DEAR ABBY: I am neat and organized, but my wife is the opposite. She’s messy and disorganized. I knew it before we married, but we made a handshake deal that she’d make an effort to pick up after herself once we moved in together. Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened.
Every time she comes home, whatever she’s carrying gets dropped on the nearest flat surface — keys, bags, mail, you name it. She piles things up instead of putting them away and it feels like there’s clutter everywhere I look. Our bed is often piled with clothes and other items stacked almost two feet high.
I find myself constantly picking up after her, which is exhausting and makes me feel like I’m the only one taking care of our house. Her lack of effort is driving me crazy and causing me significant stress. I’ve tried talking calmly to her, setting boundaries for clutter-free areas, even threatening divorce out of sheer frustration. Nothing seems to work. I don’t know what else to do.
I love my wife and don’t want our marriage to fall apart over this, but the constant mess is taking a toll on my mental health and our relationship. How can I approach this in a way that fosters understanding and cooperation? I want us to find a solution that works for both of us without making her feel criticized or attacked.
— MESSED UP
DEAR MESSED UP: Several thoughts come to mind. You, a man who is “super neat,” knew your wife was messy but married her anyway. Short of divorcing her, would it be possible for you to designate certain areas of your home that you agree will remain clutter-free? If that isn’t possible, could you do what some other couples have done, which is live apart? Marriage mediation might help your wife understand the message you have been trying (and failing) to deliver. It’s worth a try, but lifelong habits are very hard to break.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: Our 24-year-old daughter is getting married in 10 months. My wife is invited to the wedding, but I am not, and I am furious. The groom’s family is paying for the trip, but they say I am not invited “for financial reasons.”
I don’t have a great relationship with my daughter. But that isn’t the point. I told my wife that if the roles were reversed and she was excluded, I would not go. This may be a deal-breaker for me. It’s apparent that our marriage doesn’t mean as much to my wife as it does to me. What are your thoughts?
— ELIMINATED IN TEXAS
DEAR ELIMINATED: What I think is it’s terrible for your daughter to put her mother on the spot this way. By doing so she is putting a strain on your marriage. You and your wife need to ask your doctor for a referral to a licensed marriage and family therapist so you can hash this out before further damage is done to your relationship. Do I think your wife should forgo the wedding? What I think doesn’t matter as much as what she does.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). With automatic bill payment and thermostats, “set it and forget it” is the aim. But in relationships, the only way to make them work is to show up ready and willing to hold the whole glorious mess.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Here comes the call to action. It’s also normal to look around to see if anyone else will step up so you don’t have to. But this one is for you, and the moment you act, courage kicks in.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Those who have resisted temptation know how hard that can be. What’s easier is using your feet to get somewhere temptations do not exist. Easiest of all? Finding something you like much better.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). You’re aiming to be fair and balanced. It’s not about splitting things evenly; it’s about choosing what actually restores harmony. Small adjustments like changing a word, choosing to pause or reframing how you think about a problem can change your entire vibe.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). A stone thrown into the choppy water can’t make a ripple. When there’s chaos, you handle it like a pro. But when there’s not, you can apply your talent where it will make an impact.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Charm is the result of countless small decisions about what to say, what to hold back and how to show up. But you’ve already learned, refined and practiced for years. Now all you have to do is trust yourself.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Plans unravel. It’s almost funny. You could look for causes, but you’re inclined to shrug, laugh and then find meaning that works for your new plan — to move forward anyway. Experience shapes you in mighty fine ways.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Adjust the schedule, try a different route or make a new order of operations. You need a friendlier rhythm, and changing one thing will get you there. It doesn’t even have to be a big change. Small adjustments will strongly influence the outcome.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). A conversation can bring someone more into your life or keep them at a distance, connect the dots or mystify, open a heart or close it. Listen with curiosity. An ordinary exchange will be extremely memorable and useful if you come at it with an attitude of incorporation.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Your taste is refined by the choices you’ve made in the past. Some of them were regrettable in an aesthetic sense, but there’s no big harm in it, just a little embarrassment at best. It feels better to make a choice that works with your surroundings, and you’ll get it right today.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). There’s pleasure in tending today. A drawer, a list, a plant or a single paragraph improves because you handled it. It’s amazing how a simple act of care restores not only the subject but your own mind to a sense of clarity and ease.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You’ll notice something appealing in another person’s life. Let that awareness clarify what truly fits you. Comparison doesn’t have to leave anyone feeling less-than. It can be inspiration. It can be saying, “Wow, this is also possible for me.” Let it send you in a new direction.
TODAY’SBIRTHDAY (Jan. 18). This is your Year of Well-Timed Courage, when you act at precisely the right moment. You don’t rush. You don’t stall. You move when you feel it, and your feelings steer you well. Each brave step feels proportionate and pays off in trust, opportunity or relief. More highlights: A family situation resolves in the sweetest way. Travel is blessed with synchronicities. You’ll give and accept financial grace. Cancer and Libra adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 3, 12, 4, 29 and 6.
ATLANTA — The Atlanta Falcons have hired Kevin Stefanski to be their head coach.
Stefanski, a two-time Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year with the Cleveland Browns, replaces Raheem Morris and will report to Falcons President Matt Ryan.
“We’re thrilled to land a lead-by-example leader in Kevin Stefanski who brings a clear vision for his staff, our team and a closely aligned focus on building this team on fundamentals, toughness and active collaboration with every area of the football operation,” Ryan said in a statement. “Coach Stefanski is a team-first leader who puts a premium on accountability for everyone and a player-driven culture. His experience in Cleveland and Minnesota has given him a great understanding of the importance of working in sync with scouting, personnel and the rest of the football staff to maximize talent across the roster and in doing everything possible to put our players in the best position to succeed.”
Stefanski was named AP Coach of the Year in 2020 after leading the Browns to the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and their first playoff win since 1994 with an 11-5 record. He won it again in 2023 when the Browns made the playoffs and finished 11-6. Stefanski was 45-56 in Cleveland.
“I’m beyond thrilled to be charged with leading this iconic franchise,” Stefanski said. “I am grateful to Mr. (Arthur) Blank and Matt Ryan for trusting me to coach this football team and there are many talented players on our roster that I cannot wait to coach. We share a vision for this football team that I believe will make Falcons fans everywhere proud. We will get to work immediately putting together a first-class coaching staff and working hard to get to know all the great people that are so important to getting us all where we want to go.”
Stefanski previously spent 14 years as an assistant in Minnesota under Brad Childress, Leslie Frazier and Mike Zimmer. He’s a former two-time All-Ivy League defensive back at the University of Pennsylvania from 2000-04.
DENVER — Bo Nix broke his right ankle late in overtime of the Denver Broncos’ divisional-round victory over Buffalo on Saturday and will have surgery that will sideline him for the rest of the playoffs.
Coach Sean Payton delivered the stunning news about his second-year quarterback in the aftermath of Denver’s biggest win in a decade. Backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham will start the AFC championship game next weekend.
“Stiddy’s ready,” Payton said after returning to the postgame lectern to discuss the injury following Denver’s 33-30 victory.
Payton said Nix got hurt on a keeper where he lost 2 yards and was tackled by safety Cole Bishop. Nix was limping after the play, but there was no indication that he suffered such a serious injury.
On the next play, Nix threw a deep pass to Marvin Mims Jr. that drew a 30-yard pass-interference flag and got the Broncos well into field-goal range. Nix then took a knee to center the ball for Wil Lutz’s game-ending 23-yard field goal.
Payton said Nix will have surgery Tuesday in Birmingham, Alabama.
“He’s such a strong, faith-based guy,” Payton said. “He’s sitting in the hallway with his family and coming over and we’re all talking to him. He knows that God’s got a plan for him and he said he had (a broken ankle) in high school and then he said he had one at Auburn.
“And I said I didn’t realize that. I said if I had known that I wouldn’t have drafted you,” Payton cracked.
The locker room had cleared out and reporters were waiting in an interview room for Nix when Payton returned and delivered the news.
Nix, the 12th overall pick out of Oregon in the 2024 NFL draft, tied Russell Wilson’s NFL record with two dozen victories in his first two seasons. Saturday’s victory was his first in the playoffs. The Broncos lost last year at Buffalo but Nix led Denver to the AFC’s top seed this season.
“He’s a tough cookie,” Payton said. “And this team all year has lost key players and will rise up for the next challenge.”
The hockey season can be a long and winding road, but right now the Flyers have gone off-roading and toward a cliff.
Eleven days ago, the vibes were high following an emotional, high-intensity win against Cutter Gauthier and the Anaheim Ducks. The whole night, Xfinity Mobile Arena was rocking in front of a sellout crowd.
On Saturday, the Flyers were booed out of their own building before they head west to play the Vegas Golden Knights, Utah Mammoth, and Colorado Avalanche — two Stanley Cup contenders and a team in the playoff picture in the Western Conference — on a trip that could send them spiraling over.
The Flyers have now lost six straight, capped off by a dreadful 6-3 loss to a New York Rangers team that confirmed on Friday, with a letter to its fans, that they have officially driven off the cliff and essentially quit on their season.
“We sucked. Plain and simple. We can’t show up,” captain Sean Couturier said. “Down 3-1, 5 minutes in, 10 minutes in, whatever it was. We’ve got to be better.”
Can the Flyers be better? Can they pump the brakes on the slide?
From the outside, six straight losses is a concern, for sure; however, the longest losing streak of the season previously was three games, Dec. 11-15 — all in overtime — so the losses alone are not setting off alarm bells.
What is setting off loud sirens is how they are losing games.
Entering their game on Jan. 8 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Flyers had allowed 2.80 goals on average across the first 41 games of the season. The past six? An eye-popping 5.17.
“Obviously, really frustrated,” defenseman Cam York said postgame, after being on the ice for three goals by the Rangers. “We’ve kind of just been shooting ourselves in the foot, making silly mistakes, I think. It’s correctable stuff, stuff that we haven’t done all year up to this point.”
Creeping back in are the odd-man rushes, the two-on-one goals, the three-on-one goals — the Rangers had both — the turnovers, the bad penalties that plagued them early in the year, and players not stepping up on the opposition.
The structure has broken down as guys are missing reads, attacking players who already have a Flyer on them, and giving time and space to the opposition. They are leaving opponents wide open on the weak side.
It does not make it easy on the goalies when they’re having to dive across the crease to stop pucks — a hallmark of what coach Rick Tocchet’s system is meant to prevent.
Is this who the Flyers really are? Was goalie Dan Vladař, who missed his second straight game on Saturday after being injured in the first period on Wednesday, hiding the Flyers’ flaws with his red-hot start?
“I‘ve been preaching since the start of the year, you cannot give weak side goals up, so you protect the middle and let the goalie have it,” Tocchet said.
“Now what happens is, when you start getting goals side to side, what are the goalies doing? They’re just playing on their heels. … But before, especially when Vladdy was here, he knew, most of the time the puck was going to be there and he was ready for it. He made those stops. I’m just using it as an example.”
There’s no denying that, beyond Vladař, the goaltending has been an issue. Aleksei Kolosov got the start on Saturday and allowed three goals on three shots — the fourth Flyers goalie in team history to finish a game with a .000 save percentage, joining Ron Hextall, Ken Wregget, and Antero Niittymäki. Sam Ersson actually made several big-time stops against the Rangers when left out to dry, but ultimately gave up three goals on 25 shots.
“Tocc always says that it’s hard for anyone to make five, six perfect reads in a game. And when you’re not playing well, and you’re in the D zone, you’re having to make 15 reads, it makes the game a lot harder,” forward Travis Konecny said.
“You guys [the media] see it, when we’re playing good and things are buzzing, we’re getting through the neutral zone, we’re playing good offense, things just kind of happen naturally. You’re not really thinking out there. And then when you have to put your thinking cap on that many times in a game, it’s hard to be perfect. More times than not, there’s going to be a mistake somewhere in there.”
The question is now what? The power play is in a familiar but unwelcome spot, ranked dead last at 14.9% — allowing two short-handed goals. (Um, did Scott Laughton’s goal on Jan. 8 break the Flyers?). The penalty kill jumped ship a while ago and is at 61.9% during the losing streak.
And now they have injury woes with Vladař (undisclosed injury); defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen on injured reserve (upper-body injury) and not expected to head west; Bobby Brink on injured reserve (upper-body injury) but could draw back in on Monday against Vegas; Rodrigo Ābols got hurt during the game on Saturday (lower-body injury); and Tyson Foerster was ruled out for likely the season in mid-December.
Seventeen days ago, Flyers president Keith Jones sat down with The Inquirer and said that “the players will decide” what management will do as the March 6 trade deadline approaches. At the time, “the players have done a really good job of putting themselves in a position where we’re going to look to enhance what they’ve done,” he added.
Where do things stand now? There are 14 games between now and the trade deadline. Will they be sellers? Will they add?
As Jones said, the players will decide, so will they step on the brakes or hit the gas pedal?
Time will tell. That time is now.
The Flyers were embarrassed on Saturday against a Rangers team that waved the white flag on Friday.
Breakaways
The Flyers’ injury bug stung again just 6 minutes, 10 seconds into the game. Ābols appeared to get his right toe stuck in the ice along the boards in the offensive zone. His ankle buckled in the process, and he was unable to skate off the ice without help. He did not return with a lower-body injury, and Tocchet said postgame, “It’s not good.” … The Flyers have four players slated to play at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics and now three are hurt with Ābols (lower-body injury), Vladař (undisclosed) day-to-day, and, Ristolainen was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury after the game. … Defenseman Hunter McDonald was officially recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League after the game but watched the loss from the press box.
The Flyers begin a three-game swing through what some are calling the new “Death Valley,” beginning Monday with a matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights (8 p.m., NBCSP+).
MINNEAPOLIS — Protesters for and against the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown clashed in Minneapolis on Saturday as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops had been mobilized and stood ready to assist state law enforcement, though they were not yet deployed to city streets.
There have been protests every day since the Department of Homeland Security ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers.
A large group of protesters turned out in downtown Minneapolis and confronted a much smaller group of people attending an anti-Somali and pro-Immigration and Customs Enforcement rally. They chased the pro-ICE group away and forced at least one member to take off a shirt they deemed objectionable.
Jake Lang, who organized the anti-Islam and pro-ICE demonstration, appeared to be injured as he left the scene, with bruises and scrapes on his head. He said via social media beforehand that he intended to “burn a Quran” on the steps of City Hall, but it was not clear if he carried out that plan.
Lang was previously charged with assaulting an officer with a baseball bat, civil disorder and other crimes before receiving clemency as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Jan. 6 defendants last year. Lang recently announced that he is running for U.S. Senate in Florida.
In Minneapolis, snowballs, and water balloons were also thrown before an armored police van and heavily equipped city police arrived.
“We’re out here to show Nazis and ICE and DHS and MAGA you are not welcome in Minneapolis,” protester Luke Rimington said. “Stay out of our city, stay out of our state. Go home.”
National Guard ‘staged and ready’
The state guard said in a statement that it had been “mobilized” by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to support the Minnesota State Patrol “to assist in providing traffic support to protect life, preserve property, and support the rights of all Minnesotans to assemble peacefully.”
Maj. Andrea Tsuchiya, a spokesperson for the guard, said it was “staged and ready” but yet to be deployed.
The announcement came more than a week after Walz, a frequent critic and target of Trump, told the guard to be ready to support law enforcement in the state.
During the daily protests, demonstrators have railed against masked immigration officers pulling people from homes and cars and other aggressive tactics. The operation in the deeply liberal Twin Cities has claimed at least one life: Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, was shot by an ICE officer during a Jan. 7 confrontation.
On Friday a federal judge ruled that immigration officers cannot detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who are not obstructing authorities, including while observing officers during the Minnesota crackdown.
Living in fear
During a news conference Saturday, a man who fled civil war in Liberia as a child said he has been afraid to leave his Minneapolis home since being released from an immigration detention center following his arrest last weekend.
Video of federal officers breaking down Garrison Gibson’s front door with a battering ram Jan. 11 become another rallying point for protesters who oppose the crackdown.
Gibson, 38, was ordered to be deported, apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed. He has remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision. After his recent arrest, a judge ruled that federal officials did not give him enough notice that his supervision status had been revoked.
Then Gibson was taken back into custody for several hours Friday when he made a routine check-in with immigration officials. Gibson’s cousin Abena Abraham said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told her White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller ordered the second arrest.
The White House denied the account of the re-arrest and that Miller had anything to do with it.
Gibson was flown to a Texas immigration detention facility but returned home following the judge’s ruling. His family used a dumbbell to keep their damaged front door closed amid subfreezing temperatures before spending $700 to fix it.
“I don’t leave the house,” Gibson said at a news conference.
DHS said an “activist judge” was again trying to stop the deportation of “criminal illegal aliens.”
“We will continue to fight for the arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who have no right to be in this country,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
Gibson said he has done everything he was supposed to do: “If I was a violent person, I would not have been out these past 17 years, checking in.”
A chorus of nurses called Muthoni Nduthu to service one last time Saturday at her funeral.
“Nurse Muthoni, please report to duty,” the nurses repeatedly cried out, each time punctuated by a chime from a triangle. “You faithfully served your profession with dignity, compassion, and integrity. … Your fellow nurses will take over from here.”
Nduthu — who was killed when an explosion just before Christmas razed the Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Lower Bucks County — was laid to rest Saturday, memorialized by family, friends from the tight-knit Kenyan community in the area, and a 50-person nurse honor guard as an exemplary healthcare professional, a doting and spirited mother, and a pillar of her community.
“She was our anchor, our prayer warrior, and our safe place,” the oldest of her three sons, Clinton Ndegwa, wrote in a tribute read by a relative. “Though her absence leaves a space that cannot be filled, her love remains rooted in us. We carry her faith, her strength and her lessons forward.”
During the funeral service at St. Ephrem Catholic Church in Bensalem, where Nduthu, 52, was a longtime member, she was remembered for her warmth and natural humor; her perseverance as an immigrant who went back to school for nursing while working full-time; her quiet, but constant, sacrifices for her family; and her cooking.
The night before her Dec. 23 shift at the Bristol facility, formerly known as Silver Lake Healthcare Center, Nduthu prepared spiced chicken for her husband and sons to share on Christmas. The next day, she was working when a blast flattened a section of the nursing home just after 2 p.m., trapping dozens, hurling debris, and rocking nearby homes. Resident Ann Reddy was also killed, and about 20 others were injured. Earlier this month, another resident, identified as Patricia Mero, succumbed to injuries.
Investigators work the scene at Bristol Health & Rehab Center on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Bristol Township, Pa.
The nursing home; its operator, Saber Healthcare Group; Peco; and others are facing lawsuits from survivors and their loved ones who say the explosion was the result of negligence. NBC10 reported that Nduthu’s husband, David Ndegwa, has also filed a lawsuit.
The National Transportation Safety Board and a spokesperson for Saber said Friday that the investigation into what caused the explosion is ongoing.
Nduthu and her family emigrated from Kenya to the Philadelphia area more than two decades ago, David Ndegwa wrote in a tribute. Once stateside, Nduthu pursued a nursing degree, “guided by her compassion and desire to serve others,” her eulogy read. She believed deeply in the power of education and hard work, her sons said.
She “touched many lives through her kindness, generosity, and genuine care for others,” David Ndegwa wrote. “Her legacy lives on in our sons, in the friendships she nurtured, and in the strong foundation of family she built.”
Jared McCain has been assigned to the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats, the 76ers announced Saturday.
McCain did not play in the Sixers’ Friday loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and his rotation minutes have diminished in recent games as the roster has returned to full strength. The Blue Coats play at the Noblesville Boom on Sunday and Monday.
It has been a challenging second NBA season for McCain, who is about 13 months removed from meniscus surgery and also underwent thumb surgery in September. The second-year guard is averaging 6.3 points on 35.4% shooting from the floor in 30 games, but has been surpassed on the depth chart by dynamic rookie VJ Edgecombe and sixth man Quentin Grimes.
McCain also had two-game stint with the Blue Coats in November to help him regain conditioning and his shooting stroke shortly after returning from injury. Sixers coach Nick Nurse said throughout McCain’s reacclimation that game experience is expected to help him return to form.
Before his surgeries, McCain was a Rookie of the Year frontrunner after averaging 15.3 points, 2.6 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 23 games. He shot 38.3% on 5.8 three-pointers per game, after connecting on 41.4% of his long-range attempts during his one college season at Duke.
In an interview with Pennsylvania’s two U.S. senators, CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil asked about “extreme rhetoric” in Minneapolis.
“Where is the line,” Dokoupil asked, “between protected demonstrations, civil disobedience … and impeding ICE, which is breaking the law?”
He did not specifically mention the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
“The moment you start dehumanizing people, the moment you start calling people Hitler, the moment you start doing that, it’s a slippery slope to violence,” Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick said during the exchange, which was telecast Friday. “So there’s a direct connection between the violent language, the dehumanizing language, and the actual violence.”
The Trump administration has defended Good’s killing as an act of self-defense by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who shot Good four times as she drove away from him, video of the incident showed.
Federal immigration officers confront protesters outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
McCormick said that ICE agents have a responsibility to enforce the law.
“The moment the protesters get in the way of the ICE officials actually enforcing the law … the moment that it starts to become physical, I think the risk of violence goes up,” he said.
The exchange was part of a wide-ranging interview, billed as a “lesson in bipartisanship,” that found McCormick and Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman often agreeing on divisive topics.
“I reject the extreme on both sides right now,” Fetterman said. “It was a tragedy. We all wish that woman was alive. But also, ICE has a job to do as well,” and everyone doesn’t need to agree on its tactics.
Here are other moments that stood out from the 16-minute conversation held at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works in West Mifflin, about 10 miles south of Pittsburgh.
Acquiring Greenland
Fetterman and McCormick both rejected the idea, proposed by President Donald Trump, that the U.S. may use military force to acquire Greenland. But both senators agreed that it makes sense for the U.S. to increase its presence there.
“It’s also undeniable, that, one, this is not a brand-new conversation,” Fetterman said, adding that President Harry Truman and others had tried to buy Greenland. “So it’s not an absurd idea.”
McCormick said he recently met the prime minister of Denmark, “and they are welcoming the United States playing a more active role.” He doesn’t believe the U.S. should use military force, he added, but “we ought to have a strategic foothold.”
Fed Chair Jerome Powell
The Justice Department, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi, recently subpoenaed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, head of the independent body that determines U.S. monetary policy. The inquiry is looking into Powell’s comments related to renovations of Federal Reserve buildings. Powell has said the probe was opened because Trump was angry that Powell would not cut interest rates when the president wanted him to.
McCormick defended Trump’s right to criticize Powell, and said Powell should have raised rates faster and lowered them sooner. However, he emphasized Powell’s “mandate” to control federal interest rates.
“The Fed has to be independent,” McCormick said. “It’s absolutely critical for our financial system.” He added that he does not believe Powell is “involved in any criminal activity.”
Regulating social media
Both of Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators support legislation to rein in social media companies, which have faced broad criticism for negatively impacting children and teens.
“If there’s a friend who’s spending four or five hours a day with your kid, you really want to know who that friend is,” Fetterman said, “and that is social media right now, and it can be incredibly poisonous.”
Pennsylvania Sens. Dave McCormick, left, and John Fetterman play with Fetterman’s three-legged dog, Artie, at Fetterman’s home in Braddock, Pa., on Feb. 2. (MUST CREDIT: Justin Merriman for The Washington Post)
Fetterman won his 2022 Senate race against Republican Mehmet Oz after relentlessly trolling his opponent on social media, but he said he has seen the negative effect social media has had on his own family.
Fetterman said Congress is not doing enough — and he would like to see a social media ban for children similar to what Australia recently implemented.
Fetterman said he and Republican U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama are pushing the “Stop The Scroll Act,” which would create a mental health warning label for social media platforms.
McCormick’s wife, Dina Powell McCormick, recently became president and CEO of Meta, Facebook’s parent company. But McCormick said he agrees that Congress needs to do more. He wants to eliminate social media for children under 14, make social media platform data available to researchers, and ban phones in schools that are funded by the federal government.
Data centers
Despite public skepticism over artificial intelligence data centers and their potential impact on energy prices, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has been a vocal supporter of companies building the centers in the state.
McCormick said Pennsylvania is the country’s second-largest energy exporter, making the state “uniquely positioned to be the AI energy leader.”
“But, yes, as we develop this huge infrastructure, we need to make sure that consumers aren’t stuck with raising energy increases,” McCormick added.
The two senators also spoke about energy and healthcare costs, the steel industry, and other topics. The full interview can be viewed here:
President Donald Trump’s Justice Department crossed a new threshold with its criminal investigation of top Democratic elected officials in Minnesota, targeting vocal critics during a moment of crisis in which protesters and federal agents are clashing on icy city streets.
The Twin Cities have been a tinderbox for more than a week since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman in her vehicle, with residents confronting ICE agents. Trump has raised the prospect of sending U.S. troops into the state, and the Justice Department escalated tensions Friday as it prepared to send subpoenas to Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, two of Minnesota’s highest-profile Democrats.
The pair have loudly disparaged ICE’S presence in the state and the way Trump and his administration have defended the officer and sidelined state officials in an investigation into the shooting. The subpoenas the Justice Department is preparing to send suggest the agency is looking at whether Walz’s and Frey’s public statements about the administration’s actions amount to illegal interference with law enforcement.
The administration has pursued numerous other Democrats and perceived adversaries, fulfilling Trump’s promises to prosecute his foes. However, the administration had not taken such forceful action against elected officeholders at a volatile moment when public safety was at issue — until now.
To Trump’s allies, the latest investigation should serve as a warning to critics who they argue are inflaming matters with their rhetoric. Former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon said he believes Walz and Frey hit Trump’s “trip wire” with their heated comments and expects “intense prosecution.”
“Walz and Frey should listen when the president says, ‘No games,’” he said.
Trump’s critics warned in stark terms that he was crossing a dangerous line.
“This is what totalitarianism looks like,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.). “Trump is now using the full, entire scope of the federal government in order to destroy and suppress dissent and compel loyalty.” Murphy said Minneapolis is a “test case” that will determine whether Trump tries the same approach elsewhere.
The White House and Justice Department had no comment Friday on the probe of Walz and Frey, but Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on social media a “reminder to all those in Minnesota: No one is above the law.” Neither Walz nor Frey had been served with a subpoena by Friday evening, spokespeople for the officials said.
Trump, who on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, which would enable him to deploy the military on U.S. soil, downplayed the prospect on Friday. “If I needed it, I’d use it. I don’t think there’s any reason right now to use it,” he told reporters.
The Justice Department’s investigation of a governor and mayor is highly unusual. In the 1950s and 1960s, presidents used troops to enforce court desegregation orders in the face of defiance from some Southern governors. But the department did not press charges against them, said Steven Lawson, a history professor at Rutgers University.
“The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division did keep track of civil rights incidents in the South, but it did not prosecute or harass governors or mayors for their resistance,” he said by email.
Trump’s administration is taking the opposite approach by going after those who have pilloried the president. Traditionally, the Justice Department has tried to insulate itself from the White House, but Trump has not shied away from getting involved in its investigations. In September, he took to social media to complain to Bondi that she wasn’t taking action against his political opponents.
Many Minnesotans were angry when ICE sent thousands of agents to the state, and they launched widespread protests after an ICE officer fatally shot Renée Good. ICE’S presence and the demonstrations have put Minneapolis on edge, with residents blowing whistles and screaming at agents, and officers at times deploying tear gas. Demonstrations “remained peaceful until last night,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said last weekend after 29 people were arrested and an officer was injured.
Tensions rose again this week when an ICE officer shot a man in the leg.
Soon after an investigation into Good’sshooting began, state officials said they were reluctantly withdrawing from it because the FBI was not sharing information with them. Separately, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued federal officials this week to try to force ICE agents out of the state.
Walz, the Democrats’ 2024 vice-presidential nominee, has been fiercely critical of ICE, as has Frey, who drew nationwide attention when he told ICE to “get thef— out of Minneapolis” following the shooting.
Walz and Frey are being investigated under a law similar to one used against protesters whom federal officials have accused of impeding their work.
“The administration is taking us back to the days of seditious libel, where people are prosecuted simply because they criticize the acts of government,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.), a former constitutional law professor who served on a congressional panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. “The Department of Justice has now been reduced to a completely political and partisan instrument of vendetta.”
In a statement, Walz noted that Trump has gone after many others who have not done what he wants and said, “The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renée Good is the federal agent who shot her.”
Justice Department prosecutors pursued cases against former FBI director James B. Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, but judges dismissed the charges. The department has also conducted investigations of Sen. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), who led Trump’s first impeachment as a member of the House, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell, and several Democrats who told military members they could defy unlawful orders. He has also tussled with Democratic state officials such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and tried to withhold funds from them when they have fought his agenda.
Frey wrote on the social media platform X that the investigation against him was “an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis, local law enforcement, and residents against the chaos and danger this Administration has brought to our city.” He said he “will not be intimidated.”
The administration’s pressure on Minneapolis ramped up further Friday when the Department of Housing and Urban Development said it was investigating the city over fair housing initiatives, probing for alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act and the Civil Rights Act.
A Minneapolis spokesperson said the investigation “appears to be about politics, not affordable housing.”
