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  • Candidates for Dwight Evans’ congressional seat hunt for cash and support at the Pa. Society in New York

    Candidates for Dwight Evans’ congressional seat hunt for cash and support at the Pa. Society in New York

    NEW YORK — In dimly lit Italian restaurants, boisterous Irish pubs, and the vintage sprawling ballroom atop Rockefeller Center, candidates running for Congress in Philadelphia spent a busy weekend in New York trying to woo donors and supporters.

    State Sen. Sharif Street, Ala Stanford, and State Rep. Morgan Cephas, all seeking to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans in one of the nation’s most Democratic districts, made the rounds, as Pennsylvania’s political elite gathered in Manhattan for the annual Pennsylvania Society dinner — and a parade of related events.

    Stanford held a somewhat star-studded fundraiser Thursday evening, hosted, according to a posted listing for the private event, by Hamilton actor Leslie Odom Jr., (who did not attend but lent his name). Other hosts included Holly Hatcher-Frazier, an educator and original cast member on the TV show Dance Moms, and Lauren Bush, the niece of former President George W. Bush and co-founder of FEED Projects, a fashion brand which donates a portion of its proceeds to alleviating childhood hunger.

    “What I’m hearing is people want a different type of solution,” Stanford said in an interview at a breakfast held by the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday. “Innovative, reaching across the aisle, collaborative, not afraid to stand up to authority,” she added.

    A lot of eyes are on the pediatric surgeon and founder of a community health center, to see how she translates a career that involved fundraising for nonprofits into funding her first campaign.

    She was endorsed by Evans upon launching her bid to succeed him in the 3rd Congressional District.

    She’s built her campaign around her experience in the medical community and the biggest buzz of the weekend may have been her response to a minor medical incident. An older woman fell down some steps exiting a reception hosted by House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia).

    Stanford “triaged” the situation, according to Democrats in attendance, instructing Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty and his son State Rep. Sean Dougherty to lift the woman onto some chairs so she could evaluate her. The woman ended up being fine and was able to walk home from the restaurant.

    Street, the former state party chair and a longtime attendee at Pennsylvania Society, held two fundraisers in Manhattan, fresh off his endorsement last week by former Gov. Ed Rendell.

    “We got a lot of people that can vote in the district here, we want their votes,” he said in an interview at a rooftop reception hosted by Independence Blue Cross. “We got a lot of people who can write checks here, we want their checks.”

    State Rep. Ben Waxman, a longtime friend and colleague of Cephas, is in talks with donors to organize a super PAC to support the fellow Philadelphia Democrat’s campaign, according to a source familiar with the plans. The PAC would likely be run by longtime Philadelphia strategist Brandon Evans, who worked for both former Mayor Jim Kenney and District Attorney Larry Krasner.

    The PAC has a goal of raising $250,000 to spend on digital, mail, and field, according to the source.

    Cephas was the only sitting member of the Pennsylvania House to endorse Waxman when he ran in 2022 and has been a big supporter ever since. He is the treasurer of a state PAC created to support the Philadelphia delegation in Harrisburg, which she chairs.

    Not spotted at Pennsylvania Society weekend was State Rep. Chris Rabb, who is running as an anti-establishment progressive.

    “That’s not really my thing,” he said in a text message, of the glitzy Manhattan affair.

    Declared candidates in the Democratic primary for Philadelphia’s 3rd Congressional District, clockwise from upper left: State Sen. Sharif Street, State Rep. Chris Rabb, Ala Stanford, and State Rep. Morgan Cephas. The seat, currently held by retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, represents a large portion of Philadelphia and is the most Democratic district in the state.

    The state of the race

    Street released an internal poll last week that showed him narrowly beating Rabb with Stanford and Cephas following behind.

    Several candidates running in the crowded race, which is up to about a dozen candidates, were not included in the poll and did not attend Pennsylvania Society.

    “I believe our standing is strong,” Stanford said when asked about the poll. “I believe that there are many endorsements and people donate lots of money. But ultimately every individual has one vote. And that is the equalizer.”

    One question will be whether Street, the son of former Mayor John Street, ties up most or all of the Democratic establishment support.

    Several state representatives and ward leaders, like State Rep. Danilo Burgos, have already endorsed him — little surprise given his background running the party. But other elected officials, including City Councilmember and ward leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson, said they are waiting for their ward’s official vetting process to get underway.

    Street said when it comes to his colleagues, “I think by the time we get to Election Day, most of my colleagues will be for me.”

    John Brady, political director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, said 60% of Philadelphia wards have endorsed Street. He said the City Committee is waiting for more of the remaining wards, including the progressive and independent wards, to complete their processes so the full committee can move forward with their endorsement process in February.

    “Look, two months from now is the first week of February, that’s plenty of time for them to complete their processes.” The concern, Brady said, is if the party waits too long, an endorsement may not carry weight.

    While the City Committee wants to firm up an endorsement, some elected Democrats at Pennsylvania Society said they were struggling with whom to back — several said they really liked Cephas but felt wary of political backlash if they didn’t back Street and he won the nomination.

    While Rabb has carved out a clear lane as the progressive, some of the city’s most progressive elected lawmakers have not lined up behind him yet. City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who represents West Philadelphia, said this weekend she is not yet ready to endorse and Working Families Party member Kendra Brooks, also on City Council, said the Working Families Party would go through a formal process in January (the progressive group often gets involved in Democratic races).

    While Evans is backing Stanford, Philly’s other Democratic members of Congress have yet to weigh in. U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle said he might not endorse in the primary. U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, at an event on Friday night, said she’s worked with both Cephas and Stanford and has “great respect for both of them.”

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has said she will endorse in the primary and her vetting process starts in January.

    “For me, I’m really looking at Philadelphia’s agenda, you know, safe, clean, green, economic opportunity for all and how will you leverage your seat at the table to deliver for the 3rd Congressional District?” she said.

    “What do you advocate for and champion as a legislator? What’s your personal passion and then you have to leverage tangible results.”

  • Joe Biden has raised little of what he needs to build his presidential library, a new report finds

    Joe Biden has raised little of what he needs to build his presidential library, a new report finds

    When it comes to funding his presidential library, former President Joe Biden is far behind on funds, the New York Times reported Saturday.

    The report cites recent Internal Revenue Service filings from Biden’s library foundation, finding that the organization had not raised any money in 2024, the last year Biden was in office.

    The fund contains just $4 million in leftover funds from Biden’s 2021 inauguration, according to the Times. The former president’s aides have suggested their vision for a library could cost $200 million.

    The library foundation declined to say what it had raised in 2025. Biden is holding his first public event for potential library donors on Monday, the Times reported.

    Should it ramp up fundraising, Biden’s team still anticipates raising a little more than $11 million by the end of 2027, according to the filings viewed by Times reporters.

    Biden, who turned 83 this fall and is being treated for prostate cancer, has kept a low public profile since stepping back from his official duties.

    Some of the former president’s loyal donors told the Times they had not been contacted for library contributions; other Democratic donors said they were not likely to give even if they are asked, saying they had soured on Biden’s legacy or were focused on projects to combat President Donald Trump.

    Biden’s aides declined to make him available for an interview with the Times, though there are signs he has begun to step up his fundraising effort.

    The former president and his wife, Jill Biden, penned a letter to donors in September asking them to schedule interviews with a private firm hired to assess financials for a future library, according to the newspaper.

    Former presidents must raise their own money to fund their libraries, which have evolved from modest spaces to sprawling complexes complete with museums and other extras.

    Former President Barack Obama’s still-unfinished “presidential center” in Chicago is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and will include a basketball court and vegetable garden in addition to a city library branch. Trump plans to raise nearly $1 billion for a library in downtown Miami, tax documents show.

    Biden has said he would like his library to be built in his home state of Delaware. That decision comes as recent reporting found the University of Pennsylvania, where the former president has familial ties, did not express interest in hosting the library in Philadelphia.

    Coupled with a lagging fundraising effort, Biden’s desire to keep his library near his home has spurred discussions among those close to him that he could merge his presidential library with the preexisting Biden institutions at the University of Delaware, according to the Times. The Newark-based university is the former president’s alma matter.

    With the help of the Delaware state government, the university has already raised more than $20 million for a forthcoming “Biden Hall,” an extension of the Joseph R. Biden Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration.

    Merging the library with the hall would be far cheaper — and modest — than other modern presidential libraries, though the Times reported that both projects currently remain separate.

    Few details surrounding the library appear set in stone, however.

    Asked about the prospect of a merger, a Biden spokesperson declined to comment to the Times, saying the former president’s team continues to be in an “exploratory and planning phase.”

  • Speaker Johnson unveils healthcare plan as divided Republicans scramble for alternative

    Speaker Johnson unveils healthcare plan as divided Republicans scramble for alternative

    WASHINGTON — The Senate failed to get anywhere on the healthcare issue this week. Now it’s the House’s turn to show what it can do.

    Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a Republican alternative late Friday, a last-minute sprint as his party refuses to extend the enhanced tax subsidies for those who buy policies through the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, which are expiring at the end of the year. Those subsidies help lower the cost of coverage.

    Johnson (R., La.) huddled behind closed doors in the morning — as he did days earlier this week — working to assemble the package for consideration as the House focuses the final days of its 2025 work on healthcare.

    “House Republicans are tackling the real drivers of health care costs to provide affordable care,” Johnson said in a statement announcing the package. He said it would be voted on next week.

    Later Friday, though, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said: “House Republicans have introduced toxic legislation that is completely unserious, hurts hardworking America taxpayers, and is not designed to secure bipartisan support. If the bill reaches the House floor, I will strongly oppose it.”

    Time is running out for Congress to act. Democrats engineered the longest federal government shutdown ever this fall in a failed effort to force Republicans to the negotiating table on healthcare. But after promising votes, the Senate failed this week to advance both a Republican healthcare plan and the Democratic-offered bill to extend the tax credits for three years.

    Now, with just days to go, Congress is about to wrap up its work with no consensus solution in sight.

    What Republicans are proposing

    The House Republicans offered a 100-plus-page package that focuses on long-sought GOP proposals to enhance access to employer-sponsored health insurance plans and clamp down on so-called pharmacy benefit managers.

    Republicans propose expanding access to what’s referred to as association health plans, which would allow more small businesses and self-employed individuals to band together and purchase health coverage.

    Proponents say such plans increase the leverage businesses have to negotiate a lower rate. But critics say the plans provide skimpier coverage than what is required under the Affordable Care Act.

    The Republicans’ proposal would also require more data from pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, as a way to help control drug costs. Critics say PBMs have padded their bottom line and made it more difficult for independent pharmacists to survive.

    Additionally, the GOP plan includes mention of cost-sharing reductions for some lower-income people who rely on Obamacare, but those would not take effect until January 2027.

    The emerging package from the House Republicans does not include an extension of an enhanced tax credit for millions of Americans who get insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Put in place during the COVID-19 crisis, that enhanced subsidy expires Dec. 31, leaving most families in the program facing more than double their current out-of-pocket premiums, and in some cases, much more.

    What Trump wants

    President Donald Trump has said he believes Republicans are going to figure out a better plan than Obamacare — something he has promised for years — but offered few details beyond his idea for providing Americans with stipends to help buy insurance.

    “I want to see the billions of dollars go to people, not to the insurance companies,” Trump said late Friday during an event at the White House. “And I want to see the people go out and buy themselves great healthcare.”

    The president did not comment directly on the House’s new plan. He has repeatedly touted his idea of sending money directly to Americans to help offset the costs of healthcare policies, rather than extending the tax credits for those buying policies through Obamacare. It’s unclear how much money Trump envisions. The Senate GOP proposal that failed to advance would have provided payments to new health savings accounts of $1,000 a year for adult enrollees, or $1,500 for those ages 50 to 64.

    It appeared there were no such health savings accounts in the new House GOP plan.

    Political pressure is building for many

    Going Johnson’s route has left vulnerable House Republicans representing key battleground districts in a tough spot.

    Frustrated with the delays, a group of more centrist GOP lawmakers is aligning with Democrats to push their own proposals for continuing the tax credits, for now, so that Americans don’t face rising healthcare costs.

    They are pursuing several paths for passing a temporary ACA subsidy extension, co-sponsoring a handful of bills. They are also signing on to so-called discharge petitions that could force a floor vote if a majority of the House signs on.

    Such petitions are designed to get around the majority’s control and are rarely successful, but this year has proven to be an exception. Lawmakers, for example, were able to use a discharge petition to force a vote on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files held by the Department of Justice.

    One petition, filed by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), had signatures from 12 Republicans and 12 Democrats as of Friday afternoon. It would force a vote on a bill that includes a two-year subsidy extension and contains provisions designed to combat fraud in the ACA marketplace. There are also restrictions for PBMs, among other things.

    Fitzpatrick offering a plan to extend ACA subsidies

    Another petition from Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.) has 39 signatures and is broadly bipartisan. It’s a simpler proposal that would force a vote on a one-year ACA enhanced subsidy extension and would include new income caps limiting who qualifies for the enhanced credit.

    Both discharge petitions have enough Republicans’ support that they would likely succeed if Jeffries encouraged his caucus to jump on board. So far, he’s not tipping his hand.

    “We’re actively reviewing those two discharge petitions and we’ll have more to say about it early next week,” Jeffries said.

    Meanwhile, Jeffries is pushing Democrats’ own discharge petition, which has 214 signatures and would provide for a clean three-year subsidy extension. No Republicans have signed on to that one.

    And as Republicans made clear in the Senate this week, a three-year extension without changes to the program has no chance of passing their chamber.

  • Pennsylvania’s unsent mail backlog now totals 3.4 million letters, including SNAP eligibility and health benefit info, officials say

    Pennsylvania’s unsent mail backlog now totals 3.4 million letters, including SNAP eligibility and health benefit info, officials say

    Approximately 3.4 million state agency letters intended for Pennsylvania residents — including some detailing whether they are eligible for health benefits or food assistance, or need to renew them — were not delivered to residents from Nov. 3 through Dec. 3, officials said Friday.

    Late last week, Pennsylvania state officials discovered that a month’s worth of mail had never been sent to residents by a government-contracted vendor, resulting in a pileup of millions of unsent state communications. Once the issue was discovered, the state fired the vendor, Harrisburg-based Capitol Presort Services, and hired another vendor for a $1 million emergency contract to work through the backlog.

    On Tuesday, officials estimated 2.7 million agency letters, mainly from the Department of Transportation and Department of Human Services, went unsent due to the lapse. But by Friday, the state said that number had grown, totaling 3.4 million.

    Now, the state says 1.7 million letters sent by DHS, which oversees the care of Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable residents and the delivery of critical public benefits, were not delivered because of the vendor issue, said spokesperson Brandon Cwalina.

    Residents may not have received letters detailing whether they need to renew their health benefits or if they are required to submit additional information to continue receiving SNAP food assistance, Cwalina confirmed. Administrative hearing notices — which could determine someone’s eligibility for public benefits, appeals about alleged elder abuse, or approvals of new foster homes — as well as child abuse clearances were also among the affected mail, he said.

    Cwalina said the contents of some of the letters were also communicated to some intended recipients virtually, if they had opted to receive email or text notifications. Child abuse clearances are available online.

    SNAP cutoffs, which are administered by DHS, were set to begin under the federal government’s new work requirements in December and must be appealed within 15 days. The federal government has said it will not count the month of November as part of its three-month timeline to implement SNAP cutoffs, so eligibility didn’t “occur during the period affected by the mail delay,” Cwalina added.

    It remains unclear whether any Pennsylvania residents lost access to their benefits due to the vendor issue that went unnoticed for a month, or if they are at risk of missing deadlines to maintain their benefits. It’s also still unclear how many DHS hearings had to be rescheduled — and the impact of those delays on the care of Pennsylvania’s most at-risk residents.

    Another 1.6 million letters from the state Department of Transportation were not delivered last month, including driver’s license and vehicle registration renewal invitations, driver’s license camera cards, vehicle registration cards, and address card updates, said Paul Vezzetti, a spokesperson for the Department of General Services.

    Driver’s license suspensions were not impacted by the stalled mail. Vehicle registration and license renewal registrations are sent three months in advance, so anyone who was due to receive one at the start of November will have until February to submit it, Vezzetti said earlier this week.

    All of the unsent letters from PennDot and DHS were successfully mailed by a new vendor this week and should reach residents within a few days, Vezzetti said.

  • Final U.S. pennies sell for millions at auction after mint ends production

    Final U.S. pennies sell for millions at auction after mint ends production

    The last minted pennies sure cost a pretty penny.

    On Thursday, a three-coin set of the final pennies minted for circulation sold at auction for $800,000. Another of the sets sold for $180,000.

    In all, the final pennies sold for a combined nearly $17 million.

    Sold by Stack’s Bowers Galleries, the sets represented the 232 years since the penny was first minted in Philadelphia in 1793. Each included some of the last pennies struck for circulation at the U.S. Mint’s facilities in Philadelphia and Denver, plus a 24-karat gold penny minted in Philadelphia. Each coin bears a unique omega symbol (Ω), marking the end of the penny.

    The Philadelphia U.S. Mint struck the final circulating one-cent coins in November after President Donald Trump ordered the Mint to stop producing new pennies earlier this year. The last small-change coin the government canceled was the half-cent in 1857.

    Costly to produce and displaced by digital payment, the penny had grown almost as irrelevant as the half-cent. Still, pennies aren’t disappearing soon. Americans have hoarded 300 billion pennies, which remain legal tender, officials say. Killing penny production is estimated to save around $56 million a year, experts believe.

    Thursday’s auction had been closely watched by collectors and numismatics, who had expected bidding to be high. None more than for the final lot, which eventually topped out at $800,000. The special lot came with the three origin dies used to strike the coins.

    “This set represents the VERY LAST cents struck in the classic circulating finishing, the true Omega,” read for the listing for the final pennies. “It is impossible to overstate the historic nature of these three pieces, which are likely the most significant coins to emerge from the United States Mint this century.”

  • National Trust sues to stop Trump’s ballroom construction

    National Trust sues to stop Trump’s ballroom construction

    Historic preservationists begged President Donald Trump in October not to rapidly demolish the White House’s East Wing annex for his ballroom project, urging him to wait for federal review panels and allow the public to weigh in. Now a group charged by Congress with helping to preserve historic buildings is asking a judge to block construction until those reviews occur, arguing that the ongoing project is illegal and unconstitutional.

    The lawsuit from the nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation, which was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, represents the first major legal challenge to Trump’s planned 90,000-square-foot addition and is poised to test the limits of his power. The organization argues that the administration failed to undergo legally required reviews or receive congressional authorization for the project, which Trump has rushed to launch in hopes of completing it before his term ends in 2029.

    “No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Joe Biden, and not anyone else,” the complaint says.

    Comcast is one of 37 ‘patriot donors’ paying for Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom

    The administration in October rapidly demolished the East Wing to make way for the ballroom over the objections of the National Trust and other historic preservationists who urged the White House to pause its demolition, submit its plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, and seek public comment.

    Officials responded by saying they would work with the commission, a board that oversees federal building projects and is now led by Trump allies, “at the appropriate time.” It has yet to do so, even as regular work continues on the former East Wing site.

    The White House did not immediately respond Friday morning to questions about the lawsuit. The administration has maintained that Trump has authority over White House grounds and is working to improve them at no cost to taxpayers, dismissing critics as “unhinged leftists” who seized on the imagery of bulldozers tearing down what has been called “the People’s House” as a metaphor for the opening year of his term.

    “The lawsuit is our last resort,” Carol Quillen, National Trust’s CEO, said in an interview. “We serve the people, and the people are not being served in this process.”

    Nothing about Trump’s ballroom benefits us | Jenice Armstrong

    The National Trust is seeking a temporary restraining order on construction as the court reviews its claims, its lawyers said. One of those lawyers is Greg Craig, a Foley Hoag lawyer who previously served as White House counsel to President Barack Obama, and who is working pro bono on the case. Craig also served as President Bill Clinton’s lawyer during Republicans’ efforts to impeach Clinton in the late 1990s.

    Trump has made the ballroom a focus and frequent talking point in the opening year of his second term, and administration officials have acknowledged that he is involved to the point of micromanagement.

    “In a very short period of time — like about a year and a half — you’re going to have the best ballroom anywhere in the country,” Trump told lawmakers at the White House on Thursday night.

    The president has also maintained that he is not bound by typical building restrictions or the need to seek construction approvals, citing conversations with advisers and experts.

    “They said, ‘Sir, this is the White House. You’re the president of the United States, you can do anything you want,’” Trump said at an October dinner to celebrate the ballroom’s donors.

    Jeffrey Yass, Pa.’s richest man, donated at least $2.5 million to Trump’s White House ballroom

    Several polls have shown that the ballroom project is broadly unpopular, and Democrats have consistently attacked it, eager to contrast the president’s focus on a luxurious ballroom against many Americans’ concerns about affordability. Some conservatives have also questioned Trump’s plans and pace, asking why the administration did not undergo a formal review process before tearing down part of the symbolic seat of government. The president and his original handpicked architect battled over Trump’s desire to expand the ballroom’s size before Trump replaced him, the Washington Post previously reported.

    The $300 million project is being funded by wealthy individuals and large companies that have contracts with the federal government, including Amazon, Lockheed Martin, and Palantir Technologies. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Post.) The administration has released a partial list of contributors but granted some anonymity — eliciting concerns from Democratic lawmakers and others, some of which are reflected in the complaint.

    The National Trust, for example, alleges that the Trump administration violated the Constitution’s property clause, which authorizes Congress to oversee property on federal land.

    The National Trust’s lawsuit names Trump and other administration officials, including at the National Park Service and the General Services Administration, as defendants. The National Trust argues that the ballroom plans are legally required to be reviewed by the NCPC and the Commission on Fine Arts, another federal panel, which is without members after Trump fired them in October. The organization also contends that the White House has failed to fulfill its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act to conduct and publish an assessment of the environmental impact of tearing down the East Wing and disposing of the debris, particularly given concerns about environmental contamination.

    White House officials have previously dismissed criticism from the National Trust, arguing that its leaders are “loser Democrats and liberal donors” who oppose Trump on political grounds. The National Trust has a decades-long association with Trump: In 1995, he donated easements to the organization that made his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida a historic property in exchange for tax breaks. National Trust officials have said they subsequently worked with the Trump organization on “collaborative” construction projects at the resort, including its ballroom.

    The White House also has defended the project by drawing a distinction between construction on the White House grounds, which administration officials say is covered by federal review panels, and demolition and site prep, which they maintain is not.

    However, the National Trust says that this is a distinction without a difference. Recent photos have shown that heavy construction machinery and teams of people are working regularly on the site, and Trump has said that pile drivers are operating “all day, all night.”

    The group’s lawsuit also cites the White House’s own public timeline for the project, which includes a section that says “construction commences” and that it “kicked off in September 2025.”

    Quillen said she did not have a “hard objection” to a White House ballroom — so long as its size, materials and design were consistent with the White House and did not overshadow the main building. It is the National Trust’s job, she said, to preserve American history, particularly at the White House, given the building’s iconic status and central role. She noted that the organization has also brought legal challenges to past administrations’ construction projects.

    “Following the process and enabling public input often results in a better project outcome,” Quillen said.

  • Trump seeks to cut restrictions on marijuana through planned order

    Trump seeks to cut restrictions on marijuana through planned order

    President Donald Trump is expected to push the government to dramatically loosen federal restrictions on marijuana, reducing oversight of the plant and its derivatives to the same level as some common prescription painkillers and other drugs, according to six people familiar with the discussions.

    Trump discussed the plan with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) in a Wednesday phone call from the Oval Office, said four of the people, who, like the others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The president is expected to seek to ease access to the drug through an upcoming executive order that directs federal agencies to pursue reclassification, the people said.

    The move would not legalize or decriminalize marijuana, but it would ease barriers to research and boost the bottom lines of legal businesses.

    Trump in August said he was “looking at reclassification.” He would be finishing what started under President Joe Biden’s Justice Department, which followed the recommendation of federal health officials in proposing a rule to reclassify marijuana; that proposal has stalled since Trump took office.

    “We’re looking at it. Some people like it, some people hate it,” Trump said this summer. “Some people hate the whole concept of marijuana because it does bad for the children, it does bad for the people that are older than children.”

    Trump cannot unilaterally reclassify marijuana, said Shane Pennington, a D.C. attorney who represents two pro-rescheduling companies involved in the hearing. But he can direct the Justice Department to forgo the hearing and issue the final rule, Pennington said.

    “This would be the biggest reform in federal cannabis policy since marijuana was made a Schedule I drug in the 1970s,” Pennington said.

    The president was joined on the Wednesday call with Johnson by marijuana industry executives, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Mehmet Oz, three of the people said.

    Johnson was skeptical of the idea and gave a list of reasons, including several studies and data, to support his position against reclassifying the drug, two of the people said.

    Trump then turned the phone over to the executives gathered around his desk, who rebutted Johnson’s arguments, the people said.

    Trump ended the call appearing ready to go ahead with loosing restrictions on marijuana, the people said, though they caution the plans were not finalized and Trump could still change his mind.

    A White House official said no final decisions have been made on rescheduling of marijuana.

    The Department of Health and Human Services referred questions to the White House. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative from Johnson’s office declined to comment.

    Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I substance, the same classification as heroin and LSD. Federal regulations consider those drugs to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted use for medical treatment.

    Trump would move to classify marijuana as a Schedule III substance, which regulators say carry less potential for abuse and are used for certain medical treatments, but can also create risks of physical or psychological dependence.

    Other Schedule III drugs include Tylenol with codeine, as well as certain steroid and hormone treatments.

    Democrats and Republicans alike have been interested in reclassifying marijuana, with some politicians citing its potential benefit as a medical treatment and the political popularity of the widely used drug.

    Marijuana has become easier than ever to obtain, growing into an industry worth billions of dollars in the United States. Dozens of states and Washington, D.C., have legalized medical marijuana programs, and 24 have approved recreational marijuana.

    The Biden administration pursued efforts to ease access to the drug, with health officials recommending reclassification to Schedule III in 2023. But health officials have said that those recommendations were slowed down by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which took months to undergo required administrative reviews and were not completed before the end of Biden’s term.

    The Drug Enforcement Administration was supposed to hold an administrative hearing on the proposal, with a judge hearing from experts on the health benefits and risks of marijuana. But the hearing has been in legal limbo since Trump took office, amid allegations from cannabis companies that the DEA was working to torpedo the measure.

  • Accused Charlie Kirk killer makes 1st in-person court appearance as judge weighs media access

    Accused Charlie Kirk killer makes 1st in-person court appearance as judge weighs media access

    PROVO, Utah — The Utah man charged with killing Charlie Kirk made his first in-person court appearance Thursday as his attorneys pushed to further limit media access in the high-profile criminal case.

    Prosecutors have charged Tyler Robinson with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 shooting of the conservative activist on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, just a few miles north of the Provo courthouse. They plan to seek the death penalty.

    Robinson, 22, arrived amid heavy security, shackled at the waist, wrists and ankles and wearing a dress shirt, tie and slacks.

    He smiled at family members sitting in the front row of the courtroom, where his mother teared up after he entered the court. Next to her were Robinson’s brother and father, who took notes throughout the hearing.

    Early in the proceedings, state District Court Judge Tony Graf briefly stopped livestreaming of the hearing via a media pool and required the camera be moved, after Robinson’s attorneys said the stream showed the defendant’s shackles in violation of a courtroom order.

    Graf said he would terminate future broadcasts if there were further violations of the order issued in October, which bars media from showing images of Robinson in restraints or anywhere in the courtroom except sitting at the defense table.

    “This court takes this very seriously. While the court believes in openness and transparency, it needs to be balanced with the constitutional rights of all parties in this case,” Graf said.

    Graf is weighing the public’s right to know details about Robinson’s case against his attorneys’ concerns that the swarm of media attention could interfere with a fair trial.

    Robinson’s legal team and the Utah County Sheriff’s Office have asked Judge Tony Graf to ban cameras in the courtroom, but he has not yet ruled on the request.

    The defendant had previously appeared before the court via video or audio feed from jail.

    A coalition of national and local news organizations, including The Associated Press, is fighting to preserve media access in the case.

    Graf held a closed hearing on Oct. 24 in which attorneys discussed Robinson’s courtroom attire and security protocols. Under a subsequent ruling by the judge, Robinson is allowed to wear street clothes during pretrial hearings but must be physically restrained due to security concerns.

    Graf also prohibited media from filming or photographing Robinson’s restraints after his attorneys argued widespread images of him shackled and in jail clothing could prejudice future jurors.

    Several university students who witnessed Kirk’s assassination attended Thursday’s hearing.

    Zack Reese, a Utah Valley University student and “big Charlie Kirk fan,” said he had skepticism about Robinson’s arrest and came to the hearing seeking answers. Reese has family in southwestern Utah, where the Robinsons are from, and said he believes they’re a good family.

    Brigham Young University student William Brown, who said he was about 10 feet from Kirk when he was shot, said he felt overwhelmed seeing Robinson walk into the courtroom Thursday.

    “I witnessed a huge event, and my brain is still trying to make sense of it,” Brown said. “I feel like being here helps it feel more real than surreal.”

    Michael Judd, an attorney for the media coalition, has urged Graf to let the news organizations weigh in on any future requests for closed hearings or other limitations.

    The media presence at Utah hearings is already limited, with judges often designating one photographer and one videographer to document a hearing and share their images with other news organizations. Additional journalists can typically attend to listen and take notes, as can members of the public.

    Judd wrote in recent filings that an open court “safeguards the integrity of the fact-finding process” while fostering public confidence in judicial proceedings. Criminal cases in the U.S. have long been open to the public, which he argued is proof that trials can be conducted fairly without restricting reporters as they work to keep the public informed.

    Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, has called for full transparency, saying, “We deserve to have cameras in there.” Her husband was an ally of President Donald Trump who worked to steer young voters toward conservatism.

    Robinson’s legal team says his pretrial publicity reaches as far as the White House, with Trump announcing soon after Robinson’s arrest, “With a high degree of certainty, we have him,” and “I hope he gets the death penalty.”

    Defense attorney Kathy Nester has raised concern that digitally altered versions of Robinson’s initial court photo have spread widely, creating misinformation about the case. Some altered images show Robinson crying or having an outburst in court, which did not happen.

  • Winter storm rips through Gaza, exposing failure to deliver enough aid to territory

    Winter storm rips through Gaza, exposing failure to deliver enough aid to territory

    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Rains drenched Gaza’s tent camps and dropping temperatures chilled Palestinians huddling inside them Thursday as winter storm Byron descended on the war-battered territory, showing how two months of a ceasefire have failed to sufficiently address the spiraling humanitarian crisis there.

    Families found their possessions and food supplies soaked inside their tents. Children’s sandaled feet disappeared under opaque brown water that flooded the camps, running knee deep in some places. Dirt roads turned to mud. Piles of garbage and sewage cascaded like waterfalls.

    “We have been drowned. I don’t have clothes to wear and we have no mattresses left,” said Um Salman Abu Qenas, a displaced mother in a Khan Younis tent camp. She said that her family couldn’t sleep the night before, because of the water in the tent.

    Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are getting into Gaza during the truce. Figures recently released by Israel’s military suggest it hasn’t met the ceasefire stipulation of allowing 600 trucks of aid into Gaza a day, though Israel disputes that finding.

    “Cold, overcrowded, and unsanitary environments heighten the risk of illness and infection,” the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on X. “This suffering could be prevented by unhindered humanitarian aid, including medical support and proper shelter.”

    Rains wreak havoc

    Sabreen Qudeeh, also in the Khan Younis camp, in a squalid area known as Muwasi, said that her family woke up to rain leaking from their tent’s ceiling and water from the street soaking their mattresses.

    “My little daughters were screaming,” she said.

    Ahmad Abu Taha, also living in the camp, said there wasn’t a tent that escaped the flooding. “Conditions are very bad, we have old people, displaced, and sick people inside this camp,” he said.

    Floods in south-central Israel trapped more than a dozen people in their cars, according to Hebrew media. Israel’s rescue services, MDA, said that two young girls were slightly injured when a tree fell on their school.

    The contrasting scenes with Gaza made clear how profoundly the Israel-Hamas war had damaged the territory, destroying the majority of homes. Gaza’s population of around 2 million is almost entirely displaced, and most people live in vast tent camps stretching along the coast, or set up among the shells of damaged buildings without adequate flooding infrastructure and with cesspits dug near tents as toilets.

    At least three buildings in Gaza City already damaged by Israeli bombardment during the war partially collapsed under the rain, Palestinian Civil Defense said. It warned people not to stay inside damaged buildings, saying they too could fall down on top of them.

    The agency also said that since the storm began, they have received more than 2,500 distress calls from people across Gaza whose tents and shelters were damaged.

    With buckets and mops, Palestinians laboriously scooped water out of their tents.

    Aliaa Bahtiti said her 8-year-old son “was soaked overnight, and in the morning he had turned blue, sleeping on water.” Her tent floor had an inch of water on it “We cannot buy food, covers, towels, or sheets to sleep on.”

    Baraka Bhar was caring for her 3-month-old twins inside her tent as the rain poured outside. One of the twins has hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluids in the brain.

    “Our tents are worn out … and they leak rain water,” she said. “We should not lose our children this winter.”

    Not enough aid

    Aid groups say that Israel isn’t allowing enough aid into Gaza to begin rebuilding the territory after years of war.

    Under the agreement, Israel agreed to comply with aid stipulations from an earlier January truce, which specified that it allow 600 trucks of aid each day into Gaza, It maintains it’s doing so, but The Associated Press found that some of its own figures call that into question.

    The January truce also specified that Israel let in a number of caravans and tents. No caravans have yet entered Gaza during the ceasefire, said Tania Hary, executive director of Gisha, an Israeli group advocating for Palestinians’ right to freedom of movement.

    The Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, called COGAT, said on Dec. 9 it had “lately” let 260,000 tents and tarpaulins into Gaza and more than 1,500 trucks of blankets and warm clothing.

    Shelter Cluster, an international coalition of aid providers led by the Norwegian Refugee Council, sets the number lower. It says the U.N. and international nongovernmental organizations have gotten 15,590 tents into Gaza since the truce began, and other countries have sent about 48,000. Many of the tents aren’t properly insulated, it says.

    Amjad al-Shawa, Gaza chief of the Palestinian NGO Network, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that only a fraction of the 300,000 tents needed had entered Gaza. He said that Palestinians were in dire need of warmer winter clothes and accused Israel of blocking the entry of water pumps to help clear flooded shelters.

    “All international sides should take the responsibility regarding conditions in Gaza,” he said. “There is real danger for people in Gaza at all levels.”

    Khaled Mashaal, a Hamas leader, said in an interview with Al Jazeera that Gaza needs the rehabilitation of hospitals, the entry of heavy machinery to remove rubble, and the opening of the Rafah crossing — which remains closed after Israel said last week it would shortly open.

    COGAT didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the claims that Israel wasn’t allowing water pumps or heavy machinery into Gaza

    Amnesty accuses Hamas of crimes against humanity

    Amnesty International said in a report released Thursday that Hamas and other militant groups committed crimes against humanity in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.

    In the 173-page report, Amnesty pointed to what it found to be widespread and systematic killing of civilians in the attack, as well as torture, hostage-taking and sexual abuse.

    In the attack, Hamas fighters and other militants rampaged through southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 others hostage. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has since killed more than 70,300 Palestinians, roughly half of them women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count. Last year, Amnesty accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, a charge Israel denied.

    Amnesty said it conducted interviews with 70 people, including 17 survivors of the attack and family members of some of those killed. It also reviewed hundreds of open-source videos and photos from the day of the attack.

    Contrary to Hamas claims it was targeting the military, it said, the attack was intentionally “directed against a civilian population” and met international law standards for crimes against humanity.

    It said sexual assaults were also committed, although it could not reach a conclusion on their “scope or scale.” It interviewed one man who testified he was raped by armed men at the Nova music festival, as well as a therapist who said she provided intensive treatment to three other survivors of rape.

    Hamas condemned the report, saying it “echoed false claims” by Israel.

    Israeli Foreign Minister spokesperson Oren Marmorstein derided the report in a posting on X, saying it took more than two years for Amnesty to address the attack “and even now its report falls far short of reflecting the full scope of Hamas’ horrific atrocities.”

  • U.S. national park gift shops ordered to purge merchandise promoting DEI

    U.S. national park gift shops ordered to purge merchandise promoting DEI

    The Trump administration is expanding its crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion by ordering national parks to purge their gift shops of items it deems objectionable.

    The Interior Department said in a memo last month that gift shops, bookstores and concession stands have until Dec. 19 to empty their shelves of retail items that run afoul of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

    The agency said its goal is to create “neutral spaces that serve all visitors.” It’s part of a broader initiative the Trump administration has pursued over the last year to root out policies and programs it says discriminate against people based on race, gender and sexual orientation — an effort that has led some major corporations and prominent universities to roll back diversity programs.

    Conservation groups say the gift shop initiative amounts to censorship and undermines the National Park Service’s educational mission. But conservative think tanks say taxpayer-funded spaces shouldn’t be allowed to advance ideologies they say are divisive.

    Employees of the park service and groups that manage national park gift shops say it’s not clear what items will be banned. They didn’t want to speak on the record for fear of retribution.

    A debate over what’s acceptable for park gift shops

    “Our goal is to keep National Parks focused on their core mission: preserving natural and cultural resources for the benefit of all Americans,” the Interior Department said in a statement. The agency said it wants to ensure parks’ gift shops “do not promote specific viewpoints.”

    Alan Spears, the senior director for cultural resources at the National Parks Conservation Association, said removing history books and other merchandise from gift shops amounts to “silencing science and hiding history,” and does not serve the interests of park visitors.

    Other groups called the review of gift shops a waste of resources at a time of staffing shortages, maintenance backlogs and budget issues.

    Stefan Padfield, a former law professor who now works with a conservative think tank in Washington, said there is no way to defend the government’s promotion of “radical and divisive” ideologies through the sale of books and other items, though he said the challenge for the Trump administration will be in deciding what is acceptable and what isn’t.

    “Now, are there going to be instances of the correction overshooting? Are there going to be difficult line-drawing exercises in gray areas? Absolutely,” said Padfield, the executive director of the Free Enterprise Project at the National Center for Public Policy Research.

    The order is open to interpretation

    All items for sale at parks and online are supposed to be reviewed for neutrality. That includes books, T-shirts, keychains, magnets, patches and even pens.

    But the memo issued by a senior Interior Department official didn’t give any examples of items that could no longer be sold, leaving the order open to interpretation. No training sessions have been offered to park service employees.

    Some parks had already completed their reviews, finding nothing to add to the list.

    On display this week at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia were items featuring Frederick Douglass. At the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park store in Atlanta, there were various books on the Civil Rights Movement and a book for children about important Black women in U.S. history. For sale online was a metal token for the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument.

    There already is a thorough process for vendors to get merchandise into national park stores. Items are vetted for their educational value and to ensure they align with the themes of the park or historical site.

    National parks in the spotlight

    The park service in recent weeks faced criticism when it stopped offering free admission to visitors on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, while extending the benefit to U.S. residents on Flag Day, which also happens to be Trump’s birthday next year.

    Earlier this year, the Interior Department’s ordered parks to flag signs, exhibits and other materials it said disparaged Americans. That order sparked debate about books related to Native American history and a photograph at a Georgia park that showed the scars of a formerly enslaved man.

    In one of his executive orders, Trump said the nation’s history was being unfairly recast through a negative lens. Instead, he wants to focus on the positive aspects of America’s achievements, along with the beauty and grandeur of its landscape.

    Mikah Meyer knows that beauty well after a three-year road trip to visit all 419 national park sites. He said part of the mission of his travels, which he shared on social media and in a documentary, was to illustrate that parks are welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community.

    That message aligns with his business, Outside Safe Space, which at its peak was selling stickers and pins featuring a tree with triangle-shaped, rainbow-colored branches to more than 20 associations that operated multiple park stores. His items started to be pulled from some stores after the executive orders were issued earlier this year.

    “How is banning these items supporting freedom of speech?” Meyer said.