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  • Cuba’s president says no current talks with U.S. following Trump’s threats

    Cuba’s president says no current talks with U.S. following Trump’s threats

    HAVANA — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Monday that his administration is not in talks with the U.S. government, a day after President Donald Trump threatened the Caribbean island in the wake of the U.S. attack on Venezuela.

    Díaz-Canel posted a flurry of brief statements on X after Trump suggested that Cuba “make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not say what kind of deal.

    Díaz-Canel wrote that for “relations between the U.S. and Cuba to progress, they must be based on international law rather than hostility, threats, and economic coercion.”

    He added: “We have always been willing to hold a serious and responsible dialogue with the various US governments, including the current one, on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual respect, principles of International Law, and mutual benefit without interference in internal affairs and with full respect for our independence.”

    His statements were reposted by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on X.

    A key lifeline severed

    On Sunday, Trump wrote that Cuba would no longer live off oil and money from Venezuela, which the U.S. attacked on Jan. 3 in a stunning operation that killed 32 Cuban officers and led to the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro.

    Cuba was receiving an estimated 35,000 barrels a day from Venezuela before the U.S. attacked, along with some 5,500 barrels daily from Mexico and roughly 7,500 from Russia, according to Jorge Piñón of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, who tracks the shipments.

    On Monday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum once again declined to provide data on current oil shipments or say whether such shipments would increase when Venezuelan supplies end. She insisted that the aid “has been ongoing for a long time; it’s not new.”

    Sheinbaum said Mexico’s fuel supply to Cuba is not a concern for her country because “there is enough oil” — even though production of state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos is steadily declining. She reiterated that her government is willing to facilitate dialogue between the U.S. and Cuba if both agree.

    Even with oil shipments from Venezuela, widespread blackouts have persisted across Cuba given fuel shortages and a crumbling electric grid. Experts worry a lack of petroleum would only deepen the island’s multiple crises that stem from an economic paralysis during the COVID-19 pandemic and a radical increase in U.S. sanctions following the first Trump administration, which aim to force a change in Cuba’s political model.

    The communist government has said U.S. sanctions cost the country more than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025, a staggering sum for an island whose tourism revenue reached some $3 billion annually at its peak in the previous decade.

    The crisis also has triggered a large wave of migration primarily to the United States, where Cubans enjoyed immigration privileges as exiles. Those privileges were curtailed before Trump closed U.S. borders.

    ‘They didn’t even bring Cuban coffee’

    The situation between the U.S. and Cuba is “very sad and concerning,” said Andy S. Gómez, retired dean of the School of International Studies and senior fellow in Cuban Studies at the University of Miami.

    He said he sees Díaz-Canel’s latest comments “as a way to try and buy a little bit of time for the inner circle to decide what steps it’s going to take.”

    Gómez said he doesn’t visualize Cuba reaching out to U.S. officials right now.

    “They had every opportunity when President (Barack) Obama opened up U.S. diplomatic relations, and yet they didn’t even bring Cuban coffee to the table,” Gómez said. “Of course, these are desperate times for Cuba.”

    Michael Galant, senior research and outreach associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., said he believes Cuba might be willing to negotiate.

    “Cuba has been interested in finding ways to ease sanctions,” he said. “It’s not that Cuba is uncooperative.”

    Galant said topics for discussion could include migration and security, adding that he believes Trump is not in a hurry.

    “Trump is hoping to deepen the economic crisis on the island, and there are few costs to Trump to try and wait that out,” he said. “I don’t think it’s likely that there will be any dramatic action in the coming days because there is no rush to come to the table.”

    Cuba’s president stressed on X that “there are no talks with the U.S. government, except for technical contacts in the area of ​​migration.”

    As tensions remained heightened, life went on as usual for many Cubans, although some were more concerned than others.

    Oreidy Guzmán, a 32- year-old food delivery person, said he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to Cubans, “but if something has to happen, the people deserve change.”

    Meanwhile, 37-year-old homemaker Meilyn Gómez said that while she doesn’t believe the U.S. would invade Cuba, she was preparing for any possible outcome under Trump: “He’ll find entertainment anywhere.”

    The current situation is dominating chatter among Cubans on the island and beyond.

    “Cuban people talk and talk,” said 57-year-old bartender Rubén Benítez, “but to be honest, eleven, eight or nine million will take to the streets to defend what little we have left.”

  • Judge is asked for emergency hearing after Congress members blocked from ICE facility in Minneapolis

    Judge is asked for emergency hearing after Congress members blocked from ICE facility in Minneapolis

    WASHINGTON — The Trump administration secretly reimposed a policy limiting Congress members’ access to immigration detention facilities a day after a federal immigration officer fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, attorneys for several congressional Democrats said Monday in asking a federal judge to intervene.

    Three Democratic members of Congress from Minnesota were blocked from visiting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility near Minneapolis on Saturday, three days after an ICE officer shot and killed U.S. citizen Renee Good in the city.

    Last month, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., temporarily blocked ICE from enforcing policies limiting Congress members’ access to immigration detention facilities. In a court filing on Monday, plaintiffs’ lawyers asked Cobb to hold an emergency hearing and decide if the duplicate notice policy violates her order.

    Cobb ruled on Dec. 17 that it is likely illegal for ICE to demand a week’s notice from members of Congress seeking to visit and observe conditions in ICE facilities. The judge said the seven-day notice requirement likely exceeds the Department of Homeland Security’s statutory authority.

    The attorneys asking Cobb for an emergency hearing say the matter is urgent because members of Congress are negotiating funding for DHS and ICE for the next fiscal year with DHS’ annual appropriations due to expire on Jan. 30.

    “This is a critical moment for oversight, and members of Congress must be able to conduct oversight at ICE detention facilities, without notice, to obtain urgent and essential information for ongoing funding negotiations,” the lawyers wrote.

    Cobb didn’t immediately rule on the plaintiffs’ hearing request. Government attorneys also didn’t immediately respond in writing to it.

    On Saturday, U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison, and Angie Craig attempted to tour the ICE facility in the Minneapolis federal building. They initially were allowed to enter but then told they had to leave about 10 minutes later.

    Officials who turned them away cited a newly imposed seven-day-notice policy for congressional oversight visits. Last Thursday, a day after Good’s death, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem secretly signed a new memorandum reinstating the same seven-day notice requirement, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

    Cobb, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Joe Biden, ruled last month in favor of 12 other members of Congress who sued to challenge ICE’s amended visitor policies after they were denied entry to detention facilities. Their lawsuit accused Republican President Donald Trump’s administration of obstructing congressional oversight of the centers during its nationwide surge in immigration enforcement operations.

    Government attorneys had argued that the plaintiffs didn’t have legal standing to bring their claims. They also said it’s merely speculative for the legislators to be concerned that conditions in ICE facilities change over the course of a week. But the judge rejected those arguments.

    “The changing conditions within ICE facilities means that it is likely impossible for a Member of Congress to reconstruct the conditions at a facility on the day that they initially sought to enter,” Cobb wrote.

    A law bars DHS from using appropriated general funds to prevent members of Congress from entering DHS facilities for oversight purposes. Plaintiffs’ attorneys from the Democracy Forward Foundation said the administration hasn’t shown that none of those funds are being used to implement the latest notice policy.

  • Thousands of nurses go on strike at several major New York City hospitals

    Thousands of nurses go on strike at several major New York City hospitals

    NEW YORK — Thousands of nurses in three hospital systems in New York City went on strike Monday after negotiations through the weekend failed to yield breakthroughs in their contract disputes.

    “Nurses on strike! … Fair contract now!” they shouted on a picket line outside NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s campus in Upper Manhattan. Others picketed at hospitals in the Mount Sinai and Montefiore systems, where a 2023 nursing strike fed off pandemic-era frustrations and led to a deal to boost staffing and pay.

    “And now, it’s how they’re treating us: They don’t want to give us a fair contract, and they don’t want to give us safe staffing, and now they’re trying to roll back on our benefits,” emergency department nurse Tristan Castillo said as she picketed Monday outside Mount Sinai West.

    About 15,000 nurses are involved in the strike, according to their union, the New York State Nurses Association. The hospitals remained open, hiring droves of temporary nurses to try to fill the labor gap.

    The strike involves private, nonprofit hospitals, not city-run ones. But the strike, which the union casts as lifesaving essential workers fighting hospital executives who make millions of dollars a year, could be a significant early test of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new administration.

    The democratic socialist campaigned on a pro-worker platform and struck a similar note while visiting nurses on the NewYork-Presbyterian picket line Monday.

    “These executives are not having difficulty making ends meet,” said Mamdani, who extolled nurses’ work and said they were seeking “dignity, respect, and the fair pay and treatment that they deserve. They should settle for nothing less.”

    Some other Democratic city and state politicians also visited striking nurses, while Gov. Kathy Hochul sent state health officials to the hospitals to keep watch over patient care. She called in a statement for the sides to negotiate a deal that “recognizes the essential work nurses do.”

    The strike, which comes during a severe flu season, could potentially force the hospitals to transfer patients, cancel procedures, or divert ambulances. It could also put a strain on city hospitals not involved in the contract dispute, as patients avoid the medical centers hit by the strike.

    The nurses’ demands vary by hospital, but the major issues include staffing levels and workplace safety. The union says hospitals have given nurses unmanageable workloads.

    Nurses also want better security measures in the workplace, citing incidents such as an episode last week when a man with a sharp object barricaded himself in a Brooklyn hospital room and was then killed by police.

    The union also wants limitations on hospitals’ use of artificial intelligence.

    The hospitals say that they’ve been working to improve staffing levels but say that the union’s demands overall are too costly.

    After the nurses gave notice Jan. 2 of the looming strike, the hospitals hired temporary nurses, vowed to “do whatever is necessary to minimize disruptions,” and said they were prepared to deliver care no matter how long the strike lasts. Mount Sinai said in a statement Monday it had lined up 1,400 temporary nurses.

    Mount Sinai said the union was making “extreme economic demands.” Montefiore spokesperson Joe Solmonese said the union was pressing “$3.6 billion in reckless demands,” including exorbitant raises. The union hasn’t publicly disclosed its salary proposal.

    NewYork-Presbyterian accused the union of staging a strike to “create disruption.”

    “We’re ready to keep negotiating a fair and reasonable contract that reflects our respect for our nurses and the critical role they play, and also recognizes the challenging realities of today’s healthcare environment,” the hospital said.

    Each medical center is negotiating with the union independently. Several other private hospitals in and near New York City reached deals in recent days to avert a possible strike.

    The three-day strike in 2023 resulted in a deal raising pay 19% over three years at Mount Sinai and Montefiore. The pact also included staffing improvements, though the union and hospitals now disagree about how much progress has been made, or whether the hospitals are retreating from staffing guarantees.

    The sides also dispute whether the hospitals are trying to reduce health benefits. Mount Sinai, for instance, says its proposals would cut costs without changing coverage.

  • The Trevor Project receives $45M from MacKenzie Scott after difficult years and federal funding cuts

    The Trevor Project receives $45M from MacKenzie Scott after difficult years and federal funding cuts

    The Trevor Project, known for its hotline for LGBTQ+ youth, received $45 million from billionaire and author MacKenzie Scott at the end of 2025, the organization said Monday.

    The gift is the largest in the organization’s history but also a major boon following years of management turmoil, layoffs, and the loss of significant federal funding over the summer.

    “I literally could not believe it and it took some time. I actually gasped,” said Jaymes Black, CEO of the Trevor Project, when they were notified of Scott’s gift.

    Scott, whose fortune largely comes from her ex-husband, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, gave more than $7 billion to nonprofits in 2025, but this gift to the Trevor Project was not included among the donations she disclosed on her website in December. Scott previously gave the Trevor Project $6 million in 2020.

    In July, the Trump administration stopped providing specific support for gay, trans, and gender nonconforming young people who called the 988 National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The Trevor Project was one of the organizations staffing that option and lost $25 million in funding, the nonprofit said.

    The Trevor Project continues to run an independent hotline for LGBTQ+ young people that Black said reaches about 250,000 young people annually, but they served another 250,000 callers through the 988 Press 3 option, which was tailored for LGBTQ+ young people.

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported more than 1.5 million contacts were routed through the service between September 2022 and July 2025.

    The Trevor Project has gone through years of internal turmoil after exploding in size from an organization with an annual budget around $4 million in 2016 to over $83 million in 2023, according to its public tax returns. The nonprofit’s board removed its CEO in 2022 and has gone through a series of layoffs, including one in July. Black said the project’s 2026 budget was $47 million.

    “We are a smaller organization than we were before,” Black said. “And we will continue to be really intentional and really mindful around growth and what growth really means for the organization.”

    After it lost the 988 funding, the Trevor Project launched an emergency fundraiser that brought in $20 million to date, Black said, which they also hope Scott saw as proof that the organization was determined to stick around and make it through this period.

    “MacKenzie Scott’s folks were clear, like this gift was made for long-term impact,” Black said, adding that they would take their time deciding how to use the funds.

    Thad Calabrese, a professor at New York University who researches nonprofit financial management, said it’s not at all uncommon for nonprofits that grow very quickly to run into financial problems. But he also said the cuts and general instability in especially federal funding for nonprofits has upended many organizations’ business models.

    “Academic research has often viewed public funding as very stable, as a signal to donors that you’ve arrived as an organization, but the reality is you are now also open to changing political fortunes,” he said.

    He said research is also unclear about whether diversifying an organization’s revenue streams is always a better financial strategy.

    “You’re less dependent upon a few funders, but on the other hand, if you have a lot of different revenue streams, do you have the management capacity for that?” Calabrese asked, speaking generally and not commenting specifically on the Trevor Project.

    Scott has distinguished herself among the biggest individual donors by giving large, unrestricted gifts to nonprofits, often with a focus on equity or social justice. With the exception of an open call in 2023, she does not ask for project proposals nor accept applications.

    Despite the size of her gifts, which now often exceed the recipient organization’s annual budget, research from the Center for Effective Philanthropy has found that concerns about nonprofits misusing Scott’s funds or growing unsustainably have largely not been born out. That may be because Scott’s team, the members of which are largely unknown, conducts extensive research on organizations before making grants.

    In an essay announcing her 2025 gifts, Scott said, “The potential of peaceful, non-transactional contribution has long been underestimated, often on the basis that it is not financially self-sustaining, or that some of its benefits are hard to track. But what if these imagined liabilities are actually assets? … What if the fact that some of our organizations are vulnerable can itself be a powerful engine for our generosity?”

    Black called Scott’s second gift “a powerful validation” of the Trevor Project’s mission and impact, saying, “We’re calling this our turnaround story.”

  • Long story short: ‘Joe Dirt’ tribute takes top prize in mullet contest

    Long story short: ‘Joe Dirt’ tribute takes top prize in mullet contest

    HARRISBURG — A packed crowd celebrated the much-maligned but enduring mullet hairstyle Monday in a contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg.

    The short-in-the-front, long-in-the-back coiffure, once the province of Canadian hockey players and hair metal bands, attracted about 150 competitors and more than a thousand spectators for the day’s “mane” attraction.

    The top award, in the form of the rear bumper of a Corvette, went to 10-year-old Drew Fleschut of Dallas, Luzerne County — who wore a red-and-black shirt in an homage to movie character Joe Dirt and carried Joe’s trademark mop.

    Contestants were evaluated for the style of their cut, any props or accessories, their presentation and their overall sense of commitment, said judge Brittany Goldberg.

    “This is for fun,” said Goldberg, owner of Heavy Metal Hair Salon in Philadelphia. “It’s about the camaraderie and everyone having a laugh and a good time.”

    Ben Barley, a 7-year-old first grader from Red Lion, Pa., waits with his father, Robert Barley, for the start of a mullet judging contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg on Monday.

    There were magic tricks, customized T-shirts, and even a “skullet” — a mullet sported by a balding man. One kid didn’t want to leave the stage. Another took the occasion to pick his nose. Some danced the worm, some dabbed, and a few ripped off their shirts, pro-wrestling style.

    Brittni Williamson of Harvey’s Lake brought along her 3-year-old son Mason, who ended up with a mullet when the hair on the back of his head grew more quickly than the rest of his hair when he was a baby.

    “We just clean it up in the front and keep the party going,” Williamson said. Mason didn’t win, but he did get to accomplish his New Year’s resolution by feeding a cow.

    Butter sculpture at Pennsylvania Farm Show honors nation’s 250th birthday

    Ben Barley, 7, of Red Lion arrived at the event wearing a T-shirt featuring his name and the words “MULLET LIFE 6-7,” a nod to both his hairstyle and the bafflingly popular youth catchphrase. He said he’d been working on his mullet for two years.

    Kyle Wertman said he was inspired to go with a mullet while watching old professional wrestling footage of Hacksaw Jim Duggan. He gets a lot of comments about it in his hometown of Murrysville.

    “They like to fluff the curls in the back, ‘Look at this thing, it’s got a mind of its own,’” said Wertman, 43, who works in sales and service of industrial air compressors.

    It’s taken Lancaster resident Brayden Shaner, 14, about four years to grow his mullet, which was good enough for third-place in the teenager category.

    “I like it because it’s different,” he said. “You don’t see, walking through the grocery store, people with a mullet. I think the girls like it.”

    Though mullets likely have been around longer than there have been barbers, the Oxford English Dictionary cites hip-hop legends the Beastie Boys for helping popularize the term mullet with the song “Mullet Head” on their 1994 recording, Ill Communication. As the venerable dictionary notes, it’s a term that is slang, humorous “and frequently derogatory.”

    The contest, in its third year, is one of the few at the Pennsylvania Farm Show open to people who live outside the state.

    Meredith Nelson smiles at her son, “Mikey Mullet,” an 8-year old-contestant from South Jersey in Monday’s hairstyle contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
  • More workers are stuck in part-time jobs, in warning for the economy

    More workers are stuck in part-time jobs, in warning for the economy

    In a slowing labor market, even people with jobs are increasingly making do with less-than-ideal arrangements. They’re stuck in part-time positions or patching together multiple jobs to make ends meet, employment data shows.

    The number of part-time workers who say they would prefer full-time positions jumped sharply in November to an eight-year high.

    Meanwhile, those with multiple jobs — 5.7% of the workforce — is at its highest level in more than 25 years, according to monthly figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In all, a record 9.3 million Americans worked more than one job in November, a 10% increase from a year earlier.

    The data reflects, at least partially, disruptions from the recent government shutdown, which left hundreds of thousands of Americans furloughed without pay from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12. Many of those workers — along with contractors, consultants, and others who felt the ripples of the shutdown — may have picked up side jobs or part-time gigs to make up for lost pay.

    But economists also point to a broader shift in Americans’ finances and rising concerns about affordability that is driving them to pick up more work. Of particular note: The number of Americans with two full-time jobs jumped by 18% in the past year, with women making up the bulk of that increase.

    “When people start adding jobs, and certainly a second full-time job, that says something about affordability, and about needing more money to meet household expenditures,” said Laura Ullrich, director of economic research at the Indeed Hiring Lab. “In theory, yes, if people ‘want’ to have multiple jobs, and they’re able to find them, that’s a good thing. But from a human perspective, the fact that more people are working two full-time jobs is hard to think of as a positive development.”

    Although federal workers received back pay when the government reopened, that wasn’t the case for its network of contractors and consultants.

    Joshua Beers, a government contractor in Columbia, Md., took a second job delivering food for Uber Eats during the shutdown. Without his usual paychecks — or any hope of back pay – he quickly depleted his savings, and fell behind on credit card and loan payments. The $400 a week from his side hustle wasn’t much, he said, but it was enough to temporarily cover the basics.

    Now, even with his full-time job back, Beers is still making deliveries, late at night and on weekends, to make up for lost income. Plus, he said, he worries about the slowing job market: His wife has been looking for work for over a year.

    “The job market feels really confusing right now,” he said. “I don’t want to give up anything I can do for additional income on the side.”

    The U.S. labor market has cooled markedly in the past year. Employers added 584,000 jobs in 2025, an average of about 49,000 jobs per month. That’s a significant drop from the 2 million jobs added over 2024, or about 168,000 per month. The unemployment rate ticked down Friday to 4.4%.

    That’s left job-seekers in a tough position. Layoffs are still relatively low in a sign that companies would rather cut expansion plans than get rid of existing workers, making it difficult for newcomers to break in.

    To that end, the number of people working part-time because they couldn’t find full-time jobs has gradually picked up since 2023. The surge in November — a 62% increase from a year earlier — was the biggest annual jump on record, going back to 1956.

    “There’s been cooling in the labor market, but the most worrisome sign on its own is a big increase in the number of people working part-time for economic reasons,” said Guy Berger, director of economic research at the Burning Glass Institute. “This is a classic barometer of underemployment, and it tends to go up when the labor market is getting worse.”

    In Wisconsin, Rachel Fredrickson picked up a part-time job in retail in November, after eight months of unemployment from the manufacturing industry. Even with 14 years of experience in search engine optimization, she said it’s been impossible to find a full-time digital marketing position.

    Instead, Fredrickson has been working on a sales floor for up to 20 hours a week. Now, with the holiday rush over, she’s bracing for even fewer hours.

    “I’m back to having weeks where I don’t work at all,” said Frederickson, 38. “My husband and I are getting by, but we have virtually no savings left at this point.”

  • Letters to the Editor | Jan. 12, 2026

    Letters to the Editor | Jan. 12, 2026

    Offending decency, dignity

    “Might makes right,” “Greed is good,” “omertá,” phrases that offend human decency and American dignity.

    The MAGA government and its enablers have embraced these odious concepts. The Republican regime deploys the U.S. military and hooded secret police to terrorize American cities, murders foreign civilian sailors, invades a sovereign nation to capture its leader, schemes to steal a foreign nation’s oil reserves, plots invasion of our ally’s territory in Greenland, and threatens the sovereignty of Canada. Who offers a rationale?

    Steven Miller gleefully articulates MAGA principles: We do these things because we can. When MAGA sends military troops to invade our cities, attack foreign nations, steal foreign assets, or kill foreign civilians, corrupt and co-opted MAGA forces simply cannot be stopped.

    Is this our new U.S.? A brutish gangster nation? Do threatened civil rights at home, broken alliances abroad, transactional collusion with international criminals, dictators, and despots comport with our heritage?

    How can we restore the noble legacy of the Greatest Generation? Make decency at home and abroad our national goal? Prioritize the rule of law and accountability? When will U.S. power again be directed to support democratic ideals, international cooperation, and civil/human rights?

    What world will we pass to our progeny?

    Mike Shivers, Altoona, Pa.

    World of MAGA first

    The attack on Venezuela and the removal of former President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, together with administration statements thereafter, have at least given us a better understanding of what “America First” means and what it does not mean. America First does not mean doing anything for ordinary American people; it means doing everything for President Donald Trump’s family, his cronies, and major corporations.

    It does not mean helping Americans who are hungry or have problems accessing medical care.

    If it meant that, the administration would not be cutting back on SNAP benefits and acting to take away the health insurance of millions who were on Medicaid or had insurance through the Affordable Care Act. It does not mean helping Americans who have trouble affording high prices. If it meant that, the administration would not have raised prices through tariffs and failed to take any other action to rein them in.

    What it does mean is imposing American “rule” and hegemony over any country, at least in the Western Hemisphere, with whose policies we disagree and to whose resources we want access.

    So we remove Maduro and not his regime and expect to be able to coerce that regime to allow American energy companies to exploit Venezuelan oil. The administration also seeks to attack or coerce other countries in the region, including Panama, Colombia, and Greenland.

    This is not about helping the American people, much less the Venezuelan people. It is about enabling Trump and his henchmen to strut about on the world stage. And it is about making money for Trump’s family, his cronies, and corporations that do his bidding. Trump is making unconstitutional use of the U.S. military to achieve these goals. According to opinion polls, the American people do not support this mob boss-style imperialism. It is time for Congress, especially Republicans in Congress, to stand up and prevent further unauthorized and unconstitutional military ventures.

    Matthew Lawry, Elkins Park

    Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.

  • Horoscopes: Monday, Jan. 12, 2026

    ARIES (March 21-April 19). No need to stare into the mist and wait for answers to materialize because you already see the future you want, and it’s crystal clear. Making it real will involve many steps, and the first one can start anywhere. Pick a step, any step, and then watch what happens next.

    TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You’re so good at planning right now, why stop at designing your own experience? Other people would gladly pay you for a winning plan. Your true genius is in tailoring the blueprint to the resources available.

    GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Instead of counting the number of tasks on your list today, count the number on someone else’s list. Thinking about the duties or the leisure of others will give you the perspective that helps you nestle into your own groove, glad that it’s yours.

    CANCER (June 22-July 22). Someone who gave you a treasure may now want it back. As always, you’re inclined to do what is fair, not what is easy. And anyway, the best things cannot be returned even if you wanted to: time, love and the truth.

    LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). People say there are no bad questions. Still, some questions move you forward faster than others. You’ll skip the fluff and flattery and zero in on the precise details at the heart of the matter. This frees up progress.

    VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You have been known to overcome physical discomfort by framing it as the price of fitness, fashion or responsibility. Similarly, you will endure a degree of injury to the ego in the name of love, harmony and emotional maturity.

    LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Your habits may feel a bit boring to you today, only because familiarity has dulled your emotional response. Spending time with someone who has a completely different style will stir the energy, and you’ll do the same for them.

    SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). You’re not meant to stick with everything you try. It’s so relatable to outgrow interests, clothes and even relationships. But now it’s time to focus on what you keep carrying forward year after year — the gold of your character that everyone else sees, too.

    SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Be wary of grandiosity. When the pendulum swings the other way, grandiosity turns into something else — usually absence — as a person realizes there’s no way they can make good on delusion-based promises.

    CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You’re brimming with creative potential today, and there are multiple ways to apply it. Decide what most needs your clever fix, your beautiful twist or your inventive hand. Then get to work, and in two hours things are already different.

    AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You’re like a reporter for a highly reputable publication that thoroughly checks the facts. Every bit of information that comes your way warrants further investigation. Reserve all conclusions for the final edit.

    PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Somehow, it is socially acceptable to feel sorry for others, why not yourself? Microdoses of self-directed pity and sympathy just acknowledge the injustice of an experience and give you a foundation to push off from.

    TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Jan. 12). This is your Year of Code Cracking in which you figure out the problems that once perplexed you. Mysteries get solved, tests are passed, closed doors swing open, and suddenly you’re in the realm you were aiming for. How? You listen well and you’re persistent. You keep trying things until the puzzle comes together. More highlights: three financial bonuses, hot tickets with fun people and family coming together for fortifying causes. Aries and Virgo adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 4, 33, 29, 1 and 10.

  • Dear Abby | Child is being kept away from father’s family

    DEAR ABBY: My son married a lovely woman, “Noelle,” two years ago. They live a couple of hours away and have a 1-year-old son, my third grandchild. Noelle’s parents live 10 miles from my home. She and the baby go there nearly every weekend but NEVER come by mine. I haven’t seen them since the baby’s birthday five months ago.

    My daughter lives down the street from Noelle’s parents. She wasn’t invited to the baby’s first birthday even though she’s the mother of his cousins, so I took her children with me. There were other people there, mostly adults and her cousin’s baby.

    We are not horrible people. There has never been any ugliness between any of us. I’m very hurt because they don’t recognize me as a grandmother or any of us as part of the family. My son’s father has never been allowed to meet the baby, and I don’t think he’s even met Noelle.

    I have asked my son and daughter-in-law to bring the baby, leave him for the day or even overnight so we can spend some time and get to know him, but it never happens. What can I say to make them understand how much they are hurting the family and the baby by avoiding us? I don’t want to make it worse.

    — DISAPPOINTED GRANDMA IN TEXAS

    DEAR GRANDMA: This is a subject you should discuss with your son, who appears to be clueless or entirely ineffectual. Does he recognize what has been happening — that his parents have been pushed entirely out of the picture? If the answer to that question is yes, perhaps he can shed some light on why. If the answer is no, tell HIM how this has made you feel. If you do, perhaps he will assert himself. Better late than never.

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: One year ago, my heart was torn out of my chest when my wife died after a five-year battle with stage-4 breast cancer. It was the beginning of the end of my world. I’m alone now. We have two cats I still take care of and all the daily chores of a normal household.

    I have tried looking at dating sites, and I see a couple of women I might be interested to know. Here’s where I need a female stranger’s perspective: I still hurt inside, and I know I will for some time. I also feel that if I have someone to talk to, it’ll be the personal therapy I need to help get me back on track. However, I also feel that if I start dating, it will be like I’m cheating on my wife, and the hurt comes back. What am I supposed to do?

    — CONFLICTED IN CALIFORNIA

    DEAR CONFLICTED: Please accept my sympathy for the loss of your wife. If you feel you need a woman’s perspective, find a female licensed psychotherapist to help you get back on track. If you do this, you are less likely to dump your guilt and grief on someone who might take advantage of it or be driven away by it. If you can’t afford a therapist, joining a grief support group may help you expiate any guilt you feel about going on with your life.

  • Federal Reserve Chair Powell says DOJ has subpoenaed central bank, threatens criminal indictment

    Federal Reserve Chair Powell says DOJ has subpoenaed central bank, threatens criminal indictment

    WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Sunday the Department of Justice has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.

    The move represents an unprecedented escalation in President Donald Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he has repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.

    The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project that Trump has criticized as excessive.

    Powell on Sunday cast off what has up to this point been a restrained approach to Trump’s criticisms and personal insults, which he has mostly ignored. Instead, Powell issued a video statement in which he bluntly characterized the threat of criminal charges as simple “pretexts” to undermine the Fed’s independence when it comes to setting interest rates.

    “The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” Powell said. “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions — or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”

    It’s a sharp departure from the Fed’s understated response to Trump this year. The central bank has attempted to placate the administration by dialing back some policies, such as efforts to consider the impact of climate change on the banking system, that the administration clearly opposed.

    The renewed attacks on the Fed’s independence, and Powell’s full-throated defense, reignite what had appeared to be a dormant battle between Trump and the chair he appointed in 2017. The subpoenas will renew fears that the Fed’s independence from day-to-day politics will be compromised, which could undermine global investors’ confidence in U.S. Treasury securities.

    “We expect the dollar, bonds and stocks to all fall in Monday trading in a sell-America trade similar to that in April last year at the peak of the tariff shock and earlier threat to Powell’s position as Fed chair,” Krishna Guha, an analyst at Evercore ISI, an investment bank, wrote in a note to clients.

    “We are stunned by this deeply disturbing development which came out of the blue after a period in which tensions between Trump and the Fed seemed to be contained,” Guha added.

    In a brief interview with NBC News Sunday, Trump insisted he didn’t know about the investigation into Powell. When asked if the investigation is intended to pressure Powell on rates, Trump said, “No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way.”

    Powell’s term as chair ends in May, and Trump administration officials have signaled that he could name a potential replacement this month. Trump has also sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, an unprecedented step, though she has sued to keep her job and courts have ruled she can remain in her seat while the case plays out. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in that case Jan. 21.

    At the Senate Banking Committee hearing in June, Chairman Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, said the Fed’s building renovation included “rooftop terraces, custom elevators that open into VIP dining rooms, white marble finishes, and even a private art collection.”

    Powell disputed those details in his testimony, saying “there’s no new marble. … there are no special elevators” and added that some of the controversial items are “not in the current plan.” In July, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said in a letter to Powell that his testimony about changes to the building plans “raises serious questions about the project’s compliance” with previous plans approved by a planning commission.

    Still, later that month, Trump visited the building site and, while standing next to Powell, overstated the cost of the renovation. Later that day, Trump, speaking to reporters, downplayed any concerns with the renovation. He said, “they have to get it done” and added, “Look, there’s always Monday morning quarterbacks. I don’t want to be that. I want to help them get it finished.”

    When asked if it was a firing offense, Trump said, “I don’t want to put that in this category.”

    The Justice Department in a statement Sunday said it can’t comment on any particular case, but added that Attorney General Pam Bondi “has instructed her US Attorneys to prioritize investigating any abuse of tax payer dollars.”

    Timothy Lauer, a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office, said they don’t comment on ongoing investigations.

    With the subpoenas, Powell becomes the latest perceived adversary of the president to face a criminal investigation by the Trump administration’s Justice Department. Trump himself has urged prosecutions of his political opponents, obliterating institutional guardrails for a Justice Department that for generations has taken care to make investigative and prosecutorial decisions independent of the White House.

    The potential indictment has already drawn concern from one Republican senator, who said he’ll oppose any future nominee to the central bank, including any replacement for Powell, until “this legal matter is fully resolved.”

    “If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none,” said North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who sits on the Banking Committee, which oversees Fed nominations. “It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question.”