Force have been quietly summoned directly to his office. But in an administration that is focused on avoiding leaks, Caine — who is also known for his intensive secrecy — worried that assembling the top brass in the Defense Department's nerve center on very short notice would draw suspicion, according to several sources familiar with the matter. In those meetings and others at the Pentagon, Caine has been vocal about the potential downsides of launching a major military operation targeting Iran, raising concerns about the scale, complexity and potential for US casualties of such a mission, according to sources familiar with his advice. Milley often clashed directly with Trump during his first term on issues such as deploying the military domestically to quell protests, and sometimes undermined Trump's inflammatory rhetoric privately to reassure nervous allies and foes. For Caine, avoiding the Milley approach has meant being more reserved around Trump, and avoiding weighing in too directly on decisions, including what to do in Iran. It's a tightrope that Caine has been attempting to walk during his year as Trump's top military adviser – avoid direct conflict with a notoriously mercurial president, while still providing professional military guidance. Some say Caine hasn't been assertive enough with Trump. This account of Caine's efforts to navigate his tenure as chairman is based on interviews with 10 current and former officials. Joint staff spokesperson Joe Holstead told CNN in a statement that Caine “never ‘pulls punches' when discussing military options which could send our troops into harms way.” Caine, a former F-16 fighter pilot who spent time as a military liaison to the CIA, rarely divulges his personal opinions on a policy, and his supporters say he's doing exactly what a chairman is supposed to do — give the president the best military advice that will facilitate his agenda, policies the country's top general has no business dictating. Trump has pushed Caine for weeks to develop a wide range of military plans, which now include everything from strikes on Iranian ballistic missile and nuclear facilities to wiping out Iran's top leadership as a way to force regime change. Those options are being planned in parallel with diplomatic talks set for their next exchange on Thursday. But in a Situation Room meeting last week about plans for Iran that went three times longer than scheduled, Caine was unable to predict what the result of a regime change operation would be, sources said. It's part of Caine's delicate balancing act, telling people privately that he wants to restore trust in his position as the country's top general and in the military more broadly even as Trump has politicized both. In response to questions for this story, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly described Caine as “a highly respected professional whose job requires providing unbiased information to the Commander in Chief, which he does perfectly.” “On all issues, President Trump listens to feedback from all members of his national security team, and he is always the final decision maker.” Caine has worked hard in his time as chairman to make sure he has Trump's ear, at one point even trying to secure an office at the White House so he could brief the president more regularly and have a highly secure space to work from when he's there, according to people familiar with the matter. He is even more trusted by Trump than Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, multiple people familiar with their relationship said, particularly when it comes to sensitive operational matters. “General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won,” Trump wrote. When asked about Caine's deliberations on Iran, Holstead said Caine “does not advocate for a single course of action, nor does he inject personal preference into operational deliberations.” A recently retired senior officer who previously worked with Caine told CNN that officers wondered why he'd been chosen in the first place, when there's “obviously some expectation of loyalty” by Trump, and Caine is not the type to prioritize that over his loyalty to his oath as an officer. “Caine is a person of high emotional intelligence,” the recently retired senior officer said, “because he hasn't gotten sideways with anyone, and he's generally recognized as a team player.” Last September, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth abruptly summoned hundreds of the most senior US military officers to Virginia to hear him and Trump give a speech, Caine knew the event had the potential to veer into deeply political territory—something he'd promised Congress during his confirmation hearings that he would guard against. So he privately gave the assembled generals and admirals advice he knew Hegseth and Trump might not like, according to people familiar with his remarks, including two military officials close to Caine: Don't cheer, don't react, and act as stoic as you would at the president's annual State of the Union address, in keeping with the norms of a nonpartisan military. He then introduced Hegseth and Trump, saying it was “vital” to hear from them. “I've never walked into a room so silent before,” he said. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell disputed this account of Caine's actions before Trump's speech. “There is no tension between these great leaders,” he said. Caine's path to becoming the country's top general and sharing a stage with Trump was highly unusual. That is how most previous chairmen have received their fourth star, before being elevated to the role of the US' most senior military officer. In the end, Caine was promoted ahead of 38 eligible active duty four-star generals and admirals. In Trump's telling, Caine had shown he was committed to the president when they first met in 2018 while Caine was serving in Iraq, with Caine telling Trump that he “loved” him and would “kill for you” while wearing a MAGA hat. Caine said during his confirmation hearing last year that the incident had never happened. And yet, even as Trump has regularly pushed the legal limits of how the US military can be deployed — sending troops into American cities over the objections of governors, bombing suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific, and attacking Iran and Venezuela without congressional authorization — Caine has dutifully given him options to execute these operations, sources told CNN. Miller often phones Caine directly, asking for ways to put a plan into action. Caine's careful planning to deliver options and not push decisions stands in contrast to the way Trump now views Milley, whose portrait was taken down from a wall in the Pentagon on day one of the administration and had his security detail revoked by Hegseth — on Trump's orders — days later. Defense officials broadly see Caine as a useful counterbalance to Hegseth, whose inexperience and focus on culture war issues contrasts with Caine's long military career and operational experience. One example officials point to came in September, when Caine hand-delivered memos to Hegseth and the Pentagon's policy chief Elbridge Colby outlining his disagreements over the new National Defense Strategy that Colby's office had drafted, one of the sources said. Nonetheless, Caine's reticence to strongly deliver his opinion on certain issues has left many military officials struggling to understand where he stands, especially considering the number of senior military officials who have been forced out for disagreeing with Trump and Hegseth. Last fall, Hegseth summoned then-US Southern Command Commander Adm. Alvin Holsey to a meeting with him and Caine. The meeting was tense — Hegseth did not believe Holsey was moving quickly or aggressively enough to combat drug traffickers in the Caribbean, and he complained about not being given the information he needed about operations there, sources said. But SOUTHCOM was concerned about the operations not being lawful. Ultimately, Hegseth ousted Holsey, who retired early and just one year into his tenure as commander. But underscoring the persistent balancing act he's played, Caine then presided over Holsey's retirement ceremony and showered him with praise, in what some officials perceived as a subtle act of protest against Hegseth's decision. “You've never said ‘I' in all the conversations we've had. … The impact you've had will last for a long time.” Late last year, some officials who work closely with Caine suggested he begin cultivating his own public persona, people familiar with the matter said. But Trump has undoubtedly pushed him to the limits of his comfort zone. The most obvious example of this came last June, when Trump demanded Caine and Hegseth give a press conference aimed largely at discrediting an early Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that had downplayed the long-term impact of the US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Trump had touted the attack as a “total obliteration” of Iran's nuclear program. Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Saturday, however, that Iran is now “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bombmaking material.” Caine was also thrust front and center after the US military operation to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro from his compound in Caracas in the early hours of January 3. Caine's summary of the operation during a press conference the next day read like a screenplay for an action movie, describing American helicopters and troops coming under fire both as they approached Maduro's compound in the dead of night and as they extracted him out to an aircraft carrier in the Caribbean. “I want to thank General “Raizin” Caine,” Trump said at the press conference. Apart from his appearances at press conferences and industry events, Caine has maintained a very low profile. Hegseth has made it clear that he does not want Caine interacting with reporters without his signoff, sources said. Prior to Caine's confirmation in April, Hegseth harbored deep suspicions that the Joint Staff was leaking information to make him and his team look bad. That month, Caine rushed to get recertified to fly the F-16 fighter jet — including making room in his schedule for frequent flight training at Joint Base Andrews, according to a person with knowledge of the situation — so that he could fly alongside Hegseth in the jets while visiting Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada, where he'd completed Air Force Weapons School decades earlier. The biggest source of tension between Caine and Hegseth has been over personnel, multiple sources said, and Caine has routinely lost those battles with the secretary. Caine tried to convince Hegseth not to push out several senior military officials last year, including the former director of the Joint Staff Lt. Gen. Doug Sims and the former director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Joint Staff Lt. Gen. Joe McGee, who Hegseth accused of leaking against him and being insufficiently aligned with his agenda, sources said. It'd kind of a tough situation,” the recently retired officer said. “But I do think there's moral injury taking place with our senior leaders.”

If you think our work is valuable, support us with a donation of any size. Trump declared economic success, claiming “the interests of hardworking American citizens are always our first and ultimate concern.” Food prices are also up by 2.4 percent overall during the first year of Trump's second term. The president also touted tax cuts in his so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act as beneficial for most Americans. He promised to institute more tariffs, using different mechanisms, and falsely claimed that American consumers wouldn't bear the costs. He absurdly claimed tariffs could replace income taxes one day, too. Experts regard tariffs as a regressive form of taxation, affecting people with lower incomes much more than the wealthy. Trump's tariffs are also the largest increase in taxes seen since 1993. Some economists believe that Trump's tariffs have negatively impacted job growth in the U.S. Until you came along, we were just always losing, but now we're winning too much,” he continued, adding that he's not going to stop, and the U.S. will supposedly “win bigger than ever.” Trump introduces the US men's hockey team: "We're winning so much that we really don't know what to do about it. People are asking me, 'Please, Mr President, we're winning too much! We're not used to winning in our country! Until you came along we were just always losing.'" Throughout his speech, Trump celebrated an economy that the majority of Americans think he is mishandling. A majority of Americans do not share that sentiment, several polls have found. A CNN/SSRS poll, for example, showed that only 36 percent of Americans approve of how Trump is handling his presidency, with 63 percent saying they disapprove. A recent Pew Research poll found that only 28 percent of Americans believe the president's economic policies have improved the country, while 52 percent believe his administration's actions have made things worse. An Economist/YouGov poll published on Tuesday also found that only 28 percent of Americans rate the current state of the economy as “excellent” or “good,” while 69 percent only rate it as “fair” or “poor.” Most respondents in that poll were pessimistic about how the economy is trending, with 50 percent stating that things are “getting worse” overall. Trump's speech on Tuesday night is unlikely to ease the concerns of most Americans, as most State of the Union addresses fail to provide more than a statistical “bump” in presidents' polling numbers. The need for truthful, grassroots reporting is urgent at this cataclysmic historical moment. We refuse to let Trump's blatant propaganda machine go unchecked. Untethered to corporate ownership or advertisers, Truthout remains fearless in our reporting and our determination to use journalism as a tool for justice. But we need your help just to fund our basic expenses. This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the following terms: Chris Walker is a news writer at Truthout, based in Madison, Wisconsin. He can be found on most social media platforms under the handle @thatchriswalker. Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day. As we rise to confront Trump's fascism, Truthout appeals for your support. Any contribution you can make is a tangible act of resistance.

Many tribal nations say the pipeline threatens their waters, treaty rights, and ways of life. Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news — make a quick donation to Truthout today! A shutdown is supported by all 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan, though they are not involved in the suit. Many tribal nations say the pipeline threatens their waters, treaty rights, and ways of life. “If this proceeds in state court, and the state court issues a preliminary injunction against continued operation of the pipeline, it could be a long time before this issue involving treaty rights, which is a federal question, could be reviewed here,” noted Justice Samuel Alito. Since 1953, Line 5 has transported oil and natural gas liquids 645 miles from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario — with a critical 4 1/2-mile segment along the bottomlands in the Straits between Lakes Huron and Michigan. Enbridge wants to move the case to the federal court, which the company argues is better suited to weigh in on federal pipeline safety regulations and international agreements. Nessel and anti-pipeline groups worry about the environmental, economic, and health consequences of an oil spill in the Great Lakes. Ryan Duffy, a spokesperson for Enbridge, said in a statement before the oral arguments that there would be “significant implications for energy security and foreign affairs if the attorney general continues to pursue the lawsuit now in state court.” A federal district court judge in western Michigan ruled in favor of Enbridge due to “exceptional circumstances” around related lawsuits involving the pipeline. On Tuesday, Enbridge lawyer John Bursch compared the deadline to a statute of limitations and argued that exceptional circumstances could justify an extension. “I don't think it was clear to anyone that there was necessarily federal jurisdiction at the outset of the state court case,” Bursch said. “Enbridge seeks an atextual escape hatch,” she said. A decision from the Supreme Court on Line 5's jurisdiction is expected before the court term ends in summer. If the court rules in favor of Michigan, it would uphold the Sixth Circuit's decision that Enbridge missed the deadline and make Line 5 an issue for state court, said Andy Buchsbaum, a lecturer at the University of Michigan Law School. However, “if the court decides that there is wiggle room in the 30-day deadline, there's lots of ways this could go,” he said. Or the justices could apply their own standard and come to a decision for or against the state. “To know what's at stake and hear the court considering that just on a procedural basis, gives me a lot of concerns,” said Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community, after oral arguments. “Line 5 continues to remain a clear and present danger to the Great Lakes and every tribal nation in every community that relies on them,” Gravelle said. The company is awaiting permits from federal and state agencies. Separately, next month the Michigan Supreme Court will consider a lawsuit from tribes and environmental groups seeking to overturn an existing state permit. In the last weeks, we have witnessed an authoritarian assault on communities in Minnesota and across the nation. The need for truthful, grassroots reporting is urgent at this cataclysmic historical moment. We refuse to let Trump's blatant propaganda machine go unchecked. Untethered to corporate ownership or advertisers, Truthout remains fearless in our reporting and our determination to use journalism as a tool for justice. But we need your help just to fund our basic expenses. Over 80 percent of Truthout's funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors. Truthout has launched a fundraiser, and we have a goal to add 200 new monthly donors in the next 24 hours. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger one-time gift, Truthout only works with your support. Vivian La is the Michigan regional reporter for Grist and Interlochen Public Radio. Her work has appeared in WBUR, Science Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and Illinois Public Media. Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day. As we rise to confront Trump's fascism, Truthout appeals for your support. Any contribution you can make is a tangible act of resistance.

The president's lengthy speech to Congress contained myriad inflated, misleading or simply false claims Analysis: Why longest-ever State of the Union address was most inconsequential But the speech that stretched across more than an hour and 41 minutes was filled with strong statements, many of them inflated, misleading or simply untrue. Trump repeatedly touted his economy, boasting “we are the hottest country anywhere in the world” and claiming “we have more jobs, more people working today than ever before in the history of our country.” But data shows job gains under Trump slowed in 2025, and were far smaller than any other non-pandemic year. That number, PolitiFact notes, is “well below the 1.5 million to 2.5 million typical under both Trump during his first term and former President Joe Biden”. But a review from CNN last year found that the White House was counting pledges – vague amounts promised – rather than actual investments. When Trump introduced the mother of Iryna Zarutska, the Ukrainian woman killed on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, last year, he falsely claimed the man who stabbed Zarutska was “a hardened criminal set free to kill in America came in through open borders”. However, DeCarlos Brown Jr, the man arrested and charged with killing Zarutska, is not an immigrant. Trump has long insisted that non-citizens are responsible for violent crime throughout the US. Since Trump retook the White House, utility companies have raised or sought to raise rates on American families by at least $92bn, raising bills for 112 million electric customers and 52 million gas customers, according to an analysis from the liberal thinktank the Center for American Progress. The president's attacks on clean energy expansion are also expected to increase electricity rates by up to 18% by 2035, data from the power research group Energy Innovation shows. The Trump administration has also gutted energy assistance for US families. Last year, the administration eliminated tax credits for cost-cutting home energy-efficiency upgrades. It also attempted to eliminate the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps 6 million low-income Americans with their energy bills each year. Trump touted low gas prices during his State of the Union speech, saying they are “now below $2.30 a gallon in most states and in some places, $1.99 a gallon”. But a major environmental rollback his administration enacted two weeks ago could push gas prices up. Gas prices are also higher than the president claimed. According to AAA, which logs prices across the country, Oklahoma is the only state offering gas at $2.30 a gallon – or $2.374, to be precise. The president claimed he ended eight wars in his first 10 months, a bold exaggeration. The US has been party to six peace agreements and several of them do not credit Trump specifically. While he was involved in efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has continued to kill Palestinian civilians and carry out airstrikes since last October's truce was announced. He had pressured leaders from both countries to make a deal by warning trade talks with the US would otherwise be put on hold. The ceasefire broke down just weeks later in November, and fighting erupted again in December, forcing half a million people to flee their homes.

Anthropic, a company founded by OpenAI exiles worried about the dangers of AI, is loosening its core safety principle in response to competition. Instead of self-imposed guardrails constraining its development of AI models, Anthropic is adopting a nonbinding safety framework that it says can and will change. In a blog post Tuesday outlining its new policy, Anthropic said shortcomings in its two-year-old Responsible Scaling Policy could hinder its ability to compete in a rapidly growing AI market. It's not clear that Anthropic's change is related to its meeting Tuesday with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who gave Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei an ultimatum to roll back the company's AI safeguards or risk losing a $200 million Pentagon contract. The Pentagon threatened to put Anthropic on what is effectively a government blacklist. But the company said in its blog post that its previous safety policy was designed to build industry consensus around mitigating AI risks – guardrails that the industry blew through. Anthropic also noted its safety policy was out of step with Washington's current anti-regulatory political climate. Anthropic's previous policy stipulated that it should pause training more powerful models if their capabilities outstripped the company's ability to control them and ensure their safety — a measure that's been removed in the new policy. Anthropic argued that responsible AI developers pausing growth while less careful actors plowed ahead could “result in a world that is less safe.” As part of the new policy, Anthropic said it will separate its own safety plans from its recommendations for the AI industry. Anthropic wrote that it had hoped its original safety principles “would encourage other AI companies to introduce similar policies. The company now suggests that hasn't played out. “Rather than being hard commitments, these are public goals that we will openly grade our progress towards,” the company said in its blog post. The change comes a day after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei a Friday deadline to roll back the company's AI safeguards, or risk losing a $200 million Pentagon contract and being put on what is effectively a government blacklist. Anthropic has concerns over two issues that it isn't willing to drop, according to a source familiar with the company's meeting with Hegseth: AI-controlled weapons and mass domestic surveillance of American citizens. Anthropic believes AI is not reliable enough to operate weapons, and there are no laws or regulations yet that cover how AI could be used in mass surveillance, a source said. AI researchers applauded Anthropic's stance on social media on Tuesday and expressed concerns about the idea of AI being used for government surveillance. Anthropic has published research showing how its own AI models could be capable of blackmail under certain conditions. The company recently donated $20 million to Public First Action, a political group pushing for AI safeguards and education. Hegseth, for example, plans to invoke the Defense Production Act on Anthropic and designate the company a supply chain risk if it does not comply with the Pentagon's demands, CNN reported on Tuesday. OpenAI and Anthropic have also been locked in a race to launch new enterprise AI tools in a bid to win the workplace. Jared Kaplan, Anthropic's chief science officer, suggested in an interview with Time that the change was made in the name of safety more than increased competition. “We felt that it wouldn't actually help anyone for us to stop training AI models,” Kaplan told the magazine. “We didn't really feel, with the rapid advance of AI, that it made sense for us to make unilateral commitments … if competitors are blazing ahead.” US market indices are shown in real time, except for the S&P 500 which is refreshed every two minutes. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. Market holidays and trading hours provided by Copp Clark Limited.

Critics concerned as Casey Means, aligned with RFK Jr on vaccine stance, does not have active medical licence Casey Means, Donald Trump's nominee for surgeon general of the United States, appeared before lawmakers on the Senate committee for health, labor and pensions on Wednesday, after her initial confirmation hearing was postponed in October when she went into labor hours before she was set to testify. Her scientific experience is mainly focused around her work as a wellness influencer, and a leader within the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) space – which has become the key pillar of the Trump administration's health policy under Robert F Kennedy Jr. Means declined to give a simple yes-or-no answer when the committee chair, Republican senator Bill Cassidy, pressed her on whether, as surgeon general, she would encourage parents to vaccinate their children with routine shots such as the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. When Cassidy asked whether she would state her position more clearly if confirmed, she replied: “I'm not an individual's doctor, and every individual needs to talk to their doctor before putting a medication in their body.” Means's comments come as measles outbreaks continue across the country, with South Carolina experiencing the worst measles outbreak in more than 30 years amid declining childhood immunization rates. In an interview with CNN, Oz issued a rare plea from the Trump administration to insist upon inoculation. While Means insisted that anti-vaccine rhetoric “has never been a part” of her message and said she was “not here to complicate the issue on vaccines”, she repeatedly sidestepped direct questions from lawmakers about whether vaccines cause autism – a theory long discredited by the scientific community and promoted by health secretary Kennedy. During her opening remarks before lawmakers, she praised Trump and Kennedy for inviting “a mature, candid, grand conversation about how our medical education and fixing perverse incentives can pull us back from the brink”. In 2024, Means co-authored a book, Good Energy, with her older brother Calley, an entrepreneur who currently serves as one of Kennedy's close advisers and has also railed against the US medical establishment. The siblings argue in their book that metabolic health is the key to reversing chronic illness, a framing that critics say verges into pseudoscience. The prospective surgeon general also co‑founded Levels, a health tracking company built around continuous glucose monitoring, as part of her belief that people need real‑time data to understand what's driving their symptoms. “I also find it perplexing that people are often shamed for asking any questions about the 70+ injected medications going into their children's bodies before the age of 18,” she wrote on her website. “I am not making a statement about the utility of vaccines; I am making a statement about an $80bn industry getting to have legal immunity from wrongdoing and having the American population in a chokehold that forces them to comply with the complete schedule or face consequences.” Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced it would slash routine vaccine recommendations during childhood from 17 to 11 jabs, a move that public health experts said would erode trust in inoculations and allow infectious diseases to spread. Means's nomination has received significant backlash from the US scientific community. Former surgeon general Richard Carmona, who served under George W Bush, told the Guardian that Means's nomination was a “disgrace” to the future of America's public health system. Under Kennedy's leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been beset with chaos. Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who ultimately cast the deciding vote to confirm Kennedy as Trump's health secretary last year, did so despite expressing concern about Kennedy's anti‑vaccine record. He has since reversed course, reshaping the department and sidelining career public‑health experts. Last year, the Senate-confirmed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Susan Monarez, was ousted from her role less than a month after starting. Means is Trump's second nominee for the surgeon general position. Last year he put forward Dr Janette Nesheiwat, but withdrew her name before her Senate confirmation hearing amid criticism from the right and reports of misleading medical credentials. “We see too much ideology and not enough science,” he said. “You're putting an untrained person in the position … at a time when we probably need a real leader more than ever because of the mis- and disinformation that's out there.”

These stories topped Wednesday's newspaper headlines across Russia. Experts agree that providing Ukraine with nuclear warheads would make European countries direct participants in the conflict and violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. "The UK and France want to step up their efforts to ensure that the Ukrainian conflict lasts as long as possible. However, negotiations must continue, bearing in mind that common sense will ultimately prevail among our opponents. According to the European Parliament, this issue "needs to be discussed with the countries concerned before any conclusions are drawn." "So far, I have not heard anything in parliament on this matter. A similar position was expressed in the British Parliament. Richard Balfe, a member of the House of Lords, said he had not yet heard anything on the subject, adding that, if true, it would be an irresponsible and bad idea that should be examined. The possible transfer of nuclear weapons or their components to Ukraine by Western countries will not go unanswered by Russia or other nuclear powers, Valdai International Discussion Club expert Andrey Kortunov told Vedomosti. "Paris and London have invested too many resources and do not want to allow Russia to win the armed conflict," the political expert emphasized. Bratislava is against Kiev's immediate admission to the EU. Hungary will also continue to oppose Ukraine's European integration. To avoid leaving Kiev empty-handed, Brussels is considering granting partial membership without the right of veto. However, experts agree that Kiev's accession to the EU is impossible without lifting martial law and holding elections. "Slovakia supports Ukraine's gradual rapprochement with the EU, including financial and technical assistance, but will not promote circumvention of basic conditions such as fighting corruption, ensuring the rule of law, and protecting minority rights. Ukraine has made some progress, but the accession criteria have not yet been fully met," Slovak National Council Deputy Speaker Tibor Gaspar told Izvestia. "Ukraine demands that Hungary abandon Russian energy sources, allocate funds to Kiev, and support its EU membership. The government will not back down from its program under any threat. In addition, there are no elections and no proper rule of law, Ivan Loshkarev, associate professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), noted. Last year, Vladimir Zelensky stated that Ukraine would only agree to full EU membership. Political expert Denis Denisov, in turn, emphasized that the EU was originally created as an economic union. This is why the issue of military guarantees for Kiev has not yet been officially reflected in the association's documents. American companies may begin to file large-scale lawsuits against the authorities to recover the national tariffs they have paid. The logistics company FedEx has already filed a claim after the Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump's tariffs were illegal. Against this backdrop, there have been reports of new broad tariffs being introduced. Usually, 180 days are allowed for the refund of excess tariffs paid on already closed declarations, Yury Ichkhtidze, an analyst at Freedom Finance Global, told Izvestia. This means that only those amounts that were transferred to the budget no later than six months ago can be refunded — thus, this rule only applies to payments made after August 22. The first decisions on compensation should not be expected before the November congressional elections, Mikhail Nikitin, head of international business and finance practice and partner at 5D Consulting, noted. Oleg Abelev, head of the analytical department at Ricom Trust, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta that he expects increased uncertainty and a slowdown in trade, causing businesses around the world to pause operations in anticipation. The tariffs that Trump introduced to replace the old ones are not so much an escalation as a forced maneuver, Nikitin noted. Considering that, in the spring, tariffs against some countries were over 50%, the current 15% tariffs seem quite reasonable, he said. In the first ten months of 2025, trade turnover reached $4 billion, Nikitin recalled. In this sense, even the current turbulence is an opportunity to establish a new, pragmatic dialogue with the world's largest economy. It would be shortsighted to reject such an opportunity, the expert emphasized. "The canceled tariffs no longer threaten India and China," Abelev pointed out. "This means that Trump will now be unable to unilaterally impose secondary tariffs on third countries for trading with Russia or Iran, for example, under current legislation," Olga Belenkaya, head of macroeconomic analysis at Finam, explained. As expected, EU countries were unable to quickly agree on the 20th package of sanctions against Russia due to disagreements over banning the transport of Russian oil by EU ships. Such a measure is difficult to approve at the level of all EU countries. However, there are loopholes in this document that could be used to target tankers carrying Russian oil. A complete closure of the Baltic Sea to Russian tankers seems highly unlikely, as it would look like a naval blockade, which is very difficult to implement legally and economically, Finam analyst Alexander Potavin told Rossiyskaya Gazeta. EU countries are trying to exert maximum pressure on the Russian shadow fleet while acting within the bounds of international law. There can be no legal grounds for detaining ships in this case. By raising the Russian flag, a tanker ceases to be a shadow vessel, and attempts to detain it would constitute an act of aggression against Russia. Loopholes in UNCLOS allow only a limited number of tankers with clearly suspicious flags to be stopped. According to Potavin, pressuring the shadow fleet with environmental requirements, insurance restrictions, and stricter inspections of vessels with questionable status will not significantly decrease Russian oil exports through the Baltic Sea. However, it will increase inspection costs, transportation time, and regulatory risks for buyers. This could result in a higher discount for Russian Urals export oil (which is primarily supplied via the Baltic Sea) compared to Brent. Under maximum EU pressure, exports through the Baltic Sea could temporarily decline by 10-20%, and the Urals discount relative to Brent could increase by an additional $3-5 per barrel. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that the unrest caused by drug cartels had been quelled. According to media reports, this is an exaggeration. Mexico is returning to war with the drug cartels. This is happening on the eve of the FIFA World Cup, which will be held in Mexico, among other countries. Furthermore, many high-ranking officials are often members of drug gangs, or even form them themselves. According to the media, the cartel is now headed by El Mencho's stepson, Juan Carlos Valencia Gonzalez, nicknamed El 03. In this sense, the FIFA World Cup to be held in the US and Mexico on June 11-19 will be telling. Experts say that defeating the group before then seems unrealistic. FIFA itself is hoping for a quicker resolution. "Mexican President Felipe Calderon relied on the physical elimination of drug cartel leaders. At that time, it became clear that this approach would lead to increased violence and, in the long term, a loss of control," Tatyana Rusakova, senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Latin American Studies told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. She added that it is telling that Sheinbaum stated in her speech that state governments would make decisions regarding the unrest, essentially shifting responsibility for the situation to the regions. "The Mexican government is doing everything it can to smooth over differences with Washington. Under Sheinbaum, there has been a sharp increase in the number of Mexican citizens extradited to the US who are wanted there. This has never happened before," Rusakova pointed out. In her opinion, it is too early to conclude that the US will intervene in Mexico's fight against the drug mafia. TASS is not responsible for the material quoted in these press reviews

MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Vietnamese counterpart Le Hoai Trung discussed measures to further deepen comprehensive strategic partnership, including upcoming contacts at various levels, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated following the top diplomats' meeting in Moscow on February 24. "In a traditionally friendly atmosphere, the sides discussed steps to further strengthen comprehensive strategic partnership, including the upcoming contacts at various levels, issues of inter-ministerial cooperation, as well as current items on the international agenda," the Foreign Ministry said. Le Hoai Trung visited Russia as a special envoy of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, To Lam.

This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content, and analyzing our website traffic. By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies. GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — Hugo Alejandro Pérez was in his house a few miles from the Mexican stadium that is slated to host FIFA World Cup games when gunfire and explosions erupted just outside his door. He saw a government that failed to fix basic things, like water service to his home, along with cartel violence in the surrounding state of Jalisco and shook his head. “I don't think they should host the World Cup here,” Peréz said. “We have so many problems, and they want to invest in the World Cup? With all the violence, it's not a good idea.” Peréz joined other people Tuesday in questioning Guadalajara's capacity to be a host city for the summer soccer competition, even as the Mexican government vowed that the international event — hosted jointly by Mexico, the United States and Canada — will not be affected. President Claudia Sheinbaum was asked at her daily news briefing what guarantees there are that World Cup matches will be held in Jalisco. “Every guarantee,” she said, adding that there was “no risk” for fans coming to the tournament. Jesús Pablo Lemus said he had spoken with local FIFA officials, who have “absolutely no intention of removing any venues from Mexico. Jalisco, in western Mexico, was already facing scrutiny. The operation and waves of violence killed 70 people. Cartel gunmen set fire to cars to block streets in states across the country, namely Jalisco, and fought with Mexican forces into Monday as the government said the conflict was under control. The death of Oseguera Cervantes came as Mexico's government has stepped up its offensive against cartels in an effort to meet demands by U.S. President Donald Trump to crack down on criminal groups. Peréz, the restaurant owner, also commended Sheinbaum's efforts to go after cartels, saying the government has taken cartel violence more seriously than her predecessors. Killing capos, in what's become known as the “kingpin strategy,” has been criticized by Sheinbaum herself because it can often spark internal conflict between cartel factions and push rival cartels to make territorial grabs. Vanda Felbab-Brown, an academic at the Brookings Institution, said she doesn't see more acts of “revenge” by the cartel as likely, but the future remains uncertain, especially after leading figures in both CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel have been knocked out in recent years. “If there is no clear line of succession (in CJNG), we might see a lot of fighting within the cartel, its breakup, and there are a lot of scenarios,” she said. On Sunday, when firefights broke out between the cartel and soldiers, and gunmen began to burn a car just feet in front of Peréz's house, he let people on the street scramble inside his home to seek cover. The World Cup is expected to be a $3 billion economic engine in Mexico, according to the Mexican Soccer Federation. “It doesn't help us residents at all, honestly. They should move it to Monterrey or Mexico City. But right now here, we're not convinced,” he said. “Things aren't in good enough shape for foreigners to be coming to Jalisco for an event like this.” On Monday, some foreign tourists trapped in the violence in the city of Puerto Vallarta took to social media to warn of the violence, with a few remarking that they didn't plan to return. Despite that, Guadalajara was snapping back to its normal rhythm Tuesday. Many businesses opened their doors for the first time in two days, and streets were packed with traffic. Cyclists zipped around outside the stadium, and parents played with children in parks. Juan Carlos Pila, a 55-year-old taxi driver, rolled his eyes at the reports of violence after spending two days waiting with his family for things to calm down. Others, like Maria Dolores Aguirre, simply hoped for the best. Aguirre runs a small corner story in the cobblestoned tourist town of Tapalpa tucked away in Jalisco's mountains, where Mexico's military killed “El Mencho.” Now she worries bloodshed will deal a blow to her livelihood and change towns like hers. … The entire world just saw what happened and, of course, people are going to think twice about coming.” Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting, readable fomat.

But outside the metropolitan spotlight, in towns along the borders of the states of Jalisco, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Colima and Zacatecas, highways have been blocked by cartel members, limiting travel between smaller cities and along rural corridors ever since Mexican special forces killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” on Sunday. The biggest toll has been borne by the residents of Michoacán, El Mencho's birthplace, where a rolling wave of retaliation and intimidation continues. Father Gilberto Vergara García, a former parish priest of Aguililla in Michoacán, said the small town had endured more than 48 hours of terror. “It is understandable the government is prioritizing emblematic places like Guadalajara and other large cities, which may leave towns like Aguililla in second place,” said Father Vergara, who wondered who would pay citizens for the damages to their cars and businesses. Residents responded with panic buying, forcing grocery stores to close after selling out of basic goods. Most workshops, small businesses, tortilla shops and eateries shut down, and even the local radio station suspended regular programming to protect staff. Alberto Noboa, 34, drives an Uber during the week in Mexico City and spends time with his family in Epitacio Huerta, Michoacán, almost every weekend. “I couldn't get back to the city yesterday,” he said, adding that members of his family reported blocked roads in small towns in the states of Guanajuato and Querétaro. At a news conference Tuesday, President Claudia Sheinbaum said that the country was “under control and returning to normalcy.” Federal officials have promised that the operation that killed El Mencho will be followed by sustained pressure on the cartel's networks – financiers, logistics operators and local bosses. But Julio César Franco Gutiérrez, a human security specialist and a collaborator with the security council in Apatzingán, Michoacán, said residents in the hardest-hit towns say what they want most is not a news conference but permanence: reliable policing, protected roads and prosecutors who can pursue cases without being threatened out of office. Mexico's security strategy in recent years has often leaned heavily toward protecting major cities and economic nodes – where disruption is visible and politically costly – while leaving smaller jurisdictions to municipal forces with insufficient resources. “This event marks a historic moment, but it does not mean all the work is finished,” he said, referring to El Mencho's death. He said regular people have always been caught in the middle. “We have a long history of ‘decapitating' these organizations – that is, capturing or killing the leaders who head them – but this does not stop the criminal machinery.” After years of dealing with cartels like El Mencho's – sometimes with violence, sometimes not – Mexico is under increasing pressure from the Trump White House to show results. Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.