Nwexx

A masked ICE agent stands guard outside as ICE and other law enforcement agents raid a restaurant in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last year. More than a dozen states have enacted laws designed to keep ICE away from schools, but recent incidents illustrate the limits of state and local authority when it comes to immigration enforcement (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer) On June 11,  ICE agents trailed a car into the parking lot of Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore. For the family riding in that car, an everyday school drop off quickly devolved into chaos. ICE agents pulled Jesus Acevedo Sanchez from the vehicle, pinned him to the ground and arrested him for being in the country illegally. They also handcuffed and detained his wife, Adriana Gavilan Sanchez, as the couple’s two daughters watched from the back seat and school staff whisked other students away from the scene. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson later told CNN that Acevedo Sanchez...

The Southern Poverty Law Center's headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama on February 8, 2023. A federal judge on Friday declined a motion from SPLC to dismiss federal charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, writing the SPLC had not shown enough evidence that it was being targeted for opposition to Donald Trump. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) A federal court judge Friday denied a motion from the Southern Poverty Law Center to dismiss criminal charges filed by the U.S. Department of Justice over a program that paid informants to gather intelligence on extremist groups. U.S. District Judge Emily Marks wrote that the civil rights nonprofit did not provide the evidence it needed to show that the Department of Justice was targeting the SPLC because of its opposition to the actions of President Donald Trump. “Though President Trump has specifically criticized the SPLC, the organization has not provided evidence that the prosecutors working on this case were in any way motivated...

McKenna Melby of the North Dakota State College of Science speaks with a job fair attendee in Fargo, North Dakota, on July 28, 2026. Melby was recruiting potential students for the certified nursing assistant program.(Photo by Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor) U.S. employers shed 23,000 jobs in July, and the employment count for earlier months was revised downward by 103,000 jobs as labor shortages begin to weigh on hiring, according to new statistics released Friday by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. “There’s no sugarcoating the overarching message in the July jobs report,” Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, wrote in a social media post . “The economy is struggling. Job growth is at a virtual standstill.” Inflation could be taking a toll as employment in general merchandise retailing declined by 21,000 jobs and gas stations cut 5,000 jobs.  Employment in finance also dropped by 14,000, continuing a slide of 121,000 jobs since a recent peak in May 2025. ...

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 25, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON —  The U.S. Senate adjourned for its summer recess early Saturday after approving a stopgap spending bill but declining to advance legislation that would require photo ID for voting.  In a rare overnight session that began on Friday, senators trudged through a slew of measures, confirmed President Donald Trump’s nomination of Todd Blanche as attorney general and then departed the nation’s capital for the coveted August recess. The chamber is not expected to return to regular session until after Labor Day. The Senate passed,  86-11 , a major effort first proposed by the late GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina that would  impose sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin, along with the country’s oligarchs and military leaders.  A bipartisan education bill — championed by GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Co...

A view of mining operations at Eagle Summit Resources in Charleston, West Virginia, as seen on March 12, 2026. (Photo by James Pinsky/USDA) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday the federal government will fund $180 million in grants for mining schools across the country as part of his administration’s goal of rebuilding the U.S. coal industry.  The grants will include $100 million from the Department of Energy spread across the 14 accredited mining schools in the U.S., while the Department of Defense will dedicate just over $80 million for three major schools of mining and metallurgy: the Colorado School of Mines, the South Dakota School of Mines and Johns Hopkins University.  The Johns Hopkins University grant will help to create a new “multi-material recycling innovation hub,” while the South Dakota School of Mines’ funding will go toward establishing a consortium of workforce development programs alongside the University of Kentucky and Missouri S&T University. Tr...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency building in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 25, 2024. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Friday approved Cameron Hamilton to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, giving the agency its first administrator since President Donald Trump took office last year.  The 51-47 vote confirmed more than 70 nominees as part of  one package , including the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and the director of the Indian Health Service.  The rest of the batch contained a mix of deputy directors, under secretaries, assistant secretaries, ambassadors, U.S. attorneys and judges. Hamilton’s confirmation vote follows a bit of a rollercoaster for him at FEMA. He ran the agency in an acting capacity for the first few months of 2025 before being fired after  testifying to Congress that he personally did “not believe it is in the best interest of the A...