Category: News
Jueza de EEUU prevé bloquear intento de cerrar programa de reunificación familiar
Por MICHAEL CASEY
BOSTON (AP) — Una jueza federal de Estados Unidos afirmó el viernes que prevé bloquear temporalmente los planes del gobierno de Donald Trump para poner fin a un programa que ofrecía protecciones legales temporales a más de 10.000 familiares de ciudadanos estadounidenses y residentes permanentes.
La jueza del Distrito Indira Talwani dijo en una audiencia que planeaba emitir una orden de restricción temporal, pero no especificó cuándo. Este caso es parte de un plan más amplio del gobierno de Estados Unidos para terminar con la protección legal temporal para numerosos grupos, y se produce poco más de una semana después de que otro juez dictaminara que cientos de personas de Sudán del Sur pueden vivir y trabajar legalmente en Estados Unidos.
“El gobierno, habiendo invitado a las personas a presentar su solicitud, ahora está tendiendo trampas entre esas personas y la obtención de la tarjeta verde”, señaló Justin Cox, un abogado que trabaja con el Justice Action Center y que argumentó el caso para los demandantes. “Eso es increíblemente inequitativo”.
Este caso involucra un programa llamado Permisos de Reunificación Familiar, o FRP por sus siglas en inglés, y afecta a personas de Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haití y Honduras. La mayoría de ellos perderán sus protecciones legales, que se implementaron durante el anterior gobierno, para el 14 de enero. El Departamento de Seguridad Nacional canceló las protecciones a finales del año pasado.
El caso involucra a cinco demandantes, pero los abogados quieren que cualquier fallo cubra a todos los que forman parte del programa.
“Aunque con un estatus temporal, estos beneficiarios de permisos no vinieron temporalmente; vinieron para comenzar sus nuevas vidas en Estados Unidos, generalmente trayendo consigo a familiares inmediatos”, escribieron los demandantes en su moción. “Desde que llegaron, los beneficiarios de FRP han obtenido documentos de autorización de empleo, trabajos y han inscrito a sus hijos en la escuela”.
El gobierno, en su escrito y en la corte, argumentó que la secretaria de Seguridad Nacional, Kristi Noem, tiene la autoridad para terminar cualquier programa de permisos de entrada y que dio un aviso adecuado al publicar la terminación en el registro federal. También argumentó que la terminación del programa era necesaria por motivos de seguridad nacional porque las personas no habían sido investigadas debidamente. Además, dijo que los recursos para mantener este programa se utilizarían mejor en otros programas de inmigración.
“El permiso puede ser cancelado en cualquier momento”, dijo Katie Rose Talley, abogada del gobierno, tribunal. “Eso es lo que se está haciendo. No hay nada ilegal en eso”.
Talwani reconoció que el gobierno puede terminar el programa, pero cuestionó la forma en que se hizo.
El gobierno argumentó que simplemente anunciar en el registro federal que terminaría el programa era suficiente. Pero Talwani exigió que el gobierno mostrara cómo ha alertado a las personas a través de un aviso escrito —una carta o correo electrónico— de que el programa estaba terminando.
“Entiendo por qué los demandantes sienten que vinieron aquí, hicieron todos estos planes y pensaban estar aquí por mucho tiempo”, manifestó Talwani. “Tengo un grupo de personas que están tratando de seguir la ley. Les estoy diciendo a ustedes que, nosotros como estadounidenses, Estados Unidos necesita hacerlo”.
Los tribunales inferiores han apoyado en gran medida mantener las protecciones temporales para muchos grupos. Pero en mayo, la Corte Suprema federal despejó el camino para que el gobierno de Trump despojara de protecciones legales temporales a cientos de miles de inmigrantes por ahora, aumentando el número total de personas que podrían estar expuestas a la deportación a casi 1 millón.
Los magistrados levantaron una orden de un tribunal inferior que mantenía las protecciones de permisos humanitarios para más de 500.000 migrantes de cuatro países: Cuba, Haití, Nicaragua y Venezuela. La decisión se produjo después de que el tribunal permitiera al gobierno federal revocar el estatus legal temporal de unos 350.000 migrantes venezolanos en otro caso.
El máximo tribunal no explicó su razonamiento en la breve orden, como es típico en su expediente de emergencia. Dos jueces disintieron públicamente.
___
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
The Democrats’ Last Rodeo?
The Democrats’ Last Rodeo?
Authored by James Howard Kunstler,
“. . .the Minnesota protests look less like a local eruption and more like the latest deployment of an international revolutionary machine.”
– Insurrection Barbie on “X”
Chrump, Chrump Chrump… He’s come to occupy the Left’s minds like an infestation of weevils chawing away the ligaments of civilized society.
But, of course, the whole wicked, Cluster-B, anomie-driven, insurrectionist extravaganza is a made-for-video production bought and paid for by a tiny coterie of super-wealthy megalomaniacs untouched by consequence — George and Alex Soros (The Open Society Foundations), Shanghai-based American Neville Roy Singham (Codepink and more), Reid Hoffman (funder of Trump prosecutions and more), Lauren Powell Jobs (The Atlantic and the Emerson Collective), Hansjorg Wyss (Berger Action Fund), Bill Gates (of course). . . .
Their main client in all this mischief is the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party’s chief motivation, its raison d’être going on at least ten years now, has been to hide its multifarious crimes, its vast racketeering operations now garishly on display in the state of Minnesota, where the grift just went too far and was done right in America’s face.
Who can possibly fail to see how it works? Import a bunch of people from a foreign land. . . enable them to set up a vast network of social services frauds. . . organize them for ballot harvesting and election fraud. . . and kick-back bundles of money to Democratic Party politicians. If anybody notices, yell “racist!” Sound the klaxon to turn out a thousand LARPing protesters on the Soros payroll. Provide them with signs, banners, black-bloc outfits, cartoon costumes, pride flags, umbrellas, snacks, bullhorns, pallets of bricks, and hope that some of them get hurt so you can manufacture the next martyr.
The crescendo of this long-running seditious treason was the wide open border during the four-year fake presidency of “Joe Biden,” including the colossal coordinated scam of funding who-knows-how-many NGOs with additional US taxpayer money, funneled through the UN, to process, transport, and outfit with social security numbers and debit cards X-millions of alien mutts, professional terrorists, gang-bangers, mental patients, and actual soldiers from faraway lands, and sprinkle them into every cranny of the republic to queer the next election and otherwise cause as much disruption as possible to the everyday life of actual US citizens.
They flooded the country with millions dependent on the Democratic Party’s largess — your tax dollars — and now they are doing everything possible to prevent the removal of this riffraff back to their countries of origin. Starting a civil war over it, in fact, because that’s what it’s come to. The federal agents tasked with the removal operation are apparenty not allowed to defend themselves when the LARPing street cadres attack them. There have been 66 car attacks against ICE officers since January, 2025. State and local officials in Minneapolis have behaved so dishonestly that federal investigators kicked them off what is now a federal case in the matter of “ICE-tracker” Renee Nicole Good, shot dead at the scene in her car. Minnesota will not be permitted to turn ICE agent Jonathan Ross into another Derek Chauvin. That sort of hustle is over.
What you can now discern in the winter darkness through fog of tear gas is that the Democratic Party will choose to destroy the country rather than face the consequences of its long-running crimes. Everybody knows now that the sort of social services grifts uncovered in Minnesota, with the kickbacks to Democratic politicians, have been going on all over America. The president has ordered an “all-of-government” effort to find the fraud and prosecute it, and you can assume the effort will tend to concentrate on the very states and cities where the Democratic Party dominates. Expect election fraud to bubble up in this cauldron. The evidence of a stolen 2020 election is finally emerging and converging with the larger illegal immigrant story.
It’s also clear now, that the NGO racket associated with all that is going to be dismantled — the money-stream from the likes of Soros & friends. They are going to get RICOed, their assets could be seized, and the public will learn a whole lot more about the damage they have done to the country. The Left’s NGOs not only support the on-the-ground street action, they also provide thousands of “executive” jobs and salaries to the Maoist nose-rings and transy-boys churned out of the higher ed diploma mills who are otherwise unemployable in any real economy with their race-and-gender studies diplomas.
The Democratic Party apparently realizes that the latest round of scandals and crimes might be its last rodeo. After a day of hearings this week, featuring several Minnesota politicos who testified about sketchy goings-on in the state, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FLA) launched criminal referrals against Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and MN Attorney General Keith Ellison. That’s apart from whatever the DOJ has already been working on, and it is probably the beginning of a nation-wide web of prosecutions moving toward the midterm election that will drag in many other big dawgs of the party, including 2028 front-runner Gavin Newsom. The suicide of the Democratic Party has gone live, Donald Trump assisting.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/09/2026 – 16:25
Wife of Minnesota woman killed in ICE shooting: ‘We had whistles. They had guns’
The wife of Renee Good, the woman shot and killed in her car by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis, says the couple had stopped to support their neighbors on the day of the shooting and described the mother of three as leaving a legacy of kindness.
“We had whistles. They had guns,” Rebecca Good said in a written statement Friday that was provided to Minnesota Public Radio.
The statement was her first public comment about the death of Renee Good, 37, who was killed Wednesday after three Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers surrounded her Honda Pilot SUV on a snowy street a few blocks from the couple’s home. Video taken by bystanders show an officer approaching the SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle.
The vehicle begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.
Trump administration officials have painted Renee Good as a domestic terrorist who tried to run over an officer with her vehicle. State and local officials in Minneapolis, as well as protesters, have rejected that characterization.
Rebecca Good has not responded to calls and messages from The Associated Press. Her statement provided no further detail about the day of the shooting and instead focused on memorializing her wife.
The couple had only recently moved to Minneapolis and were raising Renee Good’s 6-year-old son from a previous marriage.
Rebecca said Renee was a Christian who “knew that all religions teach the same essential truth: we are here to love each other, care for each other, and keep each other safe and whole.”
She thanked the people all across America and the world who had reached out in support of their family.
“Renee sparkled. She literally sparkled,” Rebecca Good wrote. “I mean, she didn’t wear glitter but I swear she had sparkles coming out of her pores. All the time. You might think it was just my love talking but her family said the same thing. Renee was made of sunshine.”
Far from the worst-of-the-worst criminals President Donald Trump said his immigration crackdown would target, Good was a U.S. citizen born in Colorado who apparently was never charged with anything beyond a single traffic ticket.
In social media accounts, she described herself as a “poet and writer and wife and mom.” She said she was currently “experiencing Minneapolis,” displaying a pride emoji on her Instagram account. A profile picture posted to Pinterest shows her smiling and holding a young child against her cheek, along with posts about tattoos, hairstyles and home decorating.
Her ex-husband, who asked not to be named out of concern for the safety of the two now-teenage children he had with Renee Good while they were married, told the AP on Wednesday that he had never known her to participate in a protest of any kind.
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Rebecca Good said the couple, who had previously lived in Kansas City, Missouri, had settled in Minneapolis after an “extended road trip.” She said people they encountered in the Twin Cities had provided a strong sense that “they were looking out for each other.”
“We were raising our son to believe that no matter where you come from or what you look like, all of us deserve compassion and kindness,” Rebecca wrote. “I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him. That the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way.”
Nicor Gas seeks $221 million rate increase for suburban Chicago customers
There’s another Chicago-area gas rate hike in the pipeline.
Nicor Gas filed a $221 million rate increase request Friday with the Illinois Commerce Commission to replace and repair aging pipelines and equipment, according to a news release.
If approved, the rate increase would raise average residential customer delivery charges by about $6 per month beginning in 2027, the utility said. The ICC review of the filing is expected to last up to 11 months.
Nicor, which is owned by Atlanta-based Southern Co., is the largest gas utility in Illinois, serving 2.3 million customers in suburban Chicago and northern Illinois
“Everything we do centers around our customers and communities,” Wendell Dallas, president and CEO of Nicor Gas, said in the release. “We understand that any increase can have an impact, and we don’t make this request lightly.”
The Nicor rate request seeks to fund a variety of ongoing infrastructure projects, including the replacement of old equipment and 45 miles of distribution pipeline. In addition, Nicor is looking to repair more than 400 miles of transmission pipeline, according to the release.
In November, the ICC slashed last year’s proposed Nicor Gas rate increase by nearly 47% to $168 million. That nonetheless raised the average delivery cost for residential customers by $3.30 per month beginning with the January bill, the utility told the Tribune.
“I’m shocked that Nicor is proposing to raise rates again, just one month after imposing its last rate hike,” Abe Scarr, director of Illinois PIRG, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, said in a statement. “Nicor is busting its customers’ household budgets because it apparently refuses to live within its own.”
Consumer groups are already challenging a new rate hike proposal by Peoples Gas. The utility, which serves 894,000 customers in Chicago, filed a $202 million rate hike request Monday with the Illinois Commerce Commission to recover projected costs for its accelerated pipeline replacement program.
If approved, the Peoples Gas rate increase would raise average residential customer delivery charges in Chicago by $10 to $11 per month beginning in 2027.
Last year, the ICC ordered Peoples to speed up and complete its long-running, multibillion-dollar pipeline replacement program by 2035. Peoples has a subterranean network of some 4,600 miles of pipes under the city, including significant stretches of original cast and ductile iron — some dating back to the 1800s — which pose a risk of gas leaks that could lead to an explosion. There are still 1,020 miles of aging iron pipes remaining under Chicago that need to be retired.
In testimony to the ICC, Peoples said it expected to spend $600 million between now and 2027 to meet the accelerated pipeline replacement schedule. In 2027, Peoples projects to spend $360 million to “retire aging pipes,” which will lead to a $202 million shortfall — the amount the utility is seeking in the rate hike request.
North Shore Gas, the sister company to Peoples Gas, which serves 165,000 customers in the northern suburbs, filed for a $14 million rate increase with the ICC. If approved, that is expected to raise residential customer delivery charges by $5.21 per month beginning in 2027, according to the utility.
Residential gas bills include both supply and distribution charges. While the utilities don’t make any money on the supply end — the natural gas itself — they are responsible for procuring it as efficiently as possible, to hold down the cost paid by customers.
Peoples Gas supply prices are at 42 cents per therm in January, up 27% over the same month last year, according to published ICC data.
At North Shore Gas, supply prices are 53 cents per therm in January, an 18% year-over-year increase.
Nicor Gas customers are paying 42 cents per therm in January, a 50% year-over-year increase in supply costs.
Consumer groups, which protested the proposed Peoples Gas delivery rate increase Tuesday outside the utility’s downtown headquarters, plan to fight Nicor’s rate hike request as well.
“If Nicor is granted this $221 million increase, it would push the utility’s total rate increases to more than $1 billion in less than a decade,” Sarah Moskowitz, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, said in a statement. “CUB will challenge Nicor’s money grab and we call on state regulators to crack down on the utility.”
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/09/nicor-gas-seeks-rate-increase/
Arizona man charged with threatening Franciscan after Black woman gave birth in car
An Arizona man faces intimidation charges after threatening to blow up Franciscan Health if they didn’t say which nurse sent a Black woman in labor home, forcing her to give birth on the side of the road.
Brandyn L. Chamberlain, 37, of Florence, Arizona, was charged Thursday in Lake Superior Court in Crown Point with two felony counts of intimidation and two misdemeanor counts of harassment.
Court records do not yet indicate if he has a lawyer.
He has not been apprehended. When arrested, he is ordered held on a $1,000 cash bond.
Court records allege he made an 11-second phone call on Nov. 20 to the hospital. Police later traced him through the phone number on the caller ID.
“The nurse who was involved (in the) incident with that black female better be identified and she better be identified by the end of next week, or I’m gonna blow your (expletive) hospital up,” he said, according to court documents.
When a detective called him, Chamberlain first said he lost his phone at the park, then later admitted he was angry and called the hospital after seeing it on the news.
Mercedes Wells’ ordeal made national news, putting another spotlight on the wide disparities for Black pregnant women.
Wells, 38, of Dolton, in an earlier news conference, said she was in excruciating pain and should have never been discharged. Her husband Leon Wells said he was terrified and without any medical training as he helped with the birth of her fourth child, Alena.
Under a national spotlight, Franciscan Health fired the doctor and nurse who sent her home and now requires cultural competency training in all labor and delivery units. All women in labor have to be evaluated by a doctor before they are sent home.
Wells and her husband have retained an attorney and had a series of meetings with hospital administrators.
mcolias@post-trib.com
Trump afirma que espera “con interés” encuentro con Petro el próximo mes en Washington
Por GABRIELA MOLINA
QUITO (AP) — El presidente estadounidense Donald Trump confirmó el viernes que el encuentro con el mandatario colombiano Gustavo Petro será a inicios del próximo mes, pero pidió al gobernante sudamericano frenar rápidamente el flujo de cocaína hacia Estados Unidos.
Luego del contacto telefónico entre ambos mandatarios dos días atrás, Trump informó en sus redes sociales que espera “con interés” reunirse con Gustavo Petro en la Casa Blanca “durante la primera semana de febrero”.
“Estoy seguro de que será muy beneficioso para Colombia y Estados Unidos, pero es necesario prohibir la entrada de cocaína y otras drogas” a su país, subrayó Trump.
El encuentro se concretaría tras un giro inesperado de Trump y en las tensiones de su gobierno con Bogotá. Luego de la acción militar en Venezuela en la que se capturó al expresidente Nicolás Maduro y su esposa el mandatario estadounidense puso en la mira a Colombia advirtiendo una eventual acción militar en la nación andina.
El republicano también acusó a Petro de tener “fábricas de cocaína” y de ser un “hombre enfermo al que le gusta hacer cocaína y venderla a Estados Unidos”.
Esas afirmaciones elevaron la tensión y Petro llamó a una marcha ciudadana para la “defensa de la soberanía”, pero el contacto telefónico que la canciller colombiana, Rosa Villavicencio, había dicho se gestionó meses atrás, provocó la noche del miércoles un cambio de ánimos de los líderes en medio de la creciente tensión.
“Fue un gran honor hablar con el presidente de Colombia, Gustavo Petro, quien llamó para explicar la situación de las drogas y otros desacuerdos que hemos tenido”, publicó esa misma noche Trump en redes sociales y lo invitó a reunirse en la Casa Blanca.
Ni el presidente Petro ni el gobierno colombiano se han pronunciado hasta el momento sobre el anuncio de la fecha para el encuentro.
The Associated Press solicitó un criterio a la presidencia y la cancillería, pero no recibió respuesta de inmediato.
A lo que sí se refirió el mandatario sudamericano horas antes fue al llamado que hiciera la noche previa el máximo líder de las disidencias de las desparecidas Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia alias “Iván Mordisco” para que las diferentes estructuras, incluso algunas rivales, se unan “en la trinchera” contra la acción “intervencionista” de Estados Unidos en Venezuela y la región.
Petro respondió que tal alianza propuesta por el cabecilla “no defiende a Venezuela, ni a Colombia, ni a América Latina” y por el contrario “son la excusa de la invasión”.
“El narco debe ser desarmado y reducirlo”, señaló el mandatario.
——-
Molina reportó desde Quito.
Russia Thanks Trump For Releasing Two Russian Crew From Seized Tanker
Russia Thanks Trump For Releasing Two Russian Crew From Seized Tanker
Even though the Ukraine war is on a trajectory of escalation, which has included Russia launching a hypersonic ballsitic missile overnight on the western city of Lviv, the United States and Moscow are still finding small areas of understanding and cooperation – keeping the window for improved bilateral relations open. Russia-EU relations have spiraled and are essentially broken, but there’s yet still at least a glimmer of hope that ties with Washington could soften or even turn around.
Russia confirmed Friday that the United States had agreed to free two Russian crew members from a Russian-flagged oil tanker seized earlier this week. The vessel Marinera is alleged to be part of the so-called shadow fleet transporting oil for countries including Venezuela, Russia and Iran – and it was intercepted a day ago by the US in the North Atlantic after escaping the southern Caribbean off Venezuela.
It was surprising that the ship was intercepted by US forces despite it being escorted by the Russian Navy at the time. The very bold move ordered by the Trump administration raised fears of a direct US-Russian naval exchange of fire in the Atlantic.
Just ahead of the seizure, reports set the scene as follows:
The US is carrying out an operation to seize a tanker linked to Venezuelan oil, an official tells CBS, the BBC’s US news partner. Previously named Bella 1, its name has been changed to Marinera and it has also reportedly been reflagged from a Guyanese to a Russian vessel.
Russia has reportedly deployed a submarine and other vessels to escort an oil tanker – which is also being pursued by US forces – across the Atlantic.
But instead of a military showdown on the high seas, there’s been rare de-escalation, with Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying in a fresh statement, “At our request, U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to release two Russian citizens aboard the Marinera tanker, who were previously detained by the United States during an operation in the North Atlantic.”
“We welcome this decision and express our gratitude to the US leadership,” she added. Simultaneously Putin’s special envoy and top negotiator Kirill Dmitriev wrote on Telegram that Trump had ordered the release of “all Russians” aboard the Marinera.
Prior US threats to bring the crew up on legal charges was dismissed by Moscow as “categorically unacceptable“. Russia had quickly warned that the scenario of prosecution of Russian nationals would “only result in further military and political tensions” – adding that it was alarmed by “Washington’s willingness to generate acute international crisis situations.”
🇺🇸🇷🇺 NEW: Map by the Telegraph shows the journey of Marinera, formerly known as Bella 1. pic.twitter.com/x5kho3mP7A
— Conflict Dispatch (@ConflictDISP) January 7, 2026
But a real and potentially explosive crisis has thankfully been avoided here, and the Kremlin disclosed that it directly appealed to the Trump administration to quickly release the Russian crewmembers. The explosive situation could have easily spiraled, given also the rare presence of a Russian submarine so near in proximity to US maritime forces.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/09/2026 – 15:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-thanks-trump-releasing-two-russian-crew-seized-tanker
El jardinero agente libre Max Kepler suspendido 80 juegos por MLB tras positivo por dopaje
NUEVA YORK (AP) — El jardinero agente libre Max Kepler fue suspendido por 80 juegos el viernes tras dar positivo en una prueba por una sustancia prohibida para mejorar el rendimiento, en violación del programa antidrogas de las Grandes Ligas.
Kepler dio positivo por Epitrenbolona, una sustancia que provocó una suspensión en 2018 para el boxeador Manuel Charr.
Kepler, un veterano de 11 años en las mayores, pasó la última temporada con los Filis de Filadelfia. Disputó sus primeras 10 temporadas con los Mellizos de Minnesota.
___
Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/deportes
Naperville News Digest: Children’s Museum plans rubber duck-themed activities; Settlement to offer programs for U.S. 250th anniversary
Children’s Museum plans rubber duck-themed activities
DuPage Children’s Museum in Naperville is celebrating International Rubber Ducky Day on Tuesday, Jan. 13, with a series of duck-themed activities designed to spark curiosity and creativity.
From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., children can decorate a rubber duck in the museum’s studio, play “Rubber Duck Tac Toe,” search for ducks hiding throughout the museum or experiment with water flow. They will learn about concepts such as buoyancy, physics, cause-and-effect and imaginative storytelling through play, the museum said in a news release.
The event is part of the DuPage Children’s Museum’s monthly mini celebrations of different days recognized around the world, such as National STEM Day or Sweetest Day. The museum’s “International Something Days” series are designed to spotlight a fun or quirky day with themed activities and hands-on exploration, the release said.
The museum is located at 301 N. Washington St. For more information, go to www.dupagechildrens.org.
Naper Settlement is planning a yearlong series of programs, events and exhibits in 2026 for the 250th anniversary of the United States. (Naper Settlement)
Settlement to offer programs for U.S. 250th anniversary
Naper Settlement will offer special programming throughout 2026 to celebrate the the 250th anniversary of the United States, including special exhibits, events and educational experiences that show how local history is tied in with national events.
Kicking off the yearlong celebration will be the debut of its “We the People: Naperville and the American Story” exhibit on President’s Day on Feb. 16, 2026. It will weave together U.S. history with local Naperville history through a mix of interactive sections, artifacts and local stories.
The “Your Friendly Neighborhood Historian” series will present programs on different areas of American history, including the time at which the Declaration of Independence was signed, westward expansion, and the Civil War and reconstruction, among others.
On Feb. 5 and 19, a “Family STEM Night: Young Makers & 250 Years of Invention” event will be held. Families and young children can “explore 250 years of American innovation through hands-on activities inspired by the thinkers and tinkers” who helped shape the country, the release said.
July 3 will see the return of Naper Settlement’s annual Gettysburg Day to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, during which visitors will experience life in Naperville during the summer of 1863, the same year the infamous battle took place. Naper Settlement’s annual hometown picnic will be held on Aug. 8, celebrating America’s 250 years with various food and activities.
DuPage County clerk’s office to hold a vote-by-mail forum
The DuPage County clerk’s office will host a vote-by-mail forum from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, at the county’s auditorium, 421 County Farm Road, Wheaton.
Staff from the clerk’s office will explain how voting by mail works and answer questions voters may have, Clerk Jean Kaczmarek said in a news release.
One point they will emphasize is the need to return ballots promptly. The U.S. Postal Service has said it cannot guarantee postmarking by the Election Day deadline, and a late postmark would disenfranchise a mail voter, the release said.
DuPage County has nearly 100,000 voters who have requested permanent mail ballots, according to the clerk’s office.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/09/naperville-ducks-museum-settlement-250th-anniversary/
Five States Sue Trump Admin Over $10 Billion Freeze In Child-Care, Family-Assistance Funds
Five States Sue Trump Admin Over $10 Billion Freeze In Child-Care, Family-Assistance Funds
Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,
Attorneys general in five states filed a lawsuit on Jan. 8 seeking to block the Trump administration from freezing $10 billion in federal funds for child care and family assistance programs.
The move came just two days after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it was withholding the funds for California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, pending further review of state-administered programs due to concerns “about widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
The freeze applies to $2.4 billion in Child Care and Development Fund, $7.35 billion in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families fund, and $869 million under the Social Services Block Grant, the agency said on Jan. 6.
HHS said its Administration for Children and Families has identified concerns indicating the benefits “may have been improperly provided to individuals who are not eligible under federal law.”
In their lawsuit, the states alleged that HHS exceeded its authority by withholding congressionally approved funds, arguing that the agency failed to provide a “legitimate justification” for the funding freeze or evidence to support its fraud claims.
The states further argued that the freeze was intended to pressure them into turning over documents related to the use of funding for the affected programs within two weeks, including “personally identifying information of millions of their residents.” They said that it was “an impossible timeline.”
The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief to prevent the government from withholding the funds and a court declaration that the freeze is unconstitutional.
“Once again, the most vulnerable families in our communities are bearing the brunt of this administration’s campaign of chaos and retribution,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading the coalition in pursuing legal action against HHS, said in a statement.
“As New Yorkers struggle with the rising cost of living, I will not allow this administration to play political games with the resources families need to help make ends meet.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the HHS for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Prior to the funding freeze on the plaintiffs’ programs, HHS halted federal funding for child care programs in Minnesota amid an ongoing probe into allegations that the state had funneled funds to fraudulent daycares.
Deputy Health Secretary Jim O’Neill stated on Dec. 31 that he had asked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to provide a comprehensive audit of child care centers in Minnesota, covering records of attendance, licenses, complaints, investigations, and inspections.
Walz has defended his administration’s handling of fraud in state programs. The governor announced on Jan. 5 that he would not run for a third term in a bid to focus on resolving the issues.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/09/2026 – 15:25
