No sooner had John F. Kennedy’s granddaughter died of leukemia at age 35, than President Trump got busy dusting off previous social media posts to cast shade at her bereaved family.

Though he didn’t mention the late Tatiana Schlossberg by name or reference her death, Trump harvested screenshots of his supporters’ posts belittling the famous family after his newly handpicked board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted to tack the president’s name onto the venue.

The Kennedy family announced Schlossberg’s death on Tuesday from a rare form of leukemia with the simple message, “Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts.”

Schlossberg had written poignantly about her diagnosis and treatment in The New Yorker in November, a powerful account of a year-long journey that paralleled her cousin Robert Kennedy Jr.’s attack on the nation’s public health system as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

As condolences poured in, Trump, reportedly miffed at the raft of performance cancellations in the wake of the board’s Dec. 18 name change, pulled supporters’ social media posts out of mothballs and onto Truth Social. He re-upped such gems as, “The Kennedy Family have LONG neglected the Kennedy Center, btw. They don’t raise money for it. They never show up. And the only Kennedy who has been there recently is a member of Trump’s cabinet,” and, “The Trumps have always been supporters of the arts. The Kennedys are supporters of the Kennedys.”

The Kennedys themselves were especially vocal during the public backlash against the institution’s name change, given that Congress had dedicated it as a living memorial to JFK after the president’s 1963 assassination.

CNN’s Jake Tapper and others led the excoriation charge against Trump’s posts.

“In the early afternoon, ET, the Kennedy family announced that JFK’s granddaughter Tatiana Schlossberg had died from cancer,” the anchor wrote on X. “A few hours later, President Trump re-posted some social media garbage attacking the Kennedy family.”

Barely a month earlier, Trump had blamed movie director Rob Reiner for his own murder.

“On a day when the Kennedy family is grappling with an unimaginable personal loss, Donald Trump chose to use his platform to launch petty, vindictive attacks against them,” Meidas Touch wrote on X. “Yet another stunning display of cruelty and utter lack of basic human decency.”

With News Wire Services

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts said Wednesday that the Constitution remains a sturdy pillar for the country, a message that comes after a tumultuous year in the nation’s judicial system with pivotal Supreme Court decisions on the horizon.

Roberts said the nation’s founding documents remain “firm and unshaken,” a reference to a century-old quote from President Calvin Coolidge. “True then; true now,” Roberts wrote in his annual letter to the judiciary.

The letter comes after a year in which legal scholars and Democrats raised fears of a possible constitutional crisis as Republican President Donald Trump’s supporters pushed back against rulings that slowed his far-reaching conservative agenda.

Roberts weighed in at one point in March, issuing a rare rebuke after Trump called for the impeachment of a judge who had ruled against him in a case over the deportation of Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members.

The chief justice’s Wednesday letter was largely focused on the nation’s history, including an early 19th-century case establishing the principle that Congress shouldn’t remove judges over contentious rulings.

He also called on judges to “continue to decide the cases before us according to our oath, doing equal right to the poor and to the rich, and performing all of our duties faithfully and impartially under the Constitution and laws of the United States.”

While the Trump administration faced pushback in the lower courts, it has scored a series of some two dozen wins on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket. The court’s conservative majority has allowed Trump to move ahead for now with banning transgender people from the military, clawing back billions of dollars of congressionally approved federal spending, moving aggressively on immigration and firing the Senate-confirmed leaders of independent federal agencies.

The court also handed Trump a few defeats over the last year, including in his push to deploy the National Guard to U.S. cities.

Other pivotal issues are ahead for the high court in 2026, including arguments over Trump’s push to end birthright citizenship and a ruling on whether he can unilaterally impose tariffs on hundreds of countries.

Roberts’ letter contained few references to those issues. It opened with a history of the seminal 1776 pamphlet “Common Sense,” written by Thomas Paine, a “recent immigrant to Britain’s North American colonies,” and closed with Coolidge’s encouragement to “turn for solace” to the Constitution and Declaration of Independence “amid all the welter of partisan politics.”

By FATIMA HUSSEIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Wednesday imposed sanctions on four firms operating in Venezuela’s oil sector and designated four additional oil tankers, which the U.S. accuses of being part of a shadow fleet serving Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government, as blocked property.

The action is part of the Trump administration’s monthslong pressure campaign on Maduro. U.S. forces also have seized two oil tankers off Venezuela’s coast, are pursuing another and have conducted a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

A set of strikes announced Wednesday increased the death toll from the attacks to at least 110 people since early September. And in a new escalation marking the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil, the CIA carried out a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by drug cartels.

The latest sanctions from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control target ships called Nord Star, Lunar Tide, Rosalind and Della, and their registered ownership companies.

“Today’s sanctions continue President Trump’s pressure campaign on Maduro and his cronies,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement. “The Trump Administration is committed to disrupting the network that props up Maduro and his illegitimate regime.”

The sanctions are meant to deny the firms and tankers access to any property or financial assets held in the U.S. People, banks and financial institutions that violate that restriction expose themselves to sanctions or enforcement actions.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States “will not allow the illegitimate Maduro regime to profit from exporting oil while it floods the United States with deadly drugs.”

President Donald Trump has announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers coming in and out of the South American country. He has demanded that Venezuela return assets that it seized from U.S. oil companies years ago and has said Maduro’s government is using oil profits to fund drug trafficking and other crimes.

“The Treasury Department will continue to implement President Trump’s campaign of pressure on Maduro’s regime,” Bessent said.

By JOSH FUNK and DIDI TANG

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Farmers are now learning how much aid they can expect to receive from a $12 billion package that President Donald Trump announced earlier this month.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released the figures Wednesday for how much aid per acre farmers can plan on for each row crop. The details arrived after most farmers have already met with their bankers to arrange financing for next year’s crops and placed orders for the seed and fertilizer they will need. But officials have promised that the payments should arrive by the end of February.

Soybean farmers have been hit especially hard by Trump’s trade war with China, which stopped buying any American crops after Trump announced his tariffs this spring. China is the world’s largest buyer of soybeans. This aid package is expected to help farmers weather the trade disruptions until China buys more soybeans under an agreement announced in October and until provisions of Trump’s massive budget bill take effect later this year.

Soybean farmers will get $30.88 per acre while corn farmers will receive $44.36 per acre. Another crop hit hard when China stopped buying was sorghum, and those farmers will get $48.11 per acre. The amounts are based on a USDA formula on the cost of production.

Farmers say they need more buyers for their crops

But farmers say the aid won’t solve all their problems as they continue to deal with the soaring costs of fertilizer, seeds and labor that make it hard to turn a profit right now. Some agricultural trade groups have said they worry that thousands of farmers could go out of business, but others have said they believe most farmers have the financial resources and equity needed to survive.

Kentucky soybean farmer Caleb Ragland, who was president of the American Soybean Association until recently, said the aid is “a Band-Aid on a deep wound. We need competition and opportunities in the market to make our future brighter.”

The President of the National Corn Growers Association Jed Bower also urged the Trump administration to focus on cultivating additional uses for their crops. Farmers will benefit from having more buyers whether it is for ethanol and animal feed at home or for international markets.

“Corn growers have been sounding the alarm about the fact that farmers have been faced with multiple consecutive years of low corn prices and high input costs,” Bower said. “While this financial assistance is helpful and welcomed, we urgently need the administration and Congress to develop markets in the United States and abroad that will provide growers with more long-term economic certainty.”

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that is the goal and promised to continue working to open new markets while strengthening the safety net for farmers.

Minnesota Soybean Growers Association President Darin Johnson said the aid number for soybeans fell short of what farmers had been hoping for, so more help could be needed, though this package will help.

Most farmers remain steadfast supporters of Trump even after the disruptions caused by the trade war. They generally support many of his other policies and believe they will get a better trade deal in the end.

White House and farmers encouraged by China’s purchases

These aid payments will add up to $11 billion for row crop farmers who raise corn, soybeans, wheat, sorghum and other crops. Another $1 billion has been set aside for specialty crops and sugar, but the administration hasn’t released any details of aid for those crops.

After Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea in October, the White House said Beijing had promised to buy at least 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans by the end of the calendar year, plus 25 million metric tons a year in each of the next three years. Officials have said China is on track to meet the 12 million metric ton goal by the end of February.

As of Dec. 18, China had bought about 6 million metric tons of soybeans, according to the latest USDA’s weekly report. Separately, the federal agency reported that China since then bought at least three more batches totaling 600,000 metric tons.

Beijing has yet to confirm any commitment to buying 12 million metric tons of soybeans for this season, but the Chinese embassy in Washington said earlier this month that “agricultural trade cooperation between China and the United States is proceeding in an orderly manner.”

However, the recent increase in international purchases is encouraging to farmers, said Tim Lust, CEO of the National Sorghum Producers, who has seen more than 1 million metric tons of sorghum purchased in just the past few weeks. Like soybeans, more than half of the sorghum crop is exported each year with China traditionally being the biggest buyer.

The aid payments will be capped at $155,000 per farmer or entity, and only farms that make less than $900,000 in adjusted gross income will be eligible. During the first Trump administration, a number of large farms found ways around the payment limits and collected millions.

The USDA says the average size of the 1.88 million farms nationwide was 466 acres last year, but many farmers are much larger than that as larger operations have continued to buy up neighboring farms over time.

By BEN FINLEY

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Wednesday it struck three more boats that were allegedly smuggling drugs, killing three people while others jumped overboard and may have survived.

The statement by U.S. Southern Command, which oversees South America, did not reveal where the attacks occurred. Previous attacks have been in the Caribbean Sea and in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

A video posted by Southern Command on social media shows the boats traveling in a close formation, which is unusual, and the military said they were in a convoy along known narco-trafficking routes and “had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes.” The military did not provide evidence to back up the claim.

The military said three people were killed when the first boat was struck, while people in the other two boats jumped overboard and distanced themselves from the vessels before they were attacked. Southern Command said it immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts.

The attacks occurred on Tuesday. Southern Command’s statement did not say whether those who jumped off the boats were rescued.

Calling in the Coast Guard is notable because the U.S. military drew heavy scrutiny after U.S. forces killed the survivors of an attack in early September with a follow-up strike to their disabled boat. Some Democratic lawmakers and legal experts said the military committed a crime, while the Trump administration and some Republican lawmakers say the follow-up strike was legal.

The latest attacks bring the total number of known boat strikes to 33 and the number of people killed to at least 110 since early September, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Along with the strikes, the Trump administration has built up military forces in the region as part of an escalating pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the United States.

Meanwhile, the CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels, according to two people familiar with details of the operation who requested anonymity to discuss the classified matter.

It was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September, a significant escalation in the administration’s pressure campaign on Maduro’s government.

By STEPHEN GROVES

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has ended the lease agreement for three public golf courses in Washington, a move that offers President Donald Trump an additional opportunity to put his stamp on another piece of the nation’s capital.

The National Links Trust, the nonprofit that has operated Washington’s three public courses on federal land for the last five years, said Wednesday that the Department of the Interior had terminated its 50-year lease agreement. The Interior Department said it was terminating the lease because the nonprofit had not implemented required capital improvements and failed to meet the terms of the lease.

While it was unclear what the Trump administration’s plans are for the golf courses, the move gives Trump, whose private company has developed numerous golf courses in the U.S. and abroad, the chance to remake links overlooking the Potomac River and in Rock Creek Park and a site that is part of Black golf history.

Officials for the National Links Trust said in a statement that they were “devastated” by the decision to terminate the lease and defended their management of the courses. They said $8.5 million had gone toward capital improvements at the courses and that rounds played and revenue had more than doubled in their tenure managing the courses. The nonprofit has agreed to keep managing the courses for the time being, but long-term renovations will stop.

“While this termination is a major setback, we remain stubbornly hopeful that a path forward can be found that preserves affordable and accessible public golf in the nation’s capital for generations to come,” the officials added.

The Department of the Interior’s decision comes as Trump rebrands civic spaces in Washington and deploys National Guard members to the streets for public safety. The Kennedy Center added Trump’s name this month after the center’s board of trustees — made up of Trump appointees — voted to change the name of the performing arts space designated by Congress as a memorial to John F. Kennedy. Trump is also in the midst of a construction project to build a ballroom on the White House’s East Wing, and he has put his name on the U.S. Institute of Peace.

By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Jan. 6. riot at the U.S. Capitol “does not happen” without Donald Trump, former special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers earlier this month in characterizing the Republican president as the “most culpable and most responsible person” in the criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee released on Wednesday a transcript and video of a closed-door interview Smith gave about two investigations of Trump. The document shows how Smith during the course of a daylong deposition repeatedly defended the basis for pursuing indictments against Trump and vigorously rejected Republican suggestions that his investigations were politically motivated.

“The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit,” Smith said, bristling at a question about whether his investigations were meant to prevent Trump from reclaiming the presidency in 2024.

“So in terms of why we would pursue a case against him, I entirely disagree with any characterization that our work was in any way meant to hamper him in the presidential election,” he added.

The Dec. 17 deposition was conducted privately despite Smith’s request to testify publicly. The release of the transcript and video of the interview, so far Smith’s only appearance on Capitol Hill since leaving his special counsel position last January, adds to the public understanding of the decision-making behind two of the most consequential Justice Department investigations in recent history.

Trump was indicted on charges of conspiring to undo the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, and of willfully retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Both cases were abandoned after Trump’s 2024 election win, with Smith citing Justice Department policy against the indictment of a sitting president.

Smith repeatedly made clear his belief that the evidence gathered against Trump was strong enough to sustain a conviction. Part of the strength of the Jan. 6 case, Smith said, was the extent to which it relied on the testimony of Trump allies and supporters who cooperated with the investigation.

“We had an elector in Pennsylvania who is a former congressman, who was going to be an elector for President Trump, who said that what they were trying to do was an attempt to overthrow the government and illegal,” Smith said. “Our case was built on, frankly, Republicans who put their allegiance to the country before the party.”

Accounts from Republicans willing to stand up against the falsehood that the election had been stolen “even though it could mean trouble for them” created what Smith described as the “most powerful” evidence against Trump.

When it came to the Capitol riot itself, Smith said, the evidence showed that Trump “caused it and that he exploited it and that it was foreseeable to him.”

Asked whether there was evidence that Trump had instructed supporters to riot at the Capitol, Smith said that Trump in the weeks leading to the insurrection got “people to believe fraud claims that weren’t true.”

“He made false statements to State legislatures, to his supporters in all sorts of contexts and was aware in the days leading up to January 6th that his supporters were angry when he invited them and then he directed them to the Capitol,” Smith said.

“Now, once they were at the Capitol and once the attack on the Capitol happened, he refused to stop it. He instead issued a tweet that without question in my mind endangered the life of his own Vice President. And when the violence was going on, he had to be pushed repeatedly by his staff members to do anything to quell it.”

Some of the deposition focused on Republican anger at revelations that the Smith team had obtained, and analyzed, phone records of GOP lawmakers who were in contact with Trump on Jan. 6. Smith defended the maneuver as lawful and by-the-book, and suggested that outrage over the tactic should be directed at Trump and not his team of prosecutors.

“Well, I think who should be accountable for this is Donald Trump. These records are people, in the case of the senators, Donald Trump directed his co-conspirators to call these people to further delay the proceedings. He chose to do that. If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic senators, we would have gotten toll records for Democratic senators.”

The communications between Trump and Republican supporters in Congress were an important component of the case, Smith said. He cited an interview his office did with Mark Meadows in which Trump’s then-chief of staff referenced that Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican and current chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, had been in touch with the White House on the afternoon of the riot.

“And what I recall was Meadows stating that ‘I’ve never seen Jim Jordan scared of anything,’ and the fact that we were in this different situation now where people were scared really made it clear that what was going on at the Capitol could not be mistaken for anything other than what it was,” Smith said.

Smith was also asked whether his team evaluated former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s explosive claim that Trump that grabbed at the steering wheel of the presidential SUV when the Secret Service refused to let him go to the U.S. Capitol building after a rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021.

Smith told lawmakers that investigators interviewed the officer who was in the car, “who said that President Trump was very angry and wanted to go to the Capitol,” but the officer’s version of events “was not the same as what Cassidy Hutchinson said she heard from somebody secondhand,” Smith said.

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.

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By HALLIE GOLDEN, Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s administration announced on Tuesday that it’s freezing child care funds to Minnesota after a series of fraud schemes in recent years.

Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on the social platform X that the step is in response to “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pushed back in a post on X, saying fraudsters are a serious issue that the state has spent years cracking down on but that this move is part of “Trump’s long game.”

“He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” Walz said.

O’Neil called out a right-wing influencer who had posted a video Friday claiming he found that day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to $100 million in fraud. O’Neill said he has demanded Walz submit an audit of these centers that includes attendance records, licenses, complaints, investigations and inspections.

Earlier coverage: Video alleging fraud in Minnesota draws federal response; state casts doubt on it

“We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud,” O’Neill said.

The announcement comes one day after U.S. Homeland Security officials were in Minneapolis conducting a fraud investigation by going to unidentified businesses and questioning workers.

There have been years of fraud investigation that began with the $300 million scheme at the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, for which 57 defendants in Minnesota have been convicted. Prosecutors said the organization was at the center of the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud scam, when defendants exploited a state-run, federally funded program intended to provide food for children.

A federal prosecutor alleged earlier in December that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been stolen. Most of the defendants are Somali Americans, they said.

O’Neill, who is serving as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also said in the social media post Tuesday that payments across the U.S. through the Administration for Children and Families, an agency within the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, will now require “justification and a receipt or photo evidence” before money is sent. They have also launched a fraud-reporting hotline and email address, he said.

The Administration for Children and Families provides $185 million in childcare funds annually to Minnesota, according to Assistant Secretary Alex Adams.

“That money should be helping 19,000 American children, including toddlers and infants,” he said in a video posted on X. “Any dollar stolen by fraudsters is stolen from those children.”

Adams said he spoke Monday with the director of Minnesota’s child care services office and she wasn’t able to say “with confidence whether those allegations of fraud are isolated or whether there’s fraud stretching statewide.”

Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, has said fraud will not be tolerated and his administration “will continue to work with federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are caught.”

Walz has said an audit due by late January should give a better picture of the extent of the fraud. He said his administration is taking aggressive action to prevent additional fraud. He has long defended how his administration responded.

Minnesota’s most prominent Somali American, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, has urged people not to blame an entire community for the actions of a relative few.

By SAFIYAH RIDDLE and CHARLOTTE KRAMON

Hundreds of people from South Sudan may be able to live and work in the United States legally, while a federal judge on Tuesday weighs whether President Donald Trump’s move to revoke temporary protected status for immigrants from the East African country was illegal.

The termination was set to take effect on January 6, 2026, at which point the roughly 300 South Sudanese nationals living and working in the U.S. under the program — or who otherwise have pending applications — would be eligible for deportation.

Civil rights groups sued the Department of Homeland Security in late December, writing in a complaint that the change violated administrative procedure and was unconstitutional because it aimed to “significantly reduce the number of non-white and non-European immigrants in the United States” on the basis of race.

The court order written by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts temporarily bars the federal government from initiating deportation while the final decision is pending.

“These significant and far-reaching consequences not only deserve, but require, a full and careful consideration of the merits by the Court,” Kelley wrote, adding that the changes could potentially cause irreversible harm to the East African migrants.

DHS blasted the decision in a statement on Tuesday.

“Yet another lawless and activist order from the federal judiciary who continues to usurp the President’s constitutional authority. Under the previous administration Temporary Protected Status was abused to allow violent terrorists, criminals, and national security threats into our nation,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote.

Temporary protected status is granted to foreign nationals from countries devastated by war or natural disaster. Successful applicants must already reside in the U.S. and pass extensive background checks and vetting through DHS.

Without providing evidence, McLaughlin claimed there is “renewed peace in South Sudan” and pointed to “their demonstrated commitment to ensuring the safe reintegration of returning nationals, and improved diplomatic relations.”

“Now is the right time to conclude what was always intended to be a temporary designation,” McLaughlin wrote.

According to U.N. experts, “Years of neglect have fragmented government and opposition forces alike,” the panel said, “resulting in a patchwork of uniformed soldiers, defectors and armed community defense groups.”

South Sudanese people were made eligible for temporary protected status in 2011. The East African’s embattled government still struggles to deliver many of the basic services of a state. Years of conflict have left the country heavily reliant on aid, which has been hit hard by the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts in foreign assistance. Many South Sudanese people face hunger, and this year a hunger monitor said parts of conflict-hit South Sudan were heading toward famine conditions.

“I don’t know how DHS can say with a straight face that it’s safe for South South Sudanese TPS holders to return to South Sudan when their own State Department, albeit another government agency, says is not safe to travel there,” said Dorian Spence, litigation coordinator Communities United for Status and Protection, one of the groups that filed the December 22 lawsuit.

“This is only one prong in their multi-pronged attack into making America whiter,” Spence added, noting Trump’s willingness to accept white South Africans as refugees.

Critics of the Trump administration in South Sudan said that the move was political retaliation for South Sudan’s decision to stop accepting deportees from the U.S. as part of a program to deport migrants to third countries. At least eight men were deported to South Sudan from the U.S. earlier in the year.

“This has angered the Trump administration (and) the Trump administration has reached this decision now, where it is ending protections available for South Sudanese who fled the war,” he said.

The Trump administration has attempted to withdraw various protections that have allowed immigrants to remain in the U.S. and work legally, including ending temporary status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians who were granted protection under President Joe Biden.

Protected status for immigrants from Ethiopia, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Nepal, Burma, Syria, Nicaragua and Honduras is also in jeopardy.

Kramon contributed to this report from Atlanta and Riddle from New York.

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By Craig Mauger, Chad Livengood, Beth LeBlanc, MediaNews Group

Lansing — A group of seven Michigan House Republicans introduced bills this month that would exempt land owned by people without children in public schools from property taxes that benefit public schools.

The legislation, which has little to no chance of passing the state Legislature this term, would lead to significant funding cuts for K-12 schools in the coming years. However, the supporters of the proposals contended that it was unfair to require property owners who don’t directly use public schools to fund them.

“It’s fundamentally unjust to force people, including seniors, empty-nesters, those who pay for private school, and those without children, to subsidize a government education system they do not use,” Rep. Steve Carra, R-Three Rivers, argued in a press release. “This is especially unfair because our broken system spends a record amount of money, yet results continue to plummet.”

The exemption, under Carra’s proposal, would be phased in starting with a 40% drop in taxes in 2027 and then expanding by 15 percentage points annually until the school-connected property taxes were eliminated in 2031.

Among the other six lawmakers who co-sponsored the measures were Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Jim DeSana, R-Carleton, who also serves on the appropriations panel.

About 72% of Michigan households do not have a child in government schools, according to Carra’s press release.

In 2023, about $10.8 billion of property tax money went to schools or the State Education Tax, which benefits the School Aid Fund, according to the Michigan Department of Treasury.

Jess Newman, deputy political director for the advocacy group United for Respect, labeled Carra’s proposal an “unconscionable bill” and “a move to defund our public schools.”

“The result for our communities will be nothing short of devastating,” Newman added. “Families are already stretched thin by rising housing, health care and child care costs. Making parents shoulder the cost of education alone would be unbearable.

“We all benefit from healthy, well-funded schools, whether or not we have children attending, and this move will only further widen inequities between wealthy and low-income districts.”

Newman is part of the Invest In MI Kids campaign, which is seeking to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2026 that would impose a 5% tax on income over $500,000 to increase funding for K-12 schools.

House GOP leaders sent the property tax exemption bills to the Government Operations Committee. In addition to the House, the Democratic-controlled Senate would have to approve them for them to become law, and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would have to sign them.

Democrats in the Senate and Whitmer have promoted their efforts to increase K-12 school funding over the years.

Senator asks for AG convention opinion

State Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, has asked Attorney General Dana Nessel for an official opinion on whether it’s legal for political parties to hold early nominating conventions to make binding picks of candidates for attorney general, secretary of state and other statewide offices.

Both Michigan Republicans and Democrats have scheduled nominating conventions for the spring of 2026, as a strategy to give their nominees an early start on the fall campaign. The parties have done the same thing previously.

However, Michigan law says each political party must nominate a candidate for lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general at fall conventions after the August primary.

“It has come to my attention that one of the state’s major political parties intends to convene a separate ‘endorsement convention’ several months prior to the August primary election,” McBroom wrote to Nessel “Under the adopted party rules, only a person who has (a) obtained prior endorsement at that separate “endorsement convention” and (b) paid a fee of $10,000 to appear before the ‘endorsement convention; may be considered for nomination at the post-primary state convention.”

McBroom specifically asked Nessel to decide whether a political party may lawfully conduct an endorsement convention that “purports to bind, limit or otherwise condition the constitutional authority of the post-primary state convention to nominate candidates for attorney general and secretary of state.”

Duggan moving downtown

After 12 years of living in the Manoogian Mansion on the banks of the Detroit River, outgoing Mayor Mike Duggan is going to get a better view of downtown Detroit each morning.

Duggan and his wife, Dr. Sonia Hassan, are moving into a rental condo in the 33-story Book-Cadillac Hotel building on Washington Boulevard.

The one-time Livonia resident confirmed his post-mayoral residency plans in a Dec. 18 interview with The Detroit News editorial board.

“My wife and I are looking forward to being able to just walk out to dinner downtown like normal people, which we will be able to do in two weeks,” said Duggan, who is running for governor next year as an independent.

With his eyes set on moving into the governor’s residence in Lansing in 2027, Duggan said he and his wife got a one-year lease in the Book-Cadillac, which houses both luxury condos and a Westin hotel.

Duggan has lived at the Manoogian Mansion on the city’s east riverfront since he was first elected mayor in 2013. Detroit’s official residence for the mayor is named after its one-time owner, the late construction materials magnate Alex Manoogian, who donated it to the city in the mid-1960s.

A nonprofit group reportedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on improvements to the 4,000-square-foot home while Duggan has lived there.

Duggan told The News he expects Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield to make additional improvements to the century-old mansion.

“It’s in good shape now and Sheffield (will) fix it up even more,” Duggan said. “… It is a great place to live. I will miss the house.”

Andy Levin’s new (ad)venture

Former U.S. Rep. Andy Levin appears to be living his best life — and perhaps pinching himself.

Instead of trying to mount a comeback in Michigan politics, the former two-term congressman from Bloomfield Township has bought a cross-country skiing and snowshoeing resort in northern Ontario.

In a Dec. 20 post on LinkedIn, Levin divulged that he and his wife, Mary Freeman, are the new majority owners of Stokely Creek Lodge in Goulais River, Ontario, about 25 miles — or 41 kilometers — north of the International Bridge connecting Sault Ste. Marie with its sister city of the same name in Canada.

“We’ve been snowshoeing, skiing, canoeing and hiking in the Algoma region of Ontario since before we were married. In fact, I proposed to Mary on snowshoes high atop the Awausee Trail in Lake Superior Provincial Park,” Levin wrote.

The former congressman described the lodge in the foothills above Lake Superior as “a mix of unfussy, down-home comfort with high standards.”

Levin and Freeman still run their Detroit-based energy-efficiency consulting firm, Lean & Green Michigan. In his announcement post, Levin suggested they might use the resort to host retreats for progressive political allies.

“As we move into the holiday season in a world plagued with violence, greed and corruption, I’m grateful for the curveballs life throws our way.” Levin wrote. “Watch out: some of them just might open doors to adventures you didn’t even know you wanted to undertake!”

Whitmer calls Michigan troops

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday called Michigan National Guard troops deployed to Germany, Kuwait and the southeast border to wish them well ahead of the holidays and New Year’s.

More than 800 Michigan National Guard members are serving away from their families and homes of the holidays, according to the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

“As we celebrate the holidays and gather with family, friends, and loved ones, I encourage every Michigander to take a moment to acknowledge the selfless sacrifices that these individuals make every day and pray for their safe return home,” Whitmer said in a statement Tuesday.

The members she spoke with over video calls included those from the 217th Air Operations Group, 110th Wing, from Battle Creek; Alpha Company, 3-126 Infantry Battalion from Detroit; Bravo Company, 3-126 Infantry Battalion from Wyoming; and the 1430th Engineer Company from Traverse City, according to a statement from the governor’s office.

Pure Michigan plate wins in a landslide

The basic white Pure Michigan license plate will continue to carry the mantle of being the most popular license plate design in Michigan into 2026. The license plate adorns about 8.3 million vehicles and trailers, accounting for about 71.5% of license plate sales in Michigan, the Secretary of State’s office said last week.

Among the state’s standard plate options, the blue and yellow Water-Winter Wonderland plate is the second most popular, with 1.27 million plates or 10.9% of plates issued, and the multicolor Mackinac Bridge plate comes in third, accounting for 10.7% of plates issued at 1.25 million vehicles and trailers.

About 453,000 of the discontinued white, green, and blue Spectacular Peninsulas plates remain in circulation, as well as about 218,000 green and white Water Wonderland plates.

About 122,586 university fundraising plates are still on the road, with Michigan State University topping the list at 55,413 and the University of Michigan in second with 28,194.

The University of Michigan-Flint came in last with 536 fundraising plates in circulation.

Tweet of the Week

The Insider report’s “Tweet of the Week,” recognizing a social media post that was worthy of attention or, possibly, just a laugh, from the previous week goes to the Pure Michigan account on X, formerly Twitter.

On Christmas Eve, the state’s tourism organization posted a bird’s-eye view of a snow-covered Mackinac Island, proving the island is much more idyllic when covered in snow during the winter than when it’s filled with politicians and lobbyists in the spring for the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual Mackinac Policy Conference.

cmauger@detroitnews.com

clivengood@detroitnews.com

eleblanc@detroitnews.com

 

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — The United States and Ivory Coast signed a health deal Tuesday requiring the U.S. to commit $480 million to the West African nation’s health sector as part of “America First” global health funding pacts that mirror the Trump administration’s foreign policy.

The signing in Ivory Coast’s capital of Abidjan covers areas such as HIV, malaria, maternal and child health, and global health security. It is the latest agreement the U.S. has entered with more than a dozen African countries, most of them hit by U.S. aid cuts, including Ivory Coast.

U.S. aid cuts have crippled health systems across the developing world, including in Africa, where many countries relied on the funding for crucial programs, including those responding to outbreaks of disease.

The new health pact is based on the principle of shared responsibility with Ivory Coast committing to provide up to $292 million by 2030, representing 60% of the overall commitment, according to Ivorian Prime Minister Robert Beugré Mambé.

U.S. Ambassador to Ivory Coast Jessica Davis Ba said the U.S. government is moving “beyond the traditional aid approach toward a model focused on trade, innovation, and shared prosperity.”

“Today, our bilateral cooperation is entering a new phase. We are implementing the America First global health strategy,” the ambassador said.

The Trump administration says the new “America First” global health funding agreements are meant to increase self-sufficiency and eliminate what it says are ideology and waste from international assistance. The deals replace a patchwork of previous health agreements under the now-dismantled United States Agency for International Development.

In Ivory Coast, USAID had invested $115 million to support sectors such as health, education and aid for refugees mostly fleeing violence in neighboring Sahel states.

Analysts say the new approach to global health aligns with President Donald Trump’s pattern of dealing with other nations transactionally, using direct talks with foreign governments to promote his agenda abroad.

By JENNIFER PELTZ The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — They’re ready to embark on 2026.

Three more dog breeds joined the American Kennel Club’s roster of recognized breeds on Tuesday, making them eligible for many U.S. dog shows and likely increasing their visibility to the pet-loving public.

One of the newcomers is a terrier named for a U.S. president. Another is a toy dog from Cold War-era Russia. The third is a centuries-old French hunting hound. Here’s a closer look:

The basset fauve de Bretagne

The stats: 12.5 to 15.5 inches (32 to 40 centimeters) at the base of the neck; 23 to 39 pounds (10.5 to 17.5 kilograms)

The topline: A hardy, sociable, compact hound that can hunt all day — and needs mental and physical activity.

The pronunciation: bah-SAY’ fove deh breh-TAHN’-yeh

The translation: Fawn-colored, low-set dog from Brittany

The history: Versions of these coarse-coated, tan-hued hounds go back at least as far as 16th-century French aristocratic circles. The breed has been championed in the U.S. in recent years by Cindy Hartman, a South Carolina service dog trainer who brought a pair of fauve puppies back from France in 2001. She has since trained and placed about 20 fauves as medical alert dogs for people with diabetes, she said.

The quote: “They’re wicked smart, and so if you’re wanting a dog that’s just going to lay around all day long, a fauve is not for you,” Hartman said. “But yet, when challenged mentally and physically, they’re happy to come in with you and curl up on the sofa for the evening.”

The Teddy Roosevelt terrier

The stats: 8 to 14 inches (20 to 36 centimeters) at the base of the neck; 8 to 25 pounds (3.5 to 11 kilograms)

The topline: A solid, energetic small canine that will rid your barn of rodents, alert you to strangers, do dog sports — or just entertain you with its antics.

The history: Originally seen as a short-legged variant of the rat terrier, these dogs were deemed a breed of their own in 1999. The breed was named for President Theodore Roosevelt because of his fondness for dogs, including terriers.

The quote: “They know how to get you to laugh,” says Cindy Rickey of Waynesville, North Carolina, the secretary of the American Teddy Roosevelt Terrier Club. While many terrier breeds are known for being independent-minded, her Teddy competes in obedience. “They’re terriers, no doubt about it, but they also have this tremendous desire to please,” she explains.

The Russian tsvetnaya bolonka

The stats: Up to 10¼ inches (26 centimeters) at the base of the neck; 7 to 9 pounds (3 to 4 kilograms)

The topline: A sweet but clever little companion that wants playful interaction, not just snuggling (though it likes that, too).

The pronunciation: zvit-NEYE’-ah boh-LON’-kah

The translation: Russian colored lapdog

The history: The breed was developed in Soviet-era Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) after World War II as a pet for apartment dwellers. American fans have been working to establish bolonki (the proper plural) in the U.S. since the early 2000s.

The quote: “Having a bolonka is like having a 3-year-old kid running around your house. … They can enjoy their time lying on the couch with you, but you’ve got to be prepared to play with them and keep them entertained,” says Denise Dang of Oklahoma City, the secretary of the Russian Tsvetnaya Bolonka Club of America. Owners also need to care for a thick, wavy coat that’s low-shedding but can get matted. Even if it’s cut fairly short, a bath every couple of weeks is wise, Dang says.

The big picture

The AKC recognizes 205 breeds, including these three newcomers. Fanciers of many others — though, as yet, no “doodles” or other popular poodle hybrids — have voluntarily entered a pipeline that takes years of breeding, documentation and consensus-building.

The club doesn’t limit the number of breeds it might eventually recognize. Spokesperson Brandi Hunter Munden says it’s not “adding dogs indiscriminately,” but rather providing “an established framework for growth, breed standards, competition and education in the U.S.”

The controversy

Animal-rights activists have long deplored dog breeding and the AKC for supporting it, and the criticism hardened this year into a lawsuit over the health of French bulldogs, pugs, dachshunds and Chinese shar-peis. The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is seeking a court order to stop the AKC from continuing to promulgate the current “standards,” or ideal characteristics, for those breeds.

PETA accused the kennel club of providing “blueprints for the breeding of deformed, unhealthy dogs.”

The AKC denies the allegations and has asked a court to dismiss the case, calling the suit frivolous. The club said it “has been — and remains — firmly committed to the health, well-being and proper treatment of all dogs.”

An Oakland County resident is being held on a $1 million bond after he was charged with a drive-by shooting in Shelby Township that took place the day after Christmas, according to police and prosecutors.

KeShawn Webster, 24, of Oak Park, was arraigned Tuesday in 41A District Court in Shelby Township on two counts of assault with intent to murder and weapons crimes. Visiting Magistrate Jean M. Cloud set bond at $1 million cash.

Prosecutors said Webster allegedly fired multiple shots from a handgun into a mobile home that was occupied by two people. Neither occupant was hit by the gunfire.

“Resorting to violence to resolve disputes is wholly unacceptable, and my office will give this case the thorough and deliberate attention it warrants,” Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said in a news release.

The shooting took place about 6:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 26 at the Dequindre Estate Mobile Home Park located off Dequindre Road near Hamlin.

According to prosecutors, Webster had a dispute with one of the occupants of the mobile home.

Police were dispatched to the 48000 block of Pineview for a report of multiple gunshots fired into the residence. Officers arrived on scene and found the home had been struck by gunfire multiple times.

Police said they identified Webster as the shooter after conducting numerous interviews and serving several search warrants.

The department’s Special Investigations Unit was able to locate Webster’s vehicle in the area of Nine Mile Road and Jefferson Avenue in St. Clair Shores. Detectives set up surveillance on his vehicle and arrested Webster as he was walking to his vehicle.

“A handgun was found in his purse, and additional evidence was recovered inside of his vehicle,” police said in a news release. “The investigation also determined that this shooting was not a random act.”

In addition to the assault charges, which carry up to life in prison upon conviction, Webster was also arraigned with:

• Discharging a weapon from a vehicle, a 10-year felony
• Discharging a weapon in or at a building, a 10-year felony
• Four counts of felony firearm, each a felony with mandatory consecutive 2-year sentences

Webster is due back in court for a probable cause conference on Jan. 13 and a preliminary exam on Jan. 20 before Judge Stephen A. Sierawski.

He is being held at the Macomb County Jail.

Shelby Township police Chief Robert Shelide issued a statement about the incident.

“A week ago — after our department arrested a violent home invasion suspect — I publicly stated that if you commit a violent crime in Shelby Township, our police department will track you down, arrest you, and hold you accountable,” he sad. “Obviously, the suspect in this case chose to ignore my warning and had to learn this lesson the hard way. Let me once again make it perfectly clear – if you are thinking about committing a violent crime in Shelby Township, think again.”

The chief added that over the past six months, his department had made arrests in seven case of violent crime.

Suspect in Shelby Twp. home shooting arrested walking to his car

Pontiac man charged in Shelby Twp. home invasion and other crimes

Future of Selfridge, mayhem, and political intrigue dominated 2025 in Macomb

By Anne Snabes

asnabes@detroitnews.com

The Michigan Department of Transportation has awarded $133 million in grants to upgrade transit vehicles and facilities across the state, including $59.8 million for the Detroit Department of Transportation.

MDOT said the funds, which will go to more than 20 transit agencies in Michigan, will help modernize the state’s bus infrastructure, reduce traffic congestion and “help people travel more efficiently and affordably.”

The Detroit Department of Transportation is receiving the largest grant, receiving $9 million in state match funds and $50.9 million in federal funds. The agency announced last month that it would use the federal money to purchase 53 new buses.

The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, which serves Metro Detroit’s suburban communities, meanwhile, will get $1.56 million, which includes $312,375 in state match funds and $1.25 million in federal funds.

“These competitive grants strengthen Michigan’s thriving intermodal transportation network connecting our communities,” said Jean Ruestman, administrator of the MDOT Office of Passenger Transportation, in a press release about the grants across the state. “Both grant programs have innumerable positive social and economic impacts ranging from improving mobility to advancing green innovation in public transit.”

The federal funding comes from the Federal Transit Administration’s Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program and Low or No Emission Grant Program, the latter of which is funding the 53 new Detroit buses. Those buses will be in addition to 76 buses awarded over the last two years in Biden administration grants, bringing Detroit’s total new bus purchases to 129 ― or 44% of the entire fleet, according to the city of Detroit.

One-third of the Detroit Department of Transportation’s buses were routinely in disrepair as of 2024. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan attributed part of the issue to the city getting behind on purchasing new buses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bus operators, passengers and some mechanics who work on buses said last year that the shortage of working vehicles affects the entire system’s ability to operate. Some said part of the problem is hiring mechanics without enough experience. At least one expert said the pandemic upended public transportation in many big cities.

SMART Chief Marketing Officer Bernard Parker said the agency is receiving grant funds to purchase new vehicles for three of its community partners: the North Oakland Transportation Authority, the OPC Social and Activity Center, and the Pointe Area Assisted Transportation Services.

“These grant funds allow SMART to put resources directly into the hands of our community partners,” he said in a statement. “By supporting local agencies with reliable vehicles, we’re helping them extend their reach and better connect people to services and opportunities.”

Some of the grant recipients are transit agencies in rural areas, including the Cadillac/Wexford Transit Authority. It is receiving over $6 million for various projects, including expanding its bus garage and offices, constructing a bus wash facility and purchasing 14 new vehicles.

Meanwhile, the Capital Area Transportation Authority, which serves Greater Lansing, is receiving $8.7 million to buy new hybrid buses to replace older buses that have reached their useful life. Jackson Area Transportation Authority is receiving $2.37 million for hybrid buses.

The holiday season will soon come to a close, but the busiest time of the year for product returns is just beginning.

The National Retail Federation estimates 17% of holiday purchases will be sent back this year. More retailers are reporting extended return windows and increased holiday staff to handle the rush this year.

A major driver for returns is uncertainty. When we buy for other people, finding what they want is a bit of a guessing game. Online purchases have higher return rates because finding the right size and color is tough when you’re just staring at images on screens.

“Clothing and footwear, as you can imagine, because fit is such an important criteria, they have higher rates of returns,” said Saskia van Gendt, chief sustainability officer at Blue Yonder, which sells software designed to improve companies’ supply chain management.

Returns come with an environmental cost, but there’s a lot consumers and companies are doing to minimize it.

The impact of returns

If a company sells a thing, it’s probably packaged in plastic. Plastic is made from oil, and oil production releases emissions that warm the planet. If that thing is bought online, it’s put on a plane or a train or a truck that usually uses oil-based fuel.

If you buy a thing and return it, it goes through most or all of that all over again.

And once those products are back with the retailer, they may be sent along to a refurbisher, liquidator, recycler or landfill. All these steps require more travel, packaging and energy, ultimately translating to more emissions. Joseph Sarkis, who teaches supply chain management at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, estimates that returning an item increases its impact on the planet by 25% to 30%.

Roughly a third of the time, those returns don’t make their way to another consumer. Because frequently, it’s not worth reselling.

If, for example, you get a phone, but you send it back because you don’t like the color, the seller has to pay for the fuel and equipment to get the phone back, and then has to pay for the labor to assess whether it has been damaged since leaving the facility.

“It can be quite expensive,” said Sarkis. “And if you send it out to a new customer and the phone is bad, imagine the reputational hit you’ll get. You’ll get another return and you’ll lose a customer who’s unhappy with the product or material. So the companies are hesitant to take that chance.”

Something as expensive as a phone might get sold to a secondary or refurbishment market. But that $6 silicone spatula you got off Amazon? Probably not worth it. Plus, some stuff — think a bathing suit or a bra — is less attractive to customers if there’s a chance it’s been resold. The companies know that.

And that’s where the costs of returns are more than just environmental — and consumers wind up paying. Even free returns aren’t really free.

“Refurbishment, inspection, repackaging, all of these things get factored into the retail price,” said Christopher Faires, assistant professor of logistics and supply chain management at Georgia Southern University.

What consumers can do about it

If you want to reduce the impact of your returns, the first move is to increase their chances of resale. Be careful not to damage it, and reuse the packaging to send it back, said Cardiff University logistics and operations management lecturer Danni Zhang.

If you have to return something, do it quickly. That ugly Christmas sweater you got at the white elephant office party has a much better chance of selling on Dec. 20 than it does on Jan. 5. Zhang said it’s not worth the cost to the company to store that sweater once it’s gone out of season.

Another tip: in-person shopping is better than online because purchases get returned less often, and in-person returns are better, too — because those items get resold more often. Zhang said it reduces landfill waste. Sarkis said it reduces emissions because companies with brick-and-mortar locations spread out across the country and closer to consumers thus move restocked goods shorter distances.

“If I can return in-store, then I definitely will,” Zhang said. “The managers can put that stuff back to the market as soon as possible.”

Obviously the best thing consumers can do is minimize returns. Many shoppers engage in “bracketing behavior,” or buying multiple sizes of the same item, keeping what fits, and returning the rest.

“This behavior of bringing the dressing room to our homes is not sustainable,” said Faires.

If you’re buying for someone else, you can also consider taking the guesswork out of the equation and going for a gift card.

“I know we do really want to pick up something really nice to express our love for our friends or our family. But if we are more sustainable, probably the gift card will be much better than just purchasing the product,” Zhang said.

What businesses can do about it

Sarkis wants to see companies provide more information in product descriptions about the environmental impact of returning an item, or how much of the purchase price factors in return costs.

“But I don’t know if they want to send a negative message,” he said. “If you’re telling someone to stop something because of negative results, that’s not going to sell.”

Sarkis and Zhang both say charging for returns would help. Already Amazon is requiring customers pay in certain situations.

On the tech side, Blue Yonder’s recent acquisition of Optoro, a company that provides a return management system for retailers and brands, uses a software to quickly assess the condition of returned products and route them to stores that are most likely to resell them.

“Having that process be more digitized, you can quickly assess the condition and put it back into inventory,” said van Gendt. “So that’s a big way to just avoid landfill and also all of the carbon emissions that are associated with that.”

Clothing is returned most often. Many sizes do not reflect specific measurements, like women’s dresses, so they vary a lot between brands. Zhang said better sizing could help reduce the need for returns. On top of that, Sarkis said more 3D imaging and virtual reality programs could help customers be more accurate with their purchases, saving some returns.

By Peter WhoriskeyThe Washington Post

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Like millions of other Americans, Stacy Newton turns to Healthcare.gov to shop for health insurance for her family. The Affordable Care Act website, according to the government, is where consumers are supposed to find “a menu of health insurance plans.”

But for the Newtons and many others in the country, next year’s menu is severely limited: There is only one company offering ACA plans here – and costs have risen steeply.

To continue health coverage for themselves and their two teenage children, the Newtons would have to pay an annual premium of $43,000 – about a third of their gross income. It is the price of the cheapest plan available to the family from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, the only ACA insurer left in Teton County.

This year, millions of American families that have relied on ACA, popularly known as Obamacare, are being squeezed on multiple sides: Premiums are rising, the covid-era subsidies that helped pay for those policies are shrinking, and there are fewer choices with insurers pulling out of some markets.

The squeeze here is a symptom of broader trouble in American health care. In western Wyoming and other regions, the expected rollback of enhanced subsidies has destabilized the economics of Obamacare, pushing some insurers to retreat from the government-supported market because it won’t be profitable.

That is leaving consumers such as the Newtons with little choice but to buy a pricey, unsubsidized policy from a local monopoly.

Next year, the number of counties with only one company providing Obamacare will jump from 72 to 146, according the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. That number is expected to rise further if, as appears likely, Congress fails to renew the enhanced subsidies.

Newton and her husband, Derek, each run a small business – she is an independent sales representative, and he outfits vans – and like many entrepreneurs, they have relied on the ACA for health insurance. But this year, the price of their policy rose 34 percent, and the federal subsidy that helped them pay for it is due to go away. At the same time, they know they will need medical care: Last year, Newton, 51, was diagnosed with chronic leukemia.

“It’s terrifying,” she said. “We’re not rich, we’re not poor. We’re a standard, middle-class family, and somehow now I can’t afford health insurance.”

This year, the enhanced subsidies that helped middle-income people afford Obamacare plans have been stuck in partisan congressional deadlock. The subsidies expire Dec. 31, and Republicans, who hold the majority, have opposed extending them.

Anticipating that sticker shock will induce healthy people to drop out of insurance and saddle health plans with a higher proportion of the sickest, costliest patients, insurers say they must dramatically raise ACA prices or pull out of Obamacare marketplaces altogether.

Without the enhanced subsidies, “I would expect more insurers to retreat, to exit,” said Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “People will see less choice and higher prices.”

According to economic studies conducted in 2017 and 2018, another turbulent period when Obamacare insurers faced losses and political uncertainty, prices rose between 30 and 50 percent when an area was reduced to only one ACA insurer.

The problem here in Teton County began in August when the only other insurer providing ACA coverage, Mountain Health Co-op, announced it was pulling out, citing the looming expiration of the enhanced subsidies. Of the roughly 46,000 people on Obamacare in Wyoming, about 11,000 are expected to drop coverage, according to insurers.

“The basic problem with reducing the subsidies is that healthier people say ‘we can’t afford insurance’ and drop out, while the sicker population are, like, ‘Oh, my God, I still need it,’” said Alexander Muromcew, a board member of the Mountain Health Co-op. “As an insurer, you end up with a smaller and higher-risk membership, which is not sustainable.”

Muromcew said competition had been good for consumers, noting that when Mountain Health entered the market here a few years ago, Blue Cross Blue Shield dropped its prices. Now, as a monopoly, he said, Blue Cross Blue Shield has more power to dictate prices.

“Without competition, I worry that it’ll be easier for Blue Cross Blue Shield to raise rates even further,” Muromcew said.

Diane Gore, president and chief executive of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, said she understands the frustration of people getting hit with rising premiums and lowered subsidies.

“I get it, I completely get it,” Gore said.

The company says its prices are the same across most of Wyoming, regardless of whether there is a competitor. Gore attributed this year’s price hikes, which she said were 25 percent on average, to the expectation that the remaining Obamacare customers will be sicker, and to the rising cost of medical care in rural areas, where health care providers are scarce and competition is often limited. Of every premium dollar the company collected last year, she said, 95 cents went to direct medical care.

Insurance companies don’t always find Obamacare markets profitable. Aetna, one of the largest insurance companies, announced earlier this year that it was dropping ACA coverage in 11 of 15 states. The move affected about a million Obamacare customers.

“I understand that there is rhetoric from the Beltway that the insurance companies are getting rich off of Obamacare,” Gore said. “But that’s not this insurer in Wyoming.”

‘Clearly, the system is broken’

Many people in this resort town are seasonal workers, self-employed or small-business entrepreneurs. Lacking employer insurance plans, they have come to rely on Obamacare. Among them, the anxiety is widespread.

“Clearly, the system is broken,” said Heather Huhn, an insurance broker in Jackson.

On her desk, she has a stack of files with the applications for about 30 families that she calls the “Hold Tight” pile. They are mainly people who have ongoing medical needs, such as chronic conditions or expensive prescriptions, and can’t afford to pay for health insurance at the current costs. For weeks, she said, they have been desperately waiting to see whether the government will extend the enhanced subsidies that began during the pandemic.

“They sit across from my desk and say, ‘I just don’t know what to do,’” Huhn said. “I tell them not to have a mental breakdown just yet. People are having to suffer because the government can’t figure out how to fix it.”

Sophia Schwartz, a professional skier and health care administrator here, senses similar apprehension. For years, she has been inviting groups of “ski friends,” many of whom have irregular jobs, over for dinner to counsel them on how to get health insurance.

“This was the scariest year I’ve ever done it,” said Schwartz, a former member of the U.S. ski team and now a big-mountain skier. “People came to me in pure panic.”

Considering ‘BearCare’ and other options

In desperation, many are turning to stopgap measures.

Some, especially skiers, were looking at policies at a company called Spot Insurance that cover reimbursement of medical bills incurred after accidents on the slopes. Others were looking at “healthshare” groups in which members contribute monthly to cover each other’s eligible medical bills; among the drawbacks of these programs is that elective surgeries and nonemergency treatments might not be covered.

And some were considering “short-term” insurance policies. Those are closer to conventional health insurance, but those insurers might reject applicants with medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease or cancer.

With so many in Wyoming searching for answers, even the state is jumping in. State officials have proposed “a major medical plan” they have called “BearCare.” The policies would, at “a significantly lower price,” cover emergency situations such as “being attacked by a bear” and other more common medical catastrophes. It would not cover ongoing or chronic medical needs.

Some of those looking for conventional health insurance say the state proposal is woefully inadequate.

“I don’t worry about being bitten by a bear, I worry about getting cancer,” said Margie Lynch, 58, an energy efficiency consultant based here. For the cheapest Obamacare plan, she would have to pay $1,585 a month. Its benefits would not kick in until she paid a deductible of $10,600.

“The cost of the premium is almost as much as my mortgage,” Lynch said. “I’m lucky enough to be able to pay for it if I have to. But there are so many people out there who won’t be able to.”

Newton, Lynch and others here have shared their concerns with Wyoming’s representatives in Congress: Sen. John Barrasso, Sen. Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Harriet Hageman. All three Republican lawmakers have opposed Obamacare and criticized Democrats, who have pushed to extend the enhanced subsidies.

“Stacy’s story and experience is one of the many heartbreaking examples of how Obamacare has failed families across Wyoming,” a statement from Barrasso said. “Instead of working with Republicans to make health care more affordable for all Americans, Democrats would rather use more taxpayer dollars to bail out Obamacare and hide its failures.”

A spokesman for Lummis said, “The health care problem Americans are facing is a direct result of the Democrats’ failed Affordable Care Act – Sen. Lummis had the foresight to oppose this misguided legislation from day one.”

A spokesperson for Hageman said in a statement that “Rep. Hageman knows there are many people struggling with the weight of medical expenses, and the catastrophic failure of Obamacare is making it far worse.”

The squeeze

For years, Obamacare had worked well for the Newtons.

In 2017, when the couple were starting their businesses, their income was low – about $56,000. The price of their policy was $1,585 a month, but the standard ACA subsidy covered most of that, and the couple had to come up with only $332 monthly.

Since then, however, the prices of the premiums have risen steadily, and now, because of the expected subsidy reductions, they would no longer qualify for government help. They would have to pay full price – $3,573 monthly for the cheapest option. Even at $43,000 a year, the plan carries a $21,200 deductible, according to the paperwork Stacy Newton showed The Washington Post.

This month, the couple struggled with whether to pay that to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, go without health insurance or find some other stopgap option. Newton was getting notices that said, in bold red lettering: “Important – You’re about to end (terminate) this coverage. If any of the people above get health care services or supplies after 12/31/2025, they’ll have to pay full cost.”

Eventually, Newton knows, she will need leukemia treatment. She’s just not sure when.

“If my leukemia acts up, I’m up a creek,” she said this month. “I just don’t have a solution yet.”

On Monday, she sent a text.

“I just officially canceled my ACA marketplace insurance for 2026,” she wrote. “How on Earth is this going to unfold for millions of people in America?

A suspect accused of shooting up a home in a Shelby Township mobile home park was arrested Friday as he walked to his vehicle miles away.

According to a news release from Shelby Township police, officers responded about 6:30 a.m. Dec. 26 to Dequindre Estate Mobile Home Park, located off Dequindre Road near Hamlin.

“A resident had called 911 after their home was struck by gunfire originating from the street in front of the residence,” police said in the release.

When police arrived, they confirmed the home had been hit multiple times.

The news release made no mention of anyone inside the house being injured.

The scene was secured as the investigation continued throughout the day.

In an update Friday afternoon, police said investigators had developed information on the shooting suspect and vehicle information.

Detectives located the vehicle unoccupied in a parking lot in St. Clair Shores. They waited and watched the vehicle until the suspected shooter returned to the car and was taken into custody without incident, authorities said.

The investigation is ongoing, according to the release.

Shelby Township police said they were sharing the information with the public to let the community know that an arrest has been made and there is no threat to the public.