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High-speed Minnesota car chase involving federal agent ends with multi-car crash

A high-speed car chase involving a man in a red Prius and federal agent ended with multi-car crash at Nina’s in St. Paul Wednesday Feb. 11, 2026. (Photo by Alyssa Chen/Minnesota Reformer) A high-speed car chase that witnesses said involved a young man and a federal agent on Wednesday ended with a multi-car crash outside Nina’s Coffee Cafe in St. Paul. The man was transported away from the scene in an ambulance covered by a sheet. A St. Paul firefighter said the man asked to be covered for privacy. The injuries were “not serious, that’s all I can say,” the firefighter said. A woman whose airbag went off also went to the hospital; it was unclear whether she was injured. Three cars were damaged. A crowd of people gathered at the scene, yelling “F*ck ICE” at over a dozen federal agents who had shown up after the crash. “This is just another incident that tells us loud and clear: Operation Metro Surge needs to end immediately,” said St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, in a statement. Brandon R...
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In rebuke of Trump, US House opens the door to votes against tariffs

The U.S. Capitol as seen from New Jersey Avenue SE on Jan. 6, 2025.  (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — A handful of House Republicans tanked a procedural vote Tuesday night that would have kept intact a ban on congressional action against President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs. Republican Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Kevin Kiley of California joined all Democrats in a  214-217 vote  blocking language to continue a prohibition on any House votes challenging the unprecedented import taxes Trump triggered under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, or IEEPA. Rep. Gregory Murphy, R-N.C., did not vote. “I don’t like putting the important work of the House on pause, but Congress needs to be able to debate on tariffs. Tariffs have been a ‘net negative’ for the economy and are a significant tax that American consumers, manufacturers, and farmers are paying,” Bacon said in a post on X following the vote.  ...
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Republicans on US House Homeland panel defend immigration tactics at tense hearing

Pictures of Alex Pretti sit in front of his Minneapolis home on Jan. 26, 2026. Pretti, an ICU nurse, died Jan. 25, after being shot multiple times during a brief altercation with Border Patrol agents in south Minneapolis. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — The head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined during a U.S. House hearing Tuesday to apologize to the families of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, the victims of fatal shootings by immigration officers in Minneapolis last month. Top Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, had said both Minneapolis residents engaged in “domestic terrorism.” Good was a poet and mother of three and Pretti was an intensive care unit nurse.  ICE acting Director Todd Lyons demurred when asked by California Democrat Eric Swalwell if he would apologize for that characterization.  “I’m not going to speak to any ongoing investigation,” Lyons said. Lawmakers on the U.S. House Hom...
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House committee approves bill that would end elections of Public Service Commission members

Rep. Chip Brown, R-Hollinger's Island, speaks with colleagues on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Jan. 22, 2026 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. An Alabama House committee Tuesday passed a bill sponsored by Brown on Tuesday to end elections to the Public Service Commission and make it an appointed body. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) A House committee Thursday approved a bill that would end popular election of the Alabama Public Service Commission, as well as legislation targeting data centers. HB 392 , sponsored by Chip Brown, R-Hollinger’s Island, would stop elections for the commission, the body charged with regulating utilities in the state, by 2030. In its place, the governor, the speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives and the president pro tem of the Alabama Senate would appoint members. Speaking to the House Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Committee on Tuesday, Brown said that the bill’s requirements that appoi...
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No decision yet on FEMA assistance for individuals after Tennessee storm

Spencer Brittian shovels ice in front of East Nashville's Bad Luck Burger Club days after Winter Storm Fern hit Middle Tennessee with a layer of ice. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout) President Donald Trump has not yet approved federal assistance for individuals affected by a severe ice storm that caused extensive damage to power lines in late January, at one point leaving more than 300,000 Tennesseans without electricity. Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Tennessee on Feb. 6, opening up federal funding opportunities for longer-term recovery. The declaration approved public assistance — including federal cost sharing for debris removal, emergency measures and the repair or replacement of roads, bridges and public facilities — for 15 counties. An additional eight counties were previously approved for emergency assistance. But programs that could help uninsured or underinsured individuals recoup some of their losses remain under federal review, according...
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Breast cancer survival rates higher in Medicaid expansion states, study finds

Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, R.I. A new study shows that women with breast cancer living in Rhode Island and other states that expanded Medicaid eligibility were less likely to die from the disease. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current) Women with breast cancer living in states that expanded Medicaid eligibility were less likely to die from the disease — but not everyone benefited equally, according to a recent study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. Researchers from Howard University, the University of Alabama, Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan, and others looked at data from about 1.6 million women ages 40 to 64 who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 2006 and 2021. They compared survival rates among women living in states that expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, with the rates in states that did not expand. About 58% of the women lived in expansion states, and roughly 42% lived...
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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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