A jury found a man guilty of murdering a Cook County judge, following a seven-day trial during which prosecutors said the assailants watched the judge and his girlfriend for days before shooting and killing him in a robbery attempt.
Raymond Myles, 66, a longtime jurist at the county’s main courthouse at 26th Street and California Avenue, died from his wounds after the shooting on April 10, 2017, outside his home on the Far South Side.
The slaying, believed to be the first of a judge in more than three decades, shocked his colleagues in the local court system and resulted in a sweeping police investigation.
The trial unfolded at a branch courthouse in south suburban Bridgeview before DuPage County Judge Jeffrey McKay, who was appointed due to the potential for conflicts of interest if Myles’ fellow judges in Cook County were to hear the case.
Family members of Myles gathered in the gallery each day. His son, Raymond Myles Jr., testified during the trial’s first day, describing how he called home for a routine check-in and then learned his father had been killed.
“(I) broke down and cried,” the younger Myles said.
Wilson’s attorneys denied that he was involved in the shooting, arguing that the motive for the attack centered around Smith’s family. Smith’s father was previously married to Myles’ girlfriend, and was not happy about the divorce or her new boyfriend, they said.
“Nothing about this case is what it seems,” said Assistant Public Defender Takenya Nixon.
Myles and his girlfriend rose before sunrise each morning to go to the gym before work, and were heading out that morning when they were confronted by a gunman who took Myles’ girlfriend’s gym bag.
Prosecutors said the shooters believed the girlfriend, Venita Parrish, carried money in the bag, but it had no cash in it that morning.
It was still dark when Parrish and Myles left the home that morning, Parrish testified during the trial. That’s when she saw — in her peripheral vision — someone lurking on the side of the brick house.
“Please, hurry,” Parrish said on the recording of the 911 call. “Oh, my Lord, please hurry.”
She ran, then fell and started screaming, she said.
“He said, ‘B—-, shut up,’” she testified.
Myles rushed outside and exchanged words with the attacker before he was shot and killed. According to prosecutors, he pleaded with the shooters, saying: “You don’t have to do this.”
After his killing, court employees remembered Myles as a hardworking and friendly judge. He was a Cubs fan and wore a team jacket to work during the team’s 2016 World Series run.
“Everyone here is devastated,” then-presiding judge of the Criminal Division LeRoy K. Martin Jr. said at the time. “People know when a judge is fair.”
Myles earned his law degree from the University of Illinois and worked as a prosecutor and a private practice defense attorney before taking the bench in 1999.
For years, Myles presided over what was then known as bond court, the notoriously chaotic place for first appearances for new arrestees.
Among high-profile cases he oversaw in that role, Myles ordered William Balfour to be held without bail in the 2008 killings of three relatives of singer Jennifer Hudson and refused to grant a controversial gag order in the infamous murder of seven people at a Brown’s Chicken in Palatine.
Earl Wilson listens to pretrial motions ahead of openings in his jury trial for the 2017 fatal shooting of Cook County Judge Raymond Myles and the shooting of his girlfriend, at the Cook County courthouse in Bridgeview, Jan. 13, 2026. Assistant Public Defender Takenya Nixon is at right. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
A police investigation continues into a Jan. 23 traffic crash on I-75 in Bloomfield Township that resulted in the death of one man and serious injuries to his son.
According to the Bloomfield Township Police Department, Paul Locklear, 45, of Davison died Friday at Trinity Health Oakland Hospital, where he had been transported with serious injuries from the single-vehicle rollover crash, which happened shortly before 10 a.m. near South Boulevard. The driver of the vehicle, the man’s 18-year-old son, was also transported to Trinity Health Oakland Hospital with serious injuries and is expected to survive.
The vehicle involved was a 1999 Ford F350, police said.
Bloomfield Township Police Sgt. Nick Soley said multiple witnesses have come forward as requested by police. While drugs and/or alcohol use don’t appear to be a contributing factor, toxicology is pending from a blood draw on the driver which was performed with his consent, Soley said.
A Troy man who police described as a squatter was in Oakland County Circuit Court via Zoom on Monday where he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge involving drugs.
Devin Bushue, 35, faces up to a year in jail for one count of using a controlled substance. Prosecutors dismissed a charge of possession of a controlled substance-methamphetamine/ecstasy — which carries a stiffer penalty.
Bushue was arrested Jan. 4 after police reportedly found him and a Shelby Township woman, Miranda Laight, 37, asleep in the basement of an apartment building in the 100 block of South Lovington Drive in Troy. Officers discovered the two while responding to a trespassing complaint, and after waking them up spotted suspected methamphetamine and a used syringe near where they had been sleeping, police said.
Miranda Laight booking photo (Troy Police Dept.)
After Bushue and Laight were arrested, officers searched their belongings and allegedly found a small Ziploc baggie containing methamphetamine in Bushue’s bag and a syringe containing heroin in Laight’s bag.
Bushue is scheduled to be sentenced on March 2 by Judge David Cohen.
The case against Laight is still at the district court level. A preliminary exam is scheduled for Jan. 29.
Bushue and Laight are held in the Oakland County Jail with bond set at $7,500 for Bushue and $5,000 for Laight. The bonds have a 10% provision, meaning Bushue can be released from custody if he posts $750, and Laight can be released from custody if she posts $500.
A former GOP gubernatorial candidate who once tried to unseat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is seeking the office again, joining a crowded field of Republicans running in the battleground state.
Oakland County businessman Perry Johnson announced his second bid for governor Monday. His entrance to the race comes as the Republican candidates compete for President Donald Trump’s endorsement ahead of the Aug. 4 primary.
In a video advertisement released Monday, Johnson described Michigan’s government as inefficient.
“We need to shake up the system,” he said.
Johnson, a management consultant, was part of a slate of Republicans to run against Whitmer in 2022. His nearly $8 million bid ended when the state’s election bureau ruled he did not submit enough valid signatures required for nominating petitions. He also made a long shot bid for president ahead of 2024.
In announcing his campaign, Johnson told the Detroit News he plans to spend $9 million of his own money in the next two months.
Whitmer is term-limited and cannot run again. Candidates from both parties and one campaigning as an independent have lined up to replace her.
On the Republican side, Johnson joins the field that includes U.S. Rep. John James, former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, state Senate Leader Aric Nesbitt and former Michigan House speaker Tom Leonard.
On the Democratic side, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson are competing for the nomination.
The longtime Democratic mayor of Detroit, Mike Duggan, is running for governor but as an independent.
Perry Johnson speaks during the second day of the Republican National Convention, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
VASTERAS, Sweden (AP) — Maryan Hashi remembers the thoughts running through her mind when she began hitting the ski slopes in northern Sweden. As a Black woman from Somalia, she felt like an “alien.”
“Am I wearing the correct clothing for this? Does it fit? Do I look weird? Am I snowboarding correctly? Do they think it’s weird I’m on the slope?” she said. “But I carried on — I felt if I didn’t, I was never going to commit to anything in my life.”
A few years later, snowboarding is the 30-year-old student’s big passion and it is helping her integrate into her adopted country’s society better than she could ever have imagined.
What she’d love now is to see other migrants experiencing the same joy.
Immigration from Africa and the Middle East has transformed the demographics of Europe in recent decades. And while the growing diversity is reflected in many sports such as soccer — Sweden’s men’s national team has several Black players including Liverpool striker Alexander Isak — it hasn’t made a dent in winter sports.
Maryan Hashi looks on at Vedbobacken in Vasteras, Sweden, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Steve Douglas)
At the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, Sweden is sending a team made up almost exclusively of ethnically Swedish athletes, with NHL player Mika Zibanejad, whose father is from Iran, a rare exception. That hardly reflects the diversity of the Nordic country: About 2 million of its 10 million residents were born abroad, about half of them in Asia or Africa, according to national statistics agency SCB.
The lack of athletes of color at the Winter Olympics — and in winter sports in general — has been a recurring theme in the U.S., which is sending one of its most diverse teams to the Games. It hasn’t gotten the same attention in Europe.
The Olympic rosters of France, Germany, Switzerland and other European winter sports nations look a lot like Sweden’s: overwhelmingly white and lacking the immigrant representation seen in their soccer or basketball teams.
Researchers point to social, financial and geographical barriers, and believe a big cultural shift is needed for anything to change.
“It takes not years but decades,” said Josef Fahlen, professor of sport pedagogy at Umea University in Sweden.
Entering a ‘white’ sport
Hashi was 14 when she came to Sweden with her family in 2009. They settled in Skelleftea, a mining city around 770 kilometers (480 miles) north of the Swedish capital, Stockholm, where winters are long and temperatures can be extremely cold. She found it a culture shock and said it was “scary” to integrate with native Swedes because of language difficulties, so her friendship group consisted of fellow migrants from Somalia and other African countries.
Only in 2018 did she discover there was a ski slope five minutes from her home, after a co-worker suggested she try snowboarding as part of a pilot integration project run by the municipality.
“When you don’t have information or access or nobody around you does it — snowboarding is basically a white sport — and when you’re not correctly integrated into the community, you don’t know much about it,” Hashi said.
She initially felt out of place but grew to love her daily trips to the slope, even when numbers dwindled in the group. She even started to teach kids and her immigrant friends — those who’d been skeptical about Hashi doing an activity that’s “not our thing” — how to snowboard.
“I’ve made my mind up,” Hashi said, “that snowboarding is going to be a part of my family.”
The crucial role of parents
The single biggest influence on children getting into — and maintaining an interest in — a particular sport is their parents, according to Fahlen. That, he said, is the “simple” explanation for the lack of diversity in the ski slopes in Sweden and across Europe.
Pointing to Isak, whose parents are from Eritrea, or tennis players Mikael and Elias Ymer, whose parents migrated to Sweden from Ethiopia, he said the children of non-European immigrants are unlikely to be introduced to sports that their parents are not familiar with.
“Take the example of Isak finding his way into football — it makes total sense because football exists in Eritrea. Skiing doesn’t,” Fahlen said.
Fahlen regards the lack of diversity as not a “winter sports problem but a cultural issue” and said it’s important for kids to see winter sports athletes with a different skin tone.
“It’s a matter of horizon,” Fahlen said. “We need to show it’s possible to be a skier even if you might be from Tunisia or the West Bank.”
There are also financial and geographical factors at play. Immigrants in Sweden typically live in major urban areas, away from skiing hubs in the mountains, and are often in less-privileged economic positions. Participating in winter sports can be expensive because of the need to buy or rent equipment and clothing, and paying for travel and a ski pass.
Improving access for immigrants
Academics believe more needs to be done by winter sports to improve accessibility for immigrants and underserved communities.
“It’s a fact that the best integrative force in society is team sports and sports clubs, where kids can go to do useful things together with others,” said Stefan Jonsson, a professor in Ethnicity and Migration Studies at Linköping University. “There is so much research saying if we want social and ethnic integration, this would be the primary thing.”
Asked about its attempts to get more people from diverse backgrounds into skiing, Sweden’s ski federation said “we want to be better” and added that “inclusion is something we strive for.”
The federation is proud of its “Alla På Snö” (“Everyone On Snow”) program, which since 2008 has reached an estimated 30,000 children every year and offers students free equipment and access to slopes. Also boosting general accessibility is the growth of Sweden’s Leisure Bank project, where people can borrow sports equipment including skis and ski boots for free for 14 days. The founders equate the banks to public libraries.
Neither specifically targets immigrants, however. For Hashi, it’s a missed opportunity to widen the talent pool.
“Open the door for us,” Hashi said. “We’re going to take care of the next generation for you.”
The moment Amber Glenn stepped onto the ice at figure skating’s world championships, fans began to wave American flags, from the lowest rows inside TD Garden to the highest rafters, where the jerseys of Boston’s sporting greats hang in honor.
It seemed a fitting backdrop to her program: Glenn is the three-time reigning U.S. champion, one of the current faces of figure skating, and as the daughter of a police officer and a proud native Texan, patriotism flows through her as thick as oil.
Yet the stars-and-stripes weren’t the only flags flying high that night.
Scattered throughout the sellout crowd at the last worlds before the Milan Cortina Olympics were the equally conspicuous rainbow flags that for nearly 50 years have signified pride within the LGBTQ+ community. They started popping up at Glenn’s competitions a year earlier, when she carried one across her shoulders in celebration of her national championship.
“I saw them,” Glenn acknowledged later, long after her performance, “and I was proud to see both of those flags flying.”
Gold medalist Amber Glenn poses with a flag after the women’s free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Glenn, who identifies as pansexual, never sought to be an icon within the queer community.
In fact, she didn’t come to grips with her own sexuality until she had been through the wringer, including a stint in a mental health facility spent working through depression, anxiety and an eating disorder. Glenn didn’t come out publicly until letting it slip during an interview a half-dozen years ago, and then thought with horror, “I haven’t even told my Catholic grandma yet!”
Yet as the 26-year-old Glenn reflected on her journey in an interview with The Associated Press, she expressed a profound sense of gratitude for having experienced it within the tight-knit figure skating world. For decades, the sport has provided a progressive sort of safe space for those within the LGTBQ+ community, some of whom still may be trying to realize their authentic selves.
“I’m so, so grateful that I grew up in skating, because I grew up in Texas, and luckily it was Dallas, which was still a bit more forward,” Glenn said. “Plus, I was homeschooled. So I had to figure out a lot of things on my own, coming from that background.
“But as I ventured out to competitions, you know, outside of Texas,” Glenn continued, “I ended up seeing this community and these people around me, and they were some of the top coaches and really good skaters. I was like, ‘Oh, OK. This is OK.’ It made me realize, ‘OK, there are people who are fans of me that would probably feel even more connected if they saw someone like them.’”
The long and winding road
It hasn’t always been that way in figure skating, a sport where success and failure is quite literally a judgment call, and looks, attitude and mannerisms all matter in the scores. Throughout the 1900s, and even into the ‘80s and ’90s, women often were encouraged to be more effeminate, and male counterparts were told to embrace their masculinity.
It wasn’t until Rudy Galindo came out in a book released shortly before he was crowned U.S. champion in 1996 that walls began to crumble. Three-time U.S. champion Johnny Weir, now a lead analyst for NBC’s coverage of the Olympics, said later that Galindo gave him the confidence to come out in 2011, and ultimately embrace who he was both on the ice and off.
Eventually, other prominent skaters came forward, some of whom had never publicly acknowledged their sexuality. Each had their reasons, whether personal, political or simply the desire to give back to the community.
As the U.S. team was preparing for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, former Olympic champion Brian Boitano was picked to be a part of the delegation. At the time, the Russian government was under fire for an anti-gay “propaganda” law passed in June 2013, and Boitano told the AP that he never considered coming out until he was chosen to represent his country again.
“They know how private a person I am,” Boitano said, “and that this was a big move for me.”
Success on big stages
While LGBTQ+ athletes compete in just about every sport, what might set figure skating apart — at least, presently — has been their success on the biggest stages, whether they be international competitions, the world championships or even the Olympics.
In 2018, former U.S. champion Adam Rippon not only became the first openly gay man to make the Olympic team but the first to capture a medal at the Winter Games, earning bronze as part of the team event. Four years later, Timothy LeDuc became the first non-binary Olympic athlete by teaming with Ashley Cain-Gribble in the pairs event at the Beijing Games.
“I grew up in a very conservative environment,” explained LeDuc, a two-time U.S. champion, who went into coaching after stepping away from competition. “Sometimes just seeing someone like you in that community is what you need to feel comfortable in yourself. That continued in my journey, where I saw a lot of queer people in my life.
“Even in high school, there was one or two queer people,” LeDuc said, “but it was always figure skating where I found my community.”
Amber Glenn skates during the “Making Team USA” performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Where things stand
Glenn had just won her first elite-level Grand Prix event in Angers, France, in November 2024, when Donald Trump won the presidential election in the U.S. She remembers watching the results scroll across the TV screen.
Glenn’s heart sank, thinking about what it would mean for the LGBTQ+ community.
Two months later Trump signed an executive order defining “sex” in federal policy as a binary, biological concept unchangeable from birth. It was the first move made by an administration that has been accused of targeting the rights and recognition of the LGBTQ+ community, such as rolling back protections in education, healthcare and housing. The administration pitched the changes as a way to protect women from “gender extremism.”
“Both of my grandpas were in the military. I was raised in Texas, a proud American,” Glenn told AP. “It was so disheartening. It made me feel even closer to the community around me, because we had to come together to try and protect ourselves.”
Those feelings continue among many in the LGBTQ+ community.
Jason Brown competes during the men’s free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Jason Brown competes during the men’s free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
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Jason Brown competes during the men’s free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
One of the reasons that fan-favorite Jason Brown, a two-time Olympian, came out in an Instagram post five years ago was to provide support to those who may feel uncomfortable — skaters, of course, but also coaches, choreographers and even fans.
“I hope I can leave the sport a little better for the next athlete, or make someone more comfortable to step up and be who they are,” Brown said. “There are so many people out there that love and support that community, and they want them to feel safe and seen and accepted. I think that my biggest message is, ‘Know how supported you are.’”
Amber Glenn skates during the “Making Team USA” performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
MILAN (AP) — When Lucas Pinheiro Braathen tells people in Brazil that he represents the country in Alpine skiing, he says they don’t believe him.
They just might if he wins Brazil’s first Winter Olympics medal next month.
“When I meet someone new (in Brazil) … it’s always this mindblowing moment and it always sparks a very interesting conversation,” Pinheiro Braathen said with a smile in a recent interview with The Associated Press in Milan. “And funny enough, I actually think it’s those interactions that maybe prove the most how fulfilling it is for me to represent Brazil in something like skiing because it just shows me how foreign it is. So that’s really fun.”
If Pinheiro Braathen does finish on the podium, it would also be a first Winter Olympics medal for any South American country, something he wasn’t aware of.
“I mean thanks you just added a whole other layer of pressure so I’ll happily bring that along,” he laughed. “The greater the challenge, the greater the difference that I can bring and I believe it is the more pressure you feel, the bigger the difference that you can create.”
The 2023 World Cup slalom champion has already racked up a series of firsts under his new flag, becoming the first Brazilian skier to finish on a World Cup podium last year before claiming the country’s first victory this season to add to his five for Norway.
“I simply try to capitalize off of that pressure and channel it into my performance because, yes, it makes the days leading into the competition extremely challenging because you know you have something greater to live up to rather than just the possibility of a great result,” Pinheiro Braathen said.
“But it is exactly that that enables you to become the version of yourself where you can beat every single other athlete at that start gate and so, as I said, pressure is privilege. It is my most important currency.”
Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen feeds a deer on the podium after winning an alpine ski, men’s World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men’s World Cup slalom event, in Val d’Isere, France, Sunday Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen stands on the podium winning an alpine ski, men’s World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen celebrates winning an alpine ski, men’s World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men’s World Cup slalom event, in Val d’Isere, France, Sunday Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
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Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen feeds a deer on the podium after winning an alpine ski, men’s World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Pinheiro Braathen likes to entertain. When he got his first podium result for Brazil, he celebrated with a samba dance. His reaction after claiming his first win was more visceral, as he fell to his knees and screamed “yeah!” with both arms in the air.
The 25-year-old admits he has no clue what he would do if he was to succeed in Bormio, where the men’s Alpine ski racing will take place at the Olympics.
“If you achieve immense success in something that you’ve dedicated your life to, at least for me, it is impossible to curate what those moments look like,” Pinheiro Braathen said. “It is truly whatever you feel that sees the light of day and that’s what I think is so beautiful about those moments and it is simply what I chase every single day waking up. Yet another day getting to experience that feeling.”
Pinheiro Braathen is one of skiing’s most vibrant personalities, known for painting his fingernails and having a taste for fashion. He brings to the slopes the energy of Brazil and the discipline of Norway, having spent much of his childhood in both countries.
“I’m a person of cultural duality,” he said. “Two perspectives always presented from birth and so for me I always find that I’ve never been living a life where I’m only presented to one reality, one culture or one way of living. It’s always been these polar opposites and so I think that has shaped me to become who I am today and how I want to live my life.
A father’s love
Pinheiro Braathen has a close relationship with his father, Björn Braathen. So much so that he named the reindeer he won as part of the traditional winner’s prize at the World Cup in Levi after him.
It was his father who introduced him to skiing, when he was 4 or 5, though Pinheiro Braathen didn’t take to it initially.
“I bought everything for him, like shoes, like boots and skis and everything, and we went out and he would complain the whole time,” Braathen said. “Like “I’m cold, I’m not cut out for this, I’m freezing,” and, “I’m Brazilian and this is not for me.”
A love for the sport eventually arrived. Braathen, who also serves as his son’s team manager, doesn’t mind that his son switched allegiances.
“As a Norwegian, people expect me to feel very bad about that, but I don’t,” he said. “It’s my son and I just want him to be happy.”
Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men’s World Cup slalom event, in Val d’Isere, France, Sunday Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
Jack Eichel in the fall of 2021 still did not believe he and the rest of the world’s best hockey players would be going to the Olympics in Beijing a few months later, even after the NHL reached an agreement to do so.
“Don’t hold your breath,” Eichel said at the time.
His skepticism proved to be prescient, as pandemic scheduling issues led the league to withdraw.
Eichel is part of a generation of NHL stars who have never gotten the chance to play in the Olympics. Unlike players of the past — before the league allowed its stars to take part — Eichel, fellow American Auston Matthews, Canadians Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon and many others of their vintage grew up expecting to go to the Games. The NHL, after all, played in five consecutive Olympics from 1998 2014.
Owners opted against sending players in 2018, and missing out in 2022 became a sad result of circumstances largely out of stakeholders’ control. The 12-team tournament in Milan is a moment many have been waiting their entire careers for.
“It’s awesome,” Eichel said before this season, perhaps willing to exhale. “It’s something that we’ve wanted for a while.”
Construction delays bring more questions
Not so fast, Jack.
Out of his control are construction delays at the main hockey arena, a longstanding worry. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman began raising concerns all the way back in 2023, before the deal was reached to send players in 2026 and ’30.
“We have been given assurances that the building will be ready,” Bettman said in February 2024. “We’re relying on those assurances. There’s a lot of construction that remains to be done on that building. I think they only recently started. But we’re being told by everybody not to worry. But I like to worry, so we’ll see.”
Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) moves the puck against the Chicago Blackhawks during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)
Those worries have persisted, and work continues on locker rooms and other facilities at Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, which is set to host the majority of the men’s games beginning Feb. 11. The women’s tournament begins there Feb. 5.
Test games in January left league and players’ union officials pleased about the condition of the ice, though even that has been a matter of consternation after rinks were made more than 3 feet shorter than NHL players are used to. That will change aspects of play but won’t keep the NHL out of the Olympics as long as everyone involved agrees the surface is safe.
What players missed out on
Connor Bedard, the 2023 No. 1 pick who just missed out on making Canada’s roster for Milan, is so young at 20 that he does not even have a favorite Olympic memory. He was 4 when idol and fellow countryman Sidney Crosby scored the “golden goal” to win on home ice in Vancouver in 2010 and 9 when T.J. Oshie gave the U.S. a shootout victory over host Russia in Sochi in 2014.
Canada’s Macklin Celebrini, drafted first in 2024 and at 19 the second-youngest men’s hockey player at the Olympics, has only gotten to dream about the possibility of representing his country on this stage.
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon celebrates as he skates back to the team box after scoring a goal against the St. Louis Blues in the first period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
“That’s the pinnacle, just the best on best, all the special moments that have happened at the Olympics, the history,” Celebrini said. “There’s just a little bit more energy around it. It’s bigger than yourself.”
In all, 12 NHL players are back at the Olympics after participating in the 2014 Games, the last time the league went and it was a true best-vs.-best tournament. The group includes Crosby and Drew Doughty for Canada; Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Karlsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson for Sweden; Mikael Granlund and Olli Maatta for Finland; Radko Gudas and Ondrej Palat for Czechia. There are no Americans on that list.
“It’s a cherry on top of athletic life,” Gudas said. “Twelve years ago when we went to Sochi was such a great experience that I wish I can do that again. I was that much more sad that we couldn’t go the last two times, so for me I think it’s a great feeling to be able to do that.”
Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews celebrates after scoring a goal against the Colorado Avalanche in the third period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
American defenseman Zach Werenski at 28 is old enough to remember Crosby’s goal in 2010, and four years later he was watching Oshie’s heroics with other members of the U.S. National Team Development Program. Four of his teammates from back then are also set to go to Milan — Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Charlie McAvoy and Noah Hanifin — to finally have their Olympic moment.
“The significance of that, the build-up, we’ve waited a long time for this,” McAvoy said, “so it’s going to be incredible.”
FILE – United States’ Jack Eichel skates in to celebrate the empty net goal over Canada by teammate Jake Guentzel (59) during the third period of a 4 Nations Face-Off hockey game in Montreal on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP, file)
DETROIT — Change your perspective heading into the new year with a visit to Detroit’s new Museum of Illusions.
The attraction debuted on Woodward in the Himelhoch building near Grand Circus Park in early December. It’s the 67th Museum of Illusions that has opened around the world. Each location features exhibits and artwork specific to the city.
In Detroit, there’s a vibrant mural of what looks like a Motown singer with eyes that are always locked on you, and a “reversed room” inspired by the auto industry. Look for the illusion that makes you look like you’re sitting on — or hanging from — the marquee of the historic art deco Majestic Theatre a few blocks up Woodward.
“We have received the warmest welcome from the Motor City,” said Museum of Illusions CEO Kim Schaefer at a museum preview in December. “We feel like we are truly family here.”
“We’ve been around for a decade now and this is number 67 and we are proud of being all over the globe,” she said, adding that the museum is filled with “nods to the beautiful, vibrant, historic nature of what makes Detroit so special. We’re excited to be here.”
A light-up optical illusions sculpture at the Museum of Illusions in Detroit. (Melody Baetens/The Detroit News/TNS)
Some attractions at the Museum of Illusions are specific to Detroit, like the auto-themed reversed room. (Melody Baetens/The Detroit News/TNS)
The Museum of Illusions debuted at 1545 Woodward in Detroit in early December. (Melody Baetens/The Detroit News/TNS)
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A light-up optical illusions sculpture at the Museum of Illusions in Detroit. (Melody Baetens/The Detroit News/TNS)
The first Museum of Illusions opened in Zagreb, Croatia, a decade ago, and it has become the largest and fastest-growing chain of privately held museums in the world.
The wheelchair-accessible, hands-on museum is set up like a path, with guests taking about an hour to get through and experience everything, depending on how crowded it is. Visitors are invited to touch, climb and take plenty of photos.
Your camera is as essential to your visit as your eyeballs, because some of the illusions aren’t fully effective until you see your photo. This includes the Beuchet Chair, which places two people in a room for a forced-perspective trick that works best once a third person takes a photo. The museum walls give tips on taking the best photographs.
Others don’t require a camera, like the giant pinscreen, a full-body-size version of the famous desk toy; strike a pose, press yourself into it and then view your impression on the other side. Gaze at the grid illusion and see dancing black spots that aren’t really there. Like many of the installations, the museum offers text that explains the science behind it.
Hold on tight in the vortex tunnel, which is a stationary platform with a revolving tunnel around it that makes you feel like you’re spinning into oblivion. (Just close your eyes to recenter yourself.)
Like any museum, there’s a gift shop, which is a whole Woodward-facing storefront. They sell Museum of Illusions apparel and giftable toys that challenge the mind. The museum is rentable for weddings, birthdays, corporate team building and field trips.
NEW YORK (AP) — Beth Brown was assigned to a major project at work when hardship struck. First, her 6-month-old daughter fell ill with COVID-19. A few days later, her mother passed away.
Brown, director of health and well-being at a company that provides employee mental health programs and absence management services, sent a note to the senior ComPsych director who was her partner on the project, explaining she would have to miss work to care for her daughter and to make funeral arrangements. “The guilt that I felt for knowing I was going to leave her dry on my end,” she recalled.
Instead of calling to go over remaining tasks, the director reached out to ask whether Brown was OK and to tell her not to worry about the project. “In the grand scheme of things, this is not important,” Brown recalled her colleague saying. “It’ll be here when you get back. I’ll be there when you’re back.” Hearing the kind words, Brown “felt like there was a brick taken off my chest.”
The importance of treating others with kindness is one of the first lessons most parents and guardians try to teach children. But the skill sometimes falls by the wayside in work settings that encourage competition and where adults face deadlines and pressure. Financial worries and fears of layoffs also can stifle generous impulses.
Perhaps that’s why acts of kindness on the job often are so memorable for those on the receiving end. Molly MacDermot, director of special initiatives at Girls Write Now, a nonprofit mentorship and writing program, feels lucky to have a boss who was kind to her when MacDermot’s father died eight years ago and her mother passed away six months ago.
As technology accelerates the pace of many types of work, “it’s really important to feel human, to be allowed to be human, which is getting the grace to just deal with the bumps in life,” MacDermot said.
Kindness can also mean sharing hard truths in a productive way, going out of the way to welcome a new coworker or bending the rules for the sake of love.
Here are some examples of kindness in action and ideas for spreading goodwill at work.
Create safe spaces
Treating others with warmth and consideration may be especially meaningful at a time of heightened political divisions that has many people feeling like they have to choose sides, said Anna Malaika Tubbs, a sociologist and author of “The Three Mothers” and “Erased.”
“Especially in a workplace, where you can level the playing field and really make sure people know, ‘Hey, you’re welcome here and you’re seen here,’ that can really make a difference at a time when on a national level people feel really divided from each other,” Tubbs added.
One way to encourage empathy at work is to create an environment where people get to know each other, Tubbs said. Organizing staff retreats where family members are welcome, bringing in guest speakers, starting book clubs and scheduling fun offsite activities like going to an escape room are ways to generate shared experiences and facilitate healthy dialogues, she said.
The goal isn’t “to erase political difference or erase being able to disagree with each other” but to promote a cultural shift by encouraging behavior and actions different from the ones that often get rewarded at work, Tubbs said.
“Let’s not show up to meetings thinking that we have to compete and show who’s going to be the loudest and who’s going to be the most dominant,” she said. “What would look differently if we were collaborating with each other? If we were more focused on community?”
Creating a supportive culture within an organization requires daily attention, said Maya Nussbaum, the founder of Girls Write Now and MacDermot’s boss. She starts meetings with “heart warmers,” a time for staff members to share their thoughts on topics as simple as a favorite candle. She also encourages actively listening to different perspectives.
“Productivity is better when people feel that they’re valued and they’re listened to and they matter,” Nussbaum said. “They’re going to work harder and they are going to care, and they’re going to channel their passion as opposed to feeling dismissed.”
Provide real feedback
Compassion can mean sharing hard truths in a tactful way. For example, it’s challenging to let people know they aren’t meeting performance expectations, but “sometimes kindness is getting out of your comfort zone and telling someone the truth so they can shine,” said Chantel Cohen, founder and CEO of Atlanta-based CWC Coaching and Therapy, a counseling and life coaching practice in Atlanta.
When providing feedback as a manager, give specific examples to illustrate the behaviors that need improvement, she said. “Kindness isn’t a conflict-free workplace. Kindness is a workplace where repair is possible or improvement is possible,” Cohen said.
A manager at the retirement community in Florida where Cen works now brought her a potted plant on her first day after driving four hours to meet her. Another manager provides encouraging feedback daily.
“Having her pass by and say, ‘You did that really well today,’ it just really uplifts the mood of the whole department and makes us ready to come in for the next challenges,” Cen said.
Give back time
Before scheduling a meeting, consider whether the goals can be accomplished another way. For example, a manager can tell a working group, here’s what’s on the agenda, take time to think about it and send your ideas in writing, Cohen suggested.
“Sometimes, the gift of time is such a kindness,” she said. “Maybe you can’t give your team time off right now, but what you could do a couple times a quarter is just say, ‘Hey we’re going to skip tomorrow’s meeting and here are the things I want you all to think about. Submit this in writing so that you can have the time for yourselves.’”
Keeping meetings structured and focused also frees up time, Nussbaum said.
Reconsider rules
Meher Murshed began dating a colleague, Anupa Kurian-Murshed, more than two decades ago when they both worked at Gulf News in Dubai. The couple wanted to marry, but the newspaper prohibited spouses from working in the same department. They feared one of them would have to quit if they wed.
So they appealed to their editor-in-chief, who raised the issue with the managing director. The top managers decided the couple could keep their jobs and get married as long as one of them didn’t report to the other.
“It changed our lives. Life could have been very different,” Meher Murshed said.
Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at cbussewitz@ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well
A Pontiac teen is facing charges of second-degree murder and other felonies in connection with the fatal shooting of a Warren teen earlier this month.
Kqualin Isaac Douglas, 19, turned himself in to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office on Monday and then arraigned in Pontiac’s 50th District Court on the murder charge as well as tampering with evidence, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and using a gun in the commission of a felony — also known as felony firearm. Shot dead was 19-year-old Cornelius Traves Murphy Jr., whose body was discovered on Jan. 8 near a home in the 100 block of North Jessie Street; a caller had reported seeing a man lying in a field and not breathing, the sheriff’s office said.
Kqualin Douglas booking photo
Investigators said the shooting happened Jan. 7.
Murphy suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, the sheriff’s office said.
“I am proud of our team that began an investigation with nothing and through their diligence and professionalism were able to not only identify a suspect, but gather enough evidence that charges could be brought,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard stated in a news release. “We look forward to the justice system moving forward on this case on behalf of the victim, his family and the community.”
Douglas is held in the Oakland County Jail with bond set at $300,000.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A lawyer for the immigration officer who shot and killed Renee Good dropped out of the Minnesota governor race Monday, breaking with many fellow Republicans and calling President Donald Trump’s immigration operation in the state an “unmitigated disaster.”
Madel went a step further than most Republicans in his video, saying that while he supports the goal of deporting “the worst of the worst” from Minnesota, he thinks the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities has gone too far.
“I cannot support the national Republicans’ stated retribution on the citizens of our state,” Madel said. “Nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.”
Madel said that U.S. citizens, “particularly those of color, live in fear.”
“United States citizens are carrying papers to prove their citizenship,” Madel said. “That’s wrong.”
Madel said he personally had heard from local Asian and Hispanic law enforcement officers who had been pulled over by ICE.
“I have read about and I have spoken to help countless United States citizens who have been detained in Minnesota due to the color of their skin,” Madel said.
He also said it was unconstitutional and wrong for federal officers to “raid homes” using a civil warrant, rather than one issued by a judge.
Madel was among a large group of candidates seeking to replace Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who dropped his reelection bid earlier this month. Other Republican candidates include MyPillow founder and chief executive Mike Lindell, an election denier who is close to Trump; Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth; Dr. Scott Jensen, a former state senator who was the party’s 2022 gubernatorial candidate; and state Rep. Kristin Robbins.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has filed paperwork to run, but has yet to publicly launch a campaign to succeed Walz.
Madel, in his Monday video posted on the social platform X, described himself as a “pragmatist,” and said national Republicans “have made it nearly impossible for a Republican to win a statewide election in Minnesota.”
Madel did not immediately return a text message seeking comment.
Madel, 59, was a political newcomer making his first run for public office. He got into the race on Dec. 1.
Madel brought 30 years of experience as an attorney to the race, including cases taking on corporate corruption. Madel also defended law enforcement officers, including the 2024 case of a Minnesota state trooper who fatally shot a Black man after a traffic stop. Prosecutors dropped charges against Trooper Ryan Londregan in the killing of Ricky Cobb II, saying the case would have been difficult to prove.
Madel often referenced that victory in his brief campaign for governor, including in his video dropping out.
Republicans were expecting the race for governor to be focused on Walz, who at the time was seeking a third term amid questions about how his administration handled welfare fraud. But the race shifted dramatically on Jan. 5 when Walz dropped out.
That same week, the Trump administration sent thousands of federal officers to Minnesota. ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Good in Minneapolis two days later on Jan. 7.
Madel agreed to offer pro bono legal advice to Ross, although no criminal charges or civil lawsuits have been filed. Madel said he was honored to help Ross, particularly during a gubernatorial campaign.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department has cut its contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton, after a former contractor who worked for the firm was charged and subsequently imprisoned for leaking tax information to news outlets about thousands of the country’s wealthiest people, including President Donald Trump.
The latest move is in line with Trump administration efforts to exact retribution on perceived enemies of the president and his allies.
In 2024, former IRS contractor Charles Edward Littlejohn of Washington, D.C. — who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton — was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to leaking tax information about Trump and others to news outlets.
Littlejohn gave data to The New York Times and ProPublica between 2018 and 2020 in leaks that appeared to be “unparalleled in the IRS’s history,” prosecutors said.
In court documents, prosecutors said Littlejohn had applied to work as a contractor to get Trump’s tax returns and carefully figured out how to search and extract tax data to avoid triggering suspicions internally.
Treasury says the agency has 31 contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton totaling $4.8 million in annual spending and $21 million in total obligations.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in statement that the firm “failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including the confidential taxpayer information it had access to through its contracts with the Internal Revenue Service.”
A representative from Booz Allen Hamilton was not immediately available for comment.
FILE – A sign is displayed outside the Internal Revenue Service building May 4, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
The Bloomfield Township Police Department is seeking the public’s help in identifying the thieves who recently stole eight tires from a business on Telegraph Road.
Police said the theft happened on Jan. 17 at around 6:45 a.m. at Detail Express, located at 1751 S. Telegraph Rd. Video surveillance shows two sets of tires, listed for sale, were stolen from the back of the property by two people who loaded them into the cab of a red Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck that had driven through a gate onto the property, police said.
Police said the theft occurred at Detail Express on Telegraph Road in Bloomfield Township (Image from surveillance video shared by Bloomfield Township Police Dept.)
The truck left the property approximately three minutes after arriving, police said.
As an investigation continues, anyone who can identify the suspects or the truck’s owner, or has additional information on the incident, is asked to call the Bloomfield Township’s investigation unit at 248-433-7762.
Police say this truck was driven onto the property and the tires were loaded into the cab (Image from surveillance video shared by Bloomfield Township Police Dept.)
New legionella test results from county buildings show at least one has signs of the bacteria. But county officials note it is two fewer than the previous round of tests.
Results from 23 samples collected Jan. 13 and 14 at the county’s circuit courthouse, 1200 N. Telegraph Road in Pontiac, found traces of legionella in a men’s room in the clerk’s vital records office.
Legionella is a bacteria found in the ground and in some water systems. The bacteria can cause a type of pneumonia called Legionnaire’s disease or a less-severe lung infection called Pontiac fever. County health officials have emphasized that such infections are rare.
The county has been testing water systems since November after a custodian’s Legionnaire’s disease was traced to the sheriff’s administration building on the county’s Pontiac campus.
In April 2025 a man diagnosed with Legionnaire’s listed the county’s circuit courthouse among the places he visited. That man later died, according to Lisa Brown, county clerk and register of deeds. The man has not been identified by name; the county custodian’s condition has not been shared with the media.
In addition to follow-up testing, the county is following what county spokesman William Mullan called “rigorous preventive measures,” including regular flushing, water temperature monitoring and temperature adjustments.
The county installed 300 filters and reinstalled three that malfunctioned, he said. Earlier this month, Brown told the county commission’s health and safety committee that at least one of the malfunctioning filters sprayed a man using a sink.
County tests will continue through May in areas where legionella was initially detected.
Last week the county started its routine-testing program to meet standards set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These tests are at buildings where legionella has not been detected.
Routine tests in the east and west wings of the courthouse and the medical examiner’s office on the county’s Pontiac campus showed no signs of legionella in the Jan. 23 results. Twelve samples were collected in the courthouse and five were collected in the medical examiner’s office. Buildings with clean-water results do not have to be immediately retested, under CDC guidelines.
Routine tests at the county jail will start Tuesday, Jan. 27.
This 1978 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows Legionella pneumophila bacteria which are responsible for causing the pneumonic disease Legionnaires' disease. (Francis Chandler/CDC via AP)
The first time Patrick Thaw saw his University of Michigan friends together since sophomore year ended was bittersweet. They were starting a new semester in Ann Arbor, while he was FaceTiming in from Singapore, stranded half a world away.
One day last June he was interviewing to renew his U.S. student visa, and the next his world was turned upside down by President Donald Trump’s travel ban on people from 12 countries, including Thaw’s native Myanmar.
“If I knew it was going to go down this badly, I wouldn’t have left the United States,” he said of his decision to leave Michigan for a summer internship in Singapore.
The ban was one of several ways the Trump administration made life harder for international students during his first year back in the White House, including a pause in visa appointments and additional layers of vetting that contributed to a dip in foreign enrollment for first-time students. New students had to look elsewhere, but the hurdles made life particularly complicated for those like Thaw who were well into their U.S. college careers.
Universities have had to come up with increasingly flexible solutions, such as bringing back pandemic-era remote learning arrangements or offering admission to international campuses they partner with, said Sarah Spreitzer, assistant vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education.
In Thaw’s case, a Michigan administrator highlighted studying abroad as an option. As long as the travel ban was in place, a program in Australia seemed viable — at least initially.
In the meantime, Thaw didn’t have much to do in Singapore but wait. He made friends, but they were busy with school or jobs. After his internship ended, he killed time by checking email, talking walks and eating out.
“Mentally, I’m back in Ann Arbor,” the 21-year-old said. “But physically, I’m trapped in Singapore.”
He was at Michigan ‘to think and take risks’
When Thaw arrived in Ann Arbor in 2023, he threw himself into campus life. He immediately meshed with his dorm roommate’s group of friends, who had gone to high school together about an hour away. A neuroscience major, he also joined a biology fraternity and an Alzheimer’s research lab.
Students walk around the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Mich., Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Emily Elconin)
His curiosity pushed him to explore a wide range of courses, including a Jewish studies class. The professor, Cara Rock-Singer, said Thaw told her his interest stemmed from reading the works of Philip Roth.
“I really work to make it a place where everyone feels not only comfortable, but invested in contributing,” Rock-Singer said. “But Patrick did not need nudging. He was always there to think and take risks.”
When Thaw landed his clinical research internship at a Singapore medical school, it felt like just another step toward success.
He heard speculation that the Trump administration might impose travel restrictions, but it was barely an afterthought — something he said he even joked about with friends before departing.
Thaw’s U.S. college dream had been a lifetime in the making but was undone — at least for now — by one trip abroad. Stuck in Singapore, he couldn’t sleep and his mind fixated on one question: “Why did you even come here?”
As a child, Thaw set his sights on attending an American university. That desire became more urgent as higher education opportunities dwindled after a civil war broke out in Myanmar.
For a time, tensions were so high that Thaw and his mother took shifts watching to make sure the bamboo in their front yard didn’t erupt in flames from Molotov cocktails. Once, he was late for an algebra exam because a bomb exploded in front of his house, he said.
So when he was accepted to the University of Michigan after applying to colleges “around the clock,” Thaw was elated.
“The moment I landed in the United States, like, set foot, I was like, this is it,” Thaw said. “This is where I begin my new life.”
Michigan Stadium at the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Mich., Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Emily Elconin)
When Thaw talked about life in Myanmar, it often led to deep conversations, said Allison Voto, one of his friends. He was one of the first people she met whose background was very different from hers, which made her “more understanding of the world,” she said.
During the 2024-25 school year, the U.S. hosted nearly 1.2 million international students. As of summer 2024, more than 1,400 people from Myanmar had American student visas, making it one of the top-represented countries among those hit by the travel ban.
A last-ditch effort to stay enrolled
A Michigan official said the school recognizes the challenges facing some international students and is committed to ensuring they have all the support and options it can provide. The university declined to comment specifically on Thaw’s situation.
While the study abroad program in Australia sparked some hope that Thaw could stay enrolled at Michigan, uncertainty around the travel ban and visa obstacles ultimately led him to decide against it.
He had left Myanmar to get an education and it was time to finish what he started, which meant moving on.
“I cannot just wait for the travel ban to just end and get lifted and go back, because that’s going to be an indefinite amount of time,” he said.
A flag blows in the wind atop the Michigan Union on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Mich., Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Emily Elconin)
He started applying to colleges outside the U.S., getting back acceptance letters from schools in Australia and Canada. He is holding out hope of attending the University of Toronto, which would put his friends in Ann Arbor just a four-hour drive from visiting him.
“If he comes anywhere near me, basically on the continent of North America, I’m going to go see him,” said Voto, whose friendship with Thaw lately is defined by daylong gaps in their text conversations. “I mean, he’s Patrick, you know? That’s absolutely worth it.”
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Students walk out of South Quad on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Mich., Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Emily Elconin)
By Melissa Nann Burke, Beth LeBlanc, Craig Mauger and Grant Schwab, The Detroit News
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit was among the House Democrats last week who voted to advance resolutions to hold former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress in relation to the congressional probe of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s serial sexual abuse.
Tlaib was among nine Democrats on the Republican-led House Oversight Committee to vote to advance the contempt measure against Bill Clinton. Tlaib was among three Democrats — along with Reps. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico — who voted to advance the contempt resolution for Hillary Clinton.
The rare contempt of Congress proceedings set up a potential vote by the full House in early February if the committee leadership doesn’t strike a deal with the Clintons before then.
The Clintons have not been accused of wrongdoing in relation to Epstein or his sexual abuse of dozens of teenage girls.
But several Democrats on the panel like Tlaib stressed the need for transparency in the Epstein matter, as they also blasted the U.S. Department of Justice for failing to meet the deadline imposed by Congress to publicly release all its case files on Epstein.
“We should hold anybody connected to Epstein in contempt who will not give us information. The survivors deserve transparency and justice,” Tlaib wrote on social media after the vote.
In committee, Tlaib noted her meeting with Epstein survivors, including one who said she saw a photo of Clinton with his arms around Epstein when she first went to his house.
“It’s not just one president but now two that have been connected to the Epstein sex trafficking,” said Tlaib, whose 12th congressional district includes the Oakland County communities of Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms, Franklin, Lathrup Village, Southfield and Southfield Township.
“I didn’t need to see the photos by the chairman today of Clinton. All I needed to do was hear the survivors tell us, ‘Please do something,’” Tlaib added. “These are people that have impacted their lives forever, but I just don’t understand Mr. Chair ― and this is with all due respect ― I just don’t get why (Attorney General Pam) Bondi cannot be held in contempt?”
The Associated Press reported that the Clintons contend the subpoenas are invalid because they do not serve any legislative purpose, and have offered the committee written declarations about their interactions with Epstein.
A spokesman for the Clintons, Angel Ureña, said on social media that the couple is trying to aid the Epstein investigation, but that “both Clintons have been out of office for over a decade. Neither had anything to do with him for more than 20 years.”
“No witness, not a former president or a private citizen, may willfully defy a congressional subpoena without consequence,” Kentucky U.S. Rep. James Comer, the House Oversight panel chairman, said during the proceeding on Wednesday.
“But that is what the Clintons did, and that is why we are here.”
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Office of U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib)
Leaders of law enforcement organizations expressed alarm Sunday over the latest deadly shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis while use-of-force experts criticized the Trump administration’s justification of the killing, saying bystander footage contradicted its narrative of what prompted it.
The federal government also faced criticism over the lack of a civil rights inquiry by the U.S. Justice Department and its efforts to block Minnesota authorities from conducting their own review of the killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti.
In a bid to ease tensions, the International Association of Chiefs of Police called on the White House to convene discussions “as soon as practicable” among federal, state and local law enforcement.
“Every police chief in the country is watching Minneapolis very carefully,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a police research and policy organization. “If a police chief had three officer-involved shootings in three weeks, they would be stepping back and asking, ‘What does our training look like? What does our policy look like?’”
Pretti’s death came on the heels of the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good and another incident a week later in Minneapolis when a federal officer shot a man in the leg after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle while attempting to arrest a Venezuelan who was in the country illegally.
“We’re dealing with a federal agency here,” Wexler said, referring to the Department of Homeland Security, “but its actions can have a ripple effect across the entire country.”
Experts say video of shooting undermines federal claims
While questions remained about the latest confrontation, use-of-force experts told The Associated Press that bystander video undermined federal authorities’ claim that Pretti “approached” a group of lawmen with a firearm and that a Border Patrol officer opened fire “defensively.” There has been no evidence made public, they said, that supports a claim by Border Patrol senior official Greg Bovino that Pretti, who had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, intended to “massacre law enforcement.”
“It’s very baked into the culture of American policing to not criticize other law enforcement agencies,” said Seth Stoughton, a former police officer and use-of-force expert who testified for prosecutors in the trial of the Minneapolis officer convicted of murdering George Floyd.
“But behind the scenes, there is nothing but professional scorn for the way that DHS is handling the aftermath of these incidents,” Stoughton said.
Several government officials had essentially convicted Pretti on social media before the crime scene had been processed.
Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller generated outrage by describing Pretti as “a would-be assassin” in a post, while a top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, drew the ire of the National Rifle Association for posting that “if you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.”
“In a country that has more guns than people, the mere possession of a weapon does not establish an imminent threat to officers — and neither does having a weapon and approaching officers,” Stoughton said. “I don’t think there’s any evidence to confirm the official narrative at all. It’s not unlawful for someone to carry a weapon in Minnesota.”
Minnesota official says state investigators blocked from shooting scene
In the hours after Pretti’s shooting, Minnesota authorities obtained a search warrant granting them access to the shooting scene. Drew Evans, superintendent for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said his team was blocked from the scene.
Minnesota authorities also received an emergency court order from a federal judge barring officials “from destroying or altering evidence related to the fatal shooting involving federal officers.”
Bovino sounded a less strident tone at a Sunday news conference, calling Pretti’s shooting a “tragedy that was preventable” even as he urged people not to “interfere, obstruct, delay or assault law enforcement.” He refused to comment on what he called the “freeze-frame concept,” referring to videos circulating on social media that raise doubts about the dangers Pretti posed to officers.
“That, folks, is why we have something called an investigation,” Bovino said. “I wasn’t there wrestling him myself. So I’m not going to speculate. I’m going to wait for that investigation.”
Policing experts said the irregularities in the federal response went beyond the government’s immediate defense. Before Pretti’s parents had even been notified of his death, DHS posted a photograph on X of a 9mm Sig Sauer semiautomatic handgun seized during the scuffle, portraying the weapon as justification for the killing.
“The suspect also had 2 magazines and no ID,” the post said. “This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage.”
However, the photo showed only one loaded magazine lying next to the pistol, which had apparently been emptied and displayed on the seat of a vehicle. Minnesota state officials said that, by removing the weapon from the scene, Border Patrol officers likely mishandled key evidence.
Videos show Pretti holding a cellphone
None of the half-dozen bystander videos shows Pretti brandishing his gun. Rather, the videos showed Pretti’s hands were only holding his mobile phone as a masked Border Patrol officer opened fire.
In videos of the scuffle, “gun, gun” is heard, and an officer appears to pull a handgun from Pretti’s waist area and begins moving away. As that happens, a first shot is fired by a Border Patrol officer. There’s a slight pause, and then the same officer fires several more times into Pretti’s back.
Several use-of-force experts said that unenhanced video clips alone would neither exonerate nor support prosecution of the officers, underscoring the need for a thorough investigation. A key piece of evidence will likely be the video from the phone Pretti was holding when he was killed. Federal officials have not yet released that footage or shared it with state investigators.
“The evaluation of the reasonableness of this shooting will entirely depend on when the pistol became visible and how, if at all, it was being displayed or used,” said Charles “Joe” Key, a former police lieutenant and longtime use-of-force expert.
Ian Adams, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, described the federal government’s response as “amateur hour.”
“Jumping to the end result of this investigation, or what’s supposed to be an investigation, is somewhat embarrassing for policing professionals nationwide,” Adams said. “It’s clear that professionals in policing are observing what’s going on and not liking what they’re seeing.”
Associated Press reporter Hannah Fingerhut contributed reporting Des Moines, Iowa.
Demonstrators hold signs during a protest in response to the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis earlier in the day Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
USA TODAY Co., owner of the Detroit Free Press, will acquire The Detroit News and continue to publish it separately, it announced Monday.
The company said it has agreed to a binding letter of intent to acquire The News from MediaNews Group, a transaction it expects to complete by month’s end. Terms of the deal will not be disclosed, the announcement said.
USA TODAY Co. noted it is acquiring the three-time reigning Michigan Newspaper of the Year for journalistic excellence, as honored by the Michigan Press Association. The News is a leading source of digital news and one of the top regional digital news sources in the nation.
“Welcoming The Detroit News fully to our network will enable the continued delivery of trusted, high-quality news and content to our audiences and advertisers in the region,” CEO Mike Reed said in a statement. The acquisition “reinforces our commitment to local journalism in the Detroit metropolitan area.”
It’s the latest twist in ownership for the Detroit dailies, which on Dec. 28 concluded a 36-year joint operating agreement. In that partnership, business operations of The News and Free Press were merged under management of USA TODAY Co., while the newsrooms competed against each other under separate ownership.
As the companies worked to untether those business operations, The News announced on Dec. 26 that it planned to start a separate Sunday paper beginning Jan. 18. It abruptly delayed those plans on Jan. 9.
Formerly known as Gannett Co., USA TODAY Co. did not immediately disclose its plans for The News, except to say, “The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News will continue to publish separately.”
“We are pleased to reach this agreement with USA TODAY Co. now that the joint operations agreement has expired after decades of successful operations,” said Guy Gilmore, COO of MediaNews Group, in a statement. “Both companies have a mutual desire to ensure that these publications and their distinct journalism continue to serve the greater Detroit area.”
USA TODAY Co. was prohibited from certain acquisitions and increased indebtedness without the consent of its lenders, it said in its 2025 annual report.
On Monday, it said it would finance the purchase of The News in part with cash and also with funds managed by Apollo Global Management, its primary lender. It did not disclose a price.
“Apollo continues to be a great partner of USA TODAY Co.,” Reed’s statement said. “Their commitment enables us to fund this strategic acquisition.”
It is rare for the two major dailies in a metro area to be owned by one parent company, but it is not unprecedented. Cox Enterprises purchased the Atlanta Journal in 1939 and purchased the Atlanta Constitution in 1950. They continued to publish separately until they merged as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2001.
Similar deals have prompted scrutiny from the Department of Justice, such as when The News and Free Press first announced their joint operating agreement in 1986; it was contested in courts until 1989, when the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked over an attempt to block it.
The sale to USA TODAY Co. marks a return for The News to its former corporate parent.
Founded in 1873 by James E. Scripps as The Evening News, The News marked several firsts in the 113 years before its sale to Gannett in 1986.
The News founded WWJ-AM (950), broadcasting for the first time in August 1920 from the second floor of The News building.
A pioneer in aerial photography, The News purchased a gyrocopter with a swiveling camera to better cover news events in 1931. It was later donated to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, where it remains on display.
In 1942, News photographer Milton Brooks won the inaugural Pulitzer Prize for photography for his 1941 photograph of Ford Motor Co. strikers being beaten. The News has won three Pulitzers, recognized as the highest honor in journalism.
The News debuted broadcast television in Michigan in 1947, founding WDIV-TV (Channel 4).
By its 100th anniversary, The News had achieved the largest evening circulation of any newspaper in the country. With readers moving toward morning newspapers, The News launched a morning edition in 1976.
In July 1995, The News launched detnews.com, becoming among the first newspapers to distribute content on the internet. It now has nearly 3 million users every month.
After 113 years of independent ownership, the Scripps family sold The News and its array of other newspapers and broadcast stations to Gannett for $717 million, instantly making The News the largest local paper in the Gannett chain.
Almost immediately thereafter, the owners of The News and Free Press filed to create the joint operating agreement, declaring that the Free Press was in imminent danger of failing. When finally approved, it became the largest such agreement in the United States.
In 2005, with Free Press owner Knight-Ridder under increasing pressure, Gannett purchased the Free Press and sold The News to MediaNews Group for $25 million. The two companies entered the 20-year business partnership that ended in December.
Detroit News has bee purchased by the USA Today Co., owner of the Detroit Free Press. Terms of the sale were not made public. (Detroit News)
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