Salem News Channel

The Trump administration sued Harvard University on Friday, accusing it of failing to comply with a federal investigation and seeking documents to determine whether the university had illegally considered race in its admissions process. The move comes less than two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration was seeking $1 billion from Harvard to settle probes into school policies, after a news report that said Trump had dropped his demand for a payment from the Ivy League school. A Harvard spokesperson said the university is committed to following the law and has been responding to the government’s inquiries in good faith. “The university will continue to defend itself against these retaliatory actions which have been initiated simply because Harvard refused to surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights in response to unlawful government overreach," the spokesperson said. Trump's administration has been threatening to withhold federal funds from Harvard and several other universities over issues including pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war in Gaza, campus diversity and transgender policies. The Justice Department said on Friday in a press release that Harvard had "repeatedly slow-walked the pace of production and refused to produce pertinent data and documents," including admissions policies and correspondence related to banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In the complaint filed in Boston federal court, Justice Department lawyers said the documents requested will help assess whether Harvard is complying with a 2023 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which said that race-conscious college admissions programs are unconstitutional. The Justice Department said it brought the lawsuit "solely to compel Harvard to produce documents relating to any consideration of race in admission" and "does not accuse Harvard of any discriminatory conduct, nor does it seek monetary damages or the revocation of federal funding." The administration last year attempted to cancel hundreds of grants awarded to Harvard researchers on the grounds the school failed to do enough to address harassment of Jewish students on its campus, prompting Harvard to sue. Trump's attempts to freeze federal funds for Harvard have faced legal resistance and the two sides have failed to reach a deal thus far.

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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was on track for a partial shutdown when its annual funding expires at midnight EST on Friday, after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a deal on immigration enforcement reforms. While some "non-essential" workers were expected to be put on leave, the Trump administration's intensive migrant deportation operations were likely to continue, along with most other domestic federal security programs. Republican President Donald Trump, in remarks to reporters on Thursday, attacked congressional Democrats' push for new constraints on immigration agents, underscoring a gulf between the two parties that could point to a prolonged shutdown. Asked on Friday whether he would personally be involved in DHS shutdown talks, told reporters at the White House: "I will," but gave no other details. "We're talking," he said. "We have to protect law enforcement," including ICE and CBP agents, he added. On Thursday, Trump accused Democrats of wanting to put agents "in a lot of danger." Democrats argue they want federal immigration agents to abide by the same rules guiding police forces across the country that are aimed at protecting the public from overzealous law enforcement activities. Even without an injection of new money through September 30, DHS's controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection operations have a separate funding stream of over $135 billion, the result of Republicans' "One Big Beautiful Bill" enacted July 4. Included in the DHS spending bill that is stuck in Congress, which has begun a 10-day recess, is funding for the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA, however, will have $7 billion available during the shutdown in its disaster relief fund, which experts say is roughly enough to last for two months. The shutdown beginning on Saturday comes on the heels of a record-long, 43-day government disruption late last year because of a battle in Congress over extending a federal health insurance subsidy. Democrats in Congress have refused to vote for a fiscal 2026 DHS funding bill until Republicans go along with a series of reforms to tighten controls over ICE and CBP. Late on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, told reporters there had been some progress toward a deal on at least one of the Democrats' proposals: requiring ICE and CBP agents to remove the masks they wear while seeking migrants for arrest and deportation. Public outrage over those masks and other aggressive actions against protesters in Minneapolis -- including the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti -- and other U.S. cities prompted Democrats' call for reforms. Republicans had also hoped that a DHS announcement on Thursday that it was ending its deportation surge operation in Minneapolis would have persuaded Democrats to back the annual spending bill for DHS. They were wrong, as only one of the 47-member Senate Democratic caucus voted for the bill on Thursday. On Friday, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire told CNN in an interview that even with the ICE-CBP withdrawal from Minneapolis, there were no guarantees that DHS agents would not now move to other cities, as Trump has hinted, or stop searching people's homes without judicial warrants and detaining U.S. citizens. "That's what people are so upset about, and this needs to be fixed," said Shaheen, who is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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President Trump has pardoned five former NFL players. The players were convicted for crimes that include perjury, counterfeiting, and drug trafficking. The White House pardon adviser said the president is committed to “second chances.” Joe Klecko, Nate Newton. Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon were granted the clemency.

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Are Politics Involved in the Nancy Guthrie Case?

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Josh Hawley and Minnesota AG Keith Ellison Got Into A Sparing Match

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Trump's Low 2.4% Inflation Rate Smashes Expectations As Mainstream Media Resists

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Dems Divided Over Voter ID Laws Despite The Numbers

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Bye, Bye Gallup Polls. Public Opinion Tracking In 2026 With Chris Wilson, CEO of Eyes Over.

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Trump Rolls Back Obama's 'Endangerment' Rule With Daniel Turner, Founder & Executive Director of Power the Future (PowertheFuture.com).

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Obama Forced Expensive Inefficiency Onto Americans

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The Importance Of Health & Wellness With Dr. Ashley Lucas, Owner and Founder of PHD Weight Loss, Host of the Dr. Ashley Show | MyPHDWeightLoss.com | @PHDWeightLoss on Facebook + Insta | CALL 864-644-1900 AND SAY “STIGALL”

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The United States is sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East as tensions with Iran continue to escalate, U.S. officials told news outlets Friday. The USS Gerald R. Ford — the world’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier — is being redirected from the Caribbean Sea to join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group already stationed in the region. The move will position two U.S. carriers and their accompanying warships in the Middle East amid heightened geopolitical pressure. Officials say the redeployment is part of broader efforts by the Trump administration to increase military presence near Iran as President Donald Trump weighs possible military options and pushes for a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program. The Gerald R. Ford’s fighters and escort ships had been operating in the Caribbean. Its new orders underscore a rapid shift in U.S. naval focus as diplomatic talks with Iran continue alongside warnings from Washington about the consequences of failed negotiations.

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A federal judge in Illinois has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from rescinding $600 million in public health grants allocated to four Democratic-led states — California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota — while a legal challenge moves forward. The states sued after the Department of Health and Human Services announced plans to pull the funding, which supports programs that track disease outbreaks and study health outcomes in LGBTQ+ communities and communities of color. U.S. District Judge Manish Shah granted a 14-day temporary restraining order Thursday, writing that the states showed they would “suffer irreparable harm” if the cuts took effect immediately, keeping the funds flowing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the meantime. Administration officials have said the changes reflect revised CDC priorities, but state leaders argue the reductions are politically motivated in retaliation for opposition to federal policies.

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Two people were killed and another was wounded Thursday night in a shooting at the Hugine Suites residential complex on the campus of South Carolina State University, authorities said. The university issued a campus lockdown around 9:15 p.m. after reports of gunfire, and the restriction remained in place for nearly eight hours before being lifted early Friday morning. University officials have not yet released the identities of those who died or provided details about the injured person’s condition, according to a statement. Classes were canceled Friday, and law enforcement officers, including the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), continued to patrol the campus and investigate the incident. The shooting comes a little more than four months after two separate shootings during homecoming celebrations in October near the same residential area, one of which killed a 19-year-old woman.

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Residents of an affordable housing complex near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland say they’ve been forced to wear gas masks inside their own homes to protect themselves from tear gas and other chemical agents deployed by federal agents during protests, according to a lawsuit filed against the federal government. Tenants at the Gray’s Landing apartment complex — located just across the street from the ICE building — have taped windows, placed wet towels under doors and reported children sleeping in closets to avoid the effects of the chemicals, court filings show. They describe symptoms including difficulty breathing, coughing and headaches. The property manager and several residents are asking a federal judge to limit the use of tear gas and other chemical munitions by the Department of Homeland Security and ICE during protests outside the facility, arguing the tactics have violated their rights and made their homes unsafe. Federal authorities say such devices are deployed in response to violent or obstructive crowds, but the lawsuit contends the exposures have been frequent and indiscriminate, affecting vulnerable residents including seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. The case comes amid broader concern about federal crowd-control tactics in cities across the country.

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Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis have asked a judge to drop felony assault charges against two Venezuelan men accused of attacking an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer during a January incident, court documents show. In a filing Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said “newly discovered evidence” in the case against Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis is “materially inconsistent with the allegations” outlined in the original complaint. Prosecutors are seeking dismissal with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be refiled. The charges stemmed from an altercation on Jan. 14 in north Minneapolis, where an ICE officer shot Sosa-Celis in the leg. Initial statements from the Department of Homeland Security said the men attacked the officer with a broom and snow shovel during a traffic stop. However, video and eyewitness accounts later contradicted the government’s version of events, prompting prosecutors to re-evaluate the case. The motion to dismiss comes amid intense scrutiny of federal immigration enforcement tactics in Minnesota, where high-profile shootings of civilians by federal agents have drawn protests and legal challenges.

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President Donald Trump is visiting Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Friday to praise special forces members involved in the operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuela’s former leader Nicolás Maduro, officials said. Accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, the president plans to meet with military families and troops at one of the largest U.S. military bases in the world. Trump previously spoke at Fort Bragg during an event last June marking the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary, a visit that drew attention for his partisan remarks. Since Maduro’s ouster in an operation earlier this year, the administration has spotlighted its broader oversight goals for Venezuela’s oil industry and is expected to continue emphasizing foreign policy initiatives in the region.

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Kathy Ruemmler, the chief legal officer and general counsel of Goldman Sachs, is resigning after newly revealed emails showed she had a close and long-standing relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to multiple news reports. The correspondence included messages in which Ruemmler described Epstein as an “older brother” and “Uncle Jeffrey,” and thanked him for expensive gifts — even though Epstein was a registered sex offender at the time. Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel under President Barack Obama before joining Goldman in 2020, said the media attention around the revelations had become a distraction for the firm. She plans to step down from her role effective June 30, 2026, a Goldman Sachs spokesperson said. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon acknowledged Ruemmler’s contributions to the company and said he respected her decision. In statements before her resignation, Ruemmler expressed regret over the association, saying she “regrets ever knowing him.” The disclosures have sparked broader scrutiny of how powerful institutions and individuals engaged with Epstein long after his 2008 conviction, raising questions about ethics and oversight in corporate and legal circles.

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Officials are poring over thousands of tips after the release of video showing a masked person on the porch of Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson-area home, authorities said Friday. More than 4,000 calls came into the Pima County Sheriff’s Office within 24 hours of the footage being made public, and investigators are working to sift out credible leads from the flood of information. While many tips may ultimately prove unhelpful, authorities say none can be dismissed prematurely. The FBI says it has collected over 13,000 tips since February 1, and local law enforcement reports at least 18,000 total tips related to Guthrie’s disappearance. Investigators have asked the public to keep coming forward with information that could help in locating the 84-year-old woman, who has not been seen since late January.

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An Arizona sheriff is blocking FBI access to key evidence in the investigation into the abduction of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, mother of NBC “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, hampering the agency’s ability to assist in the probe, a law enforcement source told Reuters. The FBI had asked Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos to turn over physical evidence — including a glove and DNA samples from Guthrie’s Tucson residence — for processing at the bureau’s national crime lab in Quantico, Virginia. Instead, the sheriff has insisted on sending the evidence to a private lab in Florida — effectively denying the FBI direct access, according to the official. That choice has slowed down federal involvement in the investigation, the source said. Sheriff Nanos’ office did not immediately comment on the matter. The sheriff’s department maintains it has recovered several items of evidence and submitted all viable material for analysis. Authorities believe Guthrie, last seen Jan. 31 in the Tucson area, was forcibly abducted due to her limited mobility and need for daily medication. FBI assistance in the case is contingent on a formal request from the county, which holds primary jurisdiction. The FBI has doubled the reward to $100,000 for information leading to Guthrie’s location or an arrest.

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