LOADING ERROR LOADINGThe United Auto Workers union said it plans to defend a Ford factory worker who was suspended after calling President Donald Trump a “pedophile protector” while he toured one of the company’s Michigan factories. He also blasted Trump for hosting a campaign event where several people wearing “Auto Workers for Trump” were not actually autoworkers. “Donald Trump serves himself. He’s always served himself.”AdvertisementTrump was in Detroit to tour the Ford factory with CEO Jim Farley and board chairman Bill Ford. The White House has defended Trump hurling an expletive and giving the middle finger to a worker during the tour.

Joe Rogan criticizes ICE tactics under TrumpOn his show, Joe Rogan criticized some of the tactics ICE is using to identify undocumented immigrants. Rogan endorsed Trump on the eve of the 2024 election. CNN political commentators Ana Navarro and Joe Borelli react to the clip.

"Peter assumed with that background I must know a lot about soccer," Rothenberg writes. Certainly we wouldn't have been able to start Major League Soccer at that time if the World Cup wasn't successful." "You can argue that the '94 World Cup was really the linchpin to that entire explosion in the sport." The World Cup hasn't been the same since, with FIFA's revenue growing to a projected $13 billion for the 2026 cycle. "I didn't do it for credit," he says, speaking about both the World Cup and the book that explains how it happened.

But the record rains have left the region’s roads awash in them, and crews are trying to keep up. “LA potholes got me looking like I hit a d— pedestrian,” one TikTok poster recently wrote over a photo of a sedan with a bent and rimless wheel. “Increased potholes are a very common occurrence during wet weather events.”Bureau of Street Services workers repair potholes following recent storms in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)When it rains, moisture seeps into fissures in the road and weakens the asphalt, which can break apart and buckle under the weight of passing cars and trucks. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)In January 2005, at least 1,200 potholes opened up after weeks of record-setting rainfall, according to an L.A. Times report.

Flanagan has pointed to both votes as reasons why Craig shouldn’t be trusted with the Senate nomination. Asked if that worried her, Flanagan called fraud “completely unacceptable” and deferred to Walz’s efforts bringing criminals to justice. But Craig warned that the scandal could put the Senate seat at risk if Flanagan becomes the nominee. Both Democrats are also in agreement on withholding funding for ICE ahead of a Jan. 31 appropriations deadline in Congress. Minnesota voters don’t go to the polls to determine their Senate nominee for another six months.

The Trump administration is suing two California cities over ordinances that ban the use of natural gas piping and appliances in new buildings, despite the fact that both cities said they have not enforced those bans in several years. Natural gas, which is mainly methane, is a major cause of climate change when it leaks out without being burned. “These natural gas bans hurt American families and are outright illegal,” Atty. Natural gas bans have become a political hot button in California, with cities such as Berkeley moving to phase out the fossil fuel in favor of electrification. The complaint asks the court to rule that federal law overrides the cities’ natural gas bans, and to permanently block their enforcement.

On October 29, 2023, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician and neonatologist based at Kamal Adwan hospital in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Lahiya, published an op-ed in the New York Times. The newspaper that had helped to platform the struggle and suffering of Dr. Abu Safiya and his community had now betrayed him. According to his lawyers, by the middle of 2025, Dr. Abu Safiya had lost nearly 100 pounds and had developed a number of medical conditions. The most deafening silence in all of this is on the part of the New York Times itself. Dr. Abu Safiya deserves better than being reduced to a few advertising clicks for a news organization that does not care whether he lives or dies.

Investigators have connected the search to an ongoing criminal matter that alleges unlawful retention of national defense information by the contractor, who holds a top-secret security clearance and has been criminally charged. Searches of journalists’ homes in investigations involving classified information are rare and legally sensitive because they pit law enforcement needs against the protections afforded to newsgathering and confidential sources. The seizure of a journalist’s devices underscores a broader institutional tension between national security enforcement and press freedom. Lawmakers and civil liberties organizations may press for clearer rules or legislative safeguards governing when and how law enforcement can seize journalists’ material in national security cases. Absent transparent explanations from investigators, public confidence in both press independence and national security institutions could be eroded.

An aerial view of the vacant St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles in 2022. A private investment partnership has purchased St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles and plans to turn the long-shuttered hospital into a one-stop shop where homeless people can seek help. AdvertisementSt. Vincent Behavioral Health Campus LLC purchased the shuttered hospital in Los Angeles’ Westlake neighborhood at the end of last year. Some local officials previously pressed Soon-Shiong to reopen the hospital to address the needs of Los Angeles’ homeless population. In addition to medical care, the new behavioral health campus is expected to include about 800 beds, including interim housing and permanent supportive housing, Yadin said.

Construction Crane Falls on Train in ThailandA crane fell on an express train carrying about 200 passengers in northeastern Thailand. Officials said more than 30 people were killed and dozens of others were injured. By Nailah MorganJanuary 14, 2026

Gavin Newsom attends a Yes on Proposition 50 rally at the Los Angeles Convention Center in November. Legal experts say the odds are against Republicans getting the Supreme Court to block California’s new congressional districts. But the Supreme Court indicated it viewed the redrawing as motivated primarily by partisan politics, not race. “I think that the outcome ... is we have an election under the lines that were passed in Proposition 50. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that complaints of partisan gerrymandering have no path in federal court.

Protest in Tehran, Iran, January 8, 2026EA on International Outlets: From Trump’s Threats to Iran’s ProtestsUPDATES: Iran Protests Continue Despite Rising Death TollJounalist Daniela Sepehri and I joined Byline Times’ Adrian Goldberg on Monday for a 28-minute podcast setting out and evaluating the nationwide protests in Iran. We examine the causes, the regime’s response, and the prospect that demonstrators — and Iranians — can finally get the political, social, and economic rights which they are seeking. I draw upon my experiences in Iran almost 20 years ago, meeting colleagues, students, and others who are my friends to this day, to put today’s protests in the context of their fears, their disappointment such as the aftermath of the 2009 and 2022 protests, and their hopes.

George Saunders on People, Kindness and EvilIn 2013, the author George Saunders gave a speech extolling the importance of kindness that went viral and became a best-selling book. He returned to questions about kindness and human behavior on “The Interview.”By The InterviewJanuary 14, 2026

LOADING ERROR LOADINGWASHINGTON — With the support of nearly 70 colleagues, Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) on Wednesday introduced three articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The second accuses her of violating public trust, for directing DHS agents to arrest people without warrants and for ignoring due process. Asked if House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) supports their effort to proceed with impeachment proceedings against Noem, Kelly said her staff has spoken with his staff. “That’s our job.”In order to impeach Noem, House Democrats would need to secure a simple majority, or 218 votes, in favor of impeaching her. For all their vows to rein in Noem and ICE, House Democrats don’t seem to be on the same page about how to do it.

ETThe FBI executed a search warrant at a Washington Post reporter’s Virginia home on Jan. 14 as part of a probe into a system administrator suspected of illegally retaining classified documents, the news organization reported. She accused the reporter of "obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor." First Amendment, press advocacy groups concerned by searchThe search warrant is raising First Amendment worries from press freedom advocates. Other groups decry searchA slew of other First Amendment and press freedom groups decried the FBI search. Contributing: Aysha Bagchi and Anna KaufmanBrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment reporter at USA TODAY.