Gov. JB Pritzker and three other Democratic state chief executives on Tuesday night called for Democrats to mobilize and protest outside Republican congressional offices to oppose President Donald Trump’s administrative actions following his first 100 days in office.

“If you’re not out there protesting in front of a Republican congressman’s office, or out in the street making your voice heard, or calling your friends in another state to have them do it, or showing up in Washington, D.C., in front of their offices, those Republican congressmen, then you’re not doing what’s necessary to put pressure on them to vote the right way,” he said.

Pritzker was joined by Govs. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the unsuccessful 2024 vice presidential nominee, Maura Healey of Massachusetts and Kathy Hochul of New York in an hourlong, live-streamed question-and-answer event hosted by the MeidasTouch Network. The online site has used its social media platforms and other channels to sharply criticize Trump and

A federal judge in Maryland has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker deported to El Salvador, ruling the removal violated a court settlement protecting some young migrants with pending asylum claims, according to an order issued Wednesday.

The person deported was part of a class action case filed in 2019 on behalf of individuals who arrived in the US as unaccompanied minors and later sought asylum. A settlement in that case determined they could not be removed from the United States until their claims were fully adjudicated.

US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, who was nominated to the post by President Donald Trump, issued the order directing the government to work with Salvadoran authorities to return the man to the United States. The man is referred to only as “Cristian” in court filings. Gallagher also barred the removal of other individuals covered by the settlement agreement, which was finalized in November 2024.

Donald Trump’s unilateral effort to reshape election processes is an attempt to “short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order,” a federal judge in Washington, D.C. wrote Thursday afternoon.

In a 120-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly blocked the Trump administration from requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and ordering that election officials “assess” the citizenship of anyone who receives public assistance before allowing them to register. She also barred the Election Assistance Commission from withholding federal funding from states that did not comply with the order.

“Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States—not the President—with the authority to regulate federal elections,” she wrote. “No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday offered rare criticism of Vladimir Putin, urging the Russian leader to “STOP!” after a deadly barrage of attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying.” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”

Russia struck Kyiv with an hourslong barrage of missiles and drones. At least 12 people were killed and 90 were injured in the deadliest assault on the city since last July.

Trump’s frustration is growing as a U.S.-led effort to get a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia has not made progress.

The comments about Putin came after Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday and accused him of prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to surrender the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula as part of a possible deal. Russia illegally annexed that are

A number of party leaders are frustrated that Hogg, who has a leadership position in the party, is pushing primaries against some incumbents in deep-blue seats.

Democratic party leaders Thursday morning admonished officers to not take sides in primaries, addressing a situation involving activist and Democratic National Committee vice chair David Hogg.

"Let me be unequivocal. No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election, whether on behalf of an incumbent or a challenger," DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a press call. "Voters should decide who our primary nominees are, not DNC leadership. Our role is to serve as stewards of a fair, open and trusted process, not to tilt the scales."'

As of now, however, the DNC does not have the power to remove Hogg if he refuses to stand down on funding primary challenges through a separate PAC — unless the body changes its rules, a senior DNC official told NBC News.

“Under the present bylaws, there is no action th

An alleged leader of violence during the Rwandan genocide in 1994 has been living in an exclusive enclave on Long Island as a beekeeper. He was arrested Thursday and accused of concealing his role in horrific violence and human rights violations by making false statements in his applications for a visa, green card and for U.S. citizenship, according to the Justice Department.

Faustin Nsabumukunzi is charged with visa fraud and attempted naturalization fraud for allegedly lying on his application for a green card and for U.S. citizenship.

Nsabumukunzi was arrested at his home in Bridgehampton and pleaded not guilty Thursday in Islip federal court. He was released on $250,000 bond with home detention and GPS monitoring and will be allowed to keep working as a gardener for a private equity entrepreneur on Long Island who signed his bond.

“As alleged, Nsabumukunzi repeatedly lied to conceal his involvement in the horrific Rwandan genocide while seeking to become a lawful permanent resid

Lawyers for the federal government briefly published internal correspondence on Wednesday evening detailing a laundry list of flaws in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s legal strategy to shut down the MTA’s congestion pricing tolls.

The document, dated April 11, was mistakenly posted on the docket of the MTA’s federal lawsuit challenging U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s effort to kill the tolls by revoking federal approval. The internal 11-page letter, sent from attorneys in the Southern District of New York to a lawyer for the federal transportation department, was taken down less than an hour after it was erroneously put online. By Thursday afternoon, the attorneys were taken off the case while a transportation department spokesperson speculated they published the document as an act of sabatoge.

It marked a new, bizarre wrinkle in the legal back-and-forth between New York state and the Trump administration over the future of the Manhattan tolls — and sparked yet ano

Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation on Wednesday to create a government entity similar to the federal Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office's mission will be similar to its federal counterpart: to eliminate what some state leaders characterize as waste, fraud and corruption in government. But instead of reducing government agencies themselves like DOGE has, the state office aims to eliminate red tape for businesses.

Abbott touted Texas' business-friendly environment and growing economy at the bill signing ceremony. But he said there is still room to improve, citing a study by George Mason University that found that Texas regulates businesses more than most states.

Abbott said the new office will recalibrate "government in the state of Texas by making it more responsible, more responsive, less costly and more efficient."

WASHINGTON – A federal judge agreed to give the Trump administration another week to answer detailed questions about the illegal deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

A day earlier, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued a scathing rebuke of the administration's response to her order for more details about its efforts to return him to the U.S.

But the Trump administration asked for more time to respond in the case of the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador last month in an "administrative error" despite court protections.

Despite the temporary reprieve, the standoff between the White House and the federal courts may still be heading for a reckoning. In a scathing order Tuesday evening, Judge Xinis accused the Justice Department of willful refusal to comply with her order and attempting to "obstruct" discovery after receiving what she characterized as vague and unsatisfying responses to her demand for information on efforts to return Abrego Garcia to the United States.

"Defe

It was March 13 when Nedizon Alejandro Leon Rengel called his brother Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel to wish him a happy birthday.

Alejandro never heard back from him. Federal agents detained Adrián on his way to his job at a Dallas barbershop.

For the next five weeks, Alejandro has searched for Adrián, trying to learn where he was: deported to another country? Held in an immigration facility in the United States?

He and Adrián’s live-in girlfriend called Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas, getting shifted from office to office with different responses.

Sometimes they were told Adrián was still in detention. Another time they were told that he had been deported back to “his country of origin,” El Salvador, even though Adrián is Venezuelan. (Alejandro provided NBC News with audio recordings of the calls.)

Their mother went to a detention center in Caracas, Venezuela, where deportees are held when they arrive from the United States, Alejandro said, but she was told no o

KYIV - Ukraine will abide by an Easter truce, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, hours after Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to pause all combat activity until 2100 GMT on April 20 (5am on April 21 in Singapore).

“If Russia is now suddenly ready to truly engage in a format of full and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act accordingly – mirroring Russia’s actions,” Mr Zelensky said on April 19, in a post on X.

He proposed “extending it beyond the Easter day of April 20.”

But the Ukrainian leader also accused Russia of having already broken its promises.

“Russian assault operations continue on several front-line sectors, and Russian artillery fire has not subsided,” he said.

Ukraine’s Kherson governor reported several Russian drone attacks after Mr Putin’s order was supposed to have come into force at 6pm.

Ukraine’s air force issue air-raid warnings across several regions in eastern Ukraine on April 19 evening, also while the ceasefire was supposed to be in effect.

Dozens of opponents of President Kais Saied were imprisoned for 13 to 66 years for national security offenses. Their trial was labeled a "farce" and part of a clampdown by the North African nation's authoritarian ruler.

A court in Tunisia sentenced opposition figures, businessmen and lawyers to jail terms of 13 to 66 years after they were found guilty of conspiring against state security, state media reported on Saturday.

The opposition said the charges were fabricated and that the trial was a symbol of President Kais Saied's authoritarian rule.

What do we know about the case?

State news agency TAP first reported the sentences that ranged from 13 to 66 years, citing a judicial spokesperson as saying they were enforced immediately.

Forty people were prosecuted in the case, although more than half of them fled abroad after being charged.

Tunisian media outlets reported that the defendants were found guilty of "conspiracy against state security and belonging to a terrorist gro

If Russia is able to maintain a full ceasefire throughout Easter weekend, Ukraine would like to extend the truce for 30 days, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 19.

Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he ordered a halt on all combat operations during the Easter holiday. The temporary ceasefire is set to last from 6 p.m. Moscow time on April 19 until midnight on April 21.

Zelensky said that Kyiv was prepared to abide by a ceasefire if Russia is serious about halting attacks, but will respond in kind if Russia violates the truce.

"If complete silence really prevails, Ukraine proposes to extend it after the end of Easter on April 20," President Volodymyr Zelensky said the evening of April 19.

"This will show Russia's true intentions, because 30 hours is enough for headlines, but not for real confidence-building measures. Thirty days can give peace a chance."

Russia has not suspended all assault operations on the front line, Zelensky said, citin

DOHA, April 5 (Reuters) - Congo's government and M23 rebels last week held private talks in Qatar for the first time since the rebels conducted a lightning offensive in the country's east, a source briefed on the discussions told Reuters.

The talks, which will continue next week in Doha, offer the greatest hope of a halt to hostilities since M23 seized eastern Congo's two largest cities, a rapid advance that since January has resulted in thousands of deaths and forced hundreds of thousands more from their homes.

The fighting has raised fears of a wider regional war, as Congo's neighbours Uganda and Burundi also have troops in the region.

Reuters reported last week that Kinshasa and M23 planned to hold their first direct talks in Doha on April 9. But the source with knowledge of the situation said private talks were also held last week.

They were positive, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity, and prompted the rebels to withdraw from the strategic town of Walikale, in

NEW YORK (AP) — Sending children back to school in new sneakers, jeans and T-shirts is likely to cost U.S. families significantly more this fall if the bespoke tariffs President Donald Trump put on leading exporters take effect as planned, American industry groups warn.

About 97% of the clothes and shoes purchased in the U.S. are imported, predominantly from Asia, the American Apparel & Footwear Association said, citing its most recent data. Walmart, Gap Inc., Lululemon and Nike are a few of the companies that have a majority of their clothing made in Asian countries.

Those same garment-making hubs took a big hit under the president’s plan to punish individual countries for trade imbalances. For all Chinese goods, that meant tariffs of at least 54%. He set the import tax rates for Vietnam and neighboring Cambodia at 46% and 49%, and products from Bangladesh and Indonesia at 37% and 32%.

Working with foreign factories has kept labor costs down for U.S. companies in the fashion trade

WASHINGTON (AP) — After hiding in Thailand for seven years, two Cambodian journalists arrived in the United States last year on work visas, aiming to keep providing people in their Southeast Asian homeland with objective, factual news through Radio Free Asia.

But Vuthy Tha and Hour Hum now say their jobs and legal status in the U.S. are at risk after President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order gutting the government-run U.S. Agency for Global Media. The agency funds Radio Free Asia and other outlets tasked with delivering uncensored information to parts of the world under authoritarian rule and often without a free press of their own.

“It fell out of sky,” Vuthy, a single father of two small children, said through a translator about the Trump administration’s decision, which he says threatens to upend his life.

“I am very regretful that our listeners cannot receive the accurate news,” Hour said, also through a translator.

Both men said they’re worried about providing

A second school-age child who was hospitalized with measles is the third measles-related death in the U.S. since the virus started ripping through West Texas in late January.

The child died Thursday, according to state health officials. The child was 8 years old, according to a statement from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A spokesperson for UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, confirmed the child was unvaccinated and being treated for measles complications.

The U.S. now has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024, with Texas reporting another large jump in cases and hospitalizations on Friday. Other states with active outbreaks — defined as three or more cases — include New Mexico, Kansas, Ohio and Oklahoma. The virus has been spreading in undervaccinated communities.

The multi-state outbreak confirms health experts’ fears that the virus will take hold in other U.S. communities with low vaccination rates and that the spread could stretch on for a

About 45 years have passed since a U.S. state last eliminated its income tax on wages and salaries. But with recent actions in Mississippi and Kentucky, two states now are on a path to do so, if their economies keep growing.

The push to zero out the income tax is perhaps the most aggressive example of a tax-cutting trend that swept across states as they rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic with surging revenues and historic surpluses.

But it comes during a time of greater uncertainty for states, as they wait to see whether President Donald Trump’s cost cutting and tariffs lead to a reduction in federal funding for states and a downturn in the overall economy.

Some fiscal analysts also warn the repeal of income taxes could leave states reliant on other levies, such as sales taxes, that disproportionately affect the poor.

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — The U.S. government’s decision to arrest a Maryland man and send him to a notorious prison in El Salvador appears to be “wholly lawless,” a federal judge wrote Sunday in a legal opinion explaining why she had ordered the Trump administration to bring him back to the United States.

There is little to no evidence to support a “vague, uncorroborated” allegation that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was once in the MS-13 street gang, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis wrote. And in any case, she said, an immigration judge had expressly barred the U.S. in 2019 from deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, where he faced likely persecution by local gangs.

“As defendants acknowledge, they had no legal authority to arrest him, no justification to detain him, and no grounds to send him to El Salvador — let alone deliver him into one of the most dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere,” Xinis wrote.