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FILE- Voting booths are set up at a polling place in Newtown, Pa, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File) 2026-02-11T19:45:01Z WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are rushing ahead on Wednesday on legislation that would impose strict new proof-of-citizenship requirements ahead of the midterm elections, a longshot Trump administration priority that faces sharp blowback in the Senate. The bill, called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility , or SAVE America Act, would require Americans to prove they are citizens when they register to vote, mostly through a valid U.S. passport or birth certificate. It would also require a valid photo identification before voters can cast ballots, which some states already demand. Republicans said the legislation is needed to prevent voter fraud, but Democrats warn it will disenfranchise millions of Americans by making it harder to vote. Federal law already requires that voters in national elections be U.S. citizens, but there’s no requirement to provide documentary proof. Experts said voter fraud is extremely rare, and very few noncitizens ever slip through the cracks. Fewer than one in 10 Americans have valid passports. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); “Some of my colleagues will call this voter suppression or Jim Crow 2.0,” said Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., presenting the package at a committee hearing. But he said “those allegations are false,” and he argued the bill is needed to enforce existing laws, particularly those that bar immigrants who are not citizens from voting. “The current law is not strong enough,” he said. Election turmoil shadows the vote The GOP’s sudden push to change voting rules at the start of the midterm election season is raising red flags, particularly because President Donald Trump has suggested he wants to nationalize U.S. elections, which, under the Constitution, are designed to be run by individual states. The Trump administration recently seized ballots in Georgia from the 2020 election, which the president insists he won despite his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden. The Department of Justice is demanding voter rolls from states, including Michigan, where a federal judge this week dismissed the department’s lawsuit seeking the voter files. Secretaries of state have raised concerns that voters’ personal data may be shared with Homeland Security to verify citizenship and could result in people being unlawfully purged from the rolls. “Let me be clear what this is about: It’s about Republicans trying to rig the next election,” said Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, during a hearing ahead of the floor vote. “Republicans are pushing the Save America Act because they want fewer Americans to vote. It’s that simple.” freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); The legislation is actually a do-over of a similar bill the House approved last year, which also sought to clamp down on fraudulent voting, particularly among noncitizens. It won the support of four House Democrats, but stalled in the Republican-led Senate. This version toughens some of the requirements further, while creating a process for those whose names may have changed, particularly during marriage, to provide the paperwork necessary and further attest to their identity. It also imposes requirement on states to share their voter information with the Department of Homeland Security, as a way to verify the citizenship of the names on the voter rolls. That has drawn pushback from elections officials as potentially intrusive on people’s privacy. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); Warnings from state election officials The new rules in the bill would take effect immediately, if the bill is passed by both chambers of Congress and signed into law. But with primary elections getting underway next month, critics said the sudden shift would be difficult for state election officials to implement and potentially confuse voters. Voting experts have warned that more than 20 million U.S. citizens of voting age do not have proof of their citizenship readily available. Almost half of Americans do not have a U.S. passport. “Election Day is fast approaching,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. “Imposing new federal requirements now, when states are deep into their preparations, would negatively impact election integrity by forcing election officials to scramble to adhere to new policies likely without the necessary resources.” freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); The fight ahead in the Senate In the Senate, where Republicans also have majority control, there does not appear to be enough support to push the bill past the chamber’s filibuster rules, which largely require 60 votes to advance legislation. That frustration has led some Republicans, led by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, to push for a process that would skip the 60-vote threshold in this case, and allow the bill to be debated through a so-called standing filibuster — a process that would open the door to potentially endless debate. Lee made the case to GOP senators at a closed-door lunch this week, and some said afterward they are mulling the concept. “I think most people’s minds are open,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., “My mind’s certainly open.” freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); But Murkowski of Alaska said she is flat out against the legislation. “Not only does the U.S. Constitution clearly provide states the authority to regulate the ‘times, places, and manner’ of holding federal elections, but one-size-fits-all mandates from Washington, D.C., seldom work in places like Alaska,” she said. Karen Brinson Bell of Advance Elections, a nonpartisan consulting firm, said the bill adds numerous requirements for state and local election officials with no additional funding. “Election officials have a simple request of Congress — that you help share their burdens not add to them,” she said. __ Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

Jordan Stolz of the U.S. celebrates with his gold medal on the podium of the men's 1,000 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) 2026-02-11T14:22:30Z MILAN (AP) — Jordan Stolz pictured this moment most of his life, ever since he was 5 years old, learning to skate on a frozen pond in his Wisconsin backyard after falling in love with speedskating during the 2010 Winter Olympics — and hoping to one day step atop the podium himself. So what was the little hassle of a 10-or-so-minute wait to make sure this first speedskating gold medal would be his Wednesday? Stolz needed to hold off on celebrating until another competitor got the chance for a re-skate, then soon enough was able to smile while leaning forward to receive his gold for winning the men’s 1,000 meters at the Milan Cortina Games in an Olympic-record time. Now Stolz will hope to keep going and add to his collection of trophies as he entered three more events in Milan. Skating in the next-to-last pairing at Milano Speed Skating Stadium, a temporary facility constructed for these Olympics that has been producing fast times so far, Stolz finished in 1 minute, 6.28 seconds. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); The 21-year-old didn’t threaten his world record of 1:05.37 but did better the Olympic standard of 1:07.18 that had stood since 2002 — before Stolz was born. All four long track speedskating races in Milan have been won in the fastest times ever turned in at an Olympics. Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands was a half-second slower than Stolz and took the silver medal. No one else came within a full second of Stolz’s time. Zhongyan Ning of China got the bronze. Stolz’s medal was his first at this level: As a 17-year-old at the 2022 Beijing Games, Stolz came in 14th in the 1,000 and 13th in the 500. It also was the first medal of any sort in the men’s 1,000 for the United States since the 2010 Vancouver Games. That’s when Shani Davis — a mentor to Stolz — won his second consecutive gold in that event, and Chad Hedrick took the bronze. Dutch men had won the 1,000 at each of the past three Winter Games. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); With Eric Heiden, the only speedskater to win five golds at one Olympics, sitting next to rapper Snoop Dogg in the stands, Stolz pulled ahead of de Boo by the time one full lap was done. Then de Boo moved in front. But Stolz took the lead at the final corner and crossed first with his hands on his knees. He soon was celebrating with an understated pump of his right hand. A full-on victory lap toting an American flag had to be put on hold for a bit, though: First, the day’s last heat needed to be held. And then there was a 10-minute delay before Joep Wennermars of the Netherlands was given the chance at a re-skate because he had been bumped during his original heat. But Wennermars didn’t come close to beating Stolz, who entered the day as a big favorite — and came through in the clutch. Stolz not only holds the 1,000 world record he set in January 2024 but is also a two-time world champion at the distance. Plus, he went 5-for-5 on the World Cup circuit this season in the event, confirming his status as the man to beat at the Winter Games . In a surprising scene at the U.S. Olympic trials at Milwaukee in January, Stolz fell to the ice a few strides into the 1,000, then popped back up and ended up with the third-best time. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); No such issue when it mattered the most Wednesday. This race was Stolz’s first of his four scheduled events in Milan — and it is not unrealistic to think he could leave Italy with four gold medals, given his track record and dominance of late. After two days off, he also is entered in the 500 meters on Saturday, the 1,500 on Feb. 19, and the mass start on Feb. 21, the final day of speedskating at these Olympics. Stolz’s name is often mentioned alongside that of Heiden, the superstar who is the only speedskater to claim five long-track gold medals at a single Winter Games. Heiden won five individual events at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics: the 500, 1,000, 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000. Stolz says he’s flattered to hear about such comparisons, but also is quick to note that what Heiden accomplished was remarkably different, given his participation at all five of those distances. Stolz might add the longer distances to his repertoire down the road; for now, he is the best there is in the sprints. Dutch men had won the 1,000 at each of the past three Winter Games. ___ AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics HOWARD FENDRICH Fendrich is an Associated Press national writer based in Washington, D.C. He reports on tennis and other sports. twitter mailto

This undated image made available by the National Human Genome Research Institute shows the output from a DNA sequencer. (NHGRI via AP, File) 2026-02-11T18:45:09Z WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists are testing an entirely new way to fight heart disease: a gene-editing treatment that might offer a one-time fix for high cholesterol. It’s very early stage research, tried in only a few dozen people so far. But gene-editing approaches being developed by two companies show hints that switching off certain genes could dramatically lower artery-clogging cholesterol, raising hopes of one day being able to prevent heart attacks without having to take pills. “People want a fix, not a bandage,” said Dr. Luke Laffin, a preventive cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic. After co-authoring a promising study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, he said he was flooded with queries about how to participate in the next clinical trial. Everyone needs a certain amount of cholesterol. But too much, especially a “bad” kind called LDL cholesterol, builds plaque in the artery walls and is a main driver of heart attacks and strokes. Cardiovascular disease is the nation’s — and world’s — leading killer. Millions take cholesterol-lowering medicines such as statins, the cornerstone of treatment. But many still struggle to lower their cholesterol enough, and sticking with the drugs for life is difficult, with some quitting because of side effects. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); Why genes matter for cholesterol While your diet contributes, your liver produces the cholesterol your body needs, according to the American Heart Association, and genes play a role in how it’s managed. Some people inherit genes that trigger very high cholesterol. Others have cholesterol that’s naturally extremely low over their lifetime and seldom develop heart disease. Years ago, Dr. Kiran Musunuru, a cardiologist now at the University of Pennsylvania, reported some of those lucky people harbor a mutation that turns off a gene named ANGPTL3, lowering their levels of both LDL cholesterol and another bad fat, triglycerides. Separately, geneticists at UT Southwestern Medical Center found still other people’s extremely low LDL was due to loss of function of another gene named PCSK9 . “It’s a natural experiment in what would happen if we actually changed the gene,” said the Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Steven Nissen, who with Laffin oversaw an ANGPTL3 study funded by Swiss-based CRISPR Therapeutics. What early gene-editing studies can and can’t show Today there are injected medicines that block proteins produced by the PCSK9 and ANGPTL3 genes in the liver, thus helping the body clear away cholesterol. The new research uses CRISPR, the Nobel Prize-winning gene-editing tool , to try switching off one of those genes in people at high risk from uncontrolled cholesterol. In one study, 15 adults received a single infusion of tiny particles that carried the CRISPR tool to the liver, switching off the ANGPTL3 gene inside that organ’s cells. Within two weeks, those getting the highest dose saw their LDL and triglyceride levels both drop by half, Laffin and Nissen reported in November. This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well. Boston’s Verve Therapeutics, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, earlier reported that its PCSK9-targeted editing infusion cut LDL cholesterol by a similar amount in a small study. Both companies’ initial studies were done in Australia, the U.K. and other countries. A Lilly spokesperson said U.S. study sites are opening. Nissen said a next-step study of CRISPR Therapeutics’ approach should start later this year, with sites yet to be announced. Each company is pursuing several gene targets. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); While people with naturally nonfunctioning ANGPTL3 or PCSK9 have no apparent bad consequences, longer studies of the gene-editing approach in far more people are needed, said Penn’s Musunuru, who co-founded Verve. He said some participants in an earlier Verve study have been tracked for two years, their cholesterol still lowered. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); Gene editing is considered permanent. If edited liver cells reproduce, their progeny contain the altered genes, and Musunuru said the edits have lasted a lifetime in mice. There are major safety questions to be answered, cautioned Dr. Joseph Wu of Stanford University, who wasn’t involved in either study. CRISPR-based therapies for any disease haven’t been used enough to know long-term safety — and the particles carrying the gene-editing tool can irritate or inflame the liver, he said. Another unknown is whether gene-editing hits only the intended target. That’s why for now, studies largely target people at very high risk. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); What to do now for better heart health Whether gene editing eventually pans out, the American Heart Association lists eight key factors for better heart health that everyone should work on now. Some involve lifestyle. Eat a heart-healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and healthy fats like those found in nuts. Saturated fats can increase cholesterol while healthier diets can lower LDL levels and raise levels of HDL, the so-called good cholesterol. Also, be physically active, as exercise can increase good HDL and help lower triglycerides. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); Maintain a healthy weight. If you smoke, quit. And get enough sleep . On the medical side, control your blood pressure — levels measuring less than 120 over 80 are optimal. Diabetes also harms the heart so control your blood sugar. As for cholesterol, keeping levels of that “bad” LDL kind at 100 is considered fine for healthy people. But once people develop high cholesterol or heart disease, guidelines recommend lowering it to at least 70, even lower for those at very high risk. When lifestyle changes aren’t enough, statin pills like Lipitor, Crestor or their cheap generic equivalents block some of the liver’s production of cholesterol and are highly effective at lowering LDL. There are a few other pill options for people who need additional help or can’t take statins, as well as some injected medicines. —- The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. LAURAN NEERGAARD Neergaard is an Associated Press medical writer who covers research on brain health, infectious diseases, organ transplantation and more. She is based in Washington, D.C. mailto

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UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres sent a congratulatory message to Iran marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution , a move that drew sharp criticism from anti-regime Iranian voices and human rights advocates. In a letter addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Guterres "extended his warmest congratulations on the National Day of the Islamic Republic of Iran," describing such anniversaries as an opportunity to reflect on a country’s path and contributions to the international community, according to Iranian state and regional reporting published Wednesday. The message comes weeks after the U.N.’s top human rights body condemned Iran over abuses tied to a violent crackdown on anti-government protests and mandated further investigation into alleged violations, with some reports citing casualty figures that could reach 30,000, pending verification. RUBIO REVOKES IRANIAN OFFICIALS' US TRAVEL PRIVILEGES OVER DEADLY PROTEST CRACKDOWN KILLING THOUSANDS Furthermore, according to the NGO U.N. Watch, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, is expected to address the U.N. Human Rights Council on Feb. 23. Against that backdrop, critics said the secretary-general’s congratulatory message risked sending a conflicting signal. "The U.N. secretary-general’s congratulatory message is not merely diplomatic routine — it is abjectly tone-deaf," said Iran analyst Banafsheh Zand. "At a time when the Iranian people continue to endure executions, repression and systemic abuse at the hands of the Islamic Republic, offering formal congratulations to the architects of that suffering reads as a moral failure." Zand added that such gestures "erode [the U.N.’s] credibility and deepen the wound for those still fighting for freedom inside Iran." Andrew Ghalili, policy director at the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), said the message amounted to legitimizing a repressive system. AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ LAYS OUT ‘AMERICA FIRST’ VISION FOR US LEADERSHIP AT THE UN "The United Nations is legitimizing a regime built on repression, executions and the systematic destruction of basic freedoms," Ghalili said. "Offering celebratory recognition to the Islamic Republic on the anniversary of its revolution ignores the bloodshed, the repression of protesters and the ongoing hostage-taking of innocent people." Human rights groups have repeatedly warned that impunity has enabled ongoing abuses in Iran, urging U.N. member states to pursue accountability for what they describe as systemic violations and mass killings of protesters . Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general, told Fox News Digital during a press briefing that the message to Tehran was part of a long-standing U.N. protocol. IRAN’S TOP DIPLOMAT SAYS NATION’S POWER LIES IN DEFYING PRESSURE: ‘NO TO THE GREAT POWERS’ "The letter that came out from the secretary-general is a standard letter. Every year, each member state gets the exact same letter… congratulating them on the national holiday and conveying best wishes to the people of that country." The spokesperson added that similar letters were sent the same day to other countries marking national holidays and "should not be interpreted… as an endorsement of whatever policies may be put in place by the government." He said the message "doesn’t change the secretary-general’s view" on Iran, noting Guterres has previously spoken out against the crackdown and violence. On reports that Iran’s foreign minister is expected to address the Human Rights Council later this month, the spokesperson said the matter falls under the council’s authority. "That’s a decision of the Human Rights Council," he said. "This is a membership organization. Every member state has a right to address legislative bodies… It’s not within the secretariat’s authority to bar member states from addressing a legislative body."

Russia has reportedly agreed to abide by the limits of a nuclear arms pact it reached with the U.S. years ago after the agreement expired last week — as long as Washington does the same. The New START Treaty's expiration, which occurred on Feb. 5, leaves the nations with the two largest atomic arsenals with no restrictions for the first time in more than a half-century, The Associated Press reported. The expiration has fueled fears of a possible unconstrained nuclear arms race. In September, President Vladimir Putin said Russia would abide by the nuclear arms deal for another year after its expiration date as long as the U.S. followed suit, the AP reported. However, President Donald Trump has said he wanted China to be part of a new pact, something that Beijing has rejected, according to the AP. "Rather than extend 'NEW START' (A badly negotiated deal by the United States that, aside from everything else, is being grossly violated), we should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future," Trump wrote on Truth Social upon the treaty's expiration. WORLD ENTERS UNCHARTED ERA AS US-RUSSIA NUCLEAR TREATY EXPIRES, OPENING DOOR TO FASTEST ARMS RACE IN DECADES In response to Fox News Digital's request for comment on the now-expired treaty, the White House pointed to the president's Truth Social post. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke to lawmakers about the treaty, saying Moscow would "act in a responsible and balanced way on the basis of analysis of the U.S. military policies," the AP reported. Lavrov added that "we have reason to believe that the United States is in no hurry to abandon these limits and that they will be observed for the foreseeable future." "We will closely monitor how things are actually unfolding," Lavrov said. "If our American colleagues’ intention to maintain some kind of cooperation on this is confirmed, we will work actively on a new agreement and consider the issues that have remained outside strategic stability agreements." TRUMP CALLS FOR NUCLEAR EXPERTS TO WORK ON 'NEW, IMPROVED, AND MODERNIZED TREATY' The New START Treaty was signed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, and was entered into force on Feb. 5, 2011. The treaty gave the U.S. and Russia until Feb. 5, 2018, to meet the central limits on strategic offensive arms. The treaty caps each side at 700 deployed ICBMs, SLBMs and nuclear-capable heavy bombers; 1,550 deployed warheads; and 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers and bombers. The parties were then obligated to maintain the limits as long as the treaty remained in force, which it did until last week. The expiration of the treaty comes just after a meeting involving U.S. and Russian officials in Abu Dhabi. Axios previously reported that the two nations were closing in on a deal to observe the treaty for at least six months after its expiration. The outlet added that during the six-month period there would be negotiations for a new deal. The State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

A Russian drone strike Tuesday night in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region wiped out a young family, killing a father and his three small children, leaving a pregnant mother as the sole survivor. Oleg Synegubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, said on Telegram that the attack on the town of Bohodukhiv claimed the lives of 34-year-old Grigory and his three children — 2-year-old twin boys, Ivan and Vladyslav, and their 1-year-old sister Myroslava. The family had just evacuated from Zolochiv, a front-line town about 25 miles from the Russian border, in an effort to escape persistent shelling. They were spending their first night in their new home when the strike occurred, Synegubov said. ‘ONLY TRUMP CAN STOP RUSSIA’: MILLIONS FACE FREEZING WINTER, UKRAINE ENERGY EXECUTIVE WARNS Olga, the children’s 35-year-old mother who is 35 weeks pregnant, survived with injuries and minor burns and was later discharged from the hospital after receiving medical care. "The Russian army once again targeted an ordinary residential building in the middle of the night," said Synegubov. "Another terrorist act of the state fighting against the civilian population – against small children, pregnant women, elderly people." The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office said preliminary data indicates that a "Geran-2" drone was used in the attack. RUSSIAN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL SHOT IN MOSCOW: REPORT The Geran-2 is the Russian designation for an Iranian-designed Shahed-136, a one-way attack drone that detonates on impact and has been widely used by Moscow to strike Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. KENYA DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM RUSSIA OVER RECRUITMENT OF CITIZENS TO FIGHT IN UKRAINE WAR Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday in a post on X that Russian forces carried out additional strikes across border and frontline regions, including launching 470 attack drones at Kherson in a single day. "Gas supply restoration is ongoing in the Donetsk region – also following a Russian strike. There were strikes on infrastructure in the Dnipro region, in the Synelnykove district," he wrote. "Some consumers are currently without electricity in Zaporizhzhia after ‘shahed’ strikes – restoration work is underway." Zelenskyy said he directed military and community leaders to develop additional measures to strengthen protection for critical infrastructure.

The 18-year-old killed her mother and stepbrother as well as seven people at the school, including one person who died on the way to the hospital.

The police are weighing whether to formally investigate Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over accusations he shared confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein.

Stolz put an end to Dutch dominance in the men’s sport, cruising to his first Olympic gold medal.

In the 459 days that Willa Mae James spent living in a Fairfield Inn in Eastern North Carolina, her footsteps wore down paths in the carpet: from the door to the desk, from the bed to the wooden armchair by the window, her favorite place to read the Bible. The 69-year-old retired dietitian had been sent there in July 2024 by North Carolina’s rebuilding program after Hurricane Florence ravaged her home and many others in 2018. The state had promised to help thousands of people like her rebuild or repair. But it had taken the program years to begin work. James spent nearly six years living in her damaged house in Lumberton, where floodwaters had turned the floorboards to pulp, causing her floors to sink and nearly cave in. Of the more than 10,000 families who applied, 3,100 were still waiting for construction five years after the storm. Thousands of others had withdrawn or been dropped by the program. As of November, more than 300 families were still waiting to return home. And James was the last of more than 100 displaced homeowners staying at the hotel. “It’s like being in jail,” James said. “Everybody else done moved back home in their houses, enjoying it, except me.” On the other side of North Carolina, nearly 5,000 homeowners find themselves waiting for the state government to help them rebuild after 2024’s Hurricane Helene. Gov. Josh Stein created a new program, Renew NC, promising to learn from the problems of the previous program that left James and thousands of others hanging for years. Renew NC is just getting off the ground; the program began accepting applications in June and has completed work on 16 of the 2,700 homes it plans to repair and rebuild. But through public records and interviews with homeowners, The Assembly and ProPublica have found that some of the same problems that plagued the earlier program are surfacing in the Helene recovery. Video by Nadia Sussman/ProPublica That earlier program, which has the similar name ReBuild NC, was set up after Florence decimated a region that had been hit by Hurricane Matthew two years earlier. ReBuild NC was designed to help low- and moderate-income homeowners restore their homes by hiring and paying contractors to complete the work. But the North Carolina Office of Recovery & Resiliency, which runs the program, failed at nearly every step, according to reports by outside consultants, journalists and auditors. It struggled to manage its $779 million budget and couldn’t keep track of expenses. It rarely held contractors accountable for delays that dragged out projects and drove up costs for temporary housing and storage. ReBuild NC provided only limited resources to understaffed local governments that couldn’t handle the volume of permit and inspection requests. At the same time, the agency was laden with “administrative steps, paperwork, and procedures” to comply with federal regulations, according to a state auditor report. And rigid rules meant the agency spent money rebuilding homes that needed less expensive repairs, some homeowners said. “The response from North Carolina to hurricanes Matthew and Florence was a disaster,” State Auditor Dave Boliek said in a statement after releasing a report on ReBuild NC in November. The auditor’s office consulted with the former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Obama administration, Craig Fugate, who noted that ReBuild NC officials “spent a tremendous amount of time on process, when their job was swinging hammers.” Bridget Munger, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Office of Recovery & Resiliency, said the office welcomed the report. “NCORR remains committed to serving those affected by hurricanes Matthew and Florence and any insight that supports that mission is valuable,” Munger said in a statement. Get Involved Have you applied to Renew NC or other assistance programs, such as a hazard mitigation buyout, following Hurricane Helene? We want to hear from you to better understand how recovery efforts are working in North Carolina. Share Your Experience State leaders set out to manage Helene recovery differently. Among Stein’s orders on his first day in office in 2025 was to lay the groundwork for a new home rebuilding program with fresh leadership in a different department. The state would again pick and pay contractors to repair and rebuild homes of people who applied, but this time, it would scrutinize contractors more to ensure quality. Stephanie McGarrah, who oversees Renew NC, pledged “robust financial oversight” and a willingness to work with stakeholders who “identify challenges and gaps in funding.” But again, homeowners are encountering rules that steer them toward demolition and reconstruction when less expensive repairs would do. Some counties are struggling to get the staff and inspectors to handle all the required permits. Many residents will be out of their homes without a plan from the state to pay for temporary housing or storage during construction. McGarrah, a deputy state commerce secretary, said that every disaster is different and that the agency is learning as it goes and has already revised policies to allow more homes to be eligible for repairs. “There’s this perception that you can figure out what all the problems are going to be, and you can figure them out at the beginning,” she said. The Helene recovery program set an ambitious goal to finish all homes before June 2028, but the long waits of James and others in Eastern North Carolina serve as a warning for what might happen next. Behind the Scenes of the Disaster In 2016, record flooding from Hurricane Matthew hit James’ hometown of Lumberton, North Carolina. Two years later, Hurricane Florence again caused flooding. Chuck Burton/AP North Carolina had just begun rebuilding homes Matthew destroyed in 2016 when Florence hit two years later, bringing up to 2 feet of rain in some inland counties. Damage from the two storms totaled an estimated $22 billion spread across half of North Carolina’s 100 counties, among the costliest storms in U.S. history. After FEMA’s short-term disaster assistance ended, the state received applications from more than 10,000 homeowners still in need of repairs. But progress was slow. The state’s homebuilding program trailed others after 2018 hurricanes, according to a 2022 Government Accountability Office report . North Carolina had completed 0.4% of the homes it set out to repair and rebuild after Florence while South Carolina had completed 22%. ReBuild NC’s management problems are most apparent in the time people like James spent in hotels waiting for construction. One of the reasons it took so long is that ReBuild NC hired two administrative contractors, one to manage construction and another to handle temporary relocation. Although the agency denied it, contractors told the legislature that ReBuild NC discouraged its relocation vendor from speaking directly with the construction vendor, requiring them to communicate via a spreadsheet that was supposed to track construction. The approach delayed repairs as the vendors were unable to line up move-out dates with construction start dates. Among the 766 families who spent at least a year out of their homes during construction, more than 500 didn’t have damage that required them to move out early. Such problems contributed to the roughly $100 million ReBuild NC spent on temporary relocation services, like hotels and portable storage pods, for 3,800 families. The program required families to move out before construction was ready to begin. James was moved into the Fairfield Inn nine months before her assigned construction company filed for demolition and construction permits. A large part of the delay was caused by ReBuild NC pausing “notices to proceed” for four months as it ran low on funds and sought more money from the legislature. While the local government OK’d the permit applications within days, it took another two months for the contractor to pay for the permits and begin reconstruction. P.H. Lowery, the general contractor for James’ home, did not respond to calls or text messages seeking comment about the delays. The nonprofit news organization NC Newsline found that ReBuild NC never fined contractors for missing deadlines during the program’s first years. Other families faced delays because ReBuild NC failed to coordinate rebuilding efforts with local governments or because the homeowners came up against the program’s rules. The state had a set number of home designs that homeowners could choose from. Sometimes, the state’s plans proposed homes that were too big for properties or didn’t account for septic systems. Kath Durand encountered such problems when she sought ReBuild NC’s help after Florence’s deluge seeped through the roof, saturated the walls and collapsed part of the ceiling of her home in Atlantic Beach. She applied to ReBuild NC in 2020, hoping to finish an estimated $20,000 in repairs after she ran out of money to fix the home herself. Hurricane Florence damaged Kath Durand’s home, causing mold to spread in the ceiling and walls. ReBuild NC took four years to offer Durand a floor plan, only to later tell her none of the designs would fit her lot and drop her from the program. Madeline Gray for ProPublica and The Assembly But under ReBuild NC’s rules, wood-frame homes like hers had to be above a certain level to avoid flooding before the program would pay for repairs, and the program wouldn’t pay to elevate houses. The home was just shy. So ReBuild NC would only pay to demolish the home and build a new one — a more expensive undertaking. It took four years for the agency to offer Durand a floor plan, but none of the designs fit her 1/6-acre lot. One plan placed part of the home in the street easement, which utility companies need to access. A second placed the home in the tidal zone, effectively putting her home in a canal. A third covered the septic field, which could have destroyed the system that breaks down sewage. All those things would have been cause for rejected permits, she said, making her question ReBuild NC. “I would like to get in a room and talk to them about ‘what were you thinking?’” she said. Durand said she settled for a smaller home, but at the end of December, ReBuild NC withdrew her from the program, saying it didn’t have houses available for the size of her lot. Munger, ReBuild NC’s spokesperson, said the program has the ability to develop custom building plans to fit challenging lots, but doing so in every case “would have exponentially increased project costs and greatly reduced the number of families helped by the program.” After ReBuild NC said it would rebuild her house and sent storage pods, Durand rented a room from a member of her church. But after more than a year with no construction, she had to move back. Many of her belongings remain in boxes. Madeline Gray for ProPublica and The Assembly Family photos of Durand, center, and her brothers hang in her home. Madeline Gray for ProPublica and The Assembly Such delays and complaints from homeowners led to years of legislative scrutiny, after which ReBuild NC’s two top leaders left the agency. In 2022, the agency’s chief program delivery officer, Ivan Duncan, resigned after he was accused of giving preferential treatment to a construction vendor, NC Newsline reported. Then, after several legislative meetings questioned oversight of the program, his boss, ReBuild NC director Laura Hogshead, abruptly left the agency in 2024. Duncan said in an interview that the allegations were unfounded. He said he cooperated with the investigations, was not asked to resign and left for a higher-paying job. Hogshead did not respond to requests for comment. At a 2024 legislative hearing, she listed several things the program would do differently if it were put in charge of the Helene recovery but noted that rebuilding thousands of older homes across a wide area came with challenges. Behind the scenes, ReBuild NC struggled to hold contractors accountable to timelines, paid invoices without verifying work and spent money on things auditors couldn’t track, according to reports by disaster recovery consultant SBP and the state auditor and an internal audit . For James, the wait was especially hard as her husband, Christopher, was in treatment for bone cancer. She remembers Christopher questioning whether the home would ever be done. “Baby, them people might never get to you,” he’d told her. When he died in 2021, she was left to fight alone for the home to be rebuilt. James said a neighbor who applied for ReBuild NC died days after moving into the hotel. She knows others who are still staying with friends or family as they wait on ReBuild NC to finish their homes. She hopes Western North Carolina residents have better experiences. “I pray that they don’t go through what we did, I sure do,” James said. Seven years after Hurricane Florence, ReBuild NC finished reconstruction of James’ Lumberton home. Madeline Gray for ProPublica and The Assembly At the Edge Under pressure from the legislature and homeowners to not repeat these problems with the Helene recovery, the new state program, Renew NC, made a number of reforms. ReBuild NC had been criticized for locating its office almost 100 miles from the epicenters of the disaster zones. Renew NC’s office is in Asheville, in one of Helene’s hardest-hit counties. A bipartisan group of legislators, business leaders, activists and government officials meets across Western North Carolina to publicly advise on challenges and assist with recovery. To avoid the problem of having different vendors administer the construction and relocation, Renew NC has hired one vendor to manage the housing recovery program. Despite the reforms, the Stein administration has already faced questions from lawmakers over potential conflicts of interest. His first Helene recovery adviser, Jonathan Krebs, had been a partner at the company administering the housing program and contributed heavily to Stein’s campaign and a Democratic political committee in the year before receiving his job. Kate Schmidt, a spokesperson for the governor, said Krebs “was hired because of his decades of experience working on nearly every major disaster recovery since Katrina” and noted that the State Ethics Commission found no conflict of interest. Krebs said at a legislative meeting last year that while he helped draft the request for proposal and scoring criteria for an $81 million contract that was awarded to Horne, his former employer, he viewed his past employment not as a conflict but as an asset. “They’ve got to have somebody in the room that knows what’s going on and what has to happen to get houses built. I was that person,” said Krebs, whose temporary role has ended. Krebs echoed those sentiments in an interview, noting that he supported Stein as a candidate who was “trying to be practical and help people.” The state did not renew Horne’s Florence and Matthew recovery contract amid complaints over slow application processing. BDO, an accounting and consulting firm that has since acquired Horne, referred questions to the state. A state official said in contracting documents that the decision to not renew was mutual and acknowledged that “problems continued” after the state took over case management. As South Carolina did after Florence, Renew NC has avoided the high costs of temporary housing and storage simply by not paying for them, except under “extreme circumstances,” though it is common for disaster recovery programs to pay for such costs. That has left homeowners to cover the costs themselves. Read More Arduous and Unequal: The Fight to Get FEMA Housing Assistance After Helene The lack of coverage for temporary housing concerns Vicki Meath, a local housing advocate working on the recovery. “When I think about survivors that have been impacted and would apply to this program that are below 60% of the area median income, they don’t have a lot of resources,” she said. “They don’t have another place to live.” In an interview, McGarrah noted that her agency is discussing policy changes to help make temporary housing more affordable but will need local partners to identify places families can live. “We’re seeing some slowdowns in our pipeline because people don’t have places to go,” she said. Local governments in Western North Carolina, like those on the other side of the state, are struggling with a lack of staff and resources. Dennis Aldridge, a commissioner in Avery County, northeast of Asheville, said the county’s 18,000 residents face a shortage of environmental inspectors who certify well and septic systems, on which homes in rural counties overwhelmingly rely. Aldridge said he reached out to the state for assistance, but there aren’t enough inspectors in North Carolina — an issue that’s been known for years. “It’s taking right now about six to nine months to get a well and septic permit because we don’t have the people,” Aldridge said in September. Danny Allen, inspections director in Madison County, north of Asheville, said he’s worried his department will face backlogs on building permits with about 75 local homeowners actively applying for the state program. After Helene, Chuck Brodsky’s home sits on a cliff with a 150-foot drop. Renew NC says it can’t repair the land without tearing down his house. Ren Larson/The Assembly “They’re feeling it now, but it’s really going to be six months from now that the pressure is going to build,” said Aimee Wall, dean of the University of North Carolina’s School of Government. The number of people waiting for inspections could increase if homeowners who applied for repairs learn they need to have their homes rebuilt because damages exceed the state’s threshold of $100,000 for wood-frame homes. The amount is intended to avoid costly repairs, as homes could have additional issues like termite damage that aren’t immediately visible. But it doesn’t cover all scenarios. That’s what Chuck Brodsky, a folk musician and songwriter, encountered after two landslides wiped out much of the Asheville mountainside that supported his home. His two-story house survived Helene unscathed, but it’s now perched on a cliff that drops to a road 150 feet below. Two construction companies quoted him about $200,000 to stabilize the mountainside and keep his home from falling over the edge. He couldn’t afford it, so he began the application for help from Renew NC to repair his storm-impacted property in September. But the agency told him under the program’s rules, to fix the mountainside, it would have to tear down his home and rebuild. It can’t just repair the land. The agency told him he could appeal, but he worries he’ll receive the same answer. McGarrah noted that the region had over 3,000 landslides, and the agency will evaluate properties affected by them case by case. “It would cost them way more to demolish the house and rebuild the house than repair the landslide,” Brodsky said. “The whole thing is just preposterous.” The post As Helene Survivors Wait for State Help, Some Victims of Earlier Hurricanes Are Still Out of Their Homes appeared first on ProPublica .

Under pressure from Republican state attorneys general, the agency that advises the U.S. Supreme Court and federal judges on scientific and technical matters has withdrawn the entirety of its content on climate change from a new judicial reference manual. The move by the Federal Judicial Center leaves judges without any official support on how to weigh evidence about basic weather and climate changes just as numerous climate cases make their way through state and federal courts, including two on the docket of the U.S. Supreme Court for the current term. The center was created as an education agency and is chaired by Chief Justice John Roberts. By law, it is charged with overseeing court policies and researching technical and scientific issues that come before the court. The Supreme Court press office did not respond to a request for comment. On Dec. 31, 2025, the center released the first update in 15 years of its 1,682-page peer-reviewed guide, called the “ Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence ,” including more than 90 pages defining climate terminology and describing the state of scientific consensus on climate change and the methods used to attribute specific weather events to climate warming and its causes. The chapter acknowledges uncertainty in some areas of climate science; it generally reflects the conclusions of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The manual, widely cited and relied upon by law clerks and justices, is produced in partnership with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and also includes chapters on artificial intelligence, DNA identification and epidemiology, among other subjects. It is considered among the most important and trusted guides for justices grappling with technical material, in large part because it is endorsed by the judicial branch itself. Its publication of the chapter on climate change, however, drew immediate criticism from conservatives, who allege that the section is slanted against oil and gas producers and represents an effort by activists to sway the opinion of judges deliberating on current cases. The withdrawal comes as a number of lawsuits seek to hold oil and gas companies accountable for the damage caused by climate change, which has been scientifically linked to the emissions produced by burning fossil fuels. Republican attorneys general have repeatedly criticized these lawsuits, accusing liberal groups of using tort law to enact regulatory policy and supporting efforts to have cases dismissed or moved into federal court. On Feb. 2, more than 20 Republican attorneys general wrote to the House and Senate judiciary committees stating that the manual is “tainted by biased authors, reviewers, and sources involved in ongoing litigation,” and that it is an “inappropriate attempt to rig case outcomes in favor of one side.” The group encouraged the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, to include the publication in a recently announced investigation into a program by the Environmental Law Institute , a nonpartisan research group, to educate justices on climate change. The next day, the Federalist Society, a conservative judicial organization, convened a panel to discuss the publication of the manual. The moderator said it runs counter to the Federal Judicial Center’s role as a “neutral arbiter of fact” and warned that the “inclusion of a climate science section advances an ideological agenda.” The chapter reflects “an assumption that certain bodies of evidence are automatically more credible than others,” Michael Williams, West Virginia’s solicitor general, told the panel’s audience. It suggests “certain questions are resolved when they’re actually still being litigated before courts.” On Feb. 6, the director of the Federal Judicial Center, Judge Robin Rosenberg of the Southern District of Florida, wrote to West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey that the center “has omitted the climate science chapter.” In their letter last week, the attorneys general raised concerns that one of the authors of the climate chapter is employed by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University and that in the footnotes of the report the authors thank the executive director of that program, Michael Burger. Burger, who declined to comment, is of counsel to the law firm Sher Edling, which represents several of the plaintiffs in the climate cases, including the city of Honolulu. The objections by the state attorneys general represent “a bad-faith critique that is ultimately aimed at repressing scientific information,” Jessica Wentz, one of the chapter’s authors, said. The withdrawal of the chapter, she said, “is going to be used to advance this narrative that there is a debate about even the most fundamental aspects of climate change.” Wentz said that she has never been a witness or served as counsel in any climate litigation and that it is disingenuous for the attorneys general to object to the material in the climate chapter — which acknowledges the consensus that human activity is responsible for warming — because it is the subject of contested litigation. None of the major climate lawsuits that she is aware of debate the science of warming and instead address questions about fossil fuel companies’ responsibility. “The infusion of bias,” Wentz said, comes not from exposure to scientific information but “from the suppression of that scientific information.” The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has maintained a copy of the original manual on its own website even as the Federal Judicial Center has removed the version with the climate change chapter from its own. A representative from the center declined to comment, and members from the House Judiciary Committee could not immediately be reached for comment. The post Under GOP Pressure, Federal Agency Pulls Climate Change Chapter From Official Manual for U.S. Judges appeared first on ProPublica .

Officials at the U.S. Forest Service knew gear worn by wildland firefighters contained potentially dangerous “forever chemicals” years before the agency publicly acknowledged the issue, according to internal correspondence obtained by ProPublica. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, have been linked to negative health impacts, including certain cancers and delayed development in children. For years, PFAS chemicals were commonly used to treat the heavy gear worn by municipal firefighters to help it repel water and oil. Federal agencies have said little about whether the compounds were also found in the lighter heat-resistant clothing worn by wildland firefighters. In February 2024, when ProPublica was reporting on the dangers of wildland firefighting — including the risk of cancer — the news organization asked both the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior if federal wildland firefighting gear contained PFAS. Both agencies gave nearly identical answers, writing that they did not have “specific measured concentration data showing that PFAS is contained in protective clothing and gear.” But email correspondence obtained by ProPublica shows that government officials were alerted to the presence of PFAS in pants used by wildland firefighters as early as 2021. In April 2022, a senior Forest Service official asked colleagues if they had an obligation to tell firefighters that PFAS had been found in their gear. According to the emails, the agency decided not to immediately share the information, instead waiting for the results of a study into whether PFAS can be absorbed through the skin. The emails were released last week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed in 2022 by George Broyles, a former Forest Service employee who for years studied smoke exposure among firefighters, and who has repeatedly raised concerns about the agency’s reluctance to acknowledge cancer among its workforce. “They just obfuscate,” said Broyles. “It’s just a continuation of the same thing: ‘We’re going to stick our heads in the sand and hope that nobody notices.’” The Forest Service declined to answer questions about the records, PFAS chemicals in its gear, and firefighter health. In 2024, the agency said in a statement to ProPublica, “The Forest Service is deeply committed to not only understanding occupational risks to employees but mitigating these risks.”  The Department of the Interior did not answer questions about PFAS. By 2021, public awareness of the ubiquity and risks of PFAS was rising. At the beginning of that year, Congress ordered the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a subagency of the Department of Commerce, to find out if firefighting gear contained PFAS. Researchers from the agency began collecting hoods and gloves worn by municipal firefighters — who tackle building fires — as well as various samples of wildland firefighting gear. In April, according to the documents, a Forest Service equipment specialist emailed one of its suppliers, TenCate, which produces fabric used in wildland firefighting gear. At the time, the company’s “Advance” fabric, a Kevlar blend used in some pants, was treated with a finishing product called Shelltite. “Question,” asked the Forest Service specialist. “Does the Shelltite finish on the Advance fabric have any PFAS presence?” A TenCate manager quickly responded by attaching a document confirming that one of its finishes contained a form of PFAS that had been applied to repel hydrocarbons and gasoline. The manager also said that TenCate was “in the final stages of developing” a finish without the compound. TenCate did not respond to repeated requests for comment from ProPublica. PFAS is a broad class of chemicals. According to emails sent from TenCate to the Forest Service, the company’s finish used a form of PFAS with six or fewer fluorinated carbon atoms. According to experts, these “short-chain” PFAS chemicals are less harmful than other ones, but some can linger in the environment for years and in the human body for months. Their full impact on human health is not known. All firefighters have significantly higher cancer risks than the general population, but less is understood about the health of wildland firefighters than of their counterparts who battle blazes in buildings and other structures. This is largely the fault of the government: As ProPublica has reported , the Forest Service has known of carcinogenic elements in wildfire smoke for decades but the government dragged its heels in studying the impacts on wildland firefighters. Researchers have found elevated levels of some PFAS in the blood of structural firefighters, but less is known about these chemicals in their wildland peers. While structural firefighting departments often require garments that repel oil and water, experts say it is not always necessary for wildland firefighters, who often wear the same gear for weeks in remote locations. “From the wildland firefighting perspective, I don’t see any reason to have the PFAS treatments in their gear. They don’t really need the oil repellency,” said Bryan Ormond, an associate professor of textile engineering, chemistry and science at North Carolina State University, in an email. “It would be a safer option to not have the PFAS treatment.” According to a former fire service official with direct knowledge of the dynamic, the presence of PFAS in pants was a topic of discussion around 2021 by a risk management committee made up of senior officials from multiple agencies, including the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior. The official said that committee members wanted to know: “Is it a big deal, little deal, or no deal?” In April 2022, a full year after TenCate told the Forest Service about the PFAS treatment used on its fabric, a senior agency official named David Haston raised the issue again. An assistant director of operations at the Forest Service at the time, Haston emailed colleagues asking whether TenCate’s fabric was “still coming with PFAS in the finish? Can Tencate tell us whether or not this is hazardous to people that wear these garments? Do we have a duty to notify employees?” The email was forwarded to a Forest Service equipment specialist named David Maclay-Schulte who said he’d asked the company if its PFAS-free fabric was ready. “They said they will look into it and get back to me,” wrote the specialist. “I am hopeful it’s sooner rather than later.” Five months later, in September, Maclay-Schulte wrote to Forest Service officials that he still hadn’t heard back from TenCate. In the email, Maclay-Schulte said he would contact the company again, but added that the Forest Service had decided to wait until the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health had completed studies, including one about whether PFAS can be absorbed through skin, “before any decisions would be made.” In the same email, he asked colleagues whether he should respond to questions about PFAS that Broyles had asked on behalf of a labor advocacy group called Grassroots Wildland Firefighters. The other officials all agreed that they would not immediately tell Grassroots about the PFAS. “They need to send the FS an official request asking for this information,” wrote a physiologist for the agency. According to multiple wildland firefighters and government officials familiar with contracting and purchasing, the Forest Service never told rank-and-file wildland firefighters that their pants might contain PFAS. “To me it demonstrates that managers high up in the agency over several years have never really prioritized the health and well-being of the actual firefighters,” said Riva Duncan, the president of Grassroots and a former Forest Service fire chief. Duncan noted that many wildland firefighters wear their pants even in the offseason. “They’ve known about this. They’ve known about other threats to health and well-being yet they have chosen to not be proactive and share the information with employees. It seems it’s only when they’re forced to provide information that we find out about it.” In the past few years, under pressure from labor groups and lawmakers, the federal government has begun to acknowledge cancer in the workforce, and the Forest Service last year made masks available to wildland firefighters in response to reporting from The New York Times . But a full accounting of the risks is still not available; the government’s preparedness guide for incoming wildland firefighters, produced in 2022, makes no mention of cancer . When ProPublica asked the Department of the Interior if it planned to update the guide, a spokesperson directed the news organization to a blog post about research into workplace hazards that does not mention cancer. In January 2023, almost two years after the Forest Service learned of the PFAS treatments, TenCate finally responded to Maclay-Schulte. “To the best of our knowledge wearing ADVANCE with Shelltite or Supershelltite has not caused deleterious health impacts,” wrote a senior director at the company. But the company also informed the agency that it was now producing its PFAS-free finish for the pant fabric. It is unclear if the government began purchasing pants with the new finish or if it continued to purchase the pants with PFAS. In 2024, NIST released the study of PFAS in firefighting gear that Congress had mandated in 2021. The study found that some wildland firefighting gear contained PFAS. Most of it had modest amounts of the chemicals. But, NIST wrote, in a summary of the study, “there were some cases that had notably high levels.” According to Heather Stapleton, an exposure scientist and professor at Duke University, the study showed levels in certain samples “similar to what has been reported in structural firefighting gear.” The study did not specify the companies it had sourced its gear from, and NIST did not respond to questions from ProPublica. The NIOSH study that the Forest Service officials had been waiting on when deciding how to act, however, is still ongoing. The post Firefighters Wore Gear Containing “Forever Chemicals.” The Forest Service Knew and Stayed Silent for Years. appeared first on ProPublica .

US President Donald Trump held talks with Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to discuss renewed US nuclear talks with Iran, and said he told the Israeli prime minister that negotiations with Tehran would continue to see if a deal could be reached. Netanyahu had been expected to push for Trump to ‌widen talks with Iran beyond its nuclear programme to include limits on Tehran’s missile arsenal and other security threats. In their seventh meeting since Trump returned to office last year, Netanyahu –...

A Republican US lawmaker on Wednesday accused ⁠Attorney General Pam Bondi of concealing the names of powerful associates of the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as she faced questions about the Justice Department’s handling of investigative files in a charged hearing before a House of Representatives panel. Congressman Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, who helped lead the effort to require the files’ release, accused the Justice Department of a “massive failure”...

Fresh surveillance images from Nancy Guthrie’s porch the night she went missing, coupled with intense police activity across Arizona and the detention of a man had raised hopes that authorities were nearing a major break. By Wednesday, however, the man said he had been released after questioning, leaving it unclear where the investigation stood into last week’s disappearance of Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie. Just hours after the FBI released videos on...

Transcription tools used by councils in England and Scotland reported to hallucinate and produce ‘gibberish’ AI tools are making potentially harmful errors in social work records, from bogus warnings of suicidal ideation to simple “gibberish”, frontline workers have said. Keir Starmer last year championed what he called “incredible” time-saving social work transcription technology. But research across 17 English and Scottish councils shared with the Guardian has now found AI-generated hallucinations are slipping in. Continue reading...

US attorney general goes on attack during questioning by House judiciary committee over handling of files The US attorney general Pam Bondi attacked and insulted Democrats during a House judiciary committee hearing on Wednesday as she defended the justice department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein . Democrats pounded Bondi with questions about the way the department has complied with a law last year mandating the complete release of the files with specific and limited room for redactions. After releasing the documents after the statutory deadline, the justice department has come under intense scrutiny both for releasing the names of survivors and redacting, without explanation, the names of people who may have committed crimes. Continue reading...

Sussan Ley could face a party room vote as early as today. Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Krishani Dhanji to pick up the slack. Angus Taylor’s resignation from the shadow cabinet last night is expected to leave Sussan Ley facing a leadership spill today or tomorrow. We will have all the news as and when it happens. Continue reading...