“A man was arrested after repeatedly crashing his car into the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters in New York City on Wednesday night while people were gathered for prayer at the deeply revered Hasidic Jewish site. No one was injured when the driver struck a door of a building in the complex before reversing and striking it several more times. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that while it was too early in the investigation to speculate on the driver’s motives, the incident was being investigated as a possible hate crime.” (01/28/26)
“The U.S. Department of Education announced on Wednesday that a California policy allowing school districts to keep students’ gender transition from their parents violates federal law. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said a federal investigation found that California education officials ‘egregiously abused’ their authority by pressuring school districts to withhold information about students’ gender transitions from their parents. … The findings of the federal investigation could put at risk the nearly $8 billion in education funding the federal government gives the state each year if state officials do not work with the Trump administration to resolve the violations.” (01/29/26)
“Israel’s Supreme Court has postponed a decision on whether to allow foreign journalists independent access to Gaza, in the latest delay of a legal battle that has stretched over a year. The court granted the government until March 31 to respond to the petition filed by the Foreign Press Association, despite state attorneys failing to provide detailed justifications beyond citing security risks. The decision extends a policy that has barred foreign correspondents from entering Gaza to report on conditions there, unless reporters are prepared to embed with the Israeli army.” (01/28/26)
“The San Francisco Department of Public Health is investigating an active outbreak of tuberculosis at a local high school that has sickened at least three individuals. In an emailed statement to SFGATE, department officials said all students and staff at Archbishop Riordan High School are being tested for TB and they have implemented contact tracing to stop the outbreak from spreading. … Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that can cause cough, fever and weight loss, and can progress into severe symptoms if untreated. A person can have a latent form of the disease, where they have no symptoms, or active TB, where they have symptoms and are infectious. The latent form can switch to active at any time.” (01/28/26)
“Texas on Wednesday evening conducted the United States’ first execution of the year, putting a 55-year-old man to death for the 1998 double murder of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. Charles Victor Thompson was executed by lethal injection at the penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. He was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. CST, the state’s Department of Criminal Justice told UPI in an emailed statement.” (01/28/26)
“The US Federal Reserve voted to hold interest rates on Wednesday despite White House pressure to lower borrowing costs. The Fed said it will keep its key lending rate between 3.5% to 3.75%, stating that economic activity in the US ‘has been expanding at a solid pace.’ There are signs the employment market is stabilising – job creation is sluggish but the unemployment rate has ticked lower. Policymakers are continuing to monitor the effect on the economy of three interest cuts last year. … Two Fed officials voted in favour of an interest rate cut — Stephen Miran, who is on leave from his post at the White House where he leads Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, and Christopher Waller, a Trump appointee whose name has been floated as contender to succeed Powell.” (01/28/26)
“United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chinese President Xi Jinping have called for a closer strategic partnership as they met in Beijing during the first trip of its kind by a British leader in eight years. … Starmer’s trip is also overshadowed by London’s strained relationship with the United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump. Their ties have been tested by Trump’s tariff war and his recent threats of annexing Greenland, much to the alarm of NATO members like the UK. Trump was angered by a similar visit this month to Beijing by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who also sought deeper economic ties with China.” (01/29/26)
“Deploying National Guard and other military troops [to occupy] U.S. cities cost taxpayers nearly $500 million in the second half of 2025, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday. The cost breakdown includes the cost to activate, deploy and pay National Guard personnel; related operational, logistical and sustainment costs; and other direct and indirect costs of deploying National Guard and other military units, such as the U.S. Marine Corps, the CBO report shows. Since June, the CBO said the Trump administration deployed National Guard troops and active-duty Marines to [occupy] the nation’s capital, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, Memphis and Portland, Ore.” (01/28/26)
“FBI agents on Wednesday executed a search warrant at the Fulton County, Ga., elections office south of Atlanta. Agents executed ‘a court authorized law enforcement action’ at the county’s main office in Union City, according to an FBI statement obtained by NewsNation, The Hill’s cable partner. … Fulton County was a flash point between local prosecutors and President Trump following the 2020 election. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) indicted Trump on racketeering charges in 2023, alleging he and 18 others conspired to subvert former President Biden’s 2020 election win in Georgia and keep Trump in office. … In December, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a complaint against Fulton County over information related to the 2020 election. The DOJ requested ‘all used and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files from the 2020 General Election in Fulton County’ to investigate ‘compliance with federal law.'” (01/28/26)
“Sarah Mullally was officially confirmed on Wednesday as the first woman to lead the Church of England as Archbishop of Canterbury in a traditional ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The vast cathedral was converted into a court of law for the ancient Confirmation of Election, a legal ceremony set within a church service marking the moment an archbishop-elect legally assumes office. Mullally, who will also serve as the spiritual head of 85 million Christians across 165 countries in the global Anglican Communion, took an oath of allegiance as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury before senior bishops acting as Royal Commissioners under the authority of King Charles. The British monarch has served as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England since Henry VIII split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century.” (01/28/26)
