Federal health officials on Wednesday expanded an outbreak of infant botulism tied to recalled ByHeart baby formula to include all illnesses reported since the company began production in March 2022.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said investigators cannot rule out the possibility that contamination might have affected all ByHeart formula products ever made.

The outbreak now includes at least 51 infants in 19 states. The new case definition includes any infant with botulism who was exposed to ByHeart formula at any time since the product's release, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The most recent illness was reported on Dec. 1.

No deaths have been reported in the outbreak, which was announced Nov. 8.

Previously, health officials had said the outbreak included 39 suspected or confirmed cases of infant botulism reported in 18 states since August. That's when officials at California's Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program reported a rise in treatment of infants who had consumed ByHeart formula. Another 12 cases were identified with the expanded definition, including two that occurred in the original timeline and 10 that occurred from December 2023 through July 2025.

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ByHeart, a New York-based manufacturer of organic infant formula founded in 2016, recalled all its products sold in the U.S. on Nov. 11. The company, which accounts for about 1% of the U.S. infant formula market, had been selling about 200,000 cans of the product each month.

News that ByHeart products could have been contaminated for years was distressing to Andi Galindo, whose 5-week-old daughter, Rowan, was hospitalized in December 2023 with infant botulism after drinking the formula. Galindo, 36, of Redondo Beach, California, said she insisted on using ByHeart formula to supplement a low supply of breast milk because it was recommended by a lactation consultant as very natural, very gentle, very good for the babies."

That's a hard one, Galindo said. If there is proof that there were issues with their manufacturing and their plant all the way back from the beginning, that is a problem and they really need to be held accountable."

Amy Mazziotti, 43, of Burbank, California, said her then-5-month-old son, Hank, fell ill and was treated for botulism in March, weeks after he began drinking ByHeart. Being included in the investigation of the outbreak feels like a win for all of us, she said Wednesday.

Ive known in my gut from the beginning that ByHeart was the reason Hank got sick, and to see that these cases are now part of the investigation brings me to tears a mix of relief, gratitude and hope that the truth is finally being recognized, she said.

In a statement late Wednesday, ByHeart officials said the company is cooperating with federal officials to understand the full scope of related cases.

The new cases reported by CDC and FDA will help inform ByHearts investigation as we continue to seek the root cause of the contamination, the statement said.

Lab tests detected contamination

The FDA sent inspectors last month to ByHeart plants in Allerton, Iowa, and Portland, Oregon, where the formula is produced and packaged. The agency has released no results from those inspections.

The company previously reported that tests by an independent laboratory showed that 36 samples from three different lots contained the type of bacteria that can cause infant botulism.

We cannot rule out the risk that all ByHeart formula across all product lots may have been contaminated, the company wrote on its website last month.

Those results and discussions with the FDA led CDC officials to expand the outbreak, according to Dr. Jennifer Cope, a CDC scientist leading the investigation.

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It looks like the contamination appeared to persist across all production runs, different lots, different raw material lots, Cope said. They couldn't isolate it to specific lots from a certain time period.

Inspection documents showed that ByHeart had a history of problems with contamination.

In 2022, the year ByHeart started making formula, the company recalled five batches of infant formula after a sample at a packaging plant tested positive for a different germ, cronobacter sakazakii. In 2023, the FDA sent a warning letter to the company detailing areas that still require corrective actions.

A ByHeart plant in Reading, Pennsylvania, was shut down in 2023 just before FDA inspectors found problems with mold, water leaks and insects, documents show.

Infant botulism is rare

Infant botulism is a rare disease that affects fewer than 200 babies in the U.S. each year. Its caused when infants ingest botulism bacteria that produce spores that germinate in the intestines, creating a toxin that affects the nervous system. Babies are vulnerable until about age 1 because their gut microbiomes are not mature enough to fight the toxin.

Baby formula has previously been linked to sporadic cases of illness, but no known outbreaks of infant botulism tied to powdered formula have previously been confirmed, according to research studies.

Symptoms can take up to 30 days to develop and can include constipation, poor feeding, loss of head control, drooping eyelids and a flat facial expression. Babies may feel floppy and can have problems swallowing or breathing.

The sole treatment for infant botulism is known as BabyBIG, an IV medication made from the pooled blood plasma of adults immunized against botulism. Californias infant botulism program developed the product and is the sole source worldwide.

The antibodies provided by BabyBIG are likely most effective for about a month, although they may continue circulating in the child's system for several months, said Dr. Sharon Nachman, an expert in pediatric infectious disease at Stony Brook Children's Hospital.

The risk to the infant is ongoing and the family should not be using this formula after it was recalled, Nachman said in an email.

Families of several babies treated for botulism after drinking ByHeart formula have sued the company. Lawsuits filed in federal courts allege that the formula they fed their children was defective and ByHeart was negligent in selling it. They seek financial payment for medical bills, emotional distress and other harm.

Residents packed up and prepared to flee rising rivers in western Washington state Wednesday as a new wave of heavy rain swept into a region still reeling from a storm that triggered rescues and road closures a day earlier.

In the Pacific Northwest, an atmospheric river was swelling rivers toward record levels, with major flooding expected in some areas including the Skagit River, a major agricultural valley north of Seattle. Dozens of vehicles were backed up at a sandbag-filling station in the town of Mount Vernon as authorities warned residents within the river's floodplain to be ready to evacuate.

Were preparing for what increasingly appears to be a worst-case scenario here," Mount Vernon Mayor Peter Donovan said.

In the Mount Rainier foothills southeast of Seattle, Pierce County sheriffs deputies rescued people at an RV park in Orting, including helping one man in a Santa hat wade through waist-deep water. Part of the town was ordered to evacuate over concerns about the Puyallup Rivers extremely high levels and upstream levees.

A landslide blocked part of Interstate 90 east of Seattle, with photos from Eastside Fire & Rescue showing vehicles trapped by tree trunks, branches, mud and standing water, including a car rammed into the metal barrier on the side of the road.

Officials also closed a mountainous section of U.S. 2 due to rocks, trees and mud. The state transportation department said there were no detours available and no estimated time for reopening.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency Wednesday. Lives will be at stake in the coming days, he said.

Skagit County officials were preparing to evacuate 75,000 people, said Robert Ezelle, director of the Washington Military Department's emergency management division.

Gent Welsh, adjutant general of the Washington National Guard, said hundreds of Guard members will be sent to help communities.

Flooding rivers could break records

The Skagit River is expected to crest at roughly 47 feet (14.3 meters) in the mountain town of Concrete early Thursday, and roughly 41 feet (12 meters) in Mount Vernon early Friday.

Those are both record-setting forecasts by several feet, Skagit County officials said, adding that upriver communities should evacuate to high ground as soon as possible and that those living in the floodplain should be prepared to evacuate.

Flooding from the river long plagued Mount Vernon, the largest city in the county with some 35,000 residents. In decades past, residents would form sandbagging brigades when floods threatened, but businesses were often inundated. Flooding in 2003 displaced hundreds of people.

The city completed a floodwall in 2018 that helps protect the downtown. It passed a major test in 2021, when the river crested near record levels.

But the city is on high alert. The historic river levels expected Friday could top the wall, and some are concerned that older levees could fail.

Weve seen our floodwall in action and we know it works to a large degree, said Ellen Gamson, executive director of the Mount Vernon Downtown Association. But the concern about that kind of pressure on the levy and dike system is real. It could potentially be catastrophic.

Gamson said many business owners were renting tables to place their inventory higher off the floor. Sheena Wilson, who owns a floral shop downtown, said she stacked sandbags by the doors and cleared items off the floor.

If the water comes in above table height Ive got bigger problems than my merchandise, she said.

Jake Lambly, 45, added sandbags, tested water pumps and moved valuables to the top floor of the home he shares with his 19-year-old son. Lambly said he was concerned about damage in his neighborhood, where people are just on the cusp of whether or not we can be homeowners."

This is my only asset, he said from his front porch. I got nothing else.

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Cities respond to flooding

Harrison Rademacher, a meteorologist with the weather service in Seattle, described the atmospheric river soaking the region as a jet stream of moisture stretching across the Pacific Ocean with the nozzle pushing right along the coast of Oregon and Washington.

Authorities in Washington have knocked on doors to warn residents of imminent flooding in certain neighborhoods, and evacuated a mobile home park along the Snohomish River. The city of Snohomish issued an emergency proclamation, while workers in Auburn, south of Seattle, installed temporary flood control barriers along the White River.

Climate change has been linked to some intense rainfall. Scientists say that without specific study they cannot directly link a single weather event to climate change, but in general its responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme storms, droughts, floods and wildfires.

Another storm system is expected to bring more rain starting Sunday, Rademacher said. The pattern looks pretty unsettled going up to the holidays.

The U.S. stock market neared its all-time high after the Federal Reserve cut its main interest rate to bolster the job market, and hopes strengthened for more cuts to come in 2026.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.7% and ended just shy of its all-time high set in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%.

The rate cut was widely expected, but investors said comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell may have been less harsh about closing off the possibility of future cuts than Wall Street had been bracing for.

Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they can boost the economy and goose prices for investments, even if they have the potential of making inflation worse.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said again on Wednesday that the central bank is in a difficult position, because the job market is facing downward pressure when inflation is facing upward pressure at the same time. That creates a dilemma for the Fed, which usually makes one of those problems worse in the short term when it tries to fix the other.

At the moment, though, Powell said for the first time in this rate-cutting campaign that interest rates are close to where they're pushing neither inflation nor the job market higher or lower. That should give the Fed time to hold and reassess what to do next with interest rates as more data comes in on the job market and on inflation.

We are well positioned to wait and see how the economy evolves, Powell said. He also said no one at the Fed is expecting a hike to rates in their base case anytime soon.

After voting on Wednesday's cut of a quarter of a percentage point, Fed officials released projections for where they see the federal funds rate potentially ending 2026. The median member is penciling in one more cut by the end of next year, the same as three months earlier.

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That projection is under the microscope because Fed officials had seemed unusually split about how much more help the economy may need from lower interest rates. With inflation remaining stubbornly above the Feds 2% target, some officials had been saying it was the bigger threat for the economy rather than the job market.

In Wednesday's vote, two Fed officials voted against the cut of a quarter percentage point because they saw no need to reduce rates now. Another official, meanwhile, voted against Wednesday's cut because he wanted a deeper reduction of half a percentage point.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged fell to 4.14% from 4.18% late Tuesday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, fell more and sank to 3.54% from 3.61%.

On Wall Street, GE Vernova flew 16.8% higher after the energy company raised its forecast for revenue by 2028, doubled its dividend and increased its program to buy back its own stock.

Palantir Technologies added 4.6% after saying the U.S. Navy will use its artificial-intelligence technology as part of a $448 million program.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store rose 3.9%. The restaurant chain caught up in a furor around its logo design reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected but also cut its forecast for revenue this fiscal year, as well as for an underlying measure of earnings.

On the losing end of Wall Street was GameStop, which fell 3.2% after reporting weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The video-game retailers profit topped forecasts, though.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed amid mostly modest movements across Europe and Asia.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela amid mounting tensions with the government of Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro.

WATCH THE TAKEOVER

It's the Trump administrations latest push to increase pressure on Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the United States. The U.S. has conducted a series of deadly military strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean on boats that the Republican administration has alleged are carrying drugs.

Weve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually, Trump told reporters at the White House.

Trump said other things are happening, but did not offer additional details, saying he would speak more about it later.

The seizure was led by the U.S Coast Guard and supported by the Navy, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The official added that the seizure was conducted under U.S. law enforcement authority.

The Coast Guard members were taken to the oil tanker by helicopter from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the official said. The Ford is in the Caribbean Sea after arriving last month in a major show of force, joining a fleet of other warships.

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Half of ship's oil is tied to Cuban importer

The official identified the seized tanker as the Skipper.

The ship departed Venezuela around Dec. 2 with about 2 million barrels of heavy crude, roughly half of it belonging to a Cuban state-run oil importer, according to documents from the state-owned company Petrleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA, that were provided on the condition of anonymity because the person did not have permission to share them.

The Skipper was previously known as the M/T Adisa, according to ship tracking data. The Adisa was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022 over accusations of belonging to a sophisticated network of shadow tankers that smuggled crude oil on behalf of Irans Revolutionary Guard and Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group.

The network was reportedly run by a Switzerland-based Ukrainian oil trader, the U.S. Treasury Department said at the time.

Venezuela has the worlds largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day. Locked out of global oil markets by U.S. sanctions, the state-owned oil company sells most of its output at a steep discount to refiners in China.

The transactions usually involve a complex network of shadowy intermediaries as sanctions scared away more established traders. Many are shell companies, registered in jurisdictions known for secrecy. The buyers deploy ghost tankers that hide their location and hand off their valuable cargoes in the middle of the ocean before they reach their final destination.

A day earlier, the U.S. military flew a pair of fighter jets over the Gulf of Venezuela in what appeared to be the closest that warplanes had come to the South American countrys airspace since the start of the administrations pressure campaign.

The U.S. has built up the largest military presence in the region in decades and launched a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

Trump has said land attacks are coming soon but has not offered any details on location.

Among the concessions the U.S. has made to Maduro during past negotiations was approval for oil giant Chevron Corp. to resume pumping and exporting Venezuelan oil. The corporations activities in the South American country resulted in a financial lifeline for Maduros government.

Self-driving Waymo taxis have gone viral for negative reasons involving the death of a beloved San Francisco bodega cat and pulling an illegal U-turn in front of police who were unable to issue a ticket to a nonexistent driver.

But this week, the self-driving taxis are the bearer of happier news after a San Francisco woman gave birth in a Waymo.

The mother was on her way to the University of California, San Francisco medical center Monday when she delivered inside the robotaxi, said a Waymo spokesperson in a statement Wednesday. The company said its rider support team detected "unusual activity" inside the vehicle and called to check on the rider as well as alert 911.

RELATED STORY | Waymo self-driving car gets pulled over by police for an illegal U-turn

Waymo, which is owned by Google's parent company, Alphabet, declined to elaborate on how the vehicle knew something was amiss.

The taxi and its passengers arrived safely at the hospital ahead of emergency services. Jess Berthold, a UCSF spokesperson, confirmed the mother and child were brought to the hospital. She said the mother was not available for interviews.

Waymo said the vehicle was taken out of service for cleaning after the ride. While still rare, this was not the first baby delivered in one of its taxis, the company said.

RELATED STORY | Viral Waymo crashes put driverless cars in the spotlight

"We're proud to be a trusted ride for moments big and small, serving riders from just seconds old to many years young," the company said.

The driverless taxis have surged in popularity even as they court higher scrutiny. Riders can take them on freeways and interstates around San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

In September, a Waymo pulled a U-turn in front of a sign telling drivers not to do that, and social media users dumped on the San Bruno Police because state law prohibited officers from ticketing the car. In October, a popular tabby cat named Kit Kat known to pad around its Mission District neighborhood was crushed to death by a Waymo.

RELATED STORY | Waymo driverless taxi kills beloved bodega cat, KitKat, in San Francisco

Jennifer Shah, a former star on "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City," has been moved from a federal prison into a community confinement program after serving less than half of her sentence for defrauding thousands of people.

A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson confirmed that Shah was transferred Wednesday morning from the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas to the program overseen by the Phoenix Residential Reentry Management Office. The transfer means that Shah is either being held in home confinement or in a halfway house. Her projected release date is Aug. 30, 2026.

"For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any individual, including reasons for transfers or release plans, nor do we specify an individual's specific location while in community confinement," BOP spokesperson Emery Nelson wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

Shah, 52, was sentenced in 2023 to 6 1/2 years in prison for defrauding people in a telemarketing scam that stretched nearly a decade. At the time, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman said she was the most culpable of more than 30 defendants accused of participating in the nationwide fraud targeting people who were often vulnerable, older or unsophisticated electronically. The fraud involved bogus services that were promoted as enabling people to make substantial amounts of money through online businesses.

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Shah pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in July 2022, and during her sentencing she apologized to the "innocent people" she said she'd hurt and pledged to pay $6.5 million in restitution and forfeiture once she is released from prison.

Prosecutors said she used profits from the fraud to live a life of luxury that included living in a nearly 10,000-square-foot mansion in Utah dubbed "Shah Ski Chalet," an apartment in midtown Manhattan and leasing a Porsche Panamera. The government said she also seemed to mock the charges against her by claiming that the "only thing I'm guilty of is being Shah-mazing" and then she profited from it by marketing "Justice for Jen" merchandise after her arrest.

At the sentencing, Shah apologized and said the proceeds from the merchandise would go toward victims.

"I alone am responsible for my terrible decisions. It was all my fault and all my wrongdoing," Shah said, later continuing, "I wish I could have stood outside myself and seen the harm I was causing and changed course. I am profoundly and deeply sorry."

Ukraine is expected to give its latest peace proposals to U.S. negotiators Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, a day ahead of his urgent talks with leaders and officials from about 30 other countries supporting Kyiv's effort to end the war with Russia on acceptable terms.

As tension builds around a U.S. push for a settlement, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to President Donald Trump by phone Wednesday, according to officials.

Negotiations are at a critical moment, the European leaders said in official statements.

RELATED STORY | Trump calls European leaders 'weak' as Zelenskyy meets with key allies

Washingtons goal of a swift compromise to stop the fighting that followed Russias full-scale invasion in 2022 is reducing Kyivs room for maneuvering. Zelenskyy is walking a tightrope between defending Ukrainian interests and showing Trump he is willing to compromise, even as Moscow shows no public sign of budging from its demands.

Ukraines European allies are backing Zelenskys effort to ensure that any settlement is fair and deters future Russian attacks, as well as accommodating Europes defense interests.

The French government said Ukraines allies dubbed the Coalition of the Willing will discuss the negotiations Thursday by video. Zelenskyy said it would include those countries leaders.

We need to bring together 30 colleagues very quickly. And its not easy, but nevertheless we will do it, he said late Tuesday.

Zelenskyy said discussions with the U.S. were scheduled later Wednesday to focus on a document detailing plans for Ukraines postwar reconstruction and economic development. Also, Ukraine is finalizing work on a separate, 20-point framework for ending the war. Zelenskyy said Kyiv expects to submit that document to Washington soon.

Zelenskyy says he's ready for an election

After Trump called for a presidential election in Ukraine, Zelenskyy said his country would be ready for such a vote within three months if partners can guarantee safe balloting during wartime and if its electoral law can be altered.

Zelenskyy's openness to an election was a response to comments by Trump in which he questioned Ukraines democracy and suggested the Ukrainian leader was using the war as an excuse not to stand before voters. Those comments echo similar remarks often made by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | No compromise: Zelenskyy stands firm against U.S. push to give Russia territory

Zelenskyy said late Tuesday he is ready for an election but needs help from the U.S. and possibly Europe to ensure its security. He suggested Ukraine could hold balloting in 60 to 90 days if that proviso is met.

To hold elections, two issues must be addressed: primarily, security how to conduct them, how to do it under strikes, under missile attacks; and a question regarding our military how they would vote, Zelenskyy said. And the second issue is the legislative framework required to ensure the legitimacy of elections.

Zelenskyy pointed out previously that balloting cant legally happen while martial law imposed due to Russias invasion is in place. He has also asked how a vote could occur when civilian areas of Ukraine are being bombarded and almost 20% of the country is under Russian occupation.

Zelenskyy said he has asked lawmakers from his party to draw up legislative proposals allowing for an election while Ukraine is under martial law.

Ukrainians have on the whole supported Zelenskyys arguments, and have not clamored for an election. Under the law that is in force, Zelenskyys rule is legitimate.

Putin has repeatedly complained that Zelenskyy cant legitimately negotiate a peace settlement because his five-year term that began in 2019 has expired.

US seeks closer ties with Russia

A new U.S. national security strategy released Dec. 5 made clear that Trump wants to improve Washingtons relationship with Moscow and reestablish strategic stability with Russia. The document also portrays European allies as weak.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised Trumps role in the Ukraine peace effort, telling the upper house of parliament that Moscow appreciates his commitment to dialogue. Trump, Lavrov said, is the only Western leader who shows an understanding of the reasons that made war in Ukraine inevitable.

WATCH | A peace deal for Ukraine is taking shape, but critical details are still in the dark

Trumps peace efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.

The initial U.S. proposal was heavily slanted toward Russias demands. To counter that, Zelenskyy has turned to his European supporters.

Zelenskyy met this week with the leaders of Britain, Germany and France in London, the heads of NATO and the European Union in Brussels, and then went to Rome to meet the Italian premier and Pope Leo XIV.

Military aid for Ukraine declines

Europes support is uneven, however, and that has meant a decrease in military aid since the Trump administration this year cut off supplies to Kyiv unless they were paid for by other NATO countries.

Foreign military help for Ukraine fell sharply over the summer, and that trend continued through September and October, a German body that tracks international help for Ukraine said Wednesday.

Average annual aid, mostly provided by the U.S. and Europe, was about $48.4 billion between 202224. But so far this year Ukraine has received just $37.8 billion, the Kiel Institute said.

This year, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have substantially increased their help for Ukraine, while Germany nearly tripled its average monthly allocations and France and the U.K. both more than doubled their contributions, the Kiel Institute said.

On the other hand, it said, Spain recorded no new military aid for Kyiv in 2025 while Italy reduced its low contributions by 15% compared with 20222024.

The Trump administration must stop deploying the California National Guard in Los Angeles and return control of the troops to the state, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by California officials who opposed President Donald Trump's extraordinary move to use state Guard troops without the governor's approval to further his immigration enforcement efforts. But he also put the decision on hold until Monday.

California argued that conditions in Los Angeles had changed since Trump first took command of the troops and deployed them in June. The administration initially called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops but that number had dropped to several hundred by late October. Only a 100 or so troops remain in the Los Angeles area.

RELATED STORY | Judge says Trump administration's National Guard deployment in DC violates the Constitution

The Republican administration extended the deployment until February while also trying to use California Guard members in Portland, Oregon as part of its effort to send the military into Democratic-run cities over the objections of mayors and governors.

U.S. Justice Department lawyers said the administration still needed Guard members in the Los Angeles area to help protect federal personnel and property.

An email to the White House seeking comment on Wednesday's ruling was not immediately returned.

Trump took command of the California National Guard following protests over his stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws. The call up was the first time in decades that a state's national guard was activated without a request from its governor and marked a significant escalation in the administration's efforts to carry out its mass deportation policy. The troops were stationed outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where protesters gathered and later sent on the streets to protect immigration officers as they made arrests.

California sued, and Breyer issued a temporary restraining order that required the administration to return control of the Guard members to California. An appeals court panel, however, put that decision on hold.

ICYMI | Trump's use of National Guard during Los Angeles immigration protests is illegal, judge rules

California argued that the president was using Guard members as his personal police force in violation of a law limiting the use of the military in domestic affairs.

The administration said courts could not second-guess the president's decision that violence during the protests made it impossible for him to execute U.S. laws with regular forces and reflected a rebellion, or danger of rebellion.

In September, Breyer ruled after a trial that the deployment violated the law. Other judges have blocked the administration from deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, and Chicago.

WATCH: Trump eyes Democratic cities after arming National Guard in Washington, DC

Secret grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epsteins 2019 sex trafficking case can be made public, a judge ruled Wednesday, joining two other judges in granting the Justice Departments requests to unseal material from investigations into the late financiers sexual abuse.

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman reversed his earlier decision to keep the material under wraps, citing a new law that requires the government to open its files on Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell. The judge previously cautioned that the 70 or so pages of grand jury materials slated for release are hardly revelatory.

RELATED STORY | Judge authorizes public release of hundreds of EpsteinMaxwell case files

On Tuesday, a different Manhattan federal judge ordered the release of records from Maxwells 2021 sex trafficking case. Last week, a judge in Florida approved the unsealing of transcripts from an abandoned Epstein federal grand jury investigation in the 2000s.

The Justice Department asked the judges to lift secrecy orders after the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump last month, created a narrow exception to rules that normally keep grand jury proceedings confidential.

Rejoice, New Years dieters: Oreos are getting a sugar-free option.

Mondelez said Tuesday that Oreo Zero Sugar and Oreo Double Stuf Zero Sugar will go on sale in the U.S. in January. Theyre a permanent addition to the companys Oreo lineup.

Its the first time Mondelez has sold sugar-free Oreos in the U.S. Theyre already sold in Europe and China, the company said.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | San Francisco compares ultraprocessed food industry to big tobacco in landmark suit

Mondelez said consumers are increasingly seeking what it calls mindful indulgence," and the new Oreos will fill an existing gap in the market for sugar-free sandwich cookies.

Others have also noted the trend toward healthier snacks. In a report earlier this year, the market research company Circana found that a majority of Americans are seeking out snacks they consider good for them. Conagra Brands, which makes popcorn and Slim Jim meat snacks, said in a recent snacking report that Millennials and Generation Z consumers, in particular, are seeking portion-controlled and wellness-focused snacks.

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, which was introduced in 2017, saw sales jump 9% last year, while original Coke sales grew just 2%. Mondelez is also facing competition from Hershey, which sells zero sugar versions of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and other candies, and Voortman, a sugar-free wafer cookie brand.

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Mondelez said it spent four years developing no-sugar Oreos so it could ensure the cookies still tasted like the originals. For sweetening, the Oreos contain maltitol, a type of sugar alcohol thats also found in some fruits and vegetables; polydextrose, a soluble fiber; sucralose, a sweetener derived from sugar; and acesulfame potassium, a synthetic sweetener.

Comparing the nutrition data on Zero Sugar and regular Oreos is tricky, since the serving sizes differ.

A serving of Oreo Zero Sugar cookies, which is defined as 22.6 grams, has 90 calories, 4.5 grams of fat and 16 grams of carbohydrates. A serving of regular Oreos, which is defined as three cookies or 34 grams, has 160 calories, 7 grams of fat and 25 grams of carbohydrates.

The biggest difference: a serving of regular Oreos contains 13 grams of added sugars, or 26% of the recommended daily amount. Zero Sugar Oreos contain none.

Rod Paige, an educator, coach and administrator who rolled out the nation's landmark No Child Left Behind law as the first African American to serve as U.S. education secretary, died Tuesday.

Former President George W. Bush, who tapped Paige for the nation's top federal education post, announced the death in a statement but did not provide further details. Paige was 92.

Under Paige's leadership, the Department of Education implemented No Child Left Behind policy that in 2002 became Bush's signature education law and was modeled on Paige's previous work as a schools superintendent in Houston. The law established universal testing standards and sanctioned schools that failed to meet certain benchmarks.

"Rod was a leader and a friend," Bush said in his statement. "Unsatisfied with the status quo, he challenged what we called 'the soft bigotry of low expectations.' Rod worked hard to make sure that where a child was born didn't determine whether they could succeed in school and beyond."

Roderick R. Paige was born to two teachers in the small Mississippi town of Monticello of roughly 1,400 inhabitants. The oldest of five siblings, Paige served a two-year stint the U.S. Navy before becoming a football coach at the high school, and then junior college levels. Within years, Paige rose to head coach of Jackson State University, his alma mater and a historically black college in the Mississippi capital city.

There, his team became the first with a 1967 football game to integrate Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, once an all-white venue.

After moving to Houston in the mid-1970s to become head coach of Texas Southern University, Paige pivoted from the playing field to the classroom and education first as a teacher, and then as administrator and eventually the dean of its college of education from 1984 to 1994.

Amid growing public recognition of his pursuit of educational excellence, Paige rose to become superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, then one of the largest school districts in the country.

He quickly drew the attention of Texas' most powerful politicians for his sweeping educational reforms in the diverse Texas city. Most notably, he moved to implement stricter metrics for student outcomes, something that became a central point for Bush's 2000s bid for president. Bush who later would dub himself the "Education President" frequently praised Paige on the campaign trail for the Houston reforms he called the "Texas Miracle."

And once Bush won election, he tapped Paige to be the nation's top education official.

As education secretary from 2001 to 2005, Paige emphasized his belief that high expectations were essential for childhood development.

"The easiest thing to do is assign them a nice little menial task and pat them on the head," he told the Washington Post at the time. "And that is precisely what we don't need. We need to assign high expectations to those people, too. In fact, that may be our greatest gift: expecting them to achieve, and then supporting them in their efforts to achieve."

While some educators applauded the law for standardizing expectations regardless of student race or income, others complained for years about what they consider a maze of redundant and unnecessary tests and too much "teaching to the test" by educators.

In 2015, House and Senate lawmakers agreed to pull back many provisions from "No Child Left Behind," shrinking the Education Department's role in setting testing standards and preventing the federal agency from sanctioning schools that fail to improve. That year, then-President Barack Obama signed the sweeping education law overhaul, ushering in a new approach to accountability, teacher evaluations and the way the most poorly performing schools are pushed to improve.

After serving as education secretary, Paige returned to Jackson State University a half century after he was a student there, serving as the interim president in 2016 at the age of 83.

Into his 90s, Paige still publicly expressed deep concern, and optimism, about the future of U.S. education. In an opinion piece appearing in the Houston Chronicle in 2024, Paige lifted up the city that helped propel him to national prominence, urging readers to "look to Houston not just for inspiration, but for hard-won lessons about what works, what doesn't and what it takes to shake up a stagnant system."

Sophie Kinsella, the author of "Confessions of a Shopaholic" and a series of millions-selling sequels died Monday, her family said. She was 55 and had been diagnosed with brain cancer.

The family said in a statement on Kinsella's Instagram account: "We are heartbroken to announce the passing this morning of our beloved Sophie (aka Maddy, aka Mummy). She died peacefully, with her final days filled with her true loves: family and music and warmth and Christmas and joy.

"We can't imagine what life will be like without her radiance and love of life."

Kinsella, who also published under her real name, Madeleine Wickham, announced in April 2024 that she had been diagnosed in late 2022 with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

"I did not share this before because I wanted to make sure that my children were able to hear and process the news in privacy and adapt to our 'new normal,'" she said at the time.

Starting in 2000 with "The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic," (titled "Confessions of a Shopaholic" in the United States), about a financial journalist who writes about money matters but fails miserably at managing her own, Kinsella published 10 "Shopaholic" novels, along with other fiction. Her books have sold more than 45 million copies worldwide and have been translated into dozens of languages.

The first two "Shopaholic" books were adapted into the 2009 film "Confessions of a Shopaholic," starring Isla Fisher.

On the road in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, President Donald Trump tried to emphasize his focus on combating inflation, yet the issue that has damaged his popularity couldn't quite command his full attention.

The president told the crowd gathered at a casino and resort in Mount Pocono that inflation was no longer a problem and that Democrats had used the term affordability as a hoax to hurt his reputation. But his remarks weaved wildly to include grievances he first raised behind closed doors in his first term in 2018 and later denied saying asking why the U.S. doesn't have more immigrants from Scandinavia.

Why is it we only take people from shole countries, right? Trump said onstage. "Why cant we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few?

Trump said he objected to taking immigrants from hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries." He added for emphasis that those places are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.

MORE ON IMMIGRATION | Trump calls for ending immigration from failed nations following Guard members death

Tuesdays gathering in the swing state and in a competitive House district was an official White House event, yet it seemed more like one of his signature campaign rallies that his chief of staff said he would hold regularly ahead of next years midterms. But instead of being held in an arena that could draw several thousand attendees, it was held in a conference center ballroom at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, a small town of about 3,000 residents.

Following dismal results for Republicans in last month's off-cycle elections, the White House has sought to convince voters that the economy will emerge stronger next year and that any anxieties over inflation have nothing to do with Trump.

He displayed a chart comparing price increases under his predecessor, Joe Biden, to prices under his own watch, but the inflation rate has only climbed since he announced broad tariffs in April and left many Americans worried about their grocery, utility and housing bills.

I have no higher priority than making America affordable again, Trump said. They caused the high prices and were bringing them down."

As the president spoke, his party's political vulnerabilities were further seen as Miami voters chose Eileen Higgins to be their first Democratic mayor in nearly 30 years. Higgins defeated the Trump-endorsed Republican Emilio Gonzalez.

The president's reception in the county hosting his Tuesday rally showed he could still appeal to the base, but it was unable to settle questions of whether he could hold together his 2024 coalition. Monroe County flipped to Trump last year after having backed Biden in 2020, helping the Republican win the swing state of Pennsylvania and return to the White House after a four-year hiatus.

As home to the Pocono Mountains, the county has largely relied on tourism for skiing, hiking, hunting and other activities as a source of jobs. Its proximity to New York City under two hours by car has also attracted people seeking more affordable housing.

But what seems undeniable even to Trump supporters in Monroe County is that inflation seems to be here to stay.

RELATED STORY | Everyday affordability remains a top concern for American shoppers

Lou Heddy, a retired maintenance mechanic who voted for Trump last year, said hes noticed in the past month alone that his and his wifes grocery bills have risen from $175 to $200, and hes not sure Trump can bring food prices down.

Once the prices get up for food, they dont ever come back down. Thats just the way I feel. I dont know how the hell he would do it, said Heddy, 72.

But Suzanne Vena, a Democratic voter, blames Trumps tariffs for making life more expensive, as she struggles with rising bills for food, rent and electricity on a fixed income. She remembers Trump saying that he would stop inflation.

Thats what we were originally told, said Vena, 66. Did I believe it? Thats another question. I did not.

The area Trump visited could help decide control of the House in next year's midterm elections.

Trump held his rally in a congressional district held by first-term Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, who is a top target of Democrats. Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, a Democrat, is running for the nomination to challenge him.

Speaking to the crowd before Trump, Bresnahan said the administration was working to lower costs, but voters arent asking for partisan arguments theyre asking for results.

It's not clear if Trump can motivate voters in Monroe County to show up in next year's election if they're worried about inflation.

Nick Riley, 38, said hes cutting back on luxuries, like going out to eat, as he absorbs higher bills for food and electricity and is having a hard time finding a good deal on a used car. Riley voted for Trump in 2020, but he sat out the 2024 election and plans to do so again next year.

Were all broke. It doesnt matter whether you support Republicans or support Democrats, Riley said. Were all broke, and were all feeling it.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said on the online conservative talk show The Mom View that Trump would be on the campaign trail next year to engage supporters who otherwise might sit out a congressional race.

Wiles, who helped manage Trump's 2024 campaign, said most administrations try to localize midterm elections and keep the president out of the race, but she intends to do the opposite of that.

Were actually going to turn that on its head," Wiles said, "and put him on the ballot because so many of those low-propensity voters are Trump voters.

The challenge for Trump is how to address the concerns of voters about the economy while simultaneously claiming that the economy is enjoying a historic boom.

Asked on a Politico podcast how he'd rate the economy, Trump leaned into grade inflation by answering A-plus, only to then amend his answer to A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.

The U.S. economy has shown signs of resilience with the stock market up this year and overall growth looking solid for the third quarter. But many Americans see the prices of housing, groceries, education, electricity and other basic needs as swallowing up their incomes, a dynamic that the Trump administration has said it expects to fade next year with more investments in artificial intelligence and manufacturing.

So far, the public has been skeptical about Trump's economic performance. Just 33% of U.S. adults approve of Trump's handling of the economy, according to a November survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

But Trump indicated that his tariffs and other policies were helping industries such as the steel sector. He said those industries mattered for the country as he then specifically told Americans that they should buy fewer pencils and dolls from overseas.

You dont need 37 dolls for your daughter, he told the crowd. Two or three is nice.

Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayors race on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump to end her partys nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Tonight, the people of Miami made history, Higgins said in a statement after the results were announced.

Higgins, 61, will be the first woman to lead the city of Miami. She spoke frequently in the Hispanic-majority city about Trumps immigration crackdown, saying she has heard of many people in Miami who were worried about family members being detained. She campaigned as a Democrat despite the race being officially nonpartisan and beat Trump-backed candidate Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, who said he called Higgins to congratulate her.

Ive never been prouder to be a Democrat, Higgins told The Associated Press before her victory. Were living in the state of Florida, where we have people that are building cages for our residents rather than affordable housing for them.

The local race is not predictive of what may happen at the polls next year. But it drew attention from the two major national political parties and their leaders. The victory provides Democrats with some momentum heading into a high-stakes midterm election when the GOP is looking to keep its grip in Florida, including in a Hispanic-majority district in Miami-Dade County. The area has shifted increasingly rightward politically in recent years, and the city may become the home of Trumps presidential library.

Tonights result is yet another warning sign to Republicans that voters are fed up with their out-of-touch agenda that is raising costs, said Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, in a statement.

Some nationally recognized Democrats supported Higgins, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel traveled to Miami on Sunday and Monday to rally voters for the Democrat who served as a Miami-Dade county commissioner for seven years.

Higgins, who speaks Spanish, represented a district that leans conservative and includes the Cuban neighborhood of Little Havana. When she first entered politics in 2018, she chose to present herself to voters as La Gringa, a term Spanish speakers use for white Americans, because many people did not known how to pronounce her name.

It just helps people understand who I am, and you know what? I am a gringa, so, what am I going to do, deny it? she told the AP.

Republicans anxiety grows

Republicans in Florida have found strong support from voters with heritage from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, because they likened some members of the Democratic partys progressive wing with politicians from the governments they fled. Trump and other GOP members have tapped into those sentiments over the past eight years.

However, some local Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated since Novembers elections when Democrats scored wins in New Jersey and Virginia, where both winning gubernatorial candidates performed strongly with nonwhite voters.

The results from those races were perceived as a reflection of concerns over rising prices and the Trump administrations aggressive immigration policies.

U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican whose district is being targeted by Democrats and includes the city of Miami, called the elections elsewhere a wake-up call. She said Hispanics also want a secure border and a healthy economy but some relief for those who have been here for years and do not have a criminal record.

The Hispanic vote is not guaranteed, Salazar said in a video posted on X. Hispanics married President Trump, but they are only dating the GOP.

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Miami mayor-elect gains national platform

The mayoral position in Miami is more ceremonial, but Higgins promised to execute it like a full-time job.

The city is part of Miami-Dade County, which Trump flipped last year, a dramatic improvement from his 30 percentage point loss to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

As Floridas second-largest city, Miami is considered the gateway to Latin America and attracts millions of tourists. Its global prominence gives Higgins a significant stage as mayor.

Her pitch to voters included finding city-owned land that could be turned into affordable housing and cutting unnecessary spending.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reaffimed his firm refusal to cede any territory, resisting U.S. pressure for a painful compromise with Russia as he continued to rally European support for Ukraine.

Undoubtedly, Russia insists for us to give up territories. We, clearly, dont want to give up anything. Thats what we are fighting for," Zelenskyy said in a WhatsApp chat late Monday in which he answered reporters' questions.

Do we consider ceding any territories? According to the law we dont have such right. According to Ukraines law, our constitution, international law, and to be frank, we dont have a moral right either."

RELATED STORY | Russia launches massive missile barrage on Ukraine amid U.S.-led peace talks

In an interview with Politico released Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump again pressed Zelenskyy to accept the U.S. proposal that Ukraine cede territory to Putin, arguing that Russia retains the upper hand and that Zelenskyys government must play ball.

Zelenskyy met Tuesday with Pope Leo XIV at Castel Gandolfo, a papal residence outside Rome, and is to have talks with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni later in the day. The Vatican said the pope reiterated the need for the continuation of dialogue and expressed his urgent desire that the current diplomatic initiatives bring about a just and lasting peace.

The Holy See has tried to remain neutral in the war while offering solidarity and assistance to what it calls the martyred people of Ukraine. Leo, who has met three times with Zelenskyy and has spoken by telephone at least once with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has called for a ceasefire and urged Moscow in particular to make gestures to promote peace.

On Monday, Zelenskyy held talks in London with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to strengthen Ukraines hand amid mounting impatience from Trump.

Facing pressure from Trump

U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators completed three days of talks on Saturday aimed at trying to narrow differences on the U.S. administrations peace proposal.

A major sticking point in the plan is the suggestion that Kyiv must cede control of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to Russia, which illegally occupies most but not all of the territory. Ukraine and its European allies have firmly resisted the idea of handing over land.

You know, a lot of people are dying, Trump told Politico, claiming that other unnamed Ukrainian officials agree with the U.S. administration. His people loved the proposal. They really liked it. His lieutenants, his top people, they liked it, but they said he hasnt read it yet.

Russia, Trump reasoned, remains too powerful for Ukraine to continue fighting.

I give the people of Ukraine and the military of Ukraine tremendous credit for the, you know, bravery and for the fighting and all of that, he said. But you know, at some point, size will win, generally.

RELATED STORY | Documentary reveals Ukrainian medics fight to heal amid relentless war

Trump also amplified his calls for Ukraine to hold national elections even though the martial law doesn't allow it. and Zelenskyy, elected in 2019, had his five-year term extended because of the war.

Theyre using war not to hold an election, but, uh, I would think the Ukrainian people would ... should have that choice, Trump said. And maybe Zelenskyy would win. I dont know who would win. But they havent had an election in a long time. You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where its not a democracy anymore.

Trump has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Zelenskyy since winning a second term, insisting the war was a waste of U.S. taxpayers money. Trump has also repeatedly urged the Ukrainians to cede land to Russia to end the nearly four-year conflict.

Zelenskyy said Monday that Trump certainly wants to end the war. ... Surely, he has his own vision. We live here, from within we see details and nuances, we perceive everything much deeper, because this is our motherland.

He said the current U.S. peace plan differs from earlier versions in that it now has 20 points, down from 28, after he said some obvious anti-Ukrainian points were removed.

Europeans back Ukraine

Starmer, Macron and Merz strongly backed Kyiv, with the U.K. leader saying Monday that the push for peace was at a critical stage, and stressed the need for a just and lasting ceasefire.

Merz, meanwhile, said he was skeptical about some details in documents released by the U.S. We have to talk about it. Thats why we are here, he said. The coming days could be a decisive time for all of us.

European leaders are working to ensure that any ceasefire is backed by solid security guarantees both from Europe and the U.S. to deter Russia from attacking again. Trump has not given explicit guarantees in public.

Zelenskyy and his European allies have repeatedly accused Putin of slow-walking the talks to press ahead with the invasion as his forces are making slow buy steady gains while waves of missiles and drones are pummeling Ukrainian infrastructure.

Both sides exchange aerial strikes

Ukraines Air Force said Russia fired 110 drones of various types across the country last night. They said air defenses neutralized 84 drones, 24 more have struck their targets.

Several regions of Ukraine faced emergency blackouts Tuesday due to Russias prior attacks on energy infrastructure, according to Ukraines national energy operator, Ukrenergo.

Ukraine, in its turn, continued its drone attacks on Russia.

Russian air defenses destroyed 121 Ukrainian drones overnight above various Russian regions and occupied Crimea, Russias Ministry of Defense said Tuesday. In Chuvashia, a region about 900 kilometers (about 560 miles) northeast of the border with Ukraine, the attack damaged residential buildings and injured nine people, local governor Oleg Nikolayev said.

Ukraines Security Service carried out a drone attack on an LPG terminal at the port of Temryuk in Russias Krasnodar region on Dec. 5, according to an official with knowledge of the operation who spoke to The Associated Press.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said the strike sparked a large fire at the facility. More than 20 LPG storage tanks were set ablaze and burned for more than three days, he said. The attack also damaged railway tank cars, an intermediate refueling tank, and a loading and unloading rack.

The Federal Reserve faces an unusually contentious meeting this week that will test Chair Jerome Powell's ability to corral the necessary support from fellow policymakers for a third straight interest rate cut.

The Fed's 19-member rate-setting committee is sharply divided over whether to lower borrowing costs again. The divisions have been exacerbated by the convoluted nature of the economy: Inflation remains elevated, which would typically lead the Fed to keep its key rate unchanged, while hiring is weak and the unemployment rate has risen, which often leads to rate cuts.

Some economists expect three Fed officials could vote against the quarter-point cut that Powell is likely to support at the Dec. 9-10 meeting, which would be the most dissenting votes in six years. Just 12 of the 19 members vote on rate decisions. Several of the non-voting officials have also said they oppose another rate cut.

It's just a really tricky time. Perfectly sensible people can reach different answers, said William English, an economist at the Yale School of Management and a former top Fed staff member. And the committee kind of likes to work by consensus, but this is a situation where that consensus is hard to reach.

The debate, which has also been fueled by a lack of official federal data on employment and inflation during the government shutdown, could be a preview of where the Fed is headed after Powell's term as chair ends in May. His successor will be appointed by President Donald Trump and is widely expected to be Kevin Hassett, the top White House economic adviser. Hassett may push for faster cuts than other officials would be willing to support.

English said the potential for greater disagreement could be seen as a sign of healthy debate between different views. The Feds tradition of reaching unanimous or nearly-unanimous decisions has often been criticized as evidence of groupthink. Yet some Fed officials warn that there are downsides to sharp splits. If the committee votes end up as 8-4 or even 7-5, then financial markets could lose confidence in where the central bank is headed next.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller, for example, has said that in the case of a 7-5 vote, if just one official changed their view, it could bring about a significant shift in Fed policy.

For now, however, most economists expect what's called a hawkish cut the Fed will reduce rates, while also signaling that it may stand pat for some time to assess the economy's health. ("Hawks" refer to officials who generally support higher rates to combat inflation, while doves more often support lower rates to boost hiring).

RELATED STORY | What the federal interest rate cut means for you and the US economy

The president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, Jeffrey Schmid, is expected to dissent for a second straight meeting in favor of keeping rates unchanged. He may be joined by St. Louis Fed president Alberto Musalem. Fed governor Stephen Miran, who was hurriedly appointed to the Fed's board by Trump in September, will likely dissent for a third straight meeting in favor of a larger, half-point reduction in the Fed's key rate.

After the Fed's last meeting Oct. 28-29, several policymakers said they would prefer to keep rates unchanged at the December meeting, leading Wall Street investors to briefly downgrade the odds of a third rate cut to less than 30%. But then John Williams, president of the New York Fed, said that this year's uptick in inflation appears to be a temporary blip driven by Trump's tariffs that would likely fade by the middle of 2026.

As a result, I still see room for a further adjustment in the Fed's short-term rate, Williams said. As president of the New York Fed and vice chair of the rate-setting committee, Williams gets to vote on every interest rate decision and is close to Powell. Analysts said it was unlikely Williams would have made such a statement without Powell's support. Investors rapidly lifted the odds of a cut, which now are at 89%, according to CME Fedwatch.

You're seeing the power of the chair, said Nathan Sheets, chief global economist at Citi and also a former top Fed staffer. Members of the committee, my instinct is, are wanting to underscore their support for Powell.

Powell has come under relentless attack from Trump, who just last month said he would love to fire his ass and called Powell this clown.

The Fed is required by Congress to seek low inflation and maximum employment, two goals that are potentially in conflict.

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For now, Powell and many other Fed officials are more concerned about hiring and unemployment rather than inflation. While the official government jobs reports have been delayed, in September the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%, the third straight increase and the highest in four years.

Payroll provider ADP, meanwhile, reported that in November, its data showed companies shed 32,000 jobs. And many large firms have announced sweeping layoffs.

Worries that the job market could get worse are a key reason a rate cut in December is likely but not necessarily beyond that. Fed officials will have up to three months of backlogged jobs and inflation data to consider when they meet in late January. Those figures could show inflation remains stubbornly high or that hiring has rebounded, which would suggest further cuts aren't needed.

What they may end up agreeing to do is cut rates now, but give some guidance ... that signals that theyre on pause for a while after that, Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, said.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani posted a video to social media on Sunday explaining immigrants' right to refuse to speak to or comply with agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, days after federal agents carried out a raid in Manhattan.

In the video, Mamdani vowed to protect the city's 3 million immigrants, saying, We can all stand up to ICE if you know your rights.

He explained that people in the U.S. can chose not to speak to federal immigration agents, film them without interfering and refuse their requests to enter private spaces. ICE agents cannot enter spaces like a home, school or private area of a workplace without a judicial warrant signed by a judge, Mamdani said.

ICE is legally allowed to lie to you, but you have the right to remain silent. If youre being detained, you may always ask, Am I free to go? repeatedly until they answer you, said Mamdani, who will be sworn in as mayor on Jan 1.

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His comments came a week after demonstrators gathered as ICE attempted to detain people on Canal Street near New York's Chinatown. A similar immigration sweep in the same neighborhood last October was also met with protests.

New York will always welcome immigrants, and I will fight each and every day to protect, support, and celebrate our immigrant brothers and sisters, Mamdani said in Sunday's video.

Weeks earlier, Mamdani had a surprisingly cordial Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, whose administration is carrying out federal immigration enforcement operations in several U.S. cities, most recently in New Orleans.

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett launched a campaign Monday for the U.S. Senate in Texas, bringing a national profile to a race that may be critical to Democrats long-shot hopes of reclaiming a Senate majority in next years midterm elections.

Crockett, one of Congress most outspoken Democrats and a frequent target of GOP attacks, jumped into the race on the final day of qualifying in Texas. She is seeking the Senate seat held by Republican John Cornyn, who is running for reelection in the GOP-dominated state.

Democrats need a net gain of four Senate seats to wrest control from Republicans next November, when most of the seats up for reelection are in states like Texas that President Donald Trump won last year. Democrats have long hoped to make Texas more competitive after decades of Republican dominance. Cornyn, first elected to the Senate since 2002, is facing the toughest GOP primary of his career against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt.

Crocketts announcement came hours after former Rep. Colin Allred ended his own campaign for the Democratic nomination in favor of attempting a House comeback bid. She faces a March 3 primary against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, a former teacher with a rising national profile fueled by viral social media posts challenging Republican policies such as private school vouchers and requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

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Talarico raised almost $6.3 million in the three weeks after he formally organized his primary campaign committee in September, according its first campaign finance report, and he had nearly $5 million in cash on hand at the end of the month. Crockett raised about $2.7 million for her House campaign fund from July through September and ended the month with $4.6 million in cash on hand.

Crockett also could test Democratic voters appetite for a blunt communicator who is eager to take on Republicans as their party sets out again in pursuit of a statewide victory in Texas for the first time since 1994.

Democrats see their best opportunity to pick up the Texas seat if Paxton wins the Republican nomination because he has been shadowed for much of his career by legal and personal issues. Yet Paxton is popular with Trumps most ardent supporters.

Hunt, who has served two terms representing a Houston-area district, defied GOP leaders by entering the GOP race.

Crockett, a civil rights attorney serving her second House term, built her national profile with a candid style and viral moments on Capitol Hill. Among those who have taken notice is Trump, who has called her a low IQ person. In response, Crockett said she would agree to take an IQ test against the president.

She traded insults with Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who announced last month that she would resign in January, and had heated exchanges with Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

She also mocked Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott who uses a wheelchair as Gov. Hot Wheels. She later said she was referring to Abbotts policy of using planes, trains and automobiles to send thousands of immigrants in Texas illegally to Democratic-led cities.

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Democrats came closest in the past 30 years to winning a statewide contest in 2018, when former U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke came within 3 points of ousting Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. That was during the midterm election of Trumps first administration, and Democrats believe next years race could be similarly favorable to their party.

Allred lost to Cruz by 8.5 points last year. He is running for the House in a newly drawn district in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which he represented in Congress before his Senate bid in 2024.

An internal party battle, Allred said, would prevent the Democratic Party from going into this critical election unified against the danger posed to our communities and our Constitution by Donald Trump and one of his Republican bootlickers.

Allreds new district is part of the new congressional map that Texas lawmakers approved earlier this year as part of Trumps push to redraw House boundaries to Republicans advantage. It includes some areas that Allred represented in Congress from 2019-2025. Most of the district is currently being represented by Rep. Marc Veasey, but he has planned to run in a new, neighboring district.

A former professional football player and civil rights attorney, Allred was among Democrats star recruits for the 2018 midterms. That year, the party gained a net of 40 House seats, including multiple suburban and exurban districts in Texas, and won a House majority that redefined Trumps first presidency.

Besides avoiding a free-for-all Senate primary, Marshall said Allred is helping Democrats cause by becoming a candidate for another office, and he said thats a key for the party to have any shot at flipping the state.

The infrastructure isnt terrible but it clearly needs improvement, he said. Having strong, competitive candidates for every office is part of building that energy and operation. Texas needs strong candidates in House races, for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general every office so that voters are hearing from Democrats everywhere.

President Donald Trumps former personal attorney, Alina Habba, said Monday she is resigning as the top federal prosecutor for New Jersey, giving up her fight to stay in the job after an appeals court said she had been serving in the post unlawfully.

In a statement posted on social media, Habba assailed the court's ruling as political, but said she was resigning to protect the stability and integrity of her office.

But do not mistake compliance for surrender, she said, adding that the administration would continue its appeal. This decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me.

Habba said she would remain with the Justice Department as a senior advisor to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Habba, 41, was appointed in March to serve a temporary term as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, a powerful post charged with enforcing federal criminal and civil law.

Once a partner in a small New Jersey law firm, Habba was among Trumps most visible legal defenders during the four years he was out of power, representing him in court and frequently appearing on cable TV news as his legal spokesperson.

But she had limited federal court experience, and New Jerseys two Democratic senators indicated they would block her confirmation in the U.S. Senate.

When her term expired in July, a panel of federal judges appointed one of her subordinates to the role instead. But Bondi promptly fired the replacement, blaming Habbas removal on politically minded judges.

RELATED STORY | Court rules former Trump lawyer Alina Habba cant serve as New Jersey's top prosecutor

A lower-court judges finding that Habba was unlawfully serving in the position soon triggered a monthslong legal standoff, prompting confusion and delays within New Jerseys federal court system.

Then, earlier this month, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia disqualified her from serving in the role, writing in their opinion that the citizens of New Jersey and the loyal employees in the U.S. Attorneys Office deserve some clarity and stability.

Habba is one of several Trump administration prosecutors whose appointments have faced challenges.

The Justice Department had vowed to appeal a judges ruling dismissing the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on the grounds that the prosecutor who filed the charges, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Its unclear whether the administrations decision to abandon the fight to keep Habba in office may impact other U.S. attorneys whose appointments have been challenged by defense lawyers.

In a statement posted on X on Monday, Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche accused judges of engaging in an unconscionable campaign of bias and hostility against Halligan for questioning why she was still being identified as U.S. attorney on court documents.