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  • Chipotle pulls jalapeños from some restaurants as health officials investigate salmonella outbreak

    Chipotle pulls jalapeños from some restaurants as health officials investigate salmonella outbreak

    CHICAGO — Chipotle Mexican Grill said Tuesday that it had removed jalapeños from some of its restaurants after determining the peppers could potentially be tied to a salmonella outbreak public health officials are investigating.

    In a brief statement, Chipotle maintained that the “health and safety of our guests and employees is our highest priority” — and that it had pulled the jalapeños out of an abundance of caution and “replaced them with product from different growers” in all locations where a previous common lot had been distributed.

    The company did not specify where the initial peppers came from but noted that the jalapeños in question were sent across multiple states to several retailers.

    The Minnesota Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed that it was investigating a salmonella outbreak tied to several Mexican-style, quick-service restaurants — with jalapeños as the suspected source. Officials identified 110 cases in the state. Chipotle made up the majority of those where they were able to reach affected consumers for an interview — who ate at the chain between mid-June and mid-July — but not all.

    “Based on all the evidence so far, the food that made people sick was served at other restaurants as well,” Carlota Medus, senior epidemiologist supervisor in the MDH’s Health Foodborne Diseases Unit, said in a statement.

    Medus said Chipotle had been cooperative over the course of the investigation — and that given the measures the company put in place, his department was not concerned about the chain at this time. Still, he said it was “too soon for us to know if the outbreak is ongoing” and that it’s possible contaminated food is being served elsewhere.

    MDH noted that other states are contributing to the investigation, without elaborating further. On the federal level, the Food and Drug Administration is conducting the traceback probe — covering but not limited to jalapeños.

    The FDA on Tuesday confirmed it initiated its traceback investigation “of multiple ingredients” on July 22, in response to a cluster of salmonella illnesses identified by both state officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a statement, the agency said it appreciated Chipotle’s cooperation and that it would “provide additional information if and when there is an actionable public health update.”

    The CDC did not respond a request for further comments Tuesday afternoon.

    Symptoms of salmonella poisoning include diarrhea, fever, severe vomiting, dehydration, and stomach cramps. Most people who get sick recover within a week. Infections can be more severe in young children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems, who may require hospitalization.

    Shares of California-based Chipotle Mexican Grill plunged nearly 10% on Tuesday.

  • Five Below investors are alleging securities fraud in a class action

    Five Below investors are alleging securities fraud in a class action

    A federal judge in Philadelphia ruled Monday that a lawsuit alleging discount retailer Five Below defrauded investors can move forward as a class action on behalf of numerous shareholders.

    U.S. District Judge Gerald Austin McHugh’s 34-page order handed a win to the lead plaintiffs, two Arkansas public employee retirement plans. The pension funds say that for more than a year, Philadelphia-based Five Below misled investors about its ability to identify and stock popular products — a skill company executives referred to as their “secret sauce.”

    Once investors learned the full extent of the company’s challenges in July 2024, Five Below’s stock price plummeted, wiping out almost $8 billion in shareholder value, the suit says. The company’s CEO resigned around that time.

    The Arkansas Public Employees’ Retirement (APER) and the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System say they lost more than $5 million combined due to the alleged fraud.

    McHugh granted their motion asking him to certify a class of people and entities who bought Five Below stock between December 2022 and July 2024.

    “We are pleased to be able to represent the interests of these public pension funds, where teachers and other public servants were invested in this company and lost a considerable amount of money,” Michael Dell’Angelo, executive shareholder and general counsel of Philadelphia-based law firm Berger Montague, said in a statement.

    “Our clients lost millions of dollars after they relied on the exaggerated expectations set by this retailer,” he said.

    Five Below has 1,800 stores in 44 states and says most of its products are priced between $1 and $5, many of them aimed at children and teens. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment. Attorneys for Five Below and two other defendants — former CEO Joel Anderson and chief operating officer Kenneth Bull — didn’t respond to requests for comment.

    The defendants have denied the allegations in court papers.

    “Being honest with the market about the pitfalls of a business strategy as they are learned in no way reveals advance knowledge that the approach would fail, and failing to make accurate predictions does not amount to securities fraud,” Jay A. Dubow and Erica H. Dressler of the Philadelphia firm Troutman Pepper Locke LLP wrote in a court filing last year.

    The suit alleges that despite management’s repeated assertions that Five Below could identify and capitalize on trends, the company in fact “did not operate with any real ability to stock its stores with in-demand products.”

    Nevertheless, Five Below told investors it planned to triple its number of locations and double its sales based on this “trend-right” strategy, the suit says. The “plan was abruptly throttled down” shortly after Anderson, the CEO, resigned in July 2024, according to the complaint.

    Even as Five Below’s problems with product assortment, inventory, and expansion dragged on its operating performance, executives falsely blamed shoplifting, the suit says.

    The company eventually allegedly admitted its shortcomings in a series of disclosures to investors, with executive Bull conceding in late 2024 that Five Below had “lost our way.”

    While investors suffered losses, Bull and Anderson sold more than $9 million in Five Below shares during the period in question, “while also receiving incentive compensation valued at over $10 million based on the inflation in the company’s share price,” the suit says.

    The company has since rebounded, with executives citing the popularity of games and viral toys, as well as artificial-intelligence tools that help with inventory.

  • Runaway online rumors sparked frantic rush by migrants to the Spanish territory of Ceuta

    Runaway online rumors sparked frantic rush by migrants to the Spanish territory of Ceuta

    FNIDEQ, Morocco — It started with Instagram posts that suggested Spain’s border with Morocco was opening up. Then came Facebook users tracking coast guard patrols and TikTok videos showing where to swim.

    After many shares and comments, thousands of Moroccans became convinced that Europe was suddenly within reach.

    Within hours, young people began heading toward the border with the Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa. Packed buses rolled into the neighboring Moroccan city of Fnideq. Regional trains filled up. Taxis did too.

    By the time authorities reacted, some 72,000 people had reached Ceuta in just a few days, the largest migration surge between Morocco and Spain in years. More than 80 migrants died on both sides of the border, including some who drowned and others who were killed in a stampede, authorities said.

    Nearly all of the surviving migrants soon returned, but the fallout from last week’s events will linger.

    Rumors started online

    In the northern Moroccan city of Larache, about 93 miles from Ceuta, three friends watched a video posted by an Instagram account called Haraga Ceuta claiming the border would be open. Haraga refers in Moroccan dialect to young migrants who destroy their identification papers and try crossing illegally into Europe.

    The post convinced Anas Amrani, Yahya Harak, and Ismail Atik that it was worth risking the journey.

    For migrants hoping to reach Spanish territory, the most common route begins in Fnideq, where many attempt the roughly 3-mile swim around the border breakwater. Others leave from the nearby village of Belyounech.

    One TikTok video mapped the exact route swimmers should follow.

    On Facebook groups such as Fnideq Bab Sebta, users shared screenshots from vessel-tracking platforms to identify moments when coast guard patrols appeared lighter. Some sought advice on using inflatable boats. Others advertised wetsuits for sale.

    “I saw online that the border was open, and I decided to go,” said 17-year-old Omar Danbor from Fnideq, walking back exhausted along the coast.

    It’s unclear who was behind the claims that the border was open or who operated many of the social media accounts, several of which were deleted soon after the crossings. The Associated Press contacted several accounts but received no response.

    The surge to Ceuta touched a political nerve in Europe, and the European Union is investigating what happened. The EU’s migration commissioner expressed concern Tuesday about online disinformation but didn’t identify a specific culprit.

    Chaos unfolded at the breakwater

    As migrants reached the shores of Ceuta, mass chaos erupted at a narrow concrete breakwater where many tried to climb onto land.

    According to multiple migrants interviewed by AP, people rushed to scramble over the slick rocks at the same time, pushing and climbing over one another. Several said they saw people knocked back into the water and forced beneath others, leaving them unable to resurface as migrants sought to reach land.

    “I stepped on the face of a dead man while I was climbing out. I hope God forgives me and all those whose bodies were found,” said Lahcen Kalouch, a Moroccan migrant who reached Ceuta before returning home distraught.

    At least 72 people died on the Spanish side of the border. Another 11 died on the Moroccan side.

    Tens of thousands of migrants have since returned to Morocco, either after being expelled or leaving by choice because of a lack of shelter, food, and water in Ceuta.

    Some misinterpreted Spain’s new migration measures

    Some migrants misunderstood recent legal developments in Spain, including Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s immigration regularization measures and a court ruling limiting authorities’ ability to immediately return migrants who swim into Ceuta.

    Sánchez’s recent efforts to regularize migration were meant only for people already living in Spain prior to Jan. 1, the majority of whom hail from Latin America and entered Spain legally but overstayed their visas. But some in Morocco misinterpreted his policy, believing they would be allowed to stay. That belief spread online.

    “Pedro Sánchez is a liar. He told us if we came, we would get jobs and papers, but they sent us back,” said Adam Assil, a migrant from Casablanca, even though Sánchez never made such a promise.

    While attempts to reach Ceuta are common, migration activists said this episode was different because of the way rumors snowballed online, encouraging thousands of people to head toward the territory at the same time instead of in smaller, scattered groups.

    Failures happened on both sides of the border

    Moroccan authorities said the migration wave was not spontaneous. The Interior Ministry blamed the “exploitation of the digital sphere” and “the spread of misinformation.” Officials offered no evidence but said an investigation had been opened. Spain’s government made similar statements.

    Ceuta officials said they had warned the Spanish government of a surge in arrivals before the massive crush on Thursday. The Spanish Interior Ministry said Monday that it had not received “any report or warning regarding the mass arrival of people in Ceuta,” and it praised cooperation with the Moroccan authorities in sending most of the migrants back.

    “Nobody addressed how these individuals managed to breach the border,” said Mustapha Azaitraoui, a Moroccan geographer specializing in migration dynamics. “If a large group of people can cross the border under these circumstances, it suggests a broader security issue that has yet to be acknowledged publicly.”

    Migrants reject government claims of smuggling

    Both Morocco and Spain blamed the Ceuta crisis on human smugglers and trafficking networks, saying organized criminal groups encouraged the mass crossings.

    But returning Moroccan migrants interviewed by AP largely rejected that explanation.

    “No one smuggled me there. I wanted to go of my own free will, but that country is not worth all this sacrifice,” Kalouch said.

    “There are no mafias. The border was open, and I crossed. But now I regret it,” said Danbor, his clothes still wet after making the journey back.

    The Spanish Interior Ministry said investigations into smuggling networks are ongoing and noted that Spain and Morocco have carried out joint operations against trafficking groups. The Moroccan Interior Ministry did not respond to questions about smuggling networks.

    Several politicians and experts have suggested it would be impossible for so many to cross without Moroccan complicity. A high-ranking Moroccan diplomat appeared to push back against that.

    “It would be reductive to say that Morocco should have used force to stop the migrants,” said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue is highly sensitive in Morocco. “We are not Europe’s police.”

    The lack of jobs is a key factor

    Morocco’s economy is projected to grow by 4.5% this year, boasting major factories, advanced ports, and ambitions to become a regional hub for the car industry.

    Yet for many young Moroccans, that transformation has not translated into stable work. Youth unemployment remains high, with 37% of people ages 15 to 24 out of work. Among university graduates, unemployment stands at nearly 20%. The dream of migration is often reinforced by stories of relatives who left and returned with cars, new clothes, and foreign currency.

    One of those who breached the border was a 16-year-old who grew up a few dozen miles from Ceuta. Europe had always seemed a dream close enough to see, yet impossibly far.

    So when he saw a post on Facebook suggesting the border was open and thousands were making it across, he joined the rush.

    Days later, he was back in Morocco, crying as he asked strangers for money for a taxi home.

    “They fired tear gas at me and beat me with batons. There’s nothing for me there,” said the teen, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of being stigmatized following his failed border crossing attempt.

    “I just wanted to provide for my mom,” he said, wiping his tears.

  • Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general clears critical hurdle after deal with GOP holdouts

    Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general clears critical hurdle after deal with GOP holdouts

    WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche cleared a critical hurdle Tuesday in his bid to be confirmed to the post after swaying Republican holdouts on a Senate committee to advance his nomination for a floor vote.

    The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines in support of the nomination of President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, who has aggressively pushed the Republican administration’s priorities since taking over from Pam Bondi in April.

    The vote followed a deal struck late Sunday between Blanche and two Republican senators — John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — who had been threatening to block his confirmation over the settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service regarding the president’s leaked tax returns.

    The full Senate could vote later this week on Blanche’s nomination. If all Democrats oppose him, Blanche can only afford to lose two Republican votes if Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was hospitalized after a fall, does not return before then.

    Cornyn and Tillis backed Blanche’s nomination after the Justice Department confirmed in writing that it wasn’t moving forward with a $1.8 billion fund to compensate Trump allies who believe they were prosecuted for political purposes, which the administration announced as part of the settlement.

    After days of negotiations, Blanche issued an order Sunday evening confirming “beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund.”

    Democrats complain about the fund

    Democrats say Blanche’s order doesn’t go far enough to prevent the Trump administration from reviving the fund after the acting attorney general’s confirmation and have called for legislation to permanently bar it.

    The order also doesn’t stop the administration from compensating Trump allies — including people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — through a previously established process that allows people to file claims for damages if they believed they were wronged by the government.

    The fund “can easily be revived with a new order from the Department of Justice 15 minutes after Mr. Blanche is confirmed as attorney general,” said Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee.

    Cornyn and Tillis had also pressed for clarification on a separate part of the settlement that would grant Trump and members of his family immunity from tax audits.

    Under the deal, the Justice Department clarified in writing that the tax audit immunity agreement applies only to claims open at the time of the settlement and does not protect Trump from examination of future tax filings. It also makes clear that only the parties that brought the lawsuit — Trump, two of his sons, and the Trump Organization — are covered by the tax agreement.

    Cornyn said his reasons for backing Blanche go beyond the deal struck Sunday, adding that he believes the Justice Department needs a “stabilizing force” at the helm.

    “The Department of Justice does not need a temporary, unconfirmed nominee as our nation’s top law enforcement official. Trump needs someone in this role, as well, with a strong legal mind,” Cornyn said.

    Blanche’s independence has been called into question

    Blanche has faced intense scrutiny regarding his ability to maintain independence from the White House, the Justice Department’s pursuit of the president’s political foes, and the agency’s handling of files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation.

    But it was the settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS that threatened to derail Blanche’s nomination, forcing a delay in the committee vote last week amid pressure from the two Republican senators, who are not returning to Capitol Hill after their terms end in January.

    Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who chairs the committee, said Tillis and Cornyn’s demands were “common sense.” Grassley said the senators’ concerns about the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and the IRS settlement were shared by many other lawmakers, including himself.

    “I’m grateful that they as well as Mr. Blanche and the White House worked in good faith to solve them, formally rescinding the fund, clarifying the scope of the release of claims has put this issue to bed once and for all,” Grassley said.

    Trump’s lawsuit has been sharply criticized because of the highly unusual way it was handled, with the president challenging an agency overseen by the executive branch he leads. A judge last month slammed the case as an improper exercise in self-dealing and referred one of Trump’s attorneys who filed it for potential disciplinary action.

    Blanche was an important figure for Trump’s defense

    Blanche, a former federal prosecutor and key member of Trump’s defense team as the Republican battled four indictments, arrived at the Justice Department last year as deputy attorney general. He was elevated to acting attorney general following Bondi’s failure to meet Trump’s demands to successfully prosecute his perceived political opponents.

    While Blanche insisted he wasn’t auditioning for the permanent post, he moved swiftly to accelerate investigations into Trump foes and advance other White House priorities, drawing condemnation from critics who say he has not shed his title as Trump’s personal lawyer.

    Shortly after Blanche took the top post, the Justice Department moved to indict longtime Trump adversary James Comey, the former FBI director, on charges of threatening the 47th president by posting a social media photograph of seashells in the numerical arrangement of “86 47.”

    Comey’s lawyers have accused the Justice Department of misleading judges, submitting documents containing false statements, and withholding key facts to bring what the defense described as a politically motivated prosecution.

    Blanche separately appointed Joseph diGenova, a former Justice Department prosecutor from the Reagan administration, to oversee a Florida-based investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired over the last decade to undermine Trump.

  • Camden County bridge will be closed for 3 months for $2.5 million repair project

    Countless drivers in Camden County will be rerouted over the next few months as the Collings Avenue Bridge closes for a multi-million-dollar repair project.

    Starting Tuesday, the steel bridge over Newton Creek at the border of Gloucester and Camden cities will be closed for about three months, the county announced.

    Traffic headed toward the bridge will be diverted to I-676 via Broadway and Morgan Boulevard.

    The $2.5 million project includes replacing the concrete deck, sidewalks, and parapet, as well as refurbishing support beams and bearings.

    “These improvements to the Collings Avenue Bridge are essential to keeping our infrastructure safe and reliable,” Camden County Commissioner Al Dyer, liaison to the Department of Public Works, said in a statement. “We want to thank our residents for their patience during the next few months and recommend that they give themselves extra time in their commute while detours are in place.”

  • Andy Dalton and Tanner McKee are in a competition for QB2 duties. And they’re trying to embrace it.

    Andy Dalton and Tanner McKee are in a competition for QB2 duties. And they’re trying to embrace it.

    Sixteen years into his NFL career, Andy Dalton has seen just about everything. But this training camp — his first with the Eagles — is unlike any Dalton has participated in before.

    Dalton, 38, is competing with incumbent Tanner McKee to back up Jalen Hurts. That isn’t a new phenomenon for Dalton. He hasn’t been a full-time starter since 2019, his ninth and final year with the Cincinnati Bengals, the team that drafted him 35th overall in 2011.

    What is unfamiliar, however, is that Dalton doesn’t know when it’s his turn to take reps with the second-string offense in team drills. Neither does McKee. Both quarterbacks wait for orders from their coaches before one or the other joins the huddle.

    At first, Dalton had questions about how they would split reps. Now, he’s accepted the surprise element of their current situation, which is reminiscent of game days for the backup quarterback.

    “I was joking with Tanner, I was like, ‘This is just real life right here,’” Dalton said Tuesday. “‘You don’t know when you’re going to be going in.’”

    It’s been an offseason of surprises for Dalton, who was traded to the Eagles after spending the last three seasons with the Carolina Panthers. He had never been traded before. He only had experience choosing to sign with teams in free agency, including the Dallas Cowboys (2020), Chicago Bears (2021), New Orleans Saints (2022), and Panthers.

    Still, Dalton said he is “excited” to be in Philadelphia and to play in the new Sean Mannion-led offense. But the scheme isn’t entirely new to him. Dalton has experience in similar offenses that were also offshoots of the Kyle Shanahan/Sean McVay coaching tree, namely Zac Taylor’s first year with the Bengals in 2019 and the past two seasons with Dave Canales and the Panthers.

    Andy Dalton (right) knows some of the principles of the Sean Mannion offense from his time working alongside Zac Taylor (left) in Cincinnati.

    There are some similarities among the three systems. Dalton pointed out their shared emphasis on quick decision-making and pure-progression passing. He also noted that Mannion’s offense requires its quarterbacks to use a cadence that Dalton has learned in the past.

    “Everybody’s got their own little variation of it,” Dalton said of the broader offensive scheme. “But for me, I feel very comfortable in this offense.”

    The trade may have come as a surprise to Dalton, but McKee expressed an understanding of Howie Roseman’s rationale behind the move.

    Yes, McKee was the primary backup last season, a role that was hardly threatened in camp by Dorian Thompson-Robinson (who is now playing in the UFL) or Kyle McCord (who is in camp with the Green Bay Packers). McKee has generally fared well in his handful of preseason and regular-season outings over the last two years, save for his lone start in 2025 — a 24-17 loss to the Washington Commanders in Week 18 — in which he primarily played with backups.

    However, McKee acknowledged Roseman’s objective to strengthen the roster every season.

    “I don’t think you can be surprised whenever they bring in somebody or there’s competition, because in the NFL, there’s always going to be competition,” McKee said Tuesday. “They’re trying to improve the roster every year, and so anybody that they can bring in to make you compete or make you earn your spot, that’s definitely what everybody wants.

    “And for a player, it’s great. It is great to have somebody to push you and to make you better. The stakes in practice are a little bit higher, and so it makes it fun.”

    Tanner McKee has been focused on trying to learn things from the veteran Andy Dalton, even as both vie for the same job.

    McKee is embracing Dalton’s presence, especially his knowledge of the offense. In practice on Tuesday, for example, the 26-year-old quarterback was on the field for a play that broke down. Later on, McKee said he went to Dalton for insight on how he would’ve read the play given the defensive coverage.

    “It is great having that overall wisdom, I guess you could say, of just the experience that he’s had to talk through things,” McKee said. “It really does make each other better, and that’s exactly what everybody wants when we have competition, is to make the Eagles organization better.”

    The lessons McKee has learned aren’t limited to firsthand experiences on the field. Because he is splitting second-string reps, unlike last year’s training camp, McKee is forced to take more mental reps from the sideline while Dalton is on the field.

    McKee likened that experience to practices during the season, when Hurts is commanding the majority of the snaps. Those mental reps can be valuable, too, he explained.

    “Sometimes, you learn from mistakes, but a lot of times you have to learn from mistakes of other people as well,” McKee said. “And so paying attention on the sideline, watching film, all those things are just a little bit more important when you’re not getting as many.”

    The two depth quarterbacks will soon take their competition to the next level when preseason begins, as the Eagles open their exhibition slate against the Baltimore Ravens on Aug. 15.

    Both players will make their cases for the backup role. Dalton may not have the starting job he once held down at the outset of his career, but he has approached his role as a backup with the same level of preparation and attention to detail.

    Most importantly, he hasn’t lost his love for the game and all of the surprises that come with it.

    “There’s nothing else like this,” Dalton said. “So I’m trying to soak it all in as much as I can. Trying to get the most out of the game because obviously once you’re done, you’re done.”

  • Trump’s National Guard deployment in D.C. set to cost additional $1.4 billion

    Trump’s National Guard deployment in D.C. set to cost additional $1.4 billion

    The Pentagon’s deployment of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., is set to cost an additional $1.4 billion through the end of the Trump administration, according to information provided to Congress and reviewed by the Washington Post.

    The estimate, which encompasses October 2026 through January 2029, adds to the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the mission to date. While the administration has not disclosed the full cost of the mission so far, the new figure represents the most comprehensive accounting yet of President Donald Trump’s unprecedented use of the military to patrol the nation’s capital — an operation fiercely criticized by many Democrats and civil liberty advocates.

    The information was provided to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, by Jules Hurst III, Trump’s nominee to become the Pentagon’s comptroller, as part of his confirmation process. Hurst is set to be confirmed in a bloc of Trump administration nominees as soon as this week.

    The administration deployed National Guard personnel to Washington in August 2025, after Edward Coristine, a former staffer in Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service initiative to slash the federal government, was assaulted in an attempted carjacking. The National Guard will maintain a presence in D.C. until January 2029 or “until the president says the mission is over,” Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard II, the interim commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, told reporters in a news briefing Monday.

    The cost estimate provided to Warren assumes a deployment of about 2,500 National Guard personnel. There are approximately 4,600 service members in the city now, Blanchard said, part of a temporary surge coinciding with summer events to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

    Democrats have called the deployment a wasteful use of military resources and an infringement on Americans’ civil liberties, and they have pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to justify the mission as the Pentagon faces urgent budget shortfalls because of the Iran war and other military operations.

    “The National Guard are not pawns and taxpayer dollars are not a piggy bank for Trump’s political stunts,” Warren said in a statement.

    In testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee last month, Hegseth acknowledged the Defense Department is facing financial pressure but repeatedly blamed the situation on the Biden administration’s management of the military.

    The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Since returning to office, Trump has deployed active-duty and National Guard units to American cities on controversial missions to stop crime or protect federal immigration agents. Academics and researchers who specialize in politicization and the military, along with local officials in some of the targeted communities, have argued that the operations violate laws barring the military from engaging in domestic law enforcement.

    Some state and local governments, including Washington, have challenged the deployments in court.

    The Congressional Budget Office estimated in January that the administration’s National Guard deployment in Washington cost $223 million through the end of 2025. It said deployments in Los Angeles, Memphis, Chicago, and Portland, Ore., together cost an additional $273 million in 2025.

    CBO has estimated that each additional month of deployment in Washington would cost about $55 million.

    Trump’s record $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal 2027 includes $2.3 billion in funding for domestic use of the military, including $605 million for the National Guard mission in Washington.

    In a separate request to Congress for $67 billion in additional funding to help cover the costs of the Iran war, the Trump administration also requested $800 million for the National Guard. Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the Appropriations Committee’s top Democrat, said during last month’s hearing with Hegseth that those funds would go toward extending the D.C. deployment.

    Blanchard, the National Guard general, defended the mission, noting that last month the Trump administration signed a $292 million contract to move National Guard members into local apartments from hotels in and around Washington. The move, Blanchard said, will save $90 million on lodging and transportation costs over the course of the contract.

    He said, too, that service members have responded to about 800 medical emergencies — performing CPR and applying tourniquets on gunshot victims, and administering 325 doses of Narcan, a drug used to treat overdoses.

    While Trump officials have repeatedly asserted the National Guard was necessary to help address a crime emergency in the city, D.C. police data shows violent crimes this year have remained about the same from this time in 2025. Property crimes, including burglary from cars and motor vehicle theft, have decreased by about a quarter. When the National Guard was deployed last year, crime rates were near a six-year low, according to federal data.

    National Guard personnel in Washington are supposed to yield to local police for law enforcement activities, such as arrests, said Michael Perloff, the senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s D.C. chapter. But their orders leave open gray areas, including how personnel should respond in an emergency or when under threat, he said.

    “National Guard members aren’t trained to handle those situations,” said Perloff, whose organization is challenging the mission’s legality in court.

    The service members deployed in D.C. have been tasked with a variety of missions, such as guarding the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial and cleaning up garbage on city streets.

    In November, two National Guard personnel were shot while patrolling the city blocks away from the White House. One died from her injuries.

    Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national charged in the shooting, pleaded not guilty in June. He is facing a possible death sentence if convicted.

  • ICE begins outfitting Haitian immigrants with ankle monitors, attorneys say

    ICE begins outfitting Haitian immigrants with ankle monitors, attorneys say

    The Department of Homeland Security has begun summoning Haitian immigrants in Ohio to check-in appointments with federal officers who are outfitting them with ankle monitors, in what appears to be a new enforcement effort after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end their humanitarian protections.

    Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said about 50 Haitians with temporary protected status in Springfield, Ohio, were called into Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices on Friday. Local attorneys said the immigrants were arrested and then conditionally released with electronic monitoring devices. They were instructed not to travel anywhere outside a 75-mile radius from their homes.

    A Trump administration official confirmed the effort to call Haitians with temporary protected status into ICE offices, give them ankle monitors, and release them. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal ICE operations, expected the check-ins to be scheduled in waves.

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the Trump administration could end temporary protections for about 350,000 Haitians, despite ongoing political instability and gang violence in the Caribbean nation. DHS alerted employers last week that it had officially ended temporary protected status for Haitians, triggering mass layoffs and confusion because a lower court that had blocked the administration’s attempts to terminate the program has not yet lifted the order keeping TPS benefits in effect.

    Congress created temporary protected status in 1990 to shield immigrants in the United States from being deported to countries engulfed in armed conflict, a natural disaster, or another extraordinary crisis, allowing them to work legally in the U.S. for up to 18 months. Applicants to the program cannot have serious criminal records, and they must pay fees and pass a background check. DHS can renew the protections — and it has, multiple times, for several countries.

    Advocates and immigration attorneys said the new arrests in Ohio reflect ICE’s attempts to more quietly carry out President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign. Rather than large-scale operations like the ones DHS conducted in Minneapolis and Chicago, the agency has been focusing on arrests that take place after traffic stops and ICE check-ins. Arrests rose significantly in July.

    “Rather than showing up with a militarized force in a particular neighborhood in Springfield and having communities be able to organize around that, this is calling people into a very secure facility,” said Erik Crew, a senior attorney at the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a California-based advocacy organization. “Yes, people can protest outside, but sometimes people can go in and never come out and be sent to a detention center somewhere remote, likely in the South, and be sent out of the country from there.”

    A DHS spokesperson said the agency does not discuss “ongoing or future” operations but conducts enforcement daily.

    “Temporary Protected Status is exactly that — temporary. For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent,” DHS said in a statement. “What we would say now is it’s closing time which means you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

    Many of the Haitians outfitted with ankle monitors in recent days have ongoing asylum claims and no final order of deportation, their attorneys said. Historically, the agency has deployed the worn devices on a case-by-case basis, but immigration attorney Carolyn Marks, who accompanied two Haitian clients to appointments with ICE on Sunday, said they are now being used more broadly.

    “In the past, they have been used with people who have criminal records or had missed court hearings or an order of deportation,” Marks said. “But all these people had been and are complying with the law.”

    Trump has long stated that he intended to target Haitian immigrants as part of his mass deportation drive. During his campaign, he falsely claimed that Haitian residents in Springfield were killing and eating their neighbors’ pets. After the Supreme Court ruling was announced, Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, told reporters that Haitians and others with temporary protected status should be detained and deported once they lose the benefit.

    Sens. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) and Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to terminate TPS in a call with reporters on Monday. Both senators said the cancellations were not only putting families in danger but pulling thousands of needed workers out of the labor force.

    “This is an embarrassment for the United States of America,” Murphy said. “There is no safe place to return for TPS holders from places like Haiti and Yemen and Venezuela and Syria. In fact, in those places I just mentioned, the situation is not stabilizing, getting better. It is getting worse.”

    Katie Kersh, managing attorney with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, a nonprofit based in Ohio that is providing legal representation to Haitian immigrants in the area, said ICE officers asked people who went to the check-ins over the weekend for biographical information and collected their fingerprints. She and other attorneys said the officers encouraged the immigrants to leave voluntarily and noted the $2,600 financial incentive DHS is offering those who choose to self-deport.

    Kersh said one of her clients is a woman in her 60s who may miss the birth of her grandchild in Indiana as a result of the travel restrictions. She is a diabetic and worried that having the device strapped tightly to her ankle would cause pain. She inquired about an alternative, which ICE does sometimes provide, but was not offered one.

    “ICE is setting up circumstances that makes it easier to detain them,” Kersh said.

    Vilés Dorsainvil, who runs the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, stood outside an ICE office near Cincinnati as people reported for appointments. He said he asked ICE officers if the devices were necessary and was told that the “the order came from the top,” referring to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

    DHS stated online last week that temporary protected status for Haitians was “terminated, effective July 27, 2026.” But lawyers say that TPS cannot officially end until lower courts execute a Supreme Court ruling and officially allow the Trump administration to terminate the program, which was first established for Haiti in response to the catastrophic 2010 earthquake in that country.

    A DHS spokesperson disagreed, saying, “These activist lower court judges are openly defying the Supreme Court on this, but the end result will be the same. Haitians with TPS cannot and will not be able to stay.”

    Jessica Bansal, an attorney focused on TPS litigation with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said that “for all practical intents and purposes, there is no longer any protection.”

    Ruby Powers, a Houston immigration attorney who represented clients from Venezuela who lost TPS after the administration canceled it for those immigrants, said ankle monitors and more frequent ICE check-ins are a means of pressuring people to leave.

    “It’s the government’s way of signaling, ‘We know where you are, we are monitoring you closely, and we have the ability to detain you at any time,’” she said.

    Marks, the immigration attorney, said that whatever might happen next will change her community.

    “It’s going to be a very destabilizing event for Springfield,” she said.

  • Investigative report criticizes Quakertown police chief for role in anti-ICE clash with student protesters

    Investigative report criticizes Quakertown police chief for role in anti-ICE clash with student protesters

    An investigative review of the February clash between student anti-ICE protesters and Quakertown police sharply criticized Police Chief Scott McElree for his “calamitous” decision to charge into the crowd of demonstrators.

    The 20 page review, ordered by by the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, however did not call for any new criminal charges against either the protesters or police.

    “The investigation established that the precipitating factor that led to violence was Chief McElree’s decision to swiftly enter an agitated crowd of teenagers while wearing plain clothes, with no visible badge, uniform, body-worn camera, or handcuffs,” the investigative report said.

    “This decision created a ‘fog of war’ where students — believing that an unidentified vigilante was attacking them — acted to defend themselves or others, while police officers, seeing McElree attacked, acted lawfully to stop and arrest people who were assaulting a police officer,” the report said.

    McElree’s “ill-advised decision to do so was the precipitating incident which led to violence,” the report said.

    Quakertown Police Chief Scott McElree.

    Five teens were initially charged with aggravated assault as well as misdemeanor offenses, but all the aggravated assault charges were eventually dropped. Prosecutors have since struck diversion-program deals with the teens.

    The clash between the students and police on Feb. 20 was captured on video by onlookers and circulated widely online. One video showed McElree grappling with a boy on the sidewalk. Another captured the 72-year-old McElree with his arm around a teen girl’s neck.

    The Quakertown Police Department had sought additional charges against juveniles for allegedly assaulting McElree, who also holds the position of borough manager, but the District Attorney’s Office announced Monday that it has denied the request.

    Officials said McElree had sought medical care after the clash for injuries that included fractured ribs. He also took worker’s compensation leave for several weeks before returning to work in May.

    A panel of area police chiefs later cleared McElree of wrongdoing following a review of the case.

    A spokesperson for Quakertown Borough could not be reached for comment Monday evening.

    The investigative report also placed blame on some of the students.

    “The truth is that while most students protested lawfully, some broke the law. While most protestors and observers did not recognize McElree as a police officer at first, a few students assaulted police officers in uniform and assaulted McElree even after it should have become evident that he was with the” Quakertown Police Deparment,” the report said.

    Investigators also looked at allegations that McElree was ideologically hostile to the anti-ICE protest and had tried to stop it from happening.

    The investigation “found no evidence to support these claims,” the report said.

    Ettore Angelo, a lawyer for one of the teens who was charged, said in a statement Tuesday that the police chief should have faced more consequences for his actions.

    “My client was incarcerated for four days, on house arrest for 28 days, has been vilified in the community, has been harassed in school, and has faced trauma and turmoil no 15-year-old should ever have to endure. She is a remarkable child, and I am very proud of her, as are her parents,” Angelo said.

    “She did not deserve this, nor did the other kids. Meanwhile, Chief McElree ends up with no consequences. Apparently, even when not wearing a badge or uniform, he can manhandle children with impunity,” Angelo said.

    District Attorney Joe Khan said in a statement that he and members of his staff will “engage in conversations with the Quakertown community” over the next 45 days and then release recommendations “about how to move forward to help heal these rifts.”

    Khan also said it was important to remember the events leading up to the Quakertown protest.

    “Kids across Bucks County, including my own, learned of the horror of civilians like Renee Goode and Alex Pretti being shot and killed in the streets of Minneapolis by ICE and Border Protection agents,” Khan said.

    “Young people witnessed their immigrant neighbors living in fear. Bucks County students raised their voices and spoke up about the grievous injustices they saw,” Khan said.

    “It’s true that some students broke the law, though most protested and exercised their First amendment rights peacefully. It’s also true that the police chief made terrible mistakes even as most officers acted with professionalism and restraint that day,” Khan said.

    “The heavy-handed actions of ICE nationwide have caused stress between law enforcement and the communities they serve. We saw that reflected in so much of the footage we reviewed of the protest. For many folks, it was traumatic to see front page images of a law enforcement officer with his arm around the neck of a teenage girl who was protesting ICE. That is why it is important for our office to explain our findings and to engage the community in a meaningful dialogue in the weeks ahead,” Khan said.

    The investigative review was assigned to the Special Investigative Unit of the district attorney’s office, with prosecutors and detectives who had no ties to Quakertown or any involvement in the delinquency proceedings against the five juveniles.

    County detectives conducted more than two dozen interviews over the course of five months. The interviews included 22 civilian witnesses, including four juveniles who could not be interviewed until after their prosecutions had been resolved. The last interview took place last week.

  • Penn State ranked No. 17 in Top 25 preseason coaches poll

    Penn State ranked No. 17 in Top 25 preseason coaches poll

    The annual preseason college football coaches poll has been released, and Penn State was included despite a disastrous 2025 season.

    On Tuesday, Penn State was ranked No. 17, among the eight Big Ten schools included on the Top 25 poll, with Ohio State atop of the list.

    Last season, the Nittany Lions were ranked third overall in the same preseason poll. This prediction was not indicative of the season the team would have. In 2025, the Nittany Lions finished 7-6 overall and 3-6 in conference play. Longtime head coach James Franklin was dismissed in the middle of the season. Former Iowa State coach Matt Campbell was hired in December to take over the helm of Happy Valley.

    “Over the past six months, we’ve been reminded every day why Penn State was the right fit,” said Campbell during Big Ten media day. “The history is special. The tradition is special. But what really resonated with me is how Penn State has always valued integrity, character, and class at its best.”

    With Penn State being ranked 17, it seems that Campbell’s peers believe he can help the program bounce back. To do so, he will lean on some familiar faces, as 24 Iowa State players followed Campbell to Penn State through the transfer portal. Notably, starting quarterback Rocco Becht previously starred for the Cyclones.

    In 12 games last season, playing with a torn labrum on his non-throwing shoulder, Becht threw for 2,584 yards and 16 touchdowns. He is the winningest returning quarterback in college football.

    “We have our goals in mind, and that’s to win a Big Ten championship and ultimately get to the College Football Playoff to have a chance to win a national championship,” Becht previously told the Inquirer. “With the team that we have now, I think we’re fully capable of doing that. Everybody just has to buy in, be consistent with the standards, and I think we’ll be in good hands.”

    The full coaches poll rankings are as follows:

    1. Ohio State
    2. Oregon
    3. Georgia
    4. Texas
    5. Notre Dame
    6. Indiana
    7. Miami
    8. Texas A&M
    9. Oklahoma
    10. Ole Miss
    11. Alabama
    12. Texas Tech
    13. LSU
    14. USC
    15. BYU
    16. Michigan
    17. Penn State
    18. Tennessee
    19. Washington
    20. SMU
    21. Utah
    22. Iowa
    23. Clemson
    24. Houston
    25. Missouri