Gov. Tim Walz has put the Minnesota National Guard on notice in the event of unrest following the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

Walz says he’s issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard in the event of civil unrest. It’s a first step that alerts 13,000 guard members that they may need to be called upon in the event of an emergency.

Addressing reporters on the situation during a Wednesday briefing, Walz said he supported the rights of demonstrators but urged them to engage in peaceful protest.

“What we’re seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict,” Walz said. “It’s governing by reality TV, and today, that recklessness cost someone their life.”

He added: “We won’t let them tear us apart. We’ll not turn against each other. To Minnesotans, they say this, I feel your anger. I’m angry. They want a show. We can’t give it to them.”

Like a number of other Democrats in Minnesota, Walz called for federal law enforcement authorities to leave the state.

“I have a very simple message, we do not need any further help from the federal government,” he said. “To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem: you have done enough.”

Meanwhile, state Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson urged “safe and lawful” protests and warned that actions like blocking freeways or damaging property could result in fines and arrest.

“We fully expect that the community will want to peacefully demonstrate their anger or frustration. Minnesota residents and visitors have the right to peacefully demonstrate,” Jacobson said. “Our focus is keeping demonstrators, community members, drivers and law enforcement safe, especially during moments of heightened tension or uncertainty.”

Reactions

A number of statements via social media and email from politicians ranged outrage over ICE’s actions and presence in the Twin Cities to support for federal law enforcement.

President Donald Trump, in a social media post, described the victim as a “professional agitator” and said video of the incident shows the ICE agent acting in self-defense.

“Based on the attached clip, it’s hard to believe he’s still alive” Trump said. He went on to blame “The Radical Left” for threatening law enforcement.

State Attorney General Keith Ellison, in a statement, said he was “very angry.”

“Like so many Minnesotans, I’m heartbroken. I’m also angry. Very angry. For weeks, we’ve watched the Trump administration deliberately brutalize our communities, and now an ICE agent has fatally shot one of our neighbors,” Ellison said. “The president is deliberately weaponizing the federal government against the people of Minnesota to inflict pain and instill terror. We must stand up to this horrendous injustice, and in doing so, we must not stoop to Donald Trump’s level. We’re right to be heartbroken and angry, but we cannot give Donald Trump the excuse he wants to continue escalating this violence against Minnesotans.”

Ellison said residents should “protest peacefully, organize your communities, and stand up for one another. I will continue to do everything in my power to oppose this brutality, ensure justice is served, and keep Minnesotans safe. Right now, I think nothing would keep Minnesotans safer than seeing ICE leave our state, and take their chaos, pain, and violence with them.”

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, in a statement, said the incident was “the result of the administration sending federal agents onto our streets against the wishes of local law enforcement, including our respected (Minneapolis) Police Chief Brian O’Hara. We need full transparency and an investigation of what happened, and I am deeply concerned that statements made by (the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) do not appear to reflect video evidence and on-the-ground accounts. While our immigration enforcement should be focused on apprehending and prosecuting violent criminals to make our communities safer, these ICE actions are doing the opposite and making our state less safe.”

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat from St. Paul, called on ICE agents to leave the state.

“ICE must immediately cease and desist their actions in Minnesota to allow state and local law enforcement officials to restore order, prevent further violence, and conduct a full, independent, and transparent investigation into ICE’s actions and conduct which caused this horrific shooting,” McCollum said. “Minnesotans are justified in their anger. As Minnesotans, we demand accountability and justice. We have a fundamental right to express our first amendment freedoms through peaceful protest. We must not fall into Trump’s trap of division and violence. We can show the world the best of Minnesota values – our compassion, our respect for the dignity of each of our neighbors, and our belief in justice for all.”

In a social media post U.S. Tom Emmer, a Sixth District Republican, posted on X his support for federal law enforcement.

“I pray that every federal law enforcement officer on the ground in Minnesota right now remains safe as they carry out their vital mission. Tim Walz and Jacob Frey are cowards who are inciting violence to distract from their own failures. It’s dangerous. Stay safe, @ICEgov.”

St. Paul mayor, others

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her said in a social media post that she was monitoring the situation in Minneapolis.

“My heart is broken for the victim, their family, and our community as a whole,” Her said. “I join Mayor Frey in demanding that ICE leave our cities immediately before they cause any further harm.”

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL- St. Paul, in a statement, said she was “devastated and furious.”

“A weak president sent ICE agents to Minnesota to sow chaos without regard for human life, and today’s killing is the predictable outcome,” Murphy said. “This federal government is using violence to force us into fearful silence and compliance, and a woman is dead because of it. ICE should never have been in Minnesota, and they need to leave now.

“I denounce these actions, and I will fight with all I have for our freedom and safety. I urge us all, even as we feel our rage and our grief, to remain calm; more innocent people cannot be hurt. We demand accountability — and the truth — from the President, Secretary Noem, ICE officials, and those involved in the shooting.”

Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, in a statement, said “peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy and must be protected, but endangering law enforcement officers is never acceptable.”

Johnson added: “I offer my condolences to the family grieving the loss of a loved one and urge everyone to step back, de-escalate, and let investigators fully examine the facts of what occurred.”

David Titus, Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association’s interim executive director, said the association stands “firmly behind law enforcement officers, accountability under the law, and the safety of every Minnesota community.

“Irresponsible, reckless rhetoric from political leaders attacking law enforcement has real and dangerous consequences for officers on the street,” he said in a statement. “When officers are vilified, demonized, or used as political props, it fuels hostility, emboldens bad actors, and puts lives directly at risk.”

A motorist fatally shot by an immigration officer in Minneapolis is at least the fifth person to die since the Trump administration launched its aggressive immigration crackdown last year.

The Department of Homeland Security said the woman killed Wednesday was trying to run over officers with a vehicle. But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said video of the incident showed it was reckless and unnecessary.

Last September, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in suburban Chicago shot and killed a Mexican man during a traffic stop.

Two men have died after being struck by vehicles while fleeing immigration authorities — one in California and another in Virginia. In July, a California farmworker fell from a greenhouse roof and broke his neck during an ICE raid.

Minneapolis Public Schools will be closed Thursday and Friday “due to safety concerns related to today’s incidents around the city,” the district announced Wednesday night after a fatal ICE shooting earlier in the day in Minneapolis.

Minnesota Public Radio received a report that armed U.S. Border Patrol officers entered Minneapolis Roosevelt high school property during Wednesday’s dismissal period.

All district programs, activities and athletics were also cancelled. The district won’t move to e-learning, as that is only allowed in cases of severe weather.

The district said it will collaborate with the city on “emergency preparedness and response.”

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday sought to assert its control over Venezuelan oil, seizing a pair of sanctioned tankers transporting petroleum and announcing plans to relax some sanctions so the U.S. can oversee the sale of Venezuela’s petroleum worldwide.

Trump’s administration intends to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally following its ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid. Besides the United States enforcing an existing oil embargo, the Energy Department says the “only oil transported in and out of Venezuela” will be through approved channels consistent with U.S. law and national security interests.

That level of control over the world’s largest proven reserves of crude oil could give the Trump administration a broader hold on oil supplies globally in ways that could enable it to influence prices. Both moves reflect the Republican administration’s determination to make good on its effort to control the next steps in Venezuela through its vast oil resources after Trump pledged the U.S. will “run” the country.

Vice President JD Vance said in an interview the U.S. can “control” Venezuela’s “purse strings” by dictating where its oil can be sold.

“We control the energy resources, and we tell the regime, you’re allowed to sell the oil so long as you serve America’s national interest,” Vance said in an interview to air on Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

The vice president added, “And that’s how we exert incredible pressure on that country without wasting a single American life.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that the oil taken from the sanctioned vessels seized in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea would be sold as part of the deal announced by Trump on Tuesday under which Venezuela would provide up to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S.

Venezuela’s interim authorities “want that oil that was seized to be part of this deal,” Rubio told reporters after briefing lawmakers Wednesday about the Maduro operation. “They understand that the only way they can move oil and generate revenue and not have economic collapse is if they cooperate and work with the United States.”

Trump spurs speculation about his plans for Greenland, Cuba and Colombia after capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro

Seizing 2 more vessels

U.S. European Command said on social media that the merchant vessel Bella 1 was seized in the North Atlantic for “violations of U.S. sanctions.” The U.S. had been pursuing the tanker since last month after it tried to evade a blockade on sanctioned oil vessels around Venezuela.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed U.S. forces also took control of the M Sophia in the Caribbean Sea. Noem said on social media that both ships were “either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it.”

The two ships join at least two others that were taken by U.S. forces last month — the Skipper and the Centuries.

The Bella 1 had been cruising across the Atlantic nearing the Caribbean on Dec. 15 when it abruptly turned and headed north, toward Europe. The change in direction came days after the first U.S. tanker seizure of a ship on Dec. 10 after it had left Venezuela carrying oil.

When the U.S. Coast Guard tried to board the Bella 1, it fled. U.S. European Command said a Coast Guard vessel had tracked the ship “pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court.”

As the U.S. pursued it, the Bella 1 was renamed Marinera and flagged to Russia, shipping databases show. A U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, said the ship’s crew had painted a Russian flag on the side of the hull.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had information about Russian nationals among the Marinera’s crew and, in a statement carried by Russia’s state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti, demanded that “the American side ensure humane and dignified treatment of them, strictly respect their rights and interests, and not hinder their speedy return to their homeland.”’

Separately, a senior Russian lawmaker, Andrei Klishas, decried the U.S. action as “blatant piracy.”

The Justice Department is investigating crew members of the Bella 1 vessel for failing to obey Coast Guard orders and “criminal charges will be pursued against all culpable actors,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.

“The Department of Justice is monitoring several other vessels for similar enforcement action — anyone on any vessel who fails to obey instructions of the Coast Guard or other federal officials will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Bondi said on X.

The ship had been sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024 on allegations of smuggling cargo for a company linked to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.

Easing some sanctions to sell Venezuela’s oil

The Trump administration, meanwhile, is “selectively” removing sanctions to enable the shipping and sale of Venezuelan oil to markets worldwide, according to an outline of the policies published Wednesday by the Energy Department.

The sales are slated to begin immediately with 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil. The U.S. government said the sales “will continue indefinitely,” with the proceeds settling in U.S.-controlled accounts at “globally recognized banks.” The money would be disbursed to the U.S. and Venezuelan populations at the “discretion” of Trump’s government.

Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA said it is in negotiations with the U.S. government for the sale of crude oil.

“This process is developed under schemes similar to those in force with international companies, such as Chevron, and is based on a strictly commercial transaction, with criteria of legality, transparency and benefit for both parties,” the company said in the statement.

The U.S. plans to authorize the importation of oil field equipment, parts and services to increase Venezuela’s oil production, which has been roughly 1 million barrels a day.

The Trump administration has indicated it also will invest in the electricity grid to increase production and the quality of life for people in Venezuela, whose economy has been unraveling amid changes to foreign aid and cuts to state subsidies, making necessities, including food, unaffordable to millions.

Meanwhile, Trump abruptly changed his tone about Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Trump said Wednesday that they had exchanged a friendly phone call and he had invited the leader of the South American country to the White House. Trump had said earlier this week that “Colombia is very sick too” and accused Petro of ”making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”

Ships said to be part of a shadow fleet

Noem said both seized ships were part of a shadow fleet of rusting oil tankers that smuggle oil for countries facing sanctions, such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran.

After the seizure of the now-named Marinera, which open-source maritime tracking sites showed was between Scotland and Iceland earlier Wednesday, the U.K. defense ministry said Britain’s military provided support, including surveillance aircraft.

“This ship, with a nefarious history, is part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fueling terrorism, conflict, and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine,” U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said.

The capture of the M Sophia, on the U.S. sanctions list for moving illicit cargos of oil from Russia, in the Caribbean was much less prolonged.

The ship had been “running dark,” not having transmitted location data since July. Tankers involved in smuggling often turn off their transponders or broadcast inaccurate data to hide their locations.

Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document that at least 16 tankers had left the Venezuelan coast since Saturday, after the U.S. captured Maduro.

The M Sophia was among them, Madani said, citing a recent photo showing it in the waters near Jose Terminal, Venezuela’s main oil export hub.

Windward, a maritime intelligence firm that tracks such vessels, said in a briefing to reporters the M Sophia loaded at the terminal on Dec. 26 and was carrying about 1.8 million barrels of crude oil — a cargo that would be worth about $108 million at current price of about $60 a barrel.

Lawless reported from London.

Some 500 people gathered around “The Triumph of the Human Spirit” in Foley Square Wednesday night to protest the Minneapolis shooting of Renee Nicole Good.

Protestors chanted “Say her name: Renee Nicole Good” just hours after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers opened fire at close range on the 37-year-old mother as she attempted to flee in a car.

President Trump claimed that Good, whom he called a “professional agitator,” attempted to run the agents down with her car and that officers fired in self-defense.

“What happened in Minneapolis was unbelievable,” Jordan Harald, 57, a retired film industry worker from Manhattan, told a Daily News reporter at the protest. “It’s critical that we’re here. What our country is doing is abhorrent and untenable. We have to fight and stand strong.”

The crowd chanted “We want ICE off our streets,” “No Justice no peace“ and “ No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA” as protesters marched around Foley Square and streets surrounding the nearby US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building at 26 Federal Plaza.

“I’m here to support the movement,” said Carlos Bogaert, 34, a bike messenger from Queens. “I’m a proud immigrant from the Dominican Republic and I’m really frustrated about what happened in Minneapolis.

“It didn’t seem like she was endangering the agents. It was an injustice,” Bogaert said.

Some New Yorkers spoke out against U.S. adventurism in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were snatched in a military operation. They are currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

“What they did in Venezuela is illegal,” said Mattias Rich, a 32-year-old waiter from Brooklyn. “It was basically a kidnapping. I understand Venezuelans don’t like Maduro. But this is no way to handle it.”

A banner strung across the crowd read: “the fascist Trump regime must go”

“This is a symbol,” said Jessica Bloom, 68, a social worker from Manhattan. “We’re grieving the death of Renee Nicole Good. They were totally out of control. She was just scared.”

Some 500 people gathered around “The Triumph of the Human Spirit” in Foley Square Wednesday night to protest the Minneapolis shooting of Renee Nicole Good.

Protestors chanted “Say her name: Renee Nicole Good” just hours after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers opened fire at close range on the 37-year-old mother as she attempted to flee in a car.

President Trump claimed that Good, whom he called a “professional agitator,” attempted to run the agents down with her car and that officers fired in self-defense.

“What happened in Minneapolis was unbelievable,” Jordan Harald, 57, a retired film industry worker from Manhattan, told a Daily News reporter at the protest. “It’s critical that we’re here. What our country is doing is abhorrent and untenable. We have to fight and stand strong.”

The crowd chanted “We want ICE off our streets,” “No Justice no peace“ and “ No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA” as protesters marched around Foley Square and streets surrounding the nearby US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building at 26 Federal Plaza.

“I’m here to support the movement,” said Carlos Bogaert, 34, a bike messenger from Queens. “I’m a proud immigrant from the Dominican Republic and I’m really frustrated about what happened in Minneapolis.

“It didn’t seem like she was endangering the agents. It was an injustice,” Bogaert said.

Some New Yorkers spoke out against U.S. adventurism in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were snatched in a military operation. They are currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

“What they did in Venezuela is illegal,” said Mattias Rich, a 32-year-old waiter from Brooklyn. “It was basically a kidnapping. I understand Venezuelans don’t like Maduro. But this is no way to handle it.”

A banner strung across the crowd read: “the fascist Trump regime must go”

“This is a symbol,” said Jessica Bloom, 68, a social worker from Manhattan. “We’re grieving the death of Renee Nicole Good. They were totally out of control. She was just scared.”

By MICHAEL BIESECKER and JIM MUSTIAN The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The woman shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday was Renee Nicole Macklin Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who had recently moved to Minnesota.

She was a U.S. citizen born in Colorado and appears to never have been charged with anything involving law enforcement beyond a traffic ticket.

In social media accounts, Macklin Good described herself as a “poet and writer and wife and mom.” She said she was currently “experiencing Minneapolis,” displaying a pride flag emoji on her Instagram account. A profile picture posted to Pinterest shows her smiling and holding a young child against her cheek, along with posts about tattoos, hairstyles and home decorating.

Her ex-husband, who asked not to be named out of concern for the safety of their children, said Macklin Good had just dropped off her 6-year-old son at school Wednesday and was driving home with her current partner when they encountered a group of ICE agents on a snowy street in Minneapolis, where they had moved last year from Kansas City, Missouri.

Video taken by bystanders posted to social media shows an officer approaching her car, demanding she open the door and grabbing the handle. When she begins to pull forward, a different ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots into the vehicle at close range.

In another video taken after the shooting, a distraught woman is seen sitting near the vehicle, wailing, “That’s my wife, I don’t know what to do!”

Calls and messages to Macklin Good’s current partner received no response.

Trump administration officials painted Macklin Good as a domestic terrorist who had attempted to ram federal agents with her car. Her ex-husband said she was no activist and that he had never known her to participate in a protest of any kind.

He described her as a devoted Christian who took part in youth mission trips to Northern Ireland when she was younger. She loved to sing, participating in a chorus in high school and studying vocal performance in college.

She studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Virginia and won a prize in 2020 for one of her works, according to a post on the school’s English department Facebook page. She also hosted a podcast with her second husband, who died in 2023.

Macklin Good had a daughter and her son from her first marriage, who are now ages 15 and 12. Her 6-year-old son was from her second marriage.

Her ex-husband said she had primarily been a stay-at-home mom in recent years but had previously worked as a dental assistant and at a credit union.

Donna Ganger, her mother, told the Minnesota Star Tribune the family was notified of the death late Wednesday morning.

“Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” Ganger told the newspaper. “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”

Ganger did not respond to calls or messages from the AP.

___

Mustian reported from New York.

By LISA MASCARO, JOSHUA GOODMAN and BEN FINLEY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s capture of Venezuela’s president and claims that it will “run” the country are raising stark new questions about the legality of the U.S. actions and its future operations in the South American nation.

The middle-of-the-night seizure of Nicolás Maduro, who was transported with his wife on a U.S. warship to face narco-terrorism conspiracy charges in New York, is beyond even the most high-profile historical examples of aggressive American actions toward autocratic governments in Panama, Iraq and elsewhere, legal experts said. It came after a surprise U.S. incursion that rocked the Venezuelan capital with overnight explosions.

“This is clearly a blatant, illegal and criminal act,” said Jimmy Gurule, a Notre Dame Law School professor and former assistant U.S. attorney.

The stunning development caps months of aggressive U.S. military action in the region, including the bombing of boats accused of trafficking drugs and seizures of oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela. The Trump administration has conducted 35 known boat strikes against vessels, killing more than 115 people since September, and positioned an armada of warships in nearby waters.

The bigger debate than legality is yet to come, said John Yoo, an early architect of the George W. Bush administration’s policy in Iraq and now a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

“It’s easier to remove a dictator,” he said, based on his experience in the Iraq War. But ensuring the transition to a stable democratic government is “the harder part.”

Maduro’s arrest on anniversary of Noriega’s surrender

Maduro’s arrest came 36 years to the date of the surrender of Panama’s strongman Manuel Noriega, a notable milestone in American involvement in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. invaded Panama in 1989 to arrest Noriega on drug trafficking charges.

In Panama, however, U.S. national security interests were directly at stake in the form of the Panama Canal as well as the safety of American citizens and U.S. military installations in the country.

By contrast, Congress has not authorized any American military strike or law enforcement move against Venezuela.

“The President will claim that this fits within a vast body of precedent supporting broad executive power to defend the United States, its citizens, and its interests,” Matthew Waxman, a Columbia University law professor who was a national security official in the Bush administration, said by email. “Critics will charge that this exceeds the bounds of presidential power without congressional authorization.”

While U.S. agents have a long history of snatching defendants abroad to execute arrest warrants without authorization, federal courts have long deferred to the White House in foreign policy and national security matters.

For example, U.S. bounty hunters, working under the direction of the Drug Enforcement Administration, in 1990 abducted in Mexico a doctor accused of killing DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.

“Courts give great deference to the president on issues related to national security,” said Gurule, who led the prosecution against Camarena’s killers. “But great deference does not mean absolute deference and unfettered authority to do anything.”

Congress has yet to authorize or ban US actions

Trump’s administration has declared the drug cartels operating from Venezuela to be unlawful combatants and has said the United States is now in an “armed conflict” with them, according to an administration memo obtained in October by The Associated Press.

The memo appears to represent an extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers, with Trump effectively declaring that trafficking of drugs into the U.S. amounts to armed conflict requiring the use of military force. That is a new rationale for past and future actions.

Congress, which has broad authority to approve or prohibit the president’s war powers, has failed to do either, even as lawmakers from both political parties grow increasingly uneasy with the military actions in the region, particularly after it was revealed that U.S. forces killed two survivors of a boat attack with a follow-up strike.

Congress’ Democratic leaders, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, demanded immediate briefings for the “gang of eight” leaders on Capitol Hill, which includes top members of the Intelligence committees, as well as for other lawmakers. Congressional leaders were not notified of the actions until after the operation was underway.

“The idea that Trump plans to now run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans,” Schumer said. “The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.”

Michael Schmitt, a former Air Force lawyer and professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval War College, said the entire operation — the boat strikes as well as the apprehension of Maduro — clearly violates international law.

“Lawyers call it international armed conflict,” Schmitt said. “Lay people call it war. So as a matter of law, we are now at war with Venezuela because the use of hostilities between two states clearly triggers an internal armed conflict.”

War powers vote ahead

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the administration “is working to schedule briefings” for lawmakers next week.

Republican lawmakers in Congress largely welcomed the capture of Maduro as ridding the region of a leader they say is responsible for drug trafficking, but Democratic lawmakers warned that in veering from the rule of law, the administration is potentially greenlighting other countries such as China or Russia to do the same.

“Beyond the legality, what kind of precedent does it send?” asked Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He said in an interview that the rebuilding plan ahead has echoes of the Iraq War as the Trump administration promises to use Venezuela’s oil revenue to pay the costs.

Waxman, the Columbia University law professor, said seizing control of Venezuela’s resources opens up additional legal issues: “For example, a big issue will be who really owns Venezuela’s oil?”

The Senate is expected to try again next week to curtail Trump’s actions, with a vote expected on a bipartisan war powers resolution that would block using U.S. forces against Venezuela unless authorized by Congress.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he is grateful for the armed forces “who carried out this necessary action.” He said he spoke to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and wants more information.

“I look forward to receiving further briefings from the administration on this operation as part of its comprehensive counternarcotics strategy when the Senate returns to Washington next week,” Thune said.

Rubio said at a briefing Saturday with Trump that because of the nature of the surprise operation, it was not something that could be shared beforehand with the lawmakers.

Goodman reported from Miami.

By BEN FINLEY and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday it’s still searching for people in the eastern Pacific Ocean who had jumped off alleged drug-smuggling boats when the U.S. military attacked the vessels days earlier, diminishing the likelihood that anyone survived.

Search efforts began Tuesday afternoon after the military notified the Coast Guard that survivors were in the water about 400 miles southwest of the border between Mexico and Guatemala, the maritime service said in a statement.

The Coast Guard dispatched a plane from Sacramento to search an area covering more than 1,000 miles, while issuing an urgent warning to ships nearby. The agency said it coordinated more than 65 hours of search efforts, working with other countries as well as civilian ships and boats in the area.

The weather during that time has included 9-foot seas and 40-knot winds. The U.S. has not said how many people jumped into the water, and, if they are not found, how far the death toll may rise from the Trump administration’s monthslong campaign of blowing up small boats accused of transporting drugs in the region.

The U.S. military said earlier this week that it attacked three boats traveling along known narco-trafficking routes and they “had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes.” The military did not provide evidence to back up the claim.

U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the region, 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.

The strikes occurred in a part of the eastern Pacific where the Navy doesn’t have any ships operating. Southern Command said it immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts for the people who jumped overboard before the other boats were hit.

Calling in the Coast Guard is notable because the military drew heavy scrutiny after U.S. forces killed the survivors of the first 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.

There have been other survivors of the boat strikes, including one for whom the Mexican Navy suspended a search in late October after four days. Two other survivors of a strike on a submersible vessel in the Caribbean Sea that same month were sent to their home countries — Ecuador and Colombia. Authorities in Ecuador later released the man, saying they had no evidence he committed a crime in the South American nation.

Under President Donald Trump’s direction, the U.S. military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific since early September. As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes is 35 and the number of people killed is at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

Trump has justified the boat strikes 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.

A year ago, Zohran Mamdani was a backbench state assemblyman who had just launched a bid for New York City mayor that many saw as a long shot because of his unabashed left-wing politics.

But on Thursday afternoon, Mamdani was inaugurated as the city’s 112th mayor with a vow to “govern as a democratic socialist,” a sign that he sees his upset election victory as a mandate for his leftist affordability agenda, which has resonated with many New Yorkers reeling from skyrocketing costs of living.

“We will govern without shame and insecurity, making no apology for what we believe. I was elected as a democratic socialist, and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” Mamdani, who at 34 is the city’s youngest mayor in more than a century, said in an inaugural address on the steps of City Hall to thunderous applause from thousands of supporters.

“I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical.”

Mamdani, who’s also the city’s first Muslim mayor, delivered his speech after taking the oath office on a Koran held by his wife, graphic artist Rama Duwaji. The oath was administered by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who, like Mamdani, is a democratic socialist and is seen as a grandfather for the modern American left.

“All of us have heard that Zohran’s opponents have called the agenda that he campaigned on ‘radical, communistic,’ oh, and ‘absolutely unachievable’ — really?” Sanders said before administering the oath. “That’s not what we believe.”

Thursday’s public ceremony came after Mamdani officially was sworn in as mayor at midnight Wednesday during a private ceremony with his family.

Having promised to make the city more affordable for working-class communities, Mamdani is entering office with high expectations on his shoulders.

His mayoral campaign centered on three key promises: freeze rents for the city’s 2 million rent-stabilized tenants, make public buses free, and drastically expand fully subsidized child care so it covers every child in the city between 6 weeks and 5 years old.

Each of those pledges comes with its own set of serious challenges.

The bus and child care proposals are contingent on billions of dollars in new funding Mamdani wants to allocate from tax increases — which would need to be enacted by the state — on millionaires and corporations. Gov. Hochul, a more moderate Democrat who was seated on the dais behind Mamdani as he delivered his speech, has openly voiced skepticism about raising taxes this year, throwing a potential wrench into Mamdani’s core agenda.

Mamdani also faces myriad other challenges, including a looming city budget deficit and the responsibility of managing the NYPD, a department he has harshly criticized throughout his political career. Additionally, critics have voiced concern about potential negative fallout from higher taxes, such as an exodus of major business from New York.

But in his inaugural speech, Mamdani reaffirmed he remains committed to all of his agenda items, including taxing millionaires at a higher rate, and vowed not to water down his messaging or promises.

“I have been told that this is the occasion to reset expectations, that I should use this opportunity to encourage the people of New York to ask for little and expect even less. I will do no such thing,” he said. “The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations.”

During Sanders’ speech, the inaugural ceremony crowd, which featured dozens of Mamdani supporters donning red Democratic Socialists of America beanies, erupted in a “Tax the rich!” chant.

Thousands more Mamdani supporters who crammed the streets around City Hall for an event his team billed a “block party” joined in on the same chant.

“We’ve got your back, we’ll move those establishment politicians, we’ll tax the corporations, we’ll get it done,” said Paul Nagle, a 67-year-old Chelsea resident.

Hochul declined to take questions after the event.

Asked how Hochul can be persuaded to back Mamdani’s taxation agenda, Sanders told the Daily News after the ceremony that continued public pressure is key. “I hope she’s heard from the people here and the people all over this country,” he said. “It is the right thing to do, and it is what the people want.”

Besides Hochul, Mamdani’s inaugural ceremony dais was a veritable who’s who of New York politics, featuring U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio and several members of Congress, as well as key advisers to Mamdani, including his chief of staff Elle Bisgaard Church and First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose upset 2018 election to Congress was a harbinger of sorts for Mamdani’s defeat of ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June’s Democratic mayoral primary, delivered the introductory speech at the inauguration. She suggested Mamdani’s election should serve as an inspiration for more left-wing electoral campaigns across the country.

“If we can make it here, we can make it anywhere,” she said.

Fresh off his inauguration, Mamdani got to work, appointing housing advocate Cea Weaver as his new tenant protection czar, and issuing a slate of executive orders that, among other things, directed his administration to identify more city government-owned land that can be used for affordable housing development.

He also held an evening press conference at an apartment building in Brooklyn, where he announced his administration will get involved in a bankruptcy case filed by Pinnacle Realty, a firm that has faced accusations of neglecting its buildings. Though he and his team provided few details, Mamdani said the purpose of his administration’s involvement in the case will be to seek relief for Pinnacle tenants facing hazardous living conditions.

Eric Adams, whose first and only mayoral term came to a close at midnight Wednesday, was also on the dais during Mamdani’s inauguration.

Having dumped his bid for reelection this fall under a cloud of controversy related to his federal corruption indictment, Adams was a thorn in Mamdani’s side on his way out of public service, taking a number of actions in the past few weeks directly aimed at stymieing the new mayor’s agenda.

Among other actions, Adams made last-minute appointments to the Rent Guidelines Board in an effort to at least temporarily block Mamdani’s promised rent freeze for stabilized tenants.

Despite the tensions, Mamdani offered Adams thanks during his inaugural speech, drawing boos from the crowd.

“He and I have had our share of disagreements, but I will always be touched that he chose me as the mayoral candidate that he would most want to be trapped with on an elevator,” Mamdani said, prompting Adams to chuckle.

Actor and comedian Richard Kind was among the revelers who attended Mamdani’s inauguration. He said he was excited for Mamdani to take over from Adams when asked if he thought the new mayor would be better than Adams.

“Anybody would be,” he said, “but especially Mamdani.”

By ALI SWENSON The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees expired overnight, cementing higher health costs for millions of Americans at the start of the new year.

Democrats forced a 43-day government shutdown over the issue. Moderate Republicans called for a solution to save their 2026 political aspirations. President Donald Trump floated a way out, only to back off after conservative backlash.

In the end, no one’s efforts were enough to save the subsidies before their expiration date. A House vote expected in January could offer another chance, but success is far from guaranteed.

The change affects a diverse cross-section of Americans who don’t get their health insurance from an employer and don’t qualify for Medicaid or Medicare — a group that includes many self-employed workers, small business owners, farmers and ranchers.

It comes at the start of a high-stakes midterm election year, with affordability — including the cost of health care — topping the list of voters’ concerns.

“It really bothers me that the middle class has moved from a squeeze to a full suffocation, and they continue to just pile on and leave it up to us,” said 37-year-old single mom Katelin Provost, whose health care costs are set to jump. “I’m incredibly disappointed that there hasn’t been more action.”

Some families grapple with insurance costs that are doubling, tripling or more

The expired subsidies were first given to Affordable Care Act enrollees in 2021 as a temporary measure to help Americans get through the COVID-19 pandemic. Democrats in power at the time extended them, moving the expiration date to the start of 2026.

With the expanded subsidies, some lower-income enrollees received health care with no premiums, and high earners paid no more than 8.5% of their income. Eligibility for middle-class earners was also expanded.

On average, the more than 20 million subsidized enrollees in the Affordable Care Act program are seeing their premium costs rise by 114% in 2026, according to an analysis by the health care research nonprofit KFF.

Those surging prices come alongside an overall increase in health costs in the U.S., which are further driving up out-of-pocket costs in many plans.

Some enrollees, like Salt Lake City freelance filmmaker and adjunct professor Stan Clawson, have absorbed the extra expense. Clawson said he was paying just under $350 a month for his premiums last year, a number that will jump to nearly $500 a month this year. It’s a strain for the 49-year-old but one he’s willing to take on because he needs health insurance as someone who lives with paralysis from a spinal cord injury.

Others, like Provost, are dealing with steeper hikes. The social worker’s monthly premium payment is increasing from $85 a month to nearly $750.

Effects on enrollment remain to be seen

Health analysts have predicted the expiration of the subsidies will drive many of the 24 million total Affordable Care Act enrollees — especially younger and healthier Americans — to forgo health insurance coverage altogether.

Over time, that could make the program more expensive for the older, sicker population that remains.

An analysis conducted last September by the Urban Institute and Commonwealth Fund projected the higher premiums from expiring subsidies would prompt some 4.8 million Americans to drop coverage in 2026.

But with the window to select and change plans still ongoing until Jan. 15 in most states, the final effect on enrollment is yet to be determined.

Provost, the single mother, said she is holding out hope that Congress finds a way to revive the subsidies early in the year — but if not, she’ll drop herself off the insurance and keep it only for her four-year-old daughter. She can’t afford to pay for both of their coverage at the current price.

Months of discussion, but no relief yet

Last year, after Republicans cut more than $1 trillion in federal health care and food assistance with Trump’s big tax and spending cuts bill, Democrats repeatedly called for the subsidies to be extended. But while some Republicans in power acknowledged the issue needed to be addressed, they refused to put it to a vote until late in the year.

In December, the Senate rejected two partisan health care bills — a Democratic pitch to extend the subsidies for three more years and a Republican alternative that would instead provide Americans with health savings accounts.

In the House, four centrist Republicans broke with GOP leadership and joined forces with Democrats to force a vote that could come as soon as January on a three-year extension of the tax credits. But with the Senate already having rejected such a plan, it’s unclear whether it could get enough momentum to pass.

Meanwhile, Americans whose premiums are skyrocketing say lawmakers don’t understand what it’s really like to struggle to get by as health costs ratchet up with no relief.

Many say they want the subsidies restored alongside broader reforms to make health care more affordable for all Americans.

“Both Republicans and Democrats have been saying for years, oh, we need to fix it. Then do it,” said Chad Bruns, a 58-year-old Affordable Care Act enrollee in Wisconsin. “They need to get to the root cause, and no political party ever does that.”

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 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.”

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?

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The shopping rush leading up to Christmas is over and in its place, like every year, another has begun as millions of people hunt for post-holiday deals and get in line to return gifts that didn’t fit, or didn’t hit quite right.

Holiday spending using cash or cards through Sunday has topped last year’s haul, according to data released this week by Visa’s Consulting & Analytics division and Mastercard SpendingPulse.

But growing unease over the U.S. economy and higher prices in part due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs have altered the behavior of some Americans. More are hitting thrift stores or other discounters in place of malls, according to data from Placer.ai. The firm tracks people’s movements based on cellphone usage.

And they’re sticking more closely to shopping lists and doing more research before buying. That may explain why returns so far are down compared with last year, according to data from Adobe Analytics.

Here are three trends that defined the holiday shopping season so far:

A weaker holiday season for traditional gift giving

Americans are still spending on gifts, yet increasingly that shopping is taking place at thrift and discount stores, according to data from Placer.ai.

That’s likely forcing traditional retailers such as department stores to fight harder for customers, Placer.ai said.

Clothing and electronics that traditionally dominate holiday sales did have a surge but struggled to grow, according to Placer.ai. Both goods are dominated by imports and thus, vulnerable to tariffs.

For example, traffic doubled in department stores during the week before Christmas, from Dec. 15 through Sunday, compared with the average shopping week this year. But traffic in the week before Christmas this year fell 13.2% compared with 2024.

Traffic surged 61% at traditional sellers of only clothing in the week before the holiday compared with the rest of the year. But again, compared with the runup to Christmas last year, sales slid 9%.

Some of that lost traffic may have migrated to the so-called off-price stores— chains like TJ Maxx. That sector had a sharp seasonal traffic bump of 85.1% and a gain of 1.2% in the week before the holiday.

But it was thrift stores that were red hot, with traffic jumping nearly 11% in the week before Christmas compared with last year.

“Whether hunting for a designer deal or uncovering a one-of-a-kind vintage piece, consumers increasingly favored discovery-driven experiences over the standardized assortments of traditional retail,” Shira Petrack, head of content at Placer.ai, said in a blog post Friday.

Thrift stores broaden their appeal

In the past it may have seemed gauche to gift your mother a gently used sweater or a pair of pants from a local thrift store, but seemingly not so amid all of the economic uncertainty and rising prices, according to Placer.ai.

Through the second half of 2025, thrift stores have seen at least a 10% increases in traffic compared with last year. That suggests that environmental concerns as well as economic issues are luring more Americans to second-hand stores, Placer.ai said. Visits to thrift stores generally do not take off during the holidays, yet in the most recent Black Friday weekend, sales jumped 5.5%, Placer.ai. reported.

In November, as customer traffic in traditional apparel stores fell more than 3%, traffic in thrift stores soared 12.7%, according to Placer.ai.

The thrift migration has altered the demographics of second-hand stores. The average household income of thrift customers hit $75,000 during October and November of this year, a slight uptick from $74,900 last year, $74,600 in 2023 well above the average income of 74,100 in 2022, based on demographic data from STI:PopStats combined with Placer.ai data.

U.S. sales at thrift chain Savers Value Village’s rose 10.5% in the three months ended Sept. 27 and the momentum continued through October, store executives said in late October.

“High household income cohort continues to become a larger portion of our consumer mix,” CEO Mark Walsh told analysts. “It’s trade down for sure, and our younger cohort also continues to grow in numbers. ”

Fewer returns, so far

For the first six weeks of the holiday season, return rates have dipped from the same period a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics.

That suggests that shoppers are doing more research before adding something to their shopping list, and they’re being more disciplined in sticking to the lists they create, according to Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights.

“I think it’s very indicative of consumers and how conscientiously they’ve purchased,” Pandya said. “Many of them are being very specific with how they spend their budget.”

From Nov. 1 to Dec. 12, returns fell 2.5% compared with last year, Adobe reported. In the seven days following Cyber Week — the five shopping days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, returns fell 0.1%.

From the Nov. 1 through Dec. 12, online sales rose 6% to $187.3 billion, on track to surpass its outlook for the season, Adobe reported.

Between Dec. 26 to Dec. 31, returns are expected to rise by 25% to 35% compared with returns between Nov. 1 through Dec. 12, Adobe said, and it expects returns to remain elevated through the first two weeks of January, up 8% to 15%.

This is the first year that Adobe has tracked returns.

Still, the last week of December sees the greatest concentration of returns: one out of every eight returns in the 2024 holiday season took place between Dec. 26 and Dec 31, a trend expected to persist this year, Adobe said.

By OLIVIA DIAZ The Associated Press

The Powerball jackpot has jumped to an eye-popping $1.7 billion, after the 46th drawing passed without a big winner.

The numbers drawn Monday night were 3, 18, 36, 41, 54 and the Powerball 7.

Since Sept. 6, there have been 46 straight drawings without a big winner.

The next drawing will be Christmas Eve on Wednesday, with the prize expected to be the 4th-largest in U.S. lottery history.

Powerball’s odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate big jackpots, with prizes growing as they roll over when no one wins. Lottery officials note that the odds are far better for the game’s many smaller prizes. There are three drawings each week.

The estimated $1.6 billion jackpot goes to a winner who opts to receive 30 payments over 29 years through an annuity. Winners almost always choose the game’s cash option, which for Monday night’s drawing would be an estimated $735.3 million.

Powerball tickets cost $2, and the game is offered in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Joselyn Walsh was working from her Pilsen home last month when her phone began to ring. It was a special agent from the FBI, the caller said, and they needed to speak with her.

Unfamiliar with the number, the 31-year-old part-time researcher, part-time garden store worker dismissed the call as spam. But then her cell sounded again. This time, Walsh googled the 10 digits flashing up at her.

Sure enough, it was the FBI headquarters in Chicago. And they had a warrant out for her arrest.

“How is this possible?” Walsh wondered.

Walsh is among six protesters facing federal conspiracy charges in one of the most high-profile cases to emerge from Operation Midway Blitz, the Trump administration’s mass deportation mission in Chicago this fall. They are accused of conspiring to forcibly impede a federal immigration agent at a September protest at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview.

Charged alongside four Democratic politicians and one political staffer, Walsh is arguably the least known of the group, known as the ‘Broadview Six.’ She said she doesn’t know her co-defendants and still doesn’t know why, among the hundreds that went to protest outside of the west suburban processing center during the two-month operation, she’s been singled out in federal court.

The case stands to test the impact and bounds of protest in the second Trump administration. 

“I think (conviction),” said Steven Heyman, a law professor with the Chicago-Kent College of Law, “would send a real strong message that the government is capable of taking severe measures to suppress, I would say, legitimate dissent.”

Walsh remains confident in her innocence. But she’s keenly aware of what’s at stake.

“There’s the reality of wow, years in prison are on the line here,” she said. Still, the charges have also sharpened her resolve, spurring her to speak louder.

Weeks after her indictment, she continues to use her voice, often performing as part of a protest music collective and sometimes, returning to Broadview. Her co-defendants, by themselves and through attorneys, have denounced the charges as an attack on the First Amendment and maintained they will not be deterred. They’re not alone.

After an arraignment hearing in the case outside of the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse downtown just over a month ago, dozens of protesters gathered under the red sculpted arches of Federal Plaza.

“We support the Broadview Six!” they chanted.

Almost immediately after the Department of Homeland Security announced the launch of Operation Midway Blitz in early September, protests grew outside Broadview’s ICE processing center, where the federal government held detainees for days in what a class-action lawsuit described as dirty and unsafe conditions. The near daily confrontations brought tear gas, baton rounds and dozens of arrests.

The conspiracy charges against Walsh and her co-defendants stem from a protest outside the building nearly three months ago. Alongside Walsh, charged are congressional candidate Katherine “Kat” Abughazaleh, Cook County Board candidate Catherine “Cat” Sharp, 45th Ward Democratic Committeeman Michael Rabbit, Oak Park Trustee Brian Straw, and Andre Martin, who is Abughazaleh’s deputy campaign manager.

The group is accused of surrounding and damaging an ICE vehicle during a Broadview protest on the morning of Sept. 26. An 11-page indictment alleges the group “crowded together in the front and side of the Government Vehicle” and pushed against it “to hinder and impede its movement.”

Prosecutors further allege protesters scratched the car’s body, broke a side mirror and a rear windshield wiper and etched the word “PIG” into the paint.

The indictment includes the conspiracy count — which carries a maximum sentence of six years in federal prison — as well as several other counts of impeding a federal officer, each punishable by up to one year in federal prison.

Walsh started protesting in Broadview early on into the blitz. She flocked to the facility to sing.

A lifelong musician from rural Missouri, Walsh said she’d often read about the goings-on in the world growing up. But she was inspired to start taking action after 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, while she was at college in St. Louis.

“(It) was this moment of, I think, recognizing how … power and control works in our country and in our world,” she said.

Since moving to Chicago six years ago, Walsh has grown into her advocacy. After working at a food and farming nonprofit in the city — work Walsh says was, and still is, important to her — she found herself wanting to delve into community organizing. She hit her stride through music.

For the past two years, Walsh has performed in a citywide collective of people working to bring “the power of music to protests,” she said. Called Songs for Liberation, the group includes musicians and non-musicians alike (even “shower singers,” Walsh noted). The group started as Songs for Ceasefire in support of Palestine but has grown to encompass a broader mission to dissent through song.

“Protests don’t necessarily have a lot of music,” Walsh said. “But (we think it’s) a really powerful thing.”

 The collective often performs at events and protests, sometimes by invitation and sometimes just by members’ interest, with appearances ranging from marches outside the Democratic National Convention last year to caroling outside Christkindlmarket.

The Broadview protests, which became a flash point against the Trump administration’s crackdown, were a natural fit for the collective. For weeks through the blitz, and even still today as immigration enforcement continues, some amalgamation of members would travel out to the facility and through the clashes and commotion and force, perform.

“No human is illegal here,” Walsh sang with the collective one morning in Broadview, her performance captured in a video posted online. A gas mask hung around Walsh’s arm as she strummed a guitar. “We refuse to be controlled by fear.”

Andrew Walsh isn’t surprised by his daughter’s activism. While she was a shy kid, he recalled that she’s always been fiercely compassionate. And she’s long been privy to conversations about morality and politics. Her mother is a minister. Andrew is a religion professor at a small college in Missouri, whose research focuses on the intersection of religion and social issues.

Andrew said he’s proud of his daughter. And terrified.

“(But) we can’t simply submit in fear,” he said. “Because if we all submit in fear, we’ve seen in history how that turns out.”

Sept. 26 started out just like any other day of protesting and singing, Walsh recalled, but what did stick out to her was that it felt like “there was a whole other level of random impunity.”  That morning, federal agents fired baton rounds, tear gas and other less-lethal ammunition at about 200 people gathered outside the Broadview processing center, the Tribune reported at the time.

Walsh remembered leaving early after a foam baton round struck and put a hole in her guitar.

“We’re just singing and then all of a sudden, I feel this impact,” she said. After a moment of disbelief, Walsh walked away, drank water, spoke with some friends and ultimately, went home.

Walsh, on the advice of her attorney, couldn’t speak to the crux of the indictment, though she did call the government’s allegations “totally baseless.”

In a video of the confrontation cited by the Department of Justice, a black SUV is seen slowly rolling through a crowd of people as they chant, “up, up with liberation, down, down with deportation!” As the car inches forward, footage shows some protesters hitting the hood and windows as they try to block its movement. In another video that has circulated widely online, a guitar briefly flashes into frame.

A request for comment sent to the Department of Justice was forwarded to an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago, who declined to comment because the case was pending.

“Federal agents perform dangerous, essential work every single day to enforce our immigration laws and keep our communities safe,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in an October statement when charges were announced. “When individuals resort to force or intimidation to interfere with that mission, they attack not only the agents themselves but the rule of law they represent.”

The FBI called Walsh a month later. She’d been continuing to protest, while balancing her research job and taking shifts at a Humboldt Park garden store. Also due to get married in June, Walsh and her partner have been planning a wedding and had a tasting set for the day the FBI rang. They canceled their appointment.

The news of her arrest warrant left Walsh shocked and confused.

“I’m just sitting here, wracking my brain, like what possibly could have happened?” she said. 

There’s been a growing trend in protests giving way to conspiracy charges.

Last year, San Francisco prosecutors charged 26 protesters with federal conspiracy after they allegedly blocked the Golden Gate Bridge for hours to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. Amid the immigration protests in Los Angeles this summer, an activist was indicted on a federal conspiracy charge after he was accused of handing out face shields during an anti-ICE demonstration, though the charges have since been dropped. In Washington, nine people are facing a federal conspiracy charge tied to an immigration protest outside a Spokane DHS office earlier this year.

The First Amendment protects individuals’ right to express their views on the government, said Heyman, the Chicago-Kent College of Law professor. Those protections do not extend to “true threats of violence” or false and defamatory statements — but they do extend to sharp criticism, Heyman said.

In his estimation, “most of the kinds of criticisms that these protesters are making about ICE and the Trump administration (are) 100% protected by the First Amendment,” Heyman said.

Where problems arise is that, generally, conduct is not constitutionally protected, he said.

“If they’re physically blocking an ICE vehicle and surrounding it and trying to prevent it from passing and so forth, basically that’s not protected under the First Amendment,” he said. Still, he said he believes that prosecuting the protesters for felonies, especially for conspiracy, is “an extreme overreaction.” 

But with Walsh’s case, there’s also the matter that two criminal laws are at issue — impeding by force and conspiracy — and the burden is on the government to prove the statutes were violated, Heyman said.

Recent weeks have seen other cases out of the blitz fail to hold up in court. Last month, a federal judge dismissed charges against a woman shot by a Border Patrol agent after she allegedly rammed his vehicle in Brighton Park. And this month, a case was dismissed against Lakeview comedy club manager whom federal authorities had accused of slamming the door on the leg of a Border Patrol agent during an October immigration arrest.

For the higher charge against the Broadview protesters, prosecutors would have to show that they actually engaged in a conspiracy, Heyman said. That could be done in two ways, by demonstrating protesters had an outright agreement to conspire or had reached an implicit understanding they were going to commit a crime, according to Heyman. He noted the latter is vague and could be hard to prove.

Joshua Herman, who is representing Abughazaleh in the case, wrote in an email statement to the Tribune that the particular statute invoked by prosecutors in their conspiracy charge also does not require proof of an “overt act” — only an unlawful agreement.

“How these specific individuals,” he stated, “who were amongst a crowd of other (protesters) could spontaneously form such an unlawful agreement is a question the government will need to answer.”

He added that the statute cited is also rarely used and, to his knowledge, hasn’t been employed to prosecute protest activity in this way, despite it being on the books for well over a century.

Heyman said it’s unlikely Walsh and her co-defendants would receive the maximum sentence should they be convicted. But the case in itself, he added, conveys intimidation.

“The Trump administration is trying to send the message that they will tolerate no opposition to their immigration crackdown,” Heyman said.

He compared the case to prosecuting political opponents.

At a status hearing for the legal battle earlier this month, defense attorneys asked federal prosecutors to turn over White House communications related to a “selective prosecution” argument. 

Brad Thomson, Walsh’s attorney, contends that with this case, the government is prosecuting people for protesting together.

“That’s a real danger,” he said, “when you’re trying to have a society that has a robust discourse about the actions of the government.”

When the indictment against Walsh came to light, “it definitely rocked our community,” said Jack Sundstrom, a musician who’s performed with Songs for Liberation for the past six months. Sundstrom, like Walsh, performed with the collective in Broadview.

“It’s scary and terrifying, and it would be a lie to say that this isn’t something that keeps me up at night sometimes,” the 25-year-old Glenview resident said. But in his circle, he went on, there’s also “very much a sense of we’re going to keep doing this work.” He especially intends to keep organizing through music.

“As the song goes, the people united will never be defeated,” he said. “So I am going to continue doing what I do for as long as I can.”

Walsh hopes this doesn’t keep people from speaking out.

For her and her fiancé Joseph Ozment, it’s been a surreal few weeks since her charges were unsealed. But while scary, it’s been motivating, said Ozment, who’s also involved with Songs for Liberation.

“If they’re angry at us for this,” he said, “I think it’s for a good cause.”

They’ve also been reconciling what they’re facing with what they’re fighting for.

“I get to sleep in a warm bed,” Ozment said. “I know that … I’m not going to be whisked away in the middle of the night, and my family aren’t going to know where I am.”

The parallel, Walsh said, has only emboldened her more.

“It’s great that some of us have these rights,” she said, “and it’s awful that not all of us do. We need to keep fighting for that.”

By FATIMA HUSSEIN The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicaid programs made more than $200 million in improper payments to health care providers between 2021 and 2022 for people who had already died, according to a new report from the independent watchdog for the Department of Health and Human Services.

But the department’s Office of Inspector General said it expects a new provision in Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill requiring states to audit their Medicaid beneficiary lists may help reduce these improper payments in the future.

These kinds of improper payments are “not unique to one state, and the issue continues to be persistent,” Aner Sanchez, deputy regional inspector general in the Office of Audit Services told The Associated Press. Sanchez has been researching this issue for a decade.

The watchdog report released Tuesday said more than $207.5 million in managed care payments were made on behalf of deceased enrollees between July 2021 to July 2022. The office recommends that the federal government share more information with state governments to recover the incorrect payments — including a Social Security database known as the Full Death Master File, which contains more than 142 million records going back to 1899.

Sharing the Full Death Master File data has been tightly restricted due to privacy laws which protect against identity theft and fraud.

The massive tax and spending bill that was signed into law by President Donald Trump this summer expands how the Full Death Master File can be used by mandating Medicaid agencies to quarterly audit their provider and beneficiary lists against the file, beginning in 2027. The intent is to stop payments to dead people and improve accuracy.

Tuesday’s report is the first nationwide look at improper Medicaid payments. Since 2016, HHS’ inspector general has conducted 18 audits on a selection of state programs and had identified that Medicaid agencies had improperly made managed care payments on behalf of deceased enrollees totaling approximately $289 million.

The government had some success using the Full Death Master File to prevent improper payments earlier this year. In January, the Treasury Department reported that it had clawed back more than $31 million in federal payments that improperly went to dead people as part of a five-month pilot program after Congress gave Treasury temporary access to the file for three years as part of the 2021 appropriations bill.

Meanwhile, the SSA has been making unusual updates to the file itself, adding and removing records, and complicating its use. For instance, the Trump administration in April moved to classify thousands of living immigrants as dead and cancel their Social Security numbers to crack down on immigrants who had been temporarily allowed to live in the U.S. under programs started during the Biden administration.