The Senate gave final passage to an annual military policy bill Wednesday that will authorize $901 billion in defense programs while pressuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers with video of strikes on alleged drug boats in international water near Venezuela.

The annual National Defense Authorization Act, which raises troop pay by 3.8%, gained bipartisan backing as it moved through Congress, and the White House has indicated that it is in line with President Donald Trump's national security priorities. However, the legislation, which ran over 3,000 pages, revealed some points of friction between Congress and the Pentagon as the Trump administration reorients its focus away from security in Europe and towards Central and South America.

The bill pushes back on recent moves by the Pentagon. It demands more information on boat strikes in the Caribbean, requires that the U.S. keep its troop levels in Europe at current levels and sends some military aid to Ukraine.

But overall, the bill represents a compromise between the parties. It implements many of Trump's executive orders and proposals on eliminating diversity and inclusion efforts in the military and grants emergency military powers at the U.S. border with Mexico. It also enhances congressional oversight of the Department of Defense, repeals several years-old war authorizations and seeks to overhaul how the Pentagon purchases weapons as the U.S. tries to outpace China in developing the next generation of military technology.

We're about to pass, and the president will enthusiastically sign, the most sweeping upgrades to DOD's business practices in 60 years, said Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

RELATED STORY | Full video of Venezuela drug boat strikes will not be made public, Hegseth says

Still, the sprawling bill faced objections from both Democratic and Republican leadership on the Senate Commerce Committee. That's because the legislation allows military aircraft to obtain a waiver to operate without broadcasting their precise location, as an Army helicopter had done before a midair collision with an airliner in Washington, D.C. in January that killed 67 people.

"The special carve-out was exactly what caused the January 29th crash that claimed 67 lives, Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said at a news conference this week.

Cruz said he was seeking a vote on bipartisan legislation in the next month that would require military aircraft to use a precise location sharing tool and improve coordination between commercial and military aircraft in busy areas.

Boat strike videos

Republicans and Democrats agreed to language in the defense bill that threatens to withhold a quarter of Hegseths travel budget until he provides unedited video of the strikes with the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services, as well as the orders authorizing them.

Hegseth was on Capitol Hill Tuesday ahead of the bill's passage to brief lawmakers on the U.S. military campaign in international water near Venezuela. The briefing elicited contrasting responses from many lawmakers, with Republicans largely backing the campaign and Democrats expressing concern about it and saying they had not received enough information.

The committees are investigating a Sept. 2 strike the first of the campaign that killed two people who had survived an initial attack on their boat. The Navy admiral who ordered the double-tap strike, Adm. Frank Mitch Bradley, also appeared before the committees shortly before the vote Wednesday in a classified briefing that also included video of the strike in question.

Congressional oversight

Lawmakers have been caught by surprise by the Trump administration several times in the last year, including by a move to pause intelligence sharing with Ukraine and a decision to reduce U.S. troop presence in NATO countries in eastern Europe. The defense legislation requires that Congress be kept in the loop on decisions like that going forward, as well as when top military brass are removed.

The Pentagon is also required, under the legislation, to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment stationed in Europe unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests. Around 80,000 to 100,000 U.S. troops are usually present on European soil. A similar requirement also keeps the number of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea at 28,500.

Lawmakers are also pushing back on some Pentagon decisions by authorizing $400 million for each of the next two years to manufacture weapons to be sent to Ukraine.

Cuts to diversity and climate initiatives

Trump and Hegseth have made it a priority to purge the military of material and programs that address diversity, anti-racism or gender issues, and the defense bill would codify many of those changes. It will repeal diversity, equity and inclusion offices and trainings, including the position of chief diversity officer. Those cuts would save the Pentagon about $40 million, according to the Republican-controlled House Armed Services Committee.

RELATED STORY | Heres whats in the $900B US defense bill headed for a Senate vote

The U.S. military has long found that climate change is a threat to how it provides national security because weather-related disasters can destroy military bases and equipment. But the bill makes $1.6 billion in cuts by eliminating climate-change related programs at the Pentagon.

Repeal of war authorizations and Syria sanctions

Congress is writing a closing chapter to the war in Iraq by repealing the authorization for the 2003 invasion. Now that Iraq is a strategic partner of the U.S., lawmakers in support of the provision say the repeal is crucial to prevent future abuses. The bill also repeals the 1991 authorization that sanctioned the U.S.-led Gulf War.

The rare, bipartisan moves to repeal the legal justifications for the conflicts signaled a potential appetite among lawmakers to reclaim some of Congress's war powers.

Congress will also permanently lift U.S. sanctions on Syria as part of the legislation, following up on the Trump administration's decision to temporarily lift many penalties. The nation is rebuilding after its former leader Bashar Assad was deposed, and supporters of the new government say that permanently lifting the sanctions will spur the country's economic reconstruction and encourage the establishment of democracy.

In a seismic shift for one of television's marquee events, the Academy Awards will depart ABC and begin streaming on YouTube beginning in 2029, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday.

ABC will continue to broadcast the annual ceremony through 2028. That year will mark the 100th Oscars.

But starting in 2029, YouTube will retain global rights to stream the Oscars through 2033. YouTube will effectively be the home to all things Oscars, including red-carpet coverage, the Governors Awards and the Oscar nominations announcement.

"We are thrilled to enter into a multifaceted global partnership with YouTube to be the future home of the Oscars and our year-round Academy programming," said Academy Chief Executive Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor. "The Academy is an international organization, and this partnership will allow us to expand access to the work of the Academy to the largest worldwide audience possible which will be beneficial for our Academy members and the film community."

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While major award shows have added streaming partnerships, the YouTube deal marks the first of the big four the Oscars, Grammys, Emmys and Tonys to completely jettison broadcast. It puts one of the most-watched non-NFL broadcasts in the hands of Google. YouTube boasts some 2 billion viewers.

The Academy Awards will stream for free on YouTube, in addition to YouTube TV subscribers. It will be available with audio tracks in many languages, in addition to closed captioning.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

"The Oscars are one of our essential cultural institutions, honoring excellence in storytelling and artistry," said Neal Mohan, chief executive of YouTube. "Partnering with the academy to bring this celebration of art and entertainment to viewers all over the world will inspire a new generation of creativity and film lovers while staying true to the Oscars' storied legacy."

Representatives of The Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. The network has been the broadcast home to the Oscars for almost its entire history. NBC first televised the Oscars in 1953, but ABC picked up the rights in 1961. Aside from a period between 1971 and 1975, when NBC again aired the show, the Oscars have been on ABC.

The 2025 Academy Awards were watched by 19.7 million viewers on ABC, a slight increase from the year before.

Rob Reiners son Nick Reiner made his first court appearance Wednesday on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents.

The 32-year-old did not enter a plea as he appeared from behind the glass wall of a custody area. He was in shackles and wearing a jail suicide prevention smock.

Reiner's arraignment was postponed until Jan. 7 at his lawyers request. He spoke only to say yes, your honor to agree to the date.

Reiner was charged Tuesday with killing the 78-year-old actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference with LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell.

Their loss is beyond tragic and we will commit ourselves to bringing their murderer to justice," Hochman said.

WATCH | Rob Reiner remembered as son is arrested in double homicide case

Along with the two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors added special circumstances of multiple murders and a special allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon, a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.

Hochman said his office has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty in the case.

This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones but for our entire city, McDonnell said.

The announcement came two days after the couple was found dead from apparent stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles. Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) from the crime scene, police said.

Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom All in the Family who went on to direct films including When Harry Met Sally... and The Princess Bride. He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades. Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.

Several of those closest to them, including actors Billy Crystal, Albert Brooks, Martin Short and Larry David, released a statement mourning and celebrating the couple on Tuesday night.

They were a special force together dynamic, unselfish and inspiring, the statement said. We were their friends, and we will miss them forever.

Nick Reiner had been scheduled to make an initial court appearance earlier Tuesday, but his attorney Alan Jackson said he was not brought from the jail to the courthouse for medical reasons and the appearance was postponed.

At Wednesday's hearing, Reiner may enter a plea, a judge may schedule an arraignment for later or the same issue that prevented him from coming to court Tuesday could cause further postponement. He is being held without bail.

Jackson is a high-profile defense attorney and former LA County prosecutor who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her intensely followed trials in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.

On the other side will be Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, whose recent cases included the Menendez brothers' attempt at resentencing and the trial of Robert Durst.

Authorities havent said anything about a motive for the killings and would give few details when asked at the news conference.

Gil Gerard, who played television's hunky sci-fi hero William Buck Rogers soon after the Star Wars franchise took hold in the late 1970s, has died. He was 82.

Gerard died Tuesday in hospice as a result of a rare, aggressive form of cancer, said his manager, Tina Presley Borek. His wife, Janet Gerard, posted a posthumous Facebook message he left behind for fans that read in part:

Dont waste your time on anything that doesnt thrill you or bring you love. See you out somewhere in the cosmos.

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Gerard starred in NBC's campy Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, which ran for two seasons from 1979 to 1981. A theatrical film based on the series also delighted youngsters and their parents alike. It was Rogers' second turn on TV after a show in the 1950s, a radio series and a 1939 film serial.

The story was based on Philip Francis Nowlan's serialized 1928 pulp novella Armageddon 2419 A.D. Nowlan's character was named Anthony Rogers. The name was changed when the story began running in newspapers as a comic strip.

My life has been an amazing journey, Gerard wrote in his social media post. The opportunities Ive had, the people Ive met and the love I have given and received have made my 82 years on the planet deeply satisfying.

As the TV story goes, Rogers was a 20th century NASA pilot who was placed in frozen animation when his ship was hit by a meteor storm. He pops awake 500 years later in the year 2491. He gazes upon a futuristic, domed Earth with all its threats, including aliens, space pilots and the evil Draconians.

He had helpers: The robot sidekick Twiki and a beautiful space pilot Wilma Deering, played by Erin Gray.

A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Gerard worked steadily in TV commercials. He was featured in a number of other TV shows and movies, including starring roles in the 1982 TV movie Hear No Evil as Dragon and the short-lived Sidekicks in 1986.

In 1992, he hosted the reality series Code 3, following firefighters responding to emergency calls around the U.S. There were many guest appearances in the 1990s, including on Days of Our Lives.

Gerard and Gray were together again in 2007 for the TV film Nuclear Hurricane. They also returned to the Buck Rogers universe as Rogers' parents in the pilot episode of James Cawley's Buck Rogers Begins internet video series in 2009.

Gerard spoke openly about addictions to drugs, alcohol and compulsive overeating. He was the subject of a one-hour documentary, Action Hero Makeover, in 2007 after his weight ballooned to 350 pounds.

Done by Adrienne Crow, then a longtime companion, for the Discovery Health Channel, the film documented his progress after gastric bypass surgery.

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Gerard was married and divorced four times before Janet. He had a son, actor Gilbert Vincent Gerard, with model and actor Connie Sellecca. Their divorce included a bitter custody battle for Gib, who was born in 1981. Sellecca was granted main custody.

My journey has taken me from Arkansas to New York to Los Angeles, and finally, to my home in North Georgia with my amazing wife, Janet, of 18 years, Gerard wrote in the post put on Facebook after his death.

Its been a great ride, but inevitably one that comes to a close as mine has.

Maryland will create a commission to study potential reparations for slavery after lawmakers voted Tuesday to override a veto by Gov. Wes Moore currently the nation's only Black governor that disappointed many fellow Democrats.

Moore said in his veto letter in May that it was a difficult decision to veto the bill, which was a priority of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. But he wrote there has been enough study of the legacy of slavery, and it was now time to "focus on the work itself" to address it.

But Democrats who control both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly decided the commission was needed to better examine how to do that.

"This topic isn't easy, but, again, without formal study, reparations risk being dismissed as symbolic or unconstitutional, regardless of moral merit," said Sen. Charles Sydnor, a Democrat.

After his veto was overridden, Moore said that while he disagrees with the legislature's decision, "I am eager to move forward in partnership on the work of repair that we all agree is an urgent and pressing need."

"I believe the time for action is now - and we must continue moving forward with the work of repair immediately," Moore said in a statement. "That mission is especially vital given the immediate and ongoing effects of this federal administration on our constituents, including communities that have been historically left behind."

Potential reparations outlined in the bill include official statements of apology, monetary compensation, property tax rebates, social service assistance, as well as licensing and permit fee waivers and reimbursement. Reparations also could include assistance with making a down payment on a home, business incentives, childcare, debt forgiveness and tuition payment waivers for higher education.

Maryland's Black population is about 30%, the highest percentage of any state outside of the Deep South.

Support for reparations gained momentum in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. However, the issue has been a difficult one, particularly for high-profile Democrats, and comes amid a broader conservative backlash over how race, history and inequality are handled in public institutions.

"At a time of growing attacks on diversity and equity, today's action reaffirms our shared commitment to truth-telling, accountability, and meaningful progress for Black Marylanders," the state's Legislative Black Caucus said in a statement.

ICYMI | California to apologize for state's legacy of racism against Black Americans under new law

In October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a mixed bag for proponents of bills aimed at addressing racist and discriminatory policies against African Americans. He signed a law authorizing $6 million for California State University to study how to confirm an individual's status as a descendant of an enslaved person. But he vetoed other bills the California Legislative Black Caucus championed as tools to atone for the state's history.

Newsom, who is considering running for president in 2028, signed a law last year to formally apologize for slavery and its lingering effects on Black Californians.

Moore has said he is not planning to run for president in 2028, but he has continued to cultivate a national profile that has drawn pundits' attention as a potential White House contender.

New York City lawmakers approved legislation last year to study the city's significant role in slavery and consider reparations to descendants of enslaved people.

In 2021, Evanston, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, became the first U.S. city to create a reparations plan for its Black residents, using tax revenue from the sale of recreational marijuana.

As recently as a few years ago, Americans viewed the prospect of reparations mostly negatively. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2021 found that only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults said descendants of people enslaved in the U.S. should be repaid in some way, such as given land or money. About 7 in 10 said these descendants should not be repaid.

Maryland lawmakers did not take up congressional redistricting in their one-day special session. Moore has expressed interest in pursuing a new map, which could come up when lawmakers convene in January for their annual 90-day session. However, the state Senate president has said he doesn't support moving forward with a new map. Democrats hold a 7-1 advantage over Republicans in the state's eight congressional districts.

Warner Bros. is telling shareholders to reject a takeover bid from Paramount Skydance, saying that a rival bid from Netflix will be better for customers.

We strongly believe that Netflix and Warner Bros. joining forces will offer consumers more choice and value, allow the creative community to reach even more audiences with our combined distribution, and fuel our long-term growth, Warner Bros. said Wednesday. We made this deal because their deep portfolio of iconic franchises, expansive library, and strong studio capabilities will complementnot duplicateour existing business.

Paramount went hostile with its bid last week, asking shareholders to reject the deal with Netflix favored by the board of Warner Bros.

Paramount is offering $30 per Warner share to Netflixs $27.75.

Paramounts bid isnt off the table altogether. While Wednesdays letter to shareholders means Paramounts is not the offer favored by the board at Warner Bros., shareholders can still decide to tender their shares in favor of Paramounts offer for the entire company including cable stalwarts CNN and Discovery.

Unlike Paramounts bid, the offer from Netflix does not include buying the cable operations of Warner Bros. An acquisition by Netflix, if approved by regulators and shareholders, will close only after Warner completes its previously announced separation of its cable operations.

RELATED STORY | Streaming shake-up: Netflix to absorb Warner Bros. and HBO in $82.7 billion deal

Paramount has claimed it made six different bids that Warner leadership rejected before announcing its deal with Netflix on Dec. 5. Only after that did it take its offer directly to Warners shareholders.

Beyond a greenlight from shareholders, both takeover bids face tremendous regulatory scrutiny. A change in ownership at Warner would drastically reshape the entertainment and media industry impacting movie making, consumer streaming platforms and, in Paramounts case, the news landscape.

Critics of Netflixs deal say that combining the massive streaming company with Warners HBO Max would give it overwhelming market dominance, whereas the Paramount+ streaming service is far smaller.

This is something that weve heard for a long timeincluding when we started the streaming business, Warner Bros. said in a securities filing Wednesday. Our stance then and now is the samewe see this as a win for the entertainment industry, not the end of it.

Bids from both Netflix and Paramount have raised alarm for what they could mean for film and TV production. While Netflix has agreed to uphold Paramounts contractual obligations for theatrical releases, critics have pointed to its past business model and reliance on online releases. Yet Paramount and Warner Bros. are two of the big five legacy studios left in Hollywood today.

RELATED STORY | Netflix to raise the price of most subscriptions after record-setting streaming year

Paramounts attempt to buy Warners cable networks and news business would also bring CBS and CNN under the same roof. In addition to further accelerating media consolidation, that could raise questions about shifts in editorial control as seen at CBS News both leading up to and following Skydances $8 billion purchase of Paramount, which it completed in August.

U.S. President Donald Trump has already been vocal about his future involvement in the deal, indicating that politics will play a role in regulatory approval.

Trump previously said that Netflixs deal could be a problem because of the potential for an outsized control of the market. The Republican president also has a close relationship with Oracles billionaire founder Larry Ellison the father of Paramounts CEO, whose family trust is also heavily backing the companys bid to buy Warner.

Affinity Partners, an investment firm run by Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner, previously said it would investing in the Paramount deal, too. But on Tuesday, the firm announced that it would be dropping out of the bid.

Still, Trump also has a tendency to make decisions based on gut and his personal mood. He has continued to publicly lash out at Paramount over editorial decisions at CBS 60 Minutes.

For those people that think I am close with the new owners of CBS, please understand that 60 Minutes has treated me far worse since the so-called takeover, than they have ever treated me before, Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social on Tuesday. If they are friends, Id hate to see my enemies!

An accused gunman in Sydneys Bondi Beach massacre was charged with 59 offenses including 15 charges of murder on Wednesday, as hundreds of mourners gathered in Sydney to begin funerals for the victims.

Two shooters slaughtered 15 people on Sunday in an antisemitic mass shooting targeting Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, and more than 20 other people are still being treated in hospitals. All of those killed by the gunmen who have been identified so far were Jewish.

RELATED STORY | Australian police say Bondi Hanukkah massacre was ISISinspired terror attack

As investigations unfold, Australia faces a social and political reckoning about antisemitism, gun control and whether police protections for Jews at events such as Sundays were sufficient for the threats they faced.

Accused shooter charged in hospital

Naveed Akram, the 24-year-old alleged shooter, was charged on Wednesday after waking from a coma in a Sydney hospital, where he has been since police shot him and his father at Bondi. His father Sajid Akram, 50, died at the scene.

The charges include one count of murder for each fatality and one count of committing a terrorist act, police said.

Akram was also charged with 40 counts of causing harm with intent to murder in relation to the wounded and with placing an explosive near a building with intent to cause harm.

Police said the Akrams' car, which was found at the crime scene, contained improvised explosive devices.

Akram's lawyer did not enter pleas and did not request his client's release on bail during a video court appearance from his hospital bed, a court statement said.

Akram is being represented by Legal Aid NSW, which has a policy of refusing media comment on behalf of clients. He is expected to remain under police guard in hospital until he is well enough to be transferred to a prison.

A father of 5 who ministered in prisons is buried

Families from Sydney's close-knit Jewish community gathered, one after another, to begin to bury their dead. The victims of the attack ranged in age from a 10-year-old girl to an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.

Jews are usually buried within 24 hours from their deaths, but funerals have been delayed by coroners investigations.

The first farewelled was Eli Schlanger, 41, a husband and father of five who served as the assistant rabbi at Chabad-Lubavitch of Bondi and organized Sunday's Chanukah by the Sea event where the attack unfolded. The London-born Schlanger also served as chaplain in prisons across New South Wales state and in a Sydney hospital.

After what happened, my biggest regret was apart from, obviously, the obvious I could have done more to tell Eli more often how much we love him, how much I love him, how much we appreciate everything that he does and how proud we are of him, said Schlanger's father-in-law, Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, who sometimes spoke through tears.

I hope he knew that. Im sure he knew it, Ulman said. "But I think it should've been said more often.

One mourner, Dmitry Chlafma, said as he left the service that Schlanger was his longtime rabbi.

You can tell by the amount of people that are here how much he meant to the community, Chlafma said. He was warm, happy, generous, one of a kind.

Outside the funeral, not far from the site of the attack, the mood was hushed and grim, with a heavy police presence.

Authorities are probing a suspected connection to the Islamic State group

Authorities believe that the shooting was a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State, Australia's federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett said Wednesday.

The Islamic State group is a scattered and considerably weaker group since a 2019 U.S.-led military intervention drove it out of territory it had seized in Iraq and Syria, but its cells remain active and it has inspired a number of independent attacks including in western countries.

RELATED STORY | Father and son kill at least 15 people in attack on Hanukkah event in Australia

Authorties are also examining a trip the suspects made to the Philippines in November.

Groups of Muslim separatist militants, including Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines, once expressed support for IS and have hosted small numbers of foreign militants from Asia, the Middle East and Europe in the past. Philippine military and police officials say there has been no recent indication of any foreign militants in the countrys south.

Leader pledges action on guns and antisemitism

The news that the suspects were apparently inspired by the Islamic State group provoked more questions about whether Australia's government had done enough to stem hate-fueled crimes, especially directed at Jews. In Sydney and Melbourne, where 85% of Australia's Jewish population lives, a wave of antisemitic attacks has been recorded in the past year.

After Jewish leaders and survivors of Sunday's attack lambasted the government for not heeding their warnings of violence, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed Wednesday to take whatever government action was needed to stamp out antisemitism.

Albanese and the leaders of some Australian states have pledged to tighten the countrys already strict gun laws in what would be the most sweeping reforms since a shooter killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in 1996. Mass shootings in Australia have since been rare.

Albanese has announced plans to further restrict access to guns, in part because it emerged the older suspect had amassed six weapons legally. Proposed measures include restricting gun ownership to Australian citizens and limiting the number of weapons a person can hold.

Australians come together to grieve

Meanwhile, Australians seeking ways to make sense of the horror settled on practical acts. Hours-long lines were reported at blood donation sites and at dawn on Wednesday, hundreds of swimmers formed a circle on the sand, where they held a minute's silence. Then they ran into the sea.

Not far away, part of the beach remained behind police tape as the investigation into the massacre continued, shoes and towels abandoned as people fled still strewn across the sand.

One event that would return to Bondi was the Hanukkah celebration the gunmen targeted, which has run for 31 years, Ulman said. It would be in defiance of the attackers' wish to make people feel like it was dangerous to live as Jews, he added.

Eli lived and breathed this idea that we can never ever allow them not only to succeed, but anytime that they try something we become greater and stronger, he said.

Were going to show the world that the Jewish people are unbeatable."

The Trump administration announced Tuesday it was expanding travel restrictions to an additional 20 countries and the Palestinian Authority, doubling the number of nations affected by sweeping limits announced earlier this year on who can travel and emigrate to the U.S.

The Trump administration included five more countries as well as people traveling on documents issued by the Palestinian Authority to the list of countries facing a full ban on travel to the U.S. and imposed new limits on 15 other countries.

The move is part of ongoing efforts by the administration to tighten U.S. entry standards for travel and immigration, in what critics say unfairly prevents travel for people from a broad range of countries. The administration suggested it would expand the restrictions after the arrest of an Afghan national suspect in the shooting of two National Guard troops over Thanksgiving weekend.

People who already have visas, are lawful permanent residents of the U.S. or have certain visa categories such as diplomats or athletes, or whose entry into the country is believed to serve the U.S. interest, are all exempt from the restrictions. The proclamation said the changes go into effect on Jan. 1.

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In June, President Donald Trump announced that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from coming to the United States and those from seven others would face restrictions. The decision resurrected a hallmark policy of his first term.

At the time the ban included Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen and heightened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

On Tuesday, the Republican administration announced it was expanding the list of countries whose citizens are banned from entering the U.S. to Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. The administration also fully restricted travel on people with Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents, the latest U.S. travel restriction against Palestinians. South Sudan was also facing significant travel restrictions already.

An additional 15 countries are also being added to the list of countries facing partial restrictions: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The restrictions apply to both people seeking to travel to the U.S. as visitors or to emigrate there.

The Trump administration said in its announcement that many of the countries from which it was restricting travel had widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records that made it difficult to vet their citizens for travel to the U.S.

It also said some countries had high rates of people overstaying their visas, refused to take back their citizens whom the U.S. wished to deport or had a general lack of stability and government control, which made vetting difficult. It also cited immigration enforcement, foreign policy and national security concerns for the move.

The Afghan man accused of shooting the two National Guard troops near the White House has pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges. In the aftermath of that incident, the administration announced a flurry of immigration restrictions, including further restrictions on people from those initial 19 countries who were already in the U.S.

MORE ON IMMIGRATION | Afghanistan, Iran among nations facing new Trump immigration pause

The news of the expanding travel ban is likely to face fierce opposition from critics who have argued that the administration is using national security concerns to collectively keep out people from a wide range of countries.

This expanded ban is not about national security but instead is another shameful attempt to demonize people simply for where they are from," said Laurie Ball Cooper, vice president of U.S. Legal Programs at the International Refugee Assistance Project.

Advocates for Afghans who supported the United States' two-decade long war in Afghanistan also raised alarms Tuesday, saying the updated travel ban no longer contains an exception for Afghans who qualify for the Special Immigrant Visa. Thats a visa category specifically for Afghans who closely assisted the U.S. war effort at great risk to themselves.

No One Left Behind, a longtime agency advocating for the Special Immigrant Visa program, said it was deeply concerned about the change. The organization said it appreciated the president's commitment to national security but allowing Afghans who'd served the U.S. to enter the U.S. after extensive vetting also contributes to the country's security.

Though intended to allow for review of inconsistent vetting processes, this policy change inadvertently restricts those who are among the most rigorously vetted in our history: the wartime allies targeted by the terrorists this proclamation seeks to address, the organization said in a statement.

Countries that were newly placed on the list of banned or restricted countries said late Tuesday that they were evaluating the news. The government of the island nation of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea said it was treating the issue with the utmost seriousness and urgency and was reaching out to U.S. officials to clarify what the restrictions mean and address any problems.

Antigua and Barbudas ambassador to the United States, Ronald Saunders, said the matter is quite serious" and he'll be seeking more information from U.S. officials regarding the new restrictions.

The Trump administration also upgraded restrictions on some countries Laos and Sierra Leone that previously were on the partially restricted list and in one case Turkmenistan said the country had improved enough to warrant easing some restrictions on travelers from that country. Everything else from the previous travel restrictions announced in June remains in place, the administration said.

The new restrictions on Palestinians come months after the administration imposed limits that make it nearly impossible for anyone holding a Palestinian Authority passport from receiving travel documents to visit the U.S. for business, work, pleasure or educational purposes. The announcement Tuesday goes further, banning people with Palestinian Authority passports from emigrating to the U.S.

In justifying its decision Tuesday, the administration said several U.S.-designated terrorist groups operate actively in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and have murdered American citizens. The administration also said the recent war in those areas had likely resulted in compromised vetting and screening abilities."

Fernando Mendoza, the mercurial quarterback of No. 1 Indiana, won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, becoming the first Hoosier to win college footballs most prestigious award since its inception in 1935.

Mendoza claimed 2,362 first place votes. He beat Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (1,435 votes), Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (719 votes) and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (432 votes).

Mendoza guided the Hoosiers to their first No. 1 ranking and the top seed in the 12-team College Football bracket, throwing for 2,980 yards and a national-best 33 touchdown passes while also running for six scores. Indiana, the last unbeaten team in major college football, will play a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.

Mendoza, the Hoosiers first-year starter after transferring from California, is the triggerman for an offense that surpassed program records for touchdowns and points set during last seasons surprise run to the CFP.

A redshirt junior, the once lightly recruited Miami native is the second Heisman finalist in school history, joining 1989 runner-up Anthony Thompson. Mendoza is the seventh Indiana player to earn a top-10 finish in Heisman balloting and it marks another first in program history having back-to-back players in the top 10. Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke was ninth last year.

Quarterbacks have won the Heisman four of the last five years, with two-way player Travis Hunter of Colorado ending the run last season.

The Heisman Trophy presentation came after a number of accolades were already awarded. Mendoza was named The Associated Press player of the year earlier this week and picked up the Maxwell and Davey OBrien awards Friday night while Love won the Doak Walker Award.

Two U.S. service members and one American civilian were killed and three other people wounded in an ambush on Saturday by a lone member of the Islamic State group in central Syria, the the U.S. militarys Central Command said.

The attack on U.S. troops in Syria is the first to inflict casualties since the fall of President Bashar Assad a year ago.

Central Command said in a post on X that as a matter of respect for the families and in accordance with Department of Defense policy, the identities of the service members will be withheld until 24 hours after their next of kin have been notified.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X: Let it be known, if you target Americans anywhere in the world you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.

President Donald Trump told reporters, "We will retaliate" when asked how the U.S. would respond.

The shooting took place near historic Palmyra, according to the state-run SANA news agency, which earlier said two members of Syrias security force and several U.S. service members had been wounded. The casualties were taken by helicopter to the al-Tanf garrison near the border with Iraq and Jordan.

SANA said the attacker was killed, without providing further details.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attacker was a member of the Syrian security force.

The U.S. has hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the Islamic State group.

Last month, Syria joined the international coalition fighting against the IS as Damascus improves its relations with Western countries following the ouster of Assad when insurgents captured his seat of power in Damascus.

The U.S. had no diplomatic relations with Syria under Assad, but ties have warmed since the fall of the five-decade Assad family rule. The interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, made a historic visit to Washington last month where he held talks with President Donald Trump.

IS was defeated on the battlefield in Syria in 2019 but the groups sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in the country. The United Nations says the group still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.

U.S. troops, which have maintained a presence in different parts of Syria including Al-Tanf garrison in the central province of Homs to train other forces as part of a broad campaign against IS, have been targeted in the past. One of the deadliest attacks occurred in 2019 in the northern town of Manbij when a blast killed two U.S. service members and two American civilians as well as others from Syria while conducting a patrol.

Comedy icon Dick Van Dyke celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday, hitting the century mark some six decades after he sang and danced with Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins and starred in his self-titled sitcom.

The funniest thing is, its not enough, Van Dyke said in an interview with ABC News at his Malibu, California home. A hundred years is not enough. You want to live more, which I plan to.

Van Dyke became one of the biggest actors of his era with The Dick Van Dyke Show, which ran from 1961-66 on CBS; appeared with Andrews as a chimney sweep with a Cockney accent in the 1964 Disney classic Mary Poppins and, in his 70s, played a physician-sleuth on Diagnosis: Murder.

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Also a Broadway star, Van Dyke won a Tony Award for Bye Bye Birdie to go with a Grammy and four Primetime Emmys. In 1963, he starred in the film version of Bye Bye Birdie.

Just last year, he became the oldest winner of a Daytime Emmy, for a guest role on the soap Days of Our Lives.

In the 1970s, he found sobriety after battling alcoholism, and spoke out about it at a time when that was uncommon to do.

Now that he has hit triple digits, Van Dyke said he's gotten some perspective on how he used to play older characters.

You know, I played old men a lot, and I always played them as angry and cantankerous, he told ABC News. "It's not really that way. I don't know any other 100-year-olds, but I can speak for myself."

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She gives me energy. She gives me humor, and all kinds of support, he told ABC News.

Van Dyke was born in West Plains, Missouri, in 1925, and grew up the class clown in Danville, Illinois, while admiring and imitating the silent film comedians.

He told ABC News he started acting when he was about 4 or 5 years old in a Christmas pageant. He said he was the baby Jesus.

I made some kind of crack, I don't know what I said, but it broke the congregation up," he said. "And I liked the sound of that laughter.

And what's hard about being 100?

I miss movement, he told ABC News. I've got one game leg from I don't know what."

"I still try to dance, he said with a laugh.

Peter Greene, a character actor best known for his role as the iconic villain Zed in Pulp Fiction, has died. He was 60.

He died in his home in New York City, his manager, Gregg Edwards confirmed on Friday. His cause of death was not immediately released.

He was just a terrific guy," said Edwards. "Arguably one of the greatest character actors on the planet; Has worked with everybody.

Born in Montclair, New Jersey, Greene landed some of his first leading roles in Laws of Gravity in 1992 and Clean, Shaven in 1993, according to IMDB.

In 1994, he played the memorable villain in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction." That same year, he played another leading villain opposite Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz in The Mask."

Greene was working on two projects when he died, including a documentary about the federal government's withdrawal of funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to Edwards.

Weve been friends for over a decade," said Edwards. "Just the nicest man.

The United States will lift sanctions on Belarusian potash in the latest sign of a thaw between Washington and the isolated autocracy.

John Coale, the U.S. special envoy for Belarus, met the countrys authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko for talks in the Belarusian capital of Minsk on Friday and Saturday.

A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced Western isolation and sanctions for years. Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been repeatedly sanctioned by Western countries both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

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Speaking with journalists, Coale described two-day talks as very productive, Belarus state news agency Belta reported Saturday.

The meetings focused on steps toward normalizing relations between Washington and Minsk, including lifting sanctions and releasing political prisoners in Belarus, Coale said. He also said that the relationship between the two countries was moving from baby steps to more confident steps as they increased dialogue.

The discussions also touched on Venezuela, as well as Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Belta said.

Coale told reporters that Lukashenko had given good advice on how to address the conflict, saying that Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin were longtime friends with the necessary level of relationship to discuss such issues.

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"Naturally, President Putin may accept some advice and not others, Coale said.

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to restore billions of dollars in canceled FEMA disaster mitigation funding, siding with 22 states and the District of Columbia that sued over the canceled grants this summer.

President Donald Trump's administration said in April it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which helped communities with predisaster projects to harden infrastructure and improve resilience against the increasing threats of climate change.

The administration called the program wasteful and ineffective and said it would halt $3.6 billion in funding awarded but not yet paid and would not award $882 million in grants for the following fiscal year.

The program's disruption upended projects across hundreds of communities in both Republican- and Democratic-led states, thwarting plans to improve stormwater drainage, harden electrical lines and even help relocate households living in areas most vulnerable to disasters.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told The Associated Press Thursday that DHS has not terminated BRIC, but did not elaborate on the programs status.

The Biden Administration abandoned true mitigation and used BRIC as a green new deal slush fund, the spokesperson said, referring to a Democratic plan to combat climate change. Its unfortunate that an activist judge either didnt understand that or didnt care.

The order comes at a time of profound uncertainty over FEMA's future and on the same day that a long-awaited meeting of the FEMA Review Council to present a report recommending reforms to the agency was abruptly canceled by the White House because it had not been fully briefed on the latest version of the report, according to a White House official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

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Congress funded BRIC during the first Trump administration through the 2018 Disaster Recovery Reform Act, and FEMA launched the program in 2020. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act made an additional $1 billion available for BRIC over five years, though only about $133 million had been delivered to communities by April, according to FEMA.

The program was criticized by some for being difficult to access for rural and less wealthy communities due to a complicated application process and cost-sharing requirements. But even Republican lawmakers like Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana opposed the cancellations and called for BRIC's reinstatement.

It protects families and saves taxpayer dollars in the long-run, Cassidy said on the Senate floor a week after the funding cancellation. Thats efficient in my book.

Judge Richard G. Stearns found that FEMA's actions were unlawful since Congress appropriated the money specifically for the grants and that there was an inherent public interest in ensuring that the government follows the law.

The BRIC program is designed to protect against natural disasters and save lives, Stearns wrote in the court order.

The Trump administration has slashed disaster preparedness dollars across multiple FEMA programs this year as part of its campaign to transfer more responsibility for disasters to states.

Since February, Trump has not approved any requests for hazard mitigation funding, a typical add-on that helps states, tribes and territories complete resilience projects after major disasters.

Emergency preparedness grants that states and local governments rely on to staff emergency management agencies and buy equipment are currently frozen after 12 states sued the Trump administration over unprecedented grant stipulations related to the administration's immigration agenda.

Multiple studies have shown that preemptive investments in disaster readiness can yield significant savings. A 2024 study funded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found every $1 invested in disaster preparation saved $13 in economic impact, damage and cleanup costs.

National Guard troops went door-to-door early Friday to evacuate a farming city north of Seattle as severe flooding throughout western Washington stranded families on rooftops, washed over bridges and ripped homes from their foundations.

Gov. Bob Ferguson, who has warned that as many as 100,000 people would need to evacuate statewide, said Friday the Trump administration has approved a disaster declaration.

Days of torrential rain have swelled rivers to record or near-record levels. Officials issued "go now" orders on Wednesday to tens of thousands of residents in the Skagit River flood plain, including the city of Burlington, home to nearly 10,000 people. By Friday morning, muddy water overflowed a slough and rushed into homes, prompting more urgent warnings.

"ALL RESIDENTS IN THE CITY OF BURLINGTON SHOULD EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY," Skagit County wrote on social media.

By late morning the evacuation order was lifted for part of the city, police department spokesperson Michael Lumpkin said.

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The Skagit River drains a wide swath of the rugged Cascade Range before winding west across broad, low-lying farmlands on its way to Puget Sound. Cities like Burlington sit on that flat stretch between the mountains and the sea, leaving them especially vulnerable to floods.

National Guard fans out amid flood evacuations

National Guard members knocked on hundreds of doors to tell residents about the evacuation notice and help transport them to a shelter if needed, Lumpkin said. The water was reportedly two to three feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) deep in certain areas as it flooded homes, he said.

While water levels appeared to ease later in the morning, "it's definitely not an all clear," Lumpkin said.

The heaviest rain has ended for the region, but the impact remains widespread. The Skagit Rover will be slow to recede and some rivers in the Cascades have yet to crest, while other major rivers remain above flood stage, said Jeff Michalsky, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

Even as floodwaters go down, another weather system is approaching and could move through beginning Sunday, Michalsky said.

"Depending on each river, it could prolong the flooding or renew the flooding," he said.

Further north near the U.S.-Canada border, the cities of Sumas, Nooksack and Everson were evacuated after being inundated. The border crossing at Sumas was closed.

The mayor of Sumas, Bruce Bosch, said much of the city has been "devastated" by the high waters just four years after a similar flood. In a social media message, he said it would take most of Friday for water levels to drop enough to allow people back, and acknowledged that the community was anxious to return to their homes.

"Me too," the mayor wrote. "Hang in there."

Debris, mudslides and standing water have blocked roads and highways across the state, leading to closures.

Flooding rivers break records

A number of rivers were in flood stage overnight, including the Skagit. The river crested over 37 feet (11 meters) in Mount Vernon, surpassing the previous record by a few inches, according to the National Water Prediction Service.

The Snohomish River surged nearly a foot (30 centimeters) higher than its record Thursday in the picturesque city that shares its name.

The waters stopped just short of getting inside Mariah Brosa's raised riverfront home in Concrete, but the raging Skagit River still slapped debris against her home and totaled her fiance's work car, she said.

"I didn't think it would come this high," she said.

Flooding from the river has long plagued Mount Vernon, the largest city in Skagit County with some 35,000 residents. Floods in 2003 displaced hundreds of people.

A floodwall that protects downtown passed a major test in 2021, when the river crested near record levels.

Officials respond to flooding

Authorities across Washington state in recent days have rescued people from cars and homes after the weather phenomenon known as an atmospheric river soaked the region.

Helicopters rescued two families on Thursday from the roofs of homes in Sumas that had been flooded by about 15 feet (4.6 meters) of water, according Frank Cain JR., battalion chief for Whatcom County Fire District 14.

In nearby Welcome, erosion from the floodwaters caused at least two houses to collapse into the Nooksack River, he said. No one was inside at the time.

In a football field in Snoqualmie, a herd of elk swam and waded through neck-high water.

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

Another storm system is expected to bring more rain starting Sunday.

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President Donald Trump was sued on Friday by preservationists asking a federal court to halt his White House ballroom project until it goes through multiple independent reviews and wins approval from Congress.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded group, is asking the U.S. District Court to block Trumps White House ballroom project, which already has involved razing the East Wing, until it goes through comprehensive design reviews, environmental assessments, public comments and congressional debate and ratification.

Trump's project has prompted criticism in the historic preservation and architectural communities, and among his political adversaries, but the lawsuit is the most tangible effort thus far to alter or stop the president's plans for an addition that itself would be nearly twice the size of the White House before the East Wings demolition.

No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else, the lawsuit states. And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in.

Additionally, the Trust wants the court to declare that Trump, by fast-tracking the project, has committed multiple violations of the Administrative Procedures Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, while also exceeding his constitutional authority by not consulting lawmakers.

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No more work should be done, the Trust argues, until administration officials complete the required reviews reviews that should have taken place before the Defendants demolished the East Wing, and before they began construction of the Ballroom.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not immediately respond to Associated Press questions about the lawsuit and the project, including whether the president had any intention of consulting Congress. Trump, a Republican, has emphasized since announcing the project that hes doing it with private money, including his own. But that would not necessarily change how federal laws and procedures apply to what is still a U.S. government project.

The president already has bypassed the federal governments usual building practices and historical reviews with the East Wing demolition. He recently added another architectural firm to the project.

Trump has long said a White House ballroom is overdue, complaining that events were held outside under a tent because the East Room and the State Dining Room could not accommodate bigger crowds. Trump, among other complaints, said guests get their feet wet if it rains during such events.

The White House is expected to submit plans for Trumps new ballroom to a federal planning commission before the year ends, about three months after construction began.

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Will Scharf, who was named by Trump as chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, said at the panels monthly meeting last week that he was told by colleagues at the White House that the long-awaited plans would be filed in December.

Once plans are submitted, thats really when the role of this commission, and its professional staff, will begin, said Scharf, who also is one of the Republican presidents top White House aides.

He said the review process would happen at a normal and deliberative pace.

Besides being too late, the Trust argues, that's not nearly enough.

The Trust asserts that plans should have been submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts and Congress before any action. The lawsuit notes that the Trust wrote to those entities and the National Park Service on Oct. 21, after East Wing demolition began, urging a stop to the project and asking the administration to comply with federal law.

The National Trust received no response, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit cites a litany of federal statutes and rules detailing the role the planning and fine arts commission and lawmakers play in U.S. government construction projects.

Among them is a statute: A building or structure shall not be erected on any reservation, park, or public grounds of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia without express authority of Congress."

The Trust notes also that the range design and environmental reviews, along with congressional deliberation, would involve public input.

This public involvement, while important in all preservation matters, is particularly critical here, where the structure at issue is perhaps the most recognizable and historically significant building in the country, the complaint says.

Besides the president, the lawsuit names as defendants the National Parks Service, the Department of the Interior, and the General Services Administration, along with leaders of those federal agencies.

The U.S. Mint unveiled the designs for coins commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence next year. They depict the founding documents and the Revolutionary War, but so far, not President Donald Trump, despite a push among some of his allies to get his face on a coin.

The Mint abandoned designs developed during Joe Biden's presidency that highlighted women's suffrage and civil rights advancements, favoring classical depictions of America over progress toward a more inclusive society.

A series of celebrations are planned next year under the banner America 250, marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. All U.S. coins show the year they were minted, but those made next year will also display 1776.

Trump, at least for now, isn't getting a coin

No design was released for a $1 coin, though U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, whose duties include oversight of the U.S. Mint, serving as a liaison with the Federal Reserve and overseeing Treasury's Office of Consumer Policy, confirmed in October that one showcasing Trump was in the works. A draft design showed Trump's profile on the "heads" side, known as the obverse, and on the reverse, a depiction of Trump raising his fist after his attempted assassination, The words "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT" appear along the top.

By law, presidents typically can't appear on coins until two years after their death, but some advocates for a Trump coin think there may be a loophole in the law authorizing the treasury to mint special coins for the nation's 250th birthday.

Neither the Mint nor the Treasury Department responded when asked whether a Trump coin is still planned.

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The new designs depict classical Americana

New designs will appear only on coins minted in 2026, with the current images returning the following year.

The nickel, dime and five versions of the quarter will circulate, while a penny and half dollar will be sold as collectibles.

Five versions of the quarter are planned depicting the Mayflower Compact, Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Gettysburg Address.

The dime will show a depiction of Liberty, a symbolic woman facing down the tyranny of the British monarchy, and an eagle carrying arrows in its talons representing America's fight for independence.

The commemorative nickel is essentially the same as the most recent nickel redesign, in 2006, but it includes two dates on the head's side instead of one, 1776 and 2026.

Two collectible coins are planned

A half dollar coin shows the face of the Statue of Liberty on one side. The other shows her passing her torch to what appears to be the hand of a child, symbolizing a handoff to the next generation.

The penny is essentially the same as the one in circulation, which was discontinued earlier this year and will be produced only as a collectible with two dates.

Prices for collectible coins were not released. The Mint sells a variety of noncirculating coins on its website, with a vast range of prices reflecting their rarity.

In honor of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps founding, for example, a commemorative half dollar coin is available for $61, while a commemorative $5 gold coin goes for $1,262. Up to 750,000 copies of the former will be minted, but no more than 50,000 of the latter.

The abandoned designs

Congress authorized commemorative coins in 2021. During the Biden administration, the Mint worked with a citizens advisory committee to propose designs depicting the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, abolitionism, suffrage and civil rights.

Those designs included depictions of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Ruby Bridges, who was escorted to school by the National Guard at age 6 years amid opposition to racial integration at public schools.

Those designs represented "continued progress toward 'a more perfect union,'" said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, quoting a phrase from the preamble to the Constitution.

"The American story didn't stop at the pilgrims and founding fathers, and ignoring anything that has happened in this country in the last 162 years is just another attempt by President Trump to rewrite our history," Cortez Masto said in a statement.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lab tests detected contamination

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Infant botulism is rare

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Flooding rivers could break records

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Cities respond to flooding

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

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

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

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