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Trump shuts out Democratic governors from traditional White House gatherings

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for the National Governors Association Evening Dinner and Reception in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 22, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Trump hosted the governors in Washington for the annual National Governors Association meetings. (Photo by Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump decided to exclude Democratic governors from a traditional annual meeting at the White House and to disinvite several others from a black-tie dinner, according to the White House, the governors and the National Governors Association. The National Governors Association organizes the bipartisan winter gathering that usually includes a working meeting with the U.S. president and a major dinner at the White House. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, serves as current chair of the association, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, is vice chair. The governors’ visit to the nation’s capital comes amid rising tens...
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Health care workers want ICE out of hospitals, and blue states are responding

Federal agents in fatigues gather in Minneapolis last month. Health care workers in Minnesota and other states say ICE is increasing its presence in health care facilities, deterring people from seeking medical care. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer) Last month, the parents of a 7-year-old girl whose nose wouldn’t stop bleeding took her to Portland Adventist Health in Portland, Oregon, for urgent care. Before the family could get through the doors, federal immigration agents reportedly detained them in the parking lot and took them to a detention center in Texas. At Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, workers say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers hang around the campus, asking patients and employees for proof of citizenship. Last month, tensions came to a head when ICE agents used handcuffs to shackle a 31-year-old Mexican immigrant to his hospital bed. ICE claimed the man, who had broken bones in his face and a fractured skull, had run headfirst...
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Alabama prison closings, key to new construction plan, seem far off

A guard tower at Holman Correctional Facility in 2019. Alabama lawmakers are not yet ready to commit to closing older prisons, a key selling point for the $1.3 billion prison construction bill approved in 2021. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) When the Alabama Legislature approved the construction of two new men’s prisons in 2021, it also committed to shuttering existing ones. HB 4 , sponsored by Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, outlined financing for the prisons and a process for closing facilities — a key selling point for the project. Supporters argued that money saved from closing the prisons would help pay for the new ones, referred to as “the specialized men’s prison facility” in Elmore and the “Escambia men’s prison facility.” “In many facilities, renovation would be uneconomical or cost-prohibitive,” the bill states. “It is the intent of this act to implement a plan to replace existing prison facility capacity with new or renovated capacity in the prison facilities using a phased...
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How Alabama gives us a never-ending lesson in Black history

A sculpture of a slave trader in Alabama Bicentennial Park, as seen on Feb. 6, 2026. The sculpture is part of a larger monument on slavery. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) Gov. Kay Ivey’s Black History Month proclamation last week noted the contributions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. It celebrated the resilience of Black Alabamians. And it praised Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver and Condoleezza Rice. If it sounded familiar, that’s because it was almost word-for-word the proclamation Ivey issued for Black History Month  in 2025 . And 2024 . This year’s version removed a mention of Rice serving on a state board. Otherwise, it was copypasta. But Ivey has made significant contributions to the teaching of Black history, beginning in March, 2024. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE That’s when the governor signed SB 129 . The law forbade public funding of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. It also banned the teaching of so-called “divisive co...
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Trump’s choice to be Alabama’s next senator finds an odd political target: the modern gas can

U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, addresses a crowd at an Alabama Republican Party fundraiser on Aug. 4, 2023. Moore, who has been endorsed by Donald Trump for U.S. Senate, has filed a bill seeking to exempt gas cans from safety regulations. (Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector) This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News , a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here . ENTERPRISE — U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, a longtime political figure in this rural Alabama community, has his priorities. Among them? A reform effort aimed at the modern gas can. A congressman since 2021, the Republican may be headed toward one of the most powerful positions in Yellowhammer State politics, a seat in the U.S. Senate, given President Donald Trump’s recent endorsement. “Congressman Barry Moore, an America First Patriot who has been with me from the very beginning (he was the first Elected Official in the Country t...
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Trump’s calls to ‘nationalize’ elections have state, local election officials bracing for tumult

FBI agents load boxes of election documents onto trucks at an elections warehouse in Fulton County, Ga. State and local election officials are bracing for the prospect of federal action after President Donald Trump’s call to nationalize elections. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder) President Donald Trump’s calls this week to “nationalize” elections capped a year of efforts by his administration to exercise authority over state-run elections. The demands now have some state and local election officials fearing — and preparing for — a tumultuous year ahead. “I don’t think we can put anything past this administration,” Oregon Democratic Secretary of State Tobias Read told Stateline in an interview. “I think they’re increasingly desperate, increasingly scared about what’s going to happen when they are held accountable by American voters. So we have to be prepared for everything.” Ever since Trump signed an executive order last March that attempted to impose a requirement that vo...
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Minnesota child care providers try to make ends meet as immigrant families keep kids home

A parent readies her child for drop off at Circulo de Amigos Child Care Center on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minn. (Photo by Ellen Schmidt/Minnesota Reformer) Two weeks into January, the director of a St. Paul child care center called a family to ask why their daughter had been absent on-and-off since late last year.  “We reached out to just see, ‘Hey, what’s going on? Is your child sick?’” said Angela Clair, whose child care center serves more than 70 children.  The girl’s mother answered the phone.  “ICE is in our neighborhood every single day, and I don’t want to leave the neighborhood to take her to school, because I’m afraid that myself or my husband will be taken,” Clair recalls the mother saying.  Clair called back a week later to check on them, but the family still didn’t feel safe bringing their child to school. The family relies on the Child Care Assistance Program, a federally-funded, state-managed program that subsidizes child care for ...
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