“Democrats scored a stunning upset on Saturday in a special election runoff for Texas Senate, according to a projection from Decision Desk HQ, giving the party a major boost ahead of the November midterms. Fort Worth Democrat Taylor Rehmet, a machinist and Air Force veteran, defeated Southlake Republican Leigh Wambsganss to fill the vacant state Senate District 9. The district favored President Trump — who endorsed Wambsganss earlier on Saturday — by 17 points in 2024. The race went to a runoff after none of the candidates were able to clinch a majority in the November election. … ‘When a grassroots union organizer like Taylor Rehmet overperforms by almost 20 points and forces a runoff, it couldn’t be any clearer that voters are tired of Republican bullshit,’ Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said in a statement after the November race.” (02/01/26)
“Students poured into Dolores Park on Friday afternoon, sporting baggy pants, backpacks and protest signs as they joined thousands of workers and organizers for a national day of action demanding Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents be removed from communities nationwide. A drum circle pulsed through the crowd — with maracas shaking and a cowbell clanging — as teens waved signs bearing cheeky slogans like, ‘We are skipping our lessons to teach you one,’ ‘End the ICE age’ and ‘Sex is good but have you ever tried fucking the system?’ Cars passing the park honked in support while chants of ‘Minnesota to the Bay ICE ICE go away’ rippled across the hillside, driven by impassioned local labor and student organizers from a makeshift stage near the base of the park.” (01/30/25)
“An explosion tore through an apartment building Saturday in Iran ‘s port city of Bandar Abbas, killing a 4-year-old girl as local media footage purportedly showed a security force member being carried out by rescuers. The blast happened a day before a planned naval drill by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes. Already, the U.S. military had warned Iran not to threaten its warships or commercial traffic in the strait, on which Bandar Abbas sits. State television quoted a local fire official as blaming the blast on a gas leak. Another explosion blamed on a gas explosion Saturday in the southwestern city of Ahvaz killed five people, state media reported.” (01/31/26)
“Local law enforcement sprang into action Saturday morning after a kangaroo was spotted on a major highway in central Virginia. The Nelson County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched to the intersection of Thomas Nelson Highway and Oak Ridge Road near the unincorporated community of Arrington after receiving a report of a kangaroo blocking traffic. … Officers safely steered the kangaroo off the roadway and onto nearby private property before tracking down the animal’s owner, according to authorities. ‘When the owner arrived, he shot the animal with a tranquilizer dart to subdue the animal,’ Nelson County Sheriff Mark Embrey told Fox News Digital.” (02/01/26)
“A federal judge has rejected a bid by state and local officials in Minnesota to end Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s massive deployment of thousands of federal agents to aggressively enforce immigration laws. In a ruling Saturday, U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Menendez found strong evidence that the ongoing federal operation ‘has had, and will likely continue to have, profound and even heartbreaking, consequences on the State of Minnesota, the Twin Cities, and Minnesotans.’ … But the Biden-appointed judge said state officials’ arguments that the state was being punished or unfairly treated by the federal government were insufficient to justify blocking the surge altogether.” (01/31/26)
“Victor Ahansu was barely awake with his wife and baby twins before the grinding sound of bulldozers woke them. It was all the warning the family had, he said, before fleeing mass evictions in their historic community of Makoko in Lagos. Their house was demolished on Jan. 11, one of thousands taken down by the ongoing operation. Now the 5-month-old twins and their parents live in a wooden canoe, with a woven plastic sack for shelter from the rain. The thump of hammers fills the air as other residents of Nigeria ’s largest city break down homes and salvage what they can. … For decades, tens of thousands of people have lived in homes on stilts above the lagoon in Makoko, one of Africa’s oldest and largest waterfront communities.” (02/01/25)
“Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez has announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, her latest major reform since the US military abducted the country’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife earlier this month. ‘We have decided to push ahead with a general amnesty law that covers the whole period of political violence from 1999 to the present day,’ Rodriguez said on Friday. Speaking at a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military officials and other government leaders, the acting president said the National Assembly would take up the amnesty bill with urgency. … Rodriguez also announced the shutdown of El Helicoide, a notorious secret service prison in Caracas, where torture and other human rights abuses have been documented by independent organisations. El Helicoide, she said, will be transformed into a sports, social and cultural centre for the surrounding neighbourhoods.” (01/31/26)
“The national security adviser to Slovakia’s prime minister has resigned after documents released by the US showed he exchanged messages about girls and diplomacy with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Robert Fico announced he had accepted Miroslav Lajčák’s departure in a video message on Saturday, describing the adviser as ‘an incredible source of experience in diplomacy and foreign policy’. The resignation comes a day after three million files relating to the influential financier were released by the US Department of Justice. While the files do not show any wrongdoing on the part of those featured, including Lajčák, they have raised renewed questions for those who associated with Epstein.” (01/31/25)
“President Trump early Friday nominated former Federal Reserve board member Kevin Warsh to be the central bank’s next chair. … Warsh, a former Morgan Stanley banker and economic adviser to former President George W. Bush, had long been considered one of the front-runners for the president’s nomination. He served on the Fed board from 2006-11, becoming the youngest governor in the bank’s history, and served as its liaison to Wall Street during the 2007-08 financial crisis.” (01/30/26)
“NASA began a two-day practice countdown Saturday leading up to the fueling of its new moon rocket, a crucial test that will determine when four astronauts blast off on a lunar flyby. Already in quarantine to avoid germs, Commander Reid Wiseman and his crew will be the first people to launch to the moon since 1972. They will monitor the dress rehearsal from their Houston base before flying to Kennedy Space Center once the rocket is cleared for flight. The 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket moved out to the pad two weeks ago. If Monday’s fueling test goes well, NASA could try to launch within a week. Teams will fill the rocket’s tank with more than 700,000 gallons of super-cold fuel, stopping a half-minute short of when the engines would light. A bitter cold spell delayed the fueling demo, and the launch, by two days. Feb. 8 is now the earliest the rocket could blast off.” (02/01/25)
