Seattleholding.com

Don Lemon says a dozen agents were sent to arrest him even though he offered to turn himself in

Don Lemon said about a dozen federal agents came to his Los Angeles hotel to arrest him last week, even though his attorney had told authorities he would turn himself in to face federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.Lemon told ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that sending the agents was a waste of resources because law enforcement wouldn’t have had to dispatch agents to follow him if he had b

MAHA has reshaped health policy. Now it’s working on environmental rules

Activists like Courtney Swan, who focuses on nutritional issues and has spoken with EPA officials in recent months, are watching closely.“This is becoming an issue that if the EPA does not start getting their stuff together, then they could lose the midterms over this,” she said.Christopher Bosso, a professor at Northeastern University who researches environmental policy, said Zeldin didn’t seem to take MAHA seriously at first, “but now he has to, because they’ve been really calling for his scal

Trump to host Colombia’s Petro just weeks after insulting him as a ‘sick man’ fueling drug trade

<block>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to welcome Colombian President Gustavo Petro to the White House on Tuesday for talks only weeks after threatening military action against the South American country and accusing the leader of pumping cocaine into the United States.U.S. administration officials say the meeting will focus on regional security cooperation and counternarcotics efforts. And Trump on Monday suggested that Petro — who has continued to criticize Trump and the U.S. operation to capture Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro — seems more willing to work with his administration to stem the flow of illegal drugs from Colombia.“Somehow after the Venezuelan raid, he became very nice,” Trump told reporters. “He changed his attitude very much.”Yet, bad blood between the leaders overshadows the sit-down, even as Trump sought to downplay any friction on the eve of the visit.The conservative Trump and leftist Petro are ideologically far apart, but both leaders share a tendency for verbal bombast and unpredictability. That sets the stage for a White House visit with an anything-could-happen vibe. In recent days, Petro has continued poking at the U.S. president, calling Trump an “accomplice to genocide” in the Gaza Strip, while asserting that the capture of Maduro was a kidnapping.And ahead of his departure for Washington, Petro called on Colombians to take to the streets of Bogotá during the White House meeting.<hl2>There’s been a shift in US-Colombia relations</hl2>Historically, Colombia has been a U.S. ally. For the past 30 years, the U.S. has worked closely with Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, to arrest drug traffickers, fend off rebel groups and boost economic development in rural areas.But relations between the leaders have been strained by Trump’s massing U.S. forces in the region for unprecedented deadly military strikes targeting suspected drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific. At least 126 people have been killed in 36 known strikes. In October, the Trump administration announced it was imposing sanctions on Petro, his family and a member of his government over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade.The Treasury Department leveled the penalties against Petro; his wife, Veronica del Socorro Alcocer Garcia; his son, Nicolas Fernando Petro Burgos; and Colombian Interior Minister Armando Alberto Benedetti.The sanctions, which had to be waived to allow Petro to travel to Washington this week, came after the U.S. administration in September announced it was adding Colombia to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in three decades.Then came the audacious military operation last month to capture Maduro and his wife to face federal drug conspiracy charges, a move that Petro has forcefully denounced. Following Maduro’s ouster, Trump put Colombia on notice, and ominously warned Petro he could be next.Colombia is “run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States,” Trump said of Petro last month. “And he’s not gonna be doing it very long, let me tell you.”But a few days later, tensions eased somewhat after a call between the leaders. Trump said Petro in their hourlong conversation explained “the drug situation and other disagreements.” And Trump extended an invitation to Petro for the White House visit.Trump on a couple of occasions has used the typically scripted leaders’ meetings to deliver stern rebukes to counterparts in front of the press.Trump and Vice President JD Vance lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February for showing insufficient gratitude for U.S. support of Ukraine. Trump also used a White House meeting in May to forcefully confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa,accusing the country, with reporters present, of failing to address Trump’s baseless claim of the systematic killing of white farmers.It was not clear that the meeting between Trump and Petro would include a portion in front of cameras.</block>

Football, politics and protest: This year’s Super Bowl comes at a tinderbox moment in the US

DHS won’t say whether immigration agents will be at Super Bowl In recent days, Department of Homeland Security official Jeff Brannigan hosted a series of private calls with local officials and the NFL in which he indicated that ICE does not plan to conduct any law enforcement actions the week of the Super Bowl or at the game, according to two NFL officials with direct knowledge of the conversations.ICE is not expected to be among more than a dozen DHS-related agencies providing security at

Trial of ex-FirstEnergy executives charged in $60M Ohio bribery scheme set to begin

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The $4.3 million payment that Ohio-based FirstEnergy made to veteran lawyer and lobbyist Sam Randazzo in 2019, shortly before he was appointed as the state’s top utility regulator, is at the center of the latest criminal trial to get underway in a sweeping $60 million bribery scandal.Prosecutors allege that then-FirstEnergy Corp. CEO Chuck Jones and then-Senior Vice President Michael Dowling played roles in orchestrating the hefty payout to Randazzo in exchange for several

In the face of aid cuts, Gates Foundation narrows its priorities and defends global health funding

<block>The Gates Foundation will not change course in the face of massive foreign aid cuts, holding out hope that the U.S. specifically will return to funding the global health projects the foundation has long championed, its CEO said Tuesday.Instead, the foundation — one of the largest in the world — will concentrate at least 70% of its funding over the next 20 years on ending preventable maternal and child deaths and controlling key infectious diseases. A third goal focused on poverty will divide its work between U.S. education and agriculture in poorer countries. “We are saying not only will we not be taking on new priorities, we’re actively narrowing our priorities against three core North Star goals,” Mark Suzman said in an interview with The Associated Press as the foundation published an annual update on its plans Tuesday. In May, Bill Gates, who started the foundation with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates in 2000, announced it would close in 20 years, earlier than planned.In the letter Tuesday, Suzman gave more details about what work would end and what would continue. He also affirmed that the foundation would not rethink its plans given the cuts to foreign assistance by donor countries around the world. “While these conditions will have significant repercussions for global health and development for the next few years, priorities can shift. Debt can be restructured. Generosity can return,” Suzman wrote in the letter, referring also to the significant debt burden that many low- and middle-income countries carry, which eats into their public health budgets, for example. The foundation will renew its campaign for donor countries to fund global health, specifically, Suzman said, even as he acknowledged that overall funding levels were unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels. “We definitely have not lost hope that the U.S. will stay engaged over the medium and longer term as a champion of global health,” Suzman said. The foundation will renew its advocacy with campaigns that argue for saving the lives of pregnant women and young children. “We think that is powerful and evocative,” Suzman said. The U.S. has historically been the largest funder of global health. It’s not yet clear how much funding Congress and the Trump administration will ultimately allocate toward foreign assistance or global health this year, but the State Department has said foreign assistance going forward will look extremely different. This year, the U.S. refused to fund Gavi, which offers vaccinations to children around the world, but it did pledge to contribute to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, of which it has historically been the largest supporter. <hl2>What Gates Foundation programs will end? </hl2> <hl2/>The foundation will wind down its program that aimed to give more people in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia access to digital financial services, with Suzman saying they think that goal will be met by 2030. The foundation also has planned the end of its program to help people move out of poverty in the U.S., which it launched in 2022 with a $460 million commitment. In 2023, Ryan Rippel, the head of the program, said they aimed to improve economic mobility for 50 million people in the U.S. who earn 200% of the poverty level or less, which was $29,160 in annual income for an individual at the time. The foundation said it hadn’t assessed the program’s impact against that goal specifically. The economic mobility work will continue in a modified form as a partnership announced in July to develop AI tools that benefit frontline workers. For the next five years, the foundation plans to hold its budget steady, spending $9 billion annually, regardless of market changes, Suzman said. They then anticipate increasing that amount as they seek to meet Gates’ commitment to spend the vast remainder of his fortune through the foundation by 2045. The foundation said in January that it would cap operating expenses at 14% of its annual budget and anticipated reducing its workforce by 2030. The proposed changes were developed before the U.S. government released files on Jeffrey Epstein that include mentions of Gates and unsubstantiated claims that a spokesperson called false. <hl2>Betting on AI to make big gains in multiple areas</hl2> <hl2/>The foundation is also betting on the potential of artificial intelligence tools in other areas, including U.S. education and agriculture, where it’s funded projects delivering information like weather conditions to small farmers. While U.S. education was an early focus for Gates and French Gates, Suzman said looking back, those efforts did not deliver the desired impact. However, they think AI applications could help a large number of students, teachers and schools. In January, the foundation announced a new $50 million partnership with OpenAI’s for-profit subsidiary to develop ways for primary health clinics in Rwanda and potentially other countries to use AI to amplify the reach of health workers and improve outcomes for patients. When the foundation works with corporations, it requires them to offer what they develop without any markup to poorer countries. “Wherever possible, we’re looking for things that are going be interoperable and open source to allow for these very new public goods,” Suzman said, meaning users aren’t locked into working with a specific company. John Halamka, a physician and president of the Mayo Clinic Platform, who has worked at the intersection of health care and technology for many years, said these types of projects need to empower the local municipality to develop and fine tune the AI model for their population. Halamka, who has previously worked with the Gates Foundation on projects but is not involved in this initiative, said interventions also need to meet patients at their level of comfort and trust with the technologies. “How do you ensure these kinds of tools will be used, trusted, adopted?” he asked. “And what are you doing to make the population comfortable with the use of these new technologies?” ___Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.</block>

Trump’s $45 billion expansion of immigrant detention sites faces pushback from communities

and is actively working to expand detention space.”Detention site foes face legal limitationsState and local governments can decline to lease detention space to ICE, but they generally cannot prohibit businesses and private landowners from using their property for federal immigrant detention centers, said Danielle Jefferis, an associate law professor at the University of Nebraska who focuses on immigration and civil litigation.In 2023, a federal court invalidated a California law barring private

‘We’re projecting 50,000 riders a day’: Council member defends I-90 light rail investment

It works very, very well,” she told “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio.Balducci added that as more commuters see the train skipping traffic, ridership will grow.“As you’re driving by and see that train going, and you’re sitting in traffic, I think that’ll be the marketing we need to get people who want to ride it,” she said.KIRO host John Curley noted it will take 2% to 3% of the people who are normally commuting to pay for the train.“S

Intelligence director says Trump asked her to be present for FBI search of Georgia election center

WASHINGTON (AP) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told lawmakers in a letter Monday that she attended an FBI search of the elections hub in Fulton County, Georgia, last week because President Donald Trump asked her to be there.She also acknowledged that she “facilitated” what she described as a brief phone call between Trump and FBI agents who carried out the search but insisted that neither she nor the president had issued any directives.The letter to Democratic leaders of the H

Pushing for trade, preparing for war: A document reveals Vietnam’s dual approach toward the US

and its allies from ‘creating a pretext’ to launch an invasion of our country.”The Vietnamese military analysts outline what they see as a progression over three American administrations — from Barack Obama, through Donald Trump’s first term, and into Joe Biden’s presidency — with Washington increasingly pursuing military and other relationships with Asian nations to “form a front against China.” Vietnam balances diplomatic outreach with internal fearsIn his term, Biden in 2023 signe

Kitsap County man arrested for alleged attempted murder of girlfriend

A 43-year-old man from Hansville was arrested Sunday night on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly assaulting his girlfriend.The man’s girlfriend was reportedly in the process of ending the relationship when he followed her home, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) announced.The man allegedly dragged the 47-year-old woman out of her car and repeatedly assaulted her.RELATED STORIESThieves have moved on from catalytic converters to stealing copper wire, prosecutor saysMa

Trump says he won’t tear down the Kennedy Center arts venue but it needs to be closed for repairs

<block>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that he won’t tear down the Kennedy Center but said it needs to be closed for about two years for work that cannot be done with patrons coming and going for shows and other performances. “I’m not ripping it down … but when it opens it will be brand new and beautiful,” Trump said while during an Oval Office press availability. Trump’s comments, though, suggested that he intends to gut the interior of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.“The steel will all be checked out because it will be fully exposed,” the president said. He said the work would cost about $200 million, including the use of “the highest-grade marble, the highest-grade everything.” Trump announced in a social media post Sunday that he intends to close the Kennedy Center on July 4 for about two years, subject to board approval. </block>

Virginia man in ‘au pair affair’ case convicted of murdering wife and another man in elaborate ruse

In his own testimony, Banfield said that the testimony was “ absolutely crazy.”Carroll also introduced evidence showing that there was dissent within the police department over the theory that Magalhães and Brendan Banfield impersonated Christine Banfield on social media in a “catfishing” scheme. An officer who concluded from digital evidence that Christine Banfield was behind the social media account was later transferred in what Carroll said was punishment for disagreeing with a theory favored

Trump administration cuts number of sites for testing the 2030 census, focusing on the South

“You can’t fix what you don’t test.”The test is supposed to give the statistical agency the chance to learn how to better tally populations that were undercounted in the 2020 census and improve methods that will be used in 2030. It also allows it to test its messaging and its ability to process data as it’s being gathered.Among the new methods being tested for 2030 is the use of U.S. Postal Service workers to conduct tasks previously done by census workers.The original six test sites had b

Every Homeland Security officer in Minneapolis is now being issued a body-worn camera, Noem says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Every Homeland Security officer on the ground, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, will be immediately issued body-worn cameras, Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday.Noem made the announcement on the social media platform X. She said the body-worn camera program is being expanded nationwide as funding becomes available.“We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country,” Noem said in the social media post.The news of the

Couples at the Westminster show bond over dogs, and each other

“I can’t even imagine trying to date and explain to somebody, ‘Now, I’m going to be gone five days a week, and I’m going to have like 20 dogs with me,’” said Bill McFadden, who largely credits his wife “for any semblance of order that we have” at their home on five acres (two hectares) in Acampo, California. The key is “being with someone you can actually coexist with — constantly,” said Bill McFadden (who’s aware of the 2005 romcom “Must Love Dogs” but doesn’t recall seeing it). Lik

3 fraternity members arrested in death of Northern Arizona student following rush event

<block>FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A Northern Arizona University student has died after a night of drinking at a fraternity event, leading to the arrest of three fraternity members and an investigation by the school, officials said. The 18-year-old male student was found unresponsive at a home by police officers on Saturday after bystanders performed CPR on him, police said. Officers continued life-saving measures until paramedics arrived, but the student died at the scene, police said. Preliminary information indicates the student had attended a rush event for the Delta Tau Delta fraternity on Friday night, police said. The university said the event happened at a house off-campus.Three 20-year-old leaders in the fraternity — new member educator Carter Eslick, vice president Ryan Creech and treasurer Riley Cass — were arrested on the criminal charge of hazing, police said. Lawyers representing each of them did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment. Home telephone numbers for the three couldn’t be immediately found. The international leader of the fraternity, which is based in Indiana, said the group encourages its members to participate in the investigation into the student’s death and is committed to understanding what led to it.“Our position on hazing is clear: it is the antithesis of brotherhood and a violation of the values of Delta Tau Delta,” fraternity CEO Jack Kreman said in a statement. The university said the Northern Arizona chapter of the fraternity has been temporarily suspended while the school conducts its own investigation focused on its policies. In a statement, the university said it had robust hazing prevention training and requirements. “We want to be clear: The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priorities. Violence, hazing or any other behavior that endangers others has no place at NAU,” it said. </block>

Ed Martin removed as head of Justice Department’s ‘Weaponization Working Group’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative activist Ed Martin has been removed as head of the Justice Department group tasked with scrutinizing the federal prosecutions of President Donald Trump and is no longer working out of department headquarters, according to a person familiar with the matter.Martin remains the department’s pardon attorney, but is now working out of a building across Washington that houses some Justice Department offices, the person said. Martin had previously been working on the fourt

Recreational marijuana and 21 other citizen initiatives fail to qualify for Florida’s 2026 ballot

(AP) — A proposed amendment to Florida’s constitution that would allow recreational marijuana use for adults is one of 22 citizen initiatives that failed to qualify for the 2026 ballot, state officials said.The Florida Department of State announced Sunday that none of the active proposed constitutional amendments by initiative petition met the legal requirements for placement on the November general election ballot.The deadline for signatures to qualify for the midterm election was Sunday.

School closures in the Southeast stretch into 2nd week after latest winter storm

(AP) — School systems across the Southeast are dealing with weather-related school closures for the second week in a row, leading some to try remote learning while many prepare to add more school days to make up for lost instructional time.A series of winter storms have left tens of thousands without electricity and made some roads too icy for travel, complicating efforts to reopen schools. Some cities, including Nashville, Tennessee, still had unresolved outages from a storm a week earlier when