By SCOTT BAUER

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.”

Chris Madel’s surprise move comes amid growing calls from Republicans to investigate federal immigration tactics in Minnesota after a U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday.

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.

“Justice requires excellent legal representation,” Madel said.

Madel announced his decision ending his candidacy two days after a Border Patrol officer shot and killed Pretti on Saturday in Minneapolis.

By FATIMA HUSSEIN

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.

By MAKIYA SEMINERA

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.

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.

Then the travel ban was announced.

The US offered an escape and a top education

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.”

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.

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.

By JIM MUSTIAN and MICHAEL BIESECKER

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.

Today is Saturday, Jan. 24, the 24th day of 2026. There are 341 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Jan. 24, 2011, a suicide bomber attacked Moscow’s busiest airport, killing 37 people; Chechen separatists claimed responsibility.

Also on this date:

In 1835, a major slave rebellion began in Bahia, Brazil, leading to the deaths of dozens of enslaved people in clashes with troops, police and armed civilians in the provincial capital of Salvador. The uprising was seen as influential in helping to bring about an end to slavery in the country decades later.

In 1848, James W. Marshall found a gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill in northern California, a discovery that sparked the California gold rush.

In 1945, Associated Press war correspondent Joseph Morton was among a group of captives executed by German soldiers at the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria.

In 1965, Winston Churchill died in London at age 90.

In 1978, a nuclear-powered Soviet satellite, Kosmos 954, plunged through Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated, scattering radioactive debris over parts of northern Canada.

In 1984, Apple Computer began selling its first Macintosh model, which boasted a built-in 9-inch monochrome display, a clock rate of 8 megahertz and 128k of RAM.

In 1989, confessed serial killer Ted Bundy was executed in Florida’s electric chair.

In 2003, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge was sworn as the first secretary of the new Department of Homeland Security.

In 2013, President Barack Obama’s Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the lifting of a ban on women serving in direct ground combat roles.

In 2018, former sports doctor Larry Nassar, who had admitted to molesting some of the United States’ top gymnasts for years under the guise of medical treatment, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison.

In 2023, a farmworker killed seven people in back-to-back shootings in a case of “workplace violence” at two Northern California mushroom farms. It marked the state’s third mass killing in just over a week.

Today’s birthdays:

• Cajun musician Doug Kershaw is 90.
• Singer-songwriter Ray Stevens is 87.
• Singer-songwriter Neil Diamond is 85.
• Singer Aaron Neville is 85.
• Physicist Michio Kaku is 79.
• Actor Daniel Auteuil is 76.
• Comedian Yakov Smirnoff is 75.
• Actor William Allen Young is 72.
• Musician Jools Holland is 68.
• Actor Nastassja Kinski is 65.
• Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Mary Lou Retton is 58.
• Actor Matthew Lillard is 56.
• Musician Beth Hart is 54.
• Actor Ed Helms is 52.
• Actor-comedian Kristen Schaal is 48.
• Actor Tatyana Ali is 47.
• Actor Carrie Coon is 45.
• Actor and rapper Daveed Diggs is 44.
• Actor Mischa Barton is 40.
• NFL coach Sean McVay is 40.
• Soccer player Luis Suárez is 39.
• Actor Callan McAuliffe is 31.
• Singer Johnny Orlando is 23.

By JEFF AMY and CHARLOTTE KRAMON

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge in Georgia on Friday dismissed a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit seeking voter information from the state, ruling the federal government had sued in the wrong city.

U.S. District Judge Ashley Royal found the government should have sued Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in Atlanta, and not in a separate federal judicial district in Macon, where the secretary of state also has an office.

Royal dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice, meaning the Justice Department can refile it. The department declined to comment Friday.

The Justice Department has now filed lawsuits against 24 states and the District of Columbia seeking voter information as part of its effort to collect detailed voting data, including dates of birth and driver’s license and Social Security numbers. A federal judge in California rejected the lawsuit against that state on privacy grounds, while a judge in Oregon has suggested he may dismiss the case there.

The Trump administration characterizes the lawsuits as an effort to ensure election security, and the Justice Department says the states are violating federal law by refusing to provide voter lists and information.

Raffensperger has been the rare Republican to decline the demand, saying Georgia law prohibits the release of voters’ confidential personal unless certain qualifications are met. Raffensperger argues the federal government hasn’t met those conditions. He says he shared the public part of the voter roll and information about how Georgia removes ineligible or outdated registrations in December.

“I will always follow the law and follow the Constitution,” Raffensperger said in a statement Friday. “I won’t violate the oath I took to stand up for the people of this state, regardless of who or what compels me to do otherwise.”

The refusal to hand over the records has become an issue in Raffensperger’s 2026 run for governor. Raffensperger in January 2021 famously refused a demand from President Donald Trump in a phone call to “find” enough votes to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s win in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election. Many Trump-loving Republicans still hold a grudge against Raffensperger.

The issue flared just Thursday in a hearing by a state Senate committee where multiple Republican state senators slammed Raffensperger for failing to comply, saying he legally could do so. The committee voted along party lines to advance a resolution calling on Raffensperger to hand over the data and calling it the “latest example of a pattern of behavior by the secretary and his office to refuse oversight of his administration of Georgia’s elections.”

State Sen. Randy Robertson, a Republican from Cataula who filed the resolution, said the dismissal is “frustrating” because even if the Justice Department refiles the lawsuit, the problem will take longer to resolve.

“As public officials we all should participate in any investigation done by a law enforcement agency,” Robertson told The Associated Press Friday.

Robertson is one of many Republican lawmakers backing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones over Raffensperger for the GOP governor nomination. Jones, who already has Trump’s endorsement for governor, was one of 16 state Republicans who signed a certificate that Trump had won Georgia and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.

By SOPHIE AUSTIN

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California sued the federal government Friday for approving a Texas-based company’s plans to restart two oil pipelines along the state’s coast, escalating a fight over the Trump administration’s removal of regulatory barriers to offshore oil drilling for the first time in decades.

The administration has hailed the project by Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp. to restart production in waters off Santa Barbara damaged by a 2015 oil spill as the kind of project President Donald Trump wants to increase U.S. energy production.

The state oversees the pipelines that run through Santa Barbara and Kern counties, said Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“The federal administration has no right to usurp California’s regulatory authority,” he said at a news conference. “We’re taking them to court to draw a line in the sand and to protect our coast, beaches and communities from potentially hazardous pipelines.”

But the U.S. Transportation Department agency that approved Sable’s plan pushed back on the lawsuit.

“Restarting the Las Flores Pipeline will bring much needed American energy to a state with the highest gas prices in the country,” said a spokesperson with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Sable did not respond for comment on the lawsuit.

Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term to reverse former President Joe Biden’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts. A federal court later struck down Biden’s order to withdraw 625 million acres of federal waters from oil development.

The federal administration in November announced plans for new offshore oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts, which the oil industry has backed for years.

But critics say the plans could harm coastal communities and ecosystems.

Bonta said one of the pipelines Sable wants to restart burst in 2015, spilling oil along the Southern California coast. The event was the state’s worst oil spill in decades. More than 140,000 gallons (3,300 barrels) of oil gushed out, blackening beaches for 150 miles from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. It polluted a biologically rich habitat for endangered whales and sea turtles, killing scores of pelicans, seals and dolphins, and decimating the fishing industry.

The drilling platforms were subsequently shuttered.

Sable has faced a slew of legal challenges but has said it is determined to restart production, even if that means confining it to federal waters, where state regulators have virtually no say. California controls the 3 miles nearest to shore. The platforms are 5 to 9 miles offshore.

“It’s crazy that we are even talking about restarting this pipeline,” said Alex Katz, executive director of the Environmental Defense Center, a Santa Barbara group formed in response to a catastrophic 1969 California oil spill.

The federal government’s approval to restart the pipelines ignores painful lessons the community learned from the 2015 oil spill, said California Assemblymember Gregg Hart, a Democrat representing Santa Barbara.

“California will not allow Trump and his Big Oil friends to bypass our essential environmental laws and threaten our coastline,” he said in a statement.

California has been reducing the state’s production of fossil fuels in favor of clean energy for years. The movement has been spearheaded partly by Santa Barbara County, where elected officials voted in May to begin taking steps to phase out onshore oil and gas operations.

By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press

Vice President JD Vance on Friday encouraged anti-abortion activists to “take heart in how far we’ve come” on the quest to limit the practice, listing the Trump administration’s accomplishments including an expansion of a ban on U.S. foreign aid for groups supporting abortion services.

“There is still much road ahead to travel together,” Vance told attendees at the annual March for Life demonstration, which draws tens of thousands of people annually to Washington. Attendees rallied on the National Mall before heading to the Supreme Court.

Vance, a Republican, has spent years passionately advocating for Americans to have more children. He repeatedly expressed alarm about declining birth rates as he launched his political career in 2021 with a successful bid for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, and as vice president he has continued on that mission.

“I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vance said in addressing last year’s March for Life.

Earlier this week, Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, announced in a social media post they are expecting a son, their fourth child, in late July.

“Let the record show, you have a vice president who practices what he preaches,” Vance said Friday.

Vance cited the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, calling it “the most important Supreme Court decision of my lifetime.” He said President Donald Trump’s leadership and appointment of conservative jurists “put a definitive end to the tyranny of judicial rule on the question of human life.”

He also lauded the “historic expansion of the Mexico City policy,” the broadening of a ban on U.S. foreign aid for groups supporting abortion services, to include assistance going to international and domestic organizations and agencies that promote gender identity as well as diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

“We believe that every country in the world has the duty to protect life,” Vance said, to a sea of supporters waving signs reading “Choose Life,” “Make More Babies” and “I am the Pro-Life Generation.”

“It’s not our job as the United States of America to promote radical gender ideology,” he said. “It’s our job to promote families and human flourishing.”

From the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV — the first U.S.-born pope — sent a message of support to participants in the march.

“I would encourage you, especially the young people, to continue striving to ensure that life is respected in all of its stages,” Leo wrote in a letter shown on a video at the march. “May Jesus, who promised to be with us always, accompany you today as you courageously and peacefully march on behalf of unborn children.”

On Thursday, an official said the Trump administration was implementing new rules, halting foreign assistance from going not only to groups that provide abortion as a method of family planning but also to those that advocate “gender ideology” and DEI. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the rules’ publication in the Federal Register on Friday.

First established under President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, the policy was rescinded by subsequent Democratic administrations and was reinstated in Trump’s first term.

With its origins in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that nationally enshrined federal protection for abortion rights, the March for Life developed an entrenched presence among conservatives arguing against abortion. In 2017, Trump addressed the march by video, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to make live remarks. Three years later, he attended the event in person, further cementing its role in conservative politics.

In a video address to this year’s crowd, Trump recounted his administration’s “unprecedented strides to protect innocent life and support the institution of the family like never before,” enumerating his appointment of “judges and justices who believed in interpreting the Constitution as written” and “reflecting on the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Since the June 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe, the march has become more celebratory, with organizers relishing a state-by-state fight in legislatures around the country and urging a continued fight until abortion is eliminated.

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Tuburu Naivalurua had a career-high 26 points and 10 rebounds and Isaac Garrett added 17 points and added 10 rebounds as Oakland beat Green Bay 88-63 on Sunday to snap the Phoenix’s five-game win streak.

Ziare Wells finished 6 of 7 from the field and finish with 14 points, five rebounds and three steals for the Golden Grizzlies (11-9, 7-2 Horizon League).

“I’m just really proud of these guys. I haven’t taken many teams in our 14 years in the league up here and went back-to-back like we did — maybe one or two times,” Oakland head coach Greg Kampe said. “Took them off of what we came off of, make this business trip, and played the way we played two nights in a row. I’m really, really pleased with the kids.”

Ramel Bethea finished with 11 points and four blocks for the Phoenix (11-9, 6-3). Justin Allen added nine points and six rebounds for Green Bay. Marcus Hall also had nine points and four assists.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Today is Sunday, Jan. 18, the 18th day of 2026. There are 347 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Jan. 18, 2019, Jason Van Dyke, the white Chicago police officer who gunned down Black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014, was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.

Also on this date:

In 1778, English navigator Captain James Cook reached the present-day Hawaiian Islands, which he dubbed the “Sandwich Islands.”

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson asked Congress in a confidential message for $2,500 in funding for exploration of Western lands all the way to the Pacific, an early step in the eventual formation of the Lewis and Clark expedition that would ultimately accelerate American expansion westward beyond the Mississippi River.

In 1911, the first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Eugene B. Ely brought his Curtiss biplane in for a safe landing on the deck of the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor.

In 1958, Canadian Willie O’Ree became the first Black player in the National Hockey League as he made his debut with the Boston Bruins.

In 1977, scientists identified the bacteria responsible for the deadly form of atypical pneumonia known as Legionnaires’ disease.

In 1990, Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was arrested after FBI agents caught him smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room in a videotaped sting. (Convicted of drug possession, Barry spent a few months in prison, returning to win a D.C. Council seat in 1992 and his fourth and final mayoral victory in 1994. He died in 2014.)

In 1993, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.

In 1996, Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce from Michael Jackson, citing “irreconcilable differences” after less than two years of marriage.

In 2013, former Democratic New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was indicted on charges that he’d used his office for personal gain, accepting payoffs, free trips and gratuities from contractors while the devastated city was struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina. (Nagin was later convicted, served time, and was released from prison in 2020.)

In 2025, a gasoline tanker exploded in Nigeria, killing at least 70 people as individuals sought to transfer gasoline from one tanker into another truck as numerous bystanders looked on.

Today’s birthdays:

• Actor-filmmaker Kevin Costner is 71.
• Actor Mark Rylance is 66.
• Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier is 65.
• Actor Dave Bautista is 57.
• Actor Jesse L. Martin is 57.
• Rock singer Jonathan Davis (Korn) is 55.
• Football Hall of Famer Julius Peppers is 46.
• Actor Jason Segel is 46.
• Actor Carlacia Grant is 35.
• Singer and activist Montana Tucker is 33.
• Spanish soccer star Aitana Bonmati is 28.
• Actor Karan Brar is 27.

SEATTLE (AP) — Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 19 points and No. 12 Michigan State beat Washington 80-63 on Saturday for its fourth straight victory.

The Spartans (16-2, 6-1 Big Ten) won in their first game at Washington since 1957.

Fears was 6 of 9 from the field and made 7 of 8 free throws in his fourth straight game with at least 15 points. He also had five assists.

Kur Teng added 11 points, hitting three 3-pointers.

Zoom Diallo led Washington (10-8, 2-5) with 18 points, and Hannes Steinbach had 17 points and nine rebounds. The Huskies have lost four of five, three of them against teams ranked 12th or better.

Washington was without guard Desmond Claude. He announced Friday on social media that he was “stepping away from all on-court activities” due to health concerns stemming from a sprained ankle in fall workouts that forced him to miss the first four games of the season. In 12 games (nine starts), he averaged 13.3 points.

Up next

Michigan State: At Oregon on Tuesday night

Washington: At No. 8 Nebraska on Wednesday night.

— By JOSH KIRSHENBAUM, Associated Press

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Elliot Cadeau scored 17 points and No. 4 Michigan defeated Oregon 81-71 Saturday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena.

Nimari Burnett scored 15 points and Aday Mara added 12 points as Michigan (16-1, 6-1) won its second straight game following its lone loss of the season. Morez Johnson Jr. scored nine points in 17 minutes despite foul trouble and Yaxel Lendeborg added six and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Wolverines, who shot 49% from the field and outrebounded the Ducks 36-30.

Sean Stewart scored a career-high 22 points to go with eight rebounds for Oregon (8-10, 1-6), which dropped its fourth straight game. Kwame Evans Jr. had 18 points and seven rebounds while Takai Simpkins scored 12 for the Ducks.

Oregon played without its two leading scorers as senior center Nate Bittle, who averages 16.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, is likely out for a month after injuring his foot last week in a loss at Nebraska. Junior point guard Jackson Shelstad, who averages 15.6 points and a team-high 4.9 assists per game, missed his fifth straight game with a hand injury.

Oregon led 41-40 at halftime and opened the second period with a basket from Stewart before Burnett answered with a 3-pointer. Oregon went back up 47-46 on a dunk from Devon Pryor before Michigan went on a 12-2 run to take a 58-49 lead.

Oregon got within 74-68 on a basket by Stewart with 3:33 to play, but Cadeau made a layup and Johnson added a bucket to put the Wolverines ahead 78-68 with 2:28 left in the game.

Up next

Michigan: The Wolverines return home to face Indiana on Tuesday.

Oregon: The Ducks host No. 12 Michigan State on Tuesday.

— By STEVE MIMS, Associated Press

By STEVE PEOPLES, MIKE CATALINI, JESSE BEDAYN and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly a year into his second term, President Donald Trump’s work on the economy hasn’t lived up to the expectations of many people in his own party, according to a new AP-NORC survey.

The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds a significant gap between the economic leadership Americans remembered from Trump’s first term and what they’ve gotten so far as he creates a stunning level of turmoil at home and abroad.

Just 16% of Republicans say Trump has helped “a lot” in addressing the cost of living, down from 49% in April 2024, when an AP-NORC poll asked Americans the same question about his first term.

At the same time, Republicans are overwhelmingly supportive of the president’s leadership on immigration — even if some don’t like his tactics.

John Candela, 64, who lives in New Rochelle, New York, said the cost of living hasn’t improved for his family — his salary and bills remain the same as before.

“Still paying $5 for Oreos,” he said. But he’s willing to be patient: “I would expect it to be different by the time his four years are up.”

The poll reveals signs of weakness among consumers on the economy, especially Trump’s core campaign promise to reduce costs. Inflation has cooled somewhat, but prices on many goods are higher than they were when the Republican president took office last January.

There is little sign overall, though, that the Republican base is abandoning Trump. The vast majority of Republicans, about 8 in 10, approve of his job performance, compared with 4 in 10 for adults overall.

“I don’t like the man as a human being. I don’t like his brashness. I don’t like his roughness. I don’t like how he types out his texts all capital as if he’s yelling at everybody. But what I approve of is what he is doing to try and get the country on track,” Candela said.

Trump not improving costs, most Republicans say

On various economic factors, Trump has yet to convince many of his supporters that he’s changing things for the better.

Only about 4 in 10 Republicans overall say Trump has helped address the cost of living at least “a little” in his second term, while 79% said he helped address the issue that much in his first term, based on the 2024 poll. Just over half of Republicans in the new poll say Trump has helped create jobs in his second term; 85% said the same about his first term, including 62% who said he helped “a lot.”

Only 26% of Republicans in the January survey say he’s helped “a lot” on job creation in his second term.

And on health care, about one-third of Republicans say Trump has helped address costs at least “a little,” while 53% in the April 2024 poll said he helped reduce health care costs that much during his first term. Federal health care subsidies for more than 20 million Americans expired on Jan. 1, resulting in health care costs doubling or even tripling for many families.

In the town of Waxahachie, Texas, south of Dallas, 28-year-old three-time Trump voter Ryan James Hughes, a children’s pastor, doesn’t see an improvement in his family’s financial situation. He said the medical bills haven’t declined.

But, he said, “I’m not looking to the government to secure my financial future.”

Immigration is a strength among the Trump base despite controversy

The new poll underscores that Republicans are largely getting what they want on immigration, even as some report concerns about the federal immigration agents who have flooded U.S. cities at Trump’s direction.

About 8 in 10 Republicans say Trump has helped at least “a little” on immigration and border security in his second term. That’s similar to the share in the April 2024 poll that saw a positive effect from Trump’s leadership on immigration and border security during his first term.

Most Republicans say Trump has struck the right balance when it comes to deporting immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, and about one-third think he hasn’t gone far enough.

But Trump’s approval on immigration has also slipped among Republicans over the past year, falling from 88% in March to 76% in the new poll.

Kevin Kellenbarger, 69, a three-time Trump voter who retired from a printing company, said his Christian faith led him to the Republican Party. The Lancaster, Ohio, resident thinks the president’s immigration crackdown is necessary, though he expressed dissatisfaction at the recent killing of Renee Good by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis.

“I don’t like anybody getting killed, but it wasn’t Trump’s fault,” Kellenbarger said, adding that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, “let millions of people in. They have to be taken out.”

Several Republicans said in interviews they thought the aggressive tactics seen recently in Minneapolis went too far, suggesting that Trump should focus more on immigrants with criminal backgrounds as he promised during the campaign.

Overall, just 38% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s leadership on immigration, while 61% disapprove.

“These families that are being separated and they’re just here to try to live the American dream,” said Republican Liz Gonzalez, 40, the daughter of Mexican immigrants and a self-employed rancher and farmer from Palestine, Texas.

At the same time, Gonzalez said, she doesn’t think people opposed to the crackdown should be interfering at all. “I think if they just let (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), you know, like the patrol people, do their jobs, then they would see it’s not — it doesn’t have to be chaos,” she said.

More Republicans see the country improving than their personal lives

About two-thirds of Republicans say the country as a whole is “much” or “somewhat” better off than before Trump took office, but only about half say this about themselves and their family.

The broad sense that the country is moving in the right direction may be counteracting Republican dissatisfaction with the state of the economy.

Phyllis Gilpin, a 62-year-old Republican from Booneville, Missouri, praised Trump’s ability to “really listen to people.” But she doesn’t love his personality.

“He is very arrogant,” she said, expressing frustration about his name-calling. But she said the divisive politics go both ways: “I really, honestly, just wish that we could all just not be Democrat or Republican — just come together.”

The AP-NORC poll of 1,203 adults was conducted Jan. 8-11 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points. The poll included interviews with 404 Republicans, and the margin of sampling error for Republicans overall is plus or minus 6 percentage points.

By Mike Householder

The Associated Press

Researchers, documentary filmmakers and others will soon be able to get their hands on screenwriter and director Lawrence Kasdan’s papers at his alma mater, the University of Michigan.

Archivists are about a quarter of the way through cataloging the 150-plus boxes of material that document the 76-year-old filmmaker’s role in bringing to life iconic characters like Indiana Jones and Yoda, and directing actors ranging from Geena Davis and Glenn Close to Morgan Freeman and Kevin Costner.

“All I wanted to ever do was be a movie director. And so, all the details meant something to me,” Kasdan said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I couldn’t be happier to have this mass of stuff available to anybody who is interested.”

The archive includes scripts, call sheets and still photos — including a few rarities.

Before Costner became an Oscar winner and Hollywood icon, he worked various studio jobs while taking nighttime drama lessons. His break — or so he thought — came when Kasdan cast him in 1983’s “The Big Chill.”

Costner played Alex, whose death brings his fellow Michigan alums together. Unfortunately, his big flashback scene ended up on the cutting-room floor.

What are believed to be among the only existing photographs of the famously deleted scene are part of the Kasdan collection, now housed in Ann Arbor.

“Different people will be interested in different things,” Kasdan said, pointing to his work writing the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” screenplay as one possible destination for researchers. The archive features audio cassette recordings of Kasdan discussing the film with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. It also includes Polaroids taken of cast and crew members on the sets of his movies.

There are props, too, including a cowboy hat from the 1985 Western “Silverado,” worn by none other than Costner. Kasdan and the kid from California would work together again on “Wyatt Earp” in the ’90s. Costner also starred in “The Bodyguard,” which Kasdan wrote.

A number of unproduced scripts also are part of the collection.

“I’ve always considered myself a director and a writer. And if you are really interested in any particular movie, you can follow the evolution of that movie in the archive,” Kasdan said.

Library staff members are working chronologically through Kasdan’s material, meaning the papers for Kasdan’s earliest work — including “Body Heat” and “The Big Chill,” as well as the scripts for two “Star Wars” classics, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” — can be accessed first.

The remaining material should be completely processed by late 2026, said Phil Hallman, the curator of the collection. Hallman hopes to have Kasdan visit, perhaps next fall, to see the archive and take part in a symposium.

Kasdan’s papers are part of the University of Michigan Library’s Screen Arts Mavericks and Makers Collection, which includes Orson Welles, Robert Altman, Jonathan Demme, Nancy Savoca and John Sayles.

Kasdan, who grew up in West Virginia and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1970 and a master’s two years later, is the lone Michigan alum among the group.

“To be there, held in the same place as those wonderful directors, is really a great honor,” Kasdan said.

Today is Friday, Jan. 16, the 16th day of 2026. There are 349 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Jan. 16, 1996, Wayne Newton performed his 25,000th Las Vegas show. Newton had performed more shows as a headliner in Las Vegas than any other entertainer.

Also on this date:

In 1865, Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman decreed that 400,000 acres of confiscated land in the South would be divided into 40-acre lots and given to former enslaved people. (The order, later revoked by President Andrew Johnson, inspired the expression, “40 acres and a mule.”)

In 1942, actor Carole Lombard, 33, her mother, Elizabeth Peters, and 20 other people were killed when their plane crashed near Las Vegas, Nevada, while returning to California from a war-bond promotion tour.

In 1989, three days of rioting began in Miami when a police officer fatally shot a Black motorcyclist, causing a crash that also claimed the life of his passenger. (The officer was convicted of manslaughter, but later acquitted in a retrial.)

In 1991, in a televised address to the nation, U.S. President George H.W. Bush announced the start of Operation Desert Storm, a combat operation that drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

In 2001, Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila was fatally shot by one of his own bodyguards.

In 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the first elected female head of state in Africa when she was sworn in as president of Liberia.

In 2018, authorities in Denmark charged inventor Peter Madsen with killing Swedish journalist Kim Wall onboard his private submarine. (Madsen would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison.)

Today’s birthdays:

• Opera singer Marilyn Horne is 92.
• Hall of Fame auto racer A.J. Foyt is 91.
• Country musician Ronnie Milsap is 83.
• Filmmaker John Carpenter is 78.
• Actor-dancer-choreographer Debbie Allen is 76.
• Singer Sade (shah-DAY’) is 67.
• Boxing Hall of Famer Roy Jones Jr. is 57.
• Model Kate Moss is 52.
• Actor-producer-songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda is 46.
• Baseball great Albert Pujols is 46.
• Singer-Songwriter Yebba is 31.

MILWUAKEE (AP) — Michael Houge had 19 points in Oakland’s 73-60 victory over Milwaukee on Thursday.

Houge also contributed seven rebounds for the Golden Grizzlies (10-9, 6-2 Horizon League). Brody Robinson added 17 points while shooting 2 for 7 (1 for 5 from 3-point range) and 12 of 14 from the free-throw line while they also had three steals.

Isaac Garrett finished with 13 points, while adding 12 rebounds. Tuburu Naivalurua had 10 rebounds and four points.

“Tim McCormick (ESPNU color analyst) asked me during shootaround if I was going to find out a lot about my team tonight. I told him, especially after Sunday: let’s find out,” Oakland head coach Greg Kampe said. “We came out, Mike Houge was on fire. We had a good lead, sure we turned the ball over too many times. Gave up a few too many offensive rebounds, but we won with our defense tonight.”

Sekou Konneh finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for the Panthers (8-11, 4-4). Aaron Franklin added 13 points, 13 rebounds and three steals for Milwaukee. Josh Dixon finished with 11 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

ANN ARBOR (AP) — Olivia Olson scored 21 points, including 15 in the first half, and Te’Yala Delfosse added 15 to lead No. 8 Michigan to a 85-69 victory over No. 25 Illinois on Thursday night.

Mila Holloway added 13 points and Syla Swords had 11 for the Wolverines (15-2, 6-1 Big Ten). Michigan, which has won all 10 of its home games, is off to its best start since is started 20-2 during the 2021-22 season.

Berry Wallace scored 26 points and Jasmine Brown-Hagger added 16 for the Illini (14-4, 4-3 Big Ten), who have dropped three of their last four.

Michigan started by hitting its first five shots and led by as many as 18 points in the first half. Wallace and Brown-Hagger kept it from getting completely out of hand early by combining for the Illini’s first 19 points.

After trailing 47-32 at halftime, Illinois used an 11-0 run to get within 52-47. Michigan responded with a 15-4 spurt to push the lead back to 18. The Illini, who missed their last seven field goal attempts, could get no closer than 11.

The Wolverines kept the Illini’s offense out of sync throughout, forcing 15 turnovers and holding Illinois to 39.7% shooting. The Illini came in averaging only 12.8 turnovers and hitting 47% of their shots.

Starting guard Gretchen Dolan, Illinois’ second-leading scorer with 13.6 points per game, didn’t play because of a knee injury. She was replaced by Maddie Webber, who was held to 3 points.

Up next

Illinois: hosts Northwestern on Sunday.

Michigan: plays Vanderbilt in the Coretta Scott King Classic in Newark, New Jersey, on Monday.

— BOB TRIPI, Associated Press

AUBURN HILLS (AP) — Solomon Callaghan scored 27 points as Wright State beat Oakland 94-84 on Sunday.

Callaghan shot 8 of 11 from the field, including 6 for 9 from 3-point range, and went 5 for 5 from the line for the Raiders (11-7, 6-1 Horizon League). Kellen Pickett added 18 points while shooting 7 of 10 from the field and 4 for 4 from the line and also had 11 rebounds. TJ Burch went 7 of 16 from the field (2 for 3 from 3-point range) to finish with 18 points, while adding six assists. It was the sixth straight win for the Raiders.

Brody Robinson led the way for the Golden Grizzlies (9-9, 5-2) with 35 points and four steals. Oakland also got 15 points, six rebounds and two steals from Tuburu Niavalurua. Brett White II also recorded 11 points.

Up next

These two teams both play Thursday. Wright State hosts Youngstown State and Oakland visits Milwaukee.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Rashunda Jones scored 23 points, and No. 15 Michigan State rallied from a double-digit deficit in the first half to beat Oregon 85-81 on Sunday for the Spartans’ eighth straight win.

Ines Sotelo scored four points and Jones made a pair of free throws in a 6-0 spurt that gave Michigan State the lead for good, 78-75, with 2:46 remaining. The Spartans trailed by as many as 16 points early in the second quarter.

Jones finished 9-of-12 shooting that included two 3s for Michigan State (16-1, 5-1 Big Ten). Grace VanSlooten added 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Kennedy Blair scored 11 points, and Emma Shumate and Jalyn Brown each had 10.

Katie Fiso scored 20 points on 9-of-17 shooting and had nine assists to lead Oregon (14-4, 2-3 Big Ten). Sofia Bell and Mia Jacobs added 18 points apiece for the Ducks. Ehis Etute chipped in with 11 points.

Oregon opened on a 10-2 run and led 31-21 at the end of the first quarter. The Ducks scored the first five points of the second to stretch the lead to 36-20, but Michigan State answered with a 24-7 run and led 44-43 at the break. Bell made four 3s for 12 points in the first half for the Ducks. Shumate scored all 10 of her points in the first half to lead the Spartans.

The then-16th ranked Spartans avenged last season’s 63-59 loss at home against the Ducks.

Up next

Oregon: At No. 14 Iowa on Thursday.

Michigan State: At home against No. 25 Nebraska on Thursday.