An expected Senate vote on a package to avert a government shutdown was scrapped on Thursday night after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) objected to the removal of a provision allowing senators to sue if their phone records were snooped on.  Graham’s opposition came after the White House and Senate Democrats reached a deal to separate out funding for the Department of Homeland Security from five appropriation bills previously approved by the House. As senators prepared to vote, Graham met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to discuss the agreement.  “We’re not voting tonight,” Graham said Thursday night after leaving Thune’s office, The Hill reported.  Part of Graham’s objection stemmed from the House vote to repeal a provision tucked into the continuing resolution passed in November that allowed senators to sue for damages if the government accessed their records without their knowledge. That provision was added after it was revealed that the FBI had analyzed the metadata of phone calls from several congressional Republicans as part of the investigation into President Donald Trump following the January 6 attack.  “What senator wouldn’t want notification that they’re looking at your phone?” Graham said.  “I fixed the problem that people had. I’m not going to ignore what happened. If you were abused, you think you were abused, your phone records were illegally seized — you should have your day in court,” he added. “Every senator should want to make sure this never happens again.” After the passage of the continuing resolution in November, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) promised a vote on repealing the provision, saying that it should apply to all Americans, not just senators. The House followed through earlier this month, repealing the measure as part of the appropriations package it passed.  Graham also said he opposed separating out funding for DHS. “The cops need us right now,” he said. “They’re being demonized. They’re being spat upon. They can’t sleep at night.“ Thune said Thursday that he was hopeful that the Senate would be able to vote on the White House-backed deal. The government will shut down at midnight on Friday without any further funding.  “Hopefully by sometime tomorrow we’ll be in a better spot,” Thune said on Thursday. “Tomorrow’s another day, and hopefully people will be in a spirit to try and get this done.” Trump urged lawmakers on Thursday to support the deal with Democrats to pass the appropriations bill and a two-week extension of Homeland Security funds to allow time for negotiations. “Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the Government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security (including the very important Coast Guard, which we are expanding and rebuilding like never before),” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote.”

President Donald Trump said on Friday that video of Alex Pretti’s altercation with federal agents 11 days before he was shot and killed proves that the Minneapolis man was an “agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist.” Trump argued that Pretti’s “stock has gone way down” after the video shows the man confronting federal agents in Minneapolis and kicking out the taillight of a federal vehicle. The video was released by The News Movement earlier this week and published by numerous news outlets. “Agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist, Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE Officer, and then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent, in fact, that the taillight broke off in pieces,” Trump wrote in an early morning Truth Social post. “It was quite a display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazed and out of control. The ICE Officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing to be under those circumstances!” The footage shows a man yelling and spitting at federal immigration agents on January 13 before he damaged a federal vehicle as it began to drive away. Federal agents then got out of the vehicle and tackled the man to the ground. Pretti’s family confirmed that it was him in the video. The Minnesota Star Tribune confirmed with Alex Pretti’s family that the man in this video is indeed Alex Pretti. Filmed by @thenewsmovement on January 13, two weeks before Pretti was shot by ICE: pic.twitter.com/1yLKLApXvB — Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) January 28, 2026 The Pretti family’s attorney, Steve Schleicher, said the video shows Pretti getting “violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents.” Before the video was released, CNN reported that Pretti broke a rib during an altercation with ICE agents a week before his death. One source who spoke to Pretti after the altercation told CNN, “That day, he thought he was going to die.” Pretti was reportedly released at the scene after the confrontation. A little over a week later, Pretti was shot and killed in the street by Border Patrol agents after confronting authorities who were conducting an immigration operation. Pretti, who was armed with a 9 mm handgun, got into an altercation with agents as they were pushing demonstrators off the road. Video shows Pretti getting pepper-sprayed before he’s taken to the ground. Pretti then resists as officers attempt to detain him. The video appears to show one agent taking Pretti’s gun while he’s on the ground before two other agents fire around 10 shots in five seconds, killing Pretti. After the deadly shooting, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Pretti a “domestic terrorist,” a response that sparked criticism from within Noem’s department, The Daily Wire previously reported. Earlier this week, Trump said he did not believe Pretti was “acting as an assassin,” as was suggested by top officials in his administration. “With that being said, you can’t have guns,” Trump added. “You can’t walk in with guns. You just can’t. You can’t walk in with guns, you can’t do that. But it’s a very unfortunate incident.” After another Minneapolis resident, Renee Good, was shot and killed by an ICE officer earlier this month, the Trump administration also labeled her a domestic terrorist. The president, however, later said that “under normal circumstances,” Good was likely a “very, solid wonderful person,” adding, “But, you know, her actions were pretty tough.”

Researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), led by Dr. Mariano Barbacid, have achieved a significant breakthrough in the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common and deadly form of pancreatic cancer. In a study published in the journal PNAS, the team demonstrated that a new triple-drug combination therapy can completely and permanently eliminate pancreatic tumors in experimental mouse models. Pancreatic cancer has long been considered one of the most difficult “incurable” diseases, characterized by a five-year survival rate of less than 11%. Its resilience is largely due to the KRAS oncogene, a mutation present in approximately 90% of cases. Although KRAS was historically considered “undruggable,” recent advances have enabled the development of RAS inhibitors. However, these single-target drugs often fail in the long term because tumors quickly develop resistance by utilizing alternative survival pathways. The CNIO team’s innovation lies in a “triple-threat” approach that blocks three independent signaling nodes simultaneously: downstream (RAF1), upstream (EGFR), and orthogonal (STAT3) pathways. By targeting these three routes, the therapy effectively “traps” the cancer cells, preventing them from outmaneuvering the treatment. The researchers tested this across various models, including mice with human pancreatic tissue and mice genetically engineered to model the disease. In all cases, the combination — consisting of the drugs daraxonrasib (KRAS inhibitor), afatinib (EGFR inhibitor), and SD36 (STAT3 degrader) — resulted in complete tumor regression without the appearance of resistance for over 200 days post-treatment. Crucially, the therapy was well-tolerated with no significant toxicities. The implications of this study are profound. Currently, patients rely on decades-old cytotoxic drugs like gemcitabine or highly toxic combinations like FOLFIRINOX, which offer limited benefits. This new research provides a roadmap for human clinical trials, suggesting that the key to curing pancreatic cancer lies in combination therapies rather than monotherapy. While the results are promising, experts note limitations: the success was observed in healthy laboratory mice, and human physiology may present different challenges. Nevertheless, the Spanish government and the international scientific community have hailed the discovery as a potential turning point. If these results can be replicated in humans, it could transform the prognosis for a disease that currently kills more than half of its victims within three months of diagnosis.

A Manhattan judge ruled on Friday that federal prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty against suspected assassin Luigi Mangione, a major twist ahead of the highly anticipated trial. Attorney General Pam Bondi directed federal prosecutors to pursue the death penalty last year after Mangione was arrested and hit with federal charges for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, however, said the parts of the case that made the death penalty a possibility had “legal infirmities,” The New York Post reported. The federal charge against Mangione that made him eligible for the death penalty accused him of “using a firearm to commit murder in furtherance of a crime of violence.” Garnett said that she was dismissing that part of the indictment “solely to preclude the death penalty as an available punishment when the jury determines if the Defendant caused Brian Thompson’s death.” Garnett agreed with Mangione’s defense team and said that stalking does not constitute “a crime of violence.” The judge acknowledged that her decision was “strange,” but argued that violence is defined by using force, and stalking could technically be committed without using force, ABC News reported. Thompson was gunned down from behind in Midtown Manhattan on December 4, 2024, as he was walking to a hotel during his company’s annual investor conference. Thompson, a Minnesota resident, left behind a wife and two small children. Shell casings retrieved from the scene had the words “delay,” “deny,” and “depose” written on them, according to the New York Police Department. The words found on the shell casings have been connected to a 2010 book that was critical of the health insurance industry. Mangione’s fingerprints allegedly matched fingerprints found on shell casings at the murder scene. Garnett’s ruling means that Mangione now faces a maximum of life in prison without parole. Prosecutors plan on appealing the decision, NBC 4 New York reported. In another decision on Friday, Garnett sided against Mangione’s defense team and said that the prosecution could use evidence that was seized from Mangione’s backpack when he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania. While the suspected assassin’s backpack was searched by police without a warrant, Garnett said there are exceptions to the requirement for obtaining a warrant, such as the discovery of a weapon. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona following a five-day manhunt, and police found a firearm, silencer, and what appeared to be a manifesto in the man’s backpack. In one section of a notebook found in Mangione’s possession, the author planned to “whack” the health care CEO “at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention.” Mangione pleaded not guilty to the federal and state murder charges. With the death penalty thrown out, opening arguments for the trial are set to begin in October, with jury selection scheduled for September 8. The case has already gripped the nation, and Mangione has gained a following, with some of his supporters defending the murder of Thompson and calling for more health care executives to be killed. Attorney General Bondi said last year that the murder of Thompson was “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump on Friday nominated former Federal Reserve governor Kevin M. Warsh to serve as the board’s next chairman. Trump’s long-awaited announcement comes after months of the president vowing to replace outgoing chairman Jerome Powell. Warsh came as a bit of a surprise, as conventional wisdom had coalesced around three candidates: National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, BlackRock executive Rick Rieder, and Fed governor Christopher J. Waller. In a Truth Social post, the president said that Warsh would “go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best.” Warsh will need Senate confirmation to take his post, though with a Republican majority in the Upper Chamber, it seems likely that he will soon take the reins at the Fed. Warsh began his career on Wall Street as an investment banker for Morgan Stanley before joining the Bush administration as an economic adviser in 2002. President George W. Bush named him to the Federal Reserve Board in 2006, where, at 35, Warsh became the youngest governor in the Fed’s history. Warsh played a key role during the 2008 financial crisis, helping coordinate the central bank’s response. He was involved in efforts surrounding the government rescue and bailout of AIG and the emergency deal that led JPMorgan Chase to acquire Bear Stearns as markets unraveled. After leaving the Fed in 2011, Warsh joined the board of UPS and became a distinguished visiting fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution. Warsh met his wife, Jane Lauder, while they were undergraduates at Stanford University. Lauder is the daughter of Ronald Lauder, the heir of the Estée Lauder Companies and a close friend of President Trump. Lauder reportedly gave Trump the idea to purchase Greenland. Warsh has gained a reputation as a fiscal hawk. “The United States is not Greece,” Warsh said in a 2010 speech. “We have the largest, most robust economy in the world. We have the deepest, most liquid financial markets. And the dollar is the world’s reserve currency, bestowing key advantages upon us. But, none of this is our birthright. It must be earned, and re-earned.” He warned the Fed’s post-crisis stimulus could spark inflation and argued against expanding quantitative easing, pushing for a tighter monetary stance and a smaller Fed balance sheet. He has argued that decisions over which assets the central bank buys and holds influence market pricing in ways he believes are better left to the Treasury Department. Like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Warsh once worked for investor Stanley Druckenmiller, and has suggested that artificial intelligence could boost growth without reigniting inflation. He has also drawn a firm line around the Federal Reserve’s role, stating, “The Federal Reserve is not a repair shop for broken fiscal, trade, or regulatory policies.” Despite his reputation as a hawk, Warsh has recently argued for lower interest rates and sharply criticized Powell for moving too slowly. “Their hesitancy to cut rates, I think, is actually quite a mark against them. It’s as if they’ve lost some of the credibility. Truth is, in economics and inflation, bygones are not bygones. The specter of the miss they made on inflation, it has stuck with them. So, one of the reasons why the president, I think, is right to be pushing the Fed publicly is we need regime change in the conduct of policy.” Still, in December, the chief economist of Deutsche Bank said that “although Warsh has argued for lower rates recently, we do not view him as structurally dovish.”

The first lady debuted her new autobiographical film, “Melania,” at the Trump-Kennedy Center on Thursday night, saying she already considers it a success regardless of critical reception or box office performance. “I’m very proud of the film so people may like it, may don’t like it, and that’s their choice,” Melania Trump told CNN outside the premiere. “We achieved what we want to achieve,” Melania added later. “For myself, it’s already successful. I’m very proud of what we did.” President Donald Trump also attended the premiere, walking a red carpet that was black to match the film’s black-and-white aesthetic.  “She’s very smart, very measured — sometimes, when I’m not so measured, she measures you,” Trump said to one reporter about his wife of more than 20 years.  “I think they knew she was smart, but perhaps, maybe they’ll get her to see something that elevates her above just the word ‘smart,’” the president said at another point, as the Washington Post reported. “She’s got a lot of high quality.” “It really brings back a glamour that you just don’t see anymore,” he told the outlet. “Our country could use a little bit of that.” The media were not invited to view the film, but several government officials in attendance had glowing things to say about the first lady.  “She’s one of the most gracious people,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said of Melania. “She’s not the caricature that we’ve been fed,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. agreed. Melania signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Amazon MGM Studios and served as executive producer on the project. Filming began in December 2024 and documents the 20 days leading up to her return to the White House. “Melania” is directed by Brett Ratner, who is best known for the “Rush Hour” franchise. The first lady previously mentioned the inspiration for the documentary while accepting Fox Nation’s “Patriot of the Year” award. “A first of its kind, capturing the 20 days of my life before the inauguration, 20 intense days of transformation from private citizen to first lady, balancing my business, my philanthropy, fostering the future, building my East Wing team and the White House staff, and, of course, caring for my family,” she said at the time. “Melania” began screening in theaters nationwide on Friday.

A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer, the USS Delbert D. Black, docked Friday at Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat amid ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the vessel’s arrival was pre-planned and part of the ongoing cooperation between American and Israeli forces, the Times of Israel reported. The port call comes as Washington continues to reposition military assets across the Middle East, including the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group. President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted the “massive armada” that is moving toward Iran as he pressures the regime to negotiate a nuclear deal and stop killing anti-regime protesters. The USS Delbert D. Black docked in Eilat, Israel today. The ship is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer capable of defending against aircraft and missiles and launching Tomahawk cruise missiles.pic.twitter.com/3glGyHyg7g — Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) January 30, 2026 The USS Delbert D. Black was tracked sailing through the Suez Canal earlier this week toward the Gulf, making it likely the tenth American warship operating in the area of responsibility for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American forces across the Middle East, Central Asia, and parts of South Asia. The vessel is an Arleigh Burke–class destroyer designed to counter threats in the air, on land, at sea, and underwater. It is equipped with the AEGIS combat system, which can defend against aircraft, missiles, and surface threats, and is capable of launching long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles. More than 30 Tomahawks were used in the U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025. According to the U.S. Navy, 73 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are currently in commission, with 10 under construction and another 16 under contract. American warships frequently operate in the Red Sea, though port calls in Eilat are relatively rare. In 2022, the USS Nitze docked in Eilat, followed by a visit from the USS Truxtun in 2023.

The NFL is being dragged for appointing a “Chief Kindness Officer” ahead of Super Bowl LX next weekend. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that the league is partnering with more than 160 “creators” to promote the Super Bowl in the week leading up to the big game. This includes naming YouTuber Dhar Mann as “Chief Kindness Officer,” a nod to his feel-good content, and having him produce football-themed videos on kindness. The outlet noted that Mann will release the content on both his channel and the NFL’s official channel. This “series of digital, social, and on-the-ground activations” is reportedly “designed to activate kindness and sportsmanship across fans and players throughout Super Bowl events.” For example, the “Be Kind To Your Rival” social campaign encourages fans to say nice things about opposing teams and their fans. Mann will donate $1 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, up to $100,000, for every qualifying post that includes the #KindnessWinsBig hashtag. “Instead of a halftime show, we’re gonna do a hug time show,” Mann said in a TikTok video promoting the partnership with the NFL. At another point, he tells the refs, “How about instead of throwing these [penalty] flags, we just present them nicely.” The video also shows Mann encouraging football players to find nice things to say about their opponents. The campaign has sparked widespread mockery on social media, with fans saying the move underscores how out of touch the NFL is with its audience.   “The NFL has no idea of who their fan base is,” one X reply said.  “Not sure any business hates their fans more than the @NFL and @nflcommish Roger Goodell,” conservative activist Robby Starbuck agreed. “People are watching for champions and gladiators, not to have a chief kindness officer. Ridiculous.” “They have ignored the real fans in search of mythical fans that do not exist and could not care less about football in general; however, they will cry victim at the first hint that they aren’t being catered to,” another comment said. Critics have also pointed to Mann’s past legal troubles. In 2011, he pleaded no contest to five felony counts of defrauding the city of Oakland after being accused of stealing $44,000 in redevelopment grant funds, per The New York Times. He was fined $37,500 and served no time. Mann told the outlet in 2021 that the conviction was later expunged. 

As thousands of Nashville residents in Davidson County remain in the cold and dark without power as single-digit temperatures fast approach this weekend, many, including country star John Rich, are now wondering what went wrong. Friday will be day six without power for 71,000 Nashville Electric Service (NES) customers after Winter Storm Fern. The singer, who cofounded the duo Big & Rich, said what’s happening in Nashville is “very California.” “This is incompetence on a level kind of like what you saw in California when they didn’t have enough water to put out the fires,” Rich said on Fox News Friday morning. California had fire hydrants running dry during the devastating wildfires in 2025, the Los Angeles Times reported. For many, that failure fell squarely on California leadership. NES CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin said last August she was focused on saving Nashville’s tree “canopy” instead of trimming trees that were too close to power lines. Yet another example of leadership failure as Davidson County continues to have the highest power outages in the state. RELATED: Nashville Electric CEO Touted Tree-Hugging Over Aggressive Trimming Months Before Massive Ice Storm Rich made it clear during his interview that he is thankful to the lineman working to help restore power. His anger is directed at Nashville’s Democratic mayor, Freddie O’Connell. “We have a mayor here in Nashville, a hard-core leftist guy, and they’ve decided that they aren’t going to do any interviews or press conferences through the weekend as the temperatures go down to four and five degrees,” Rich said. “I’ve just reminded a lot of my Democrat friends … I said, well, ‘You get what you vote for here in Nashville. Maybe next time you put some people in office who actually think ahead.'” NES said Friday morning that more than 1,000 linemen are working to restore power for more than 70,000 households still in the cold and dark. To put it in perspective, Duke Energy deployed 18,000 crew members to respond to power outages in North Carolina, bringing in linemen from as far as Canada. An anonymous member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union told Fox 17 in Nashville that, at a minimum, NES should have 2,000 crew members working to restore power. NES was pressed on Thursday about the number of linemen working while other cities with fewer outages have larger crews. “This storm is different,” NES Executive Vice President Brent Baker said. “This ice storm is significant. This is the most people NES has ever onboarded onto the system. This storm was bigger than what was even expected … Nashville was slammed. Poles were broken like toothpicks. Trees exploded, landing on top of our infrastructure, on top of the wires.” The Daily Wire has reached out to NES for an estimate of when power will be restored.

In a historic milestone for archaeology and faith, the newly opened Pilgrimage Road at the City of David is welcoming visitors for the first time in nearly 2,000 years. This monumental 600-meter thoroughfare, once the spiritual and commercial heart of Second Temple Jerusalem, has been painstakingly uncovered stone by stone. As of January 2026, the final sections of this “Stepped Street” will open to the public, allowing modern travelers to walk the exact path their ancestors used during the great festivals of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. A truly historic moment – the newly opened Pilgrimage Road at the City of David is welcoming visitors for the first time in nearly 2,000 years. This stone-paved path once carried pilgrims from the Pool of Siloam up to the Temple Mount for Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot, alive… pic.twitter.com/U8q2DuGfRU — Embassy of Israel to the USA (@IsraelinUSA) January 29, 2026 The road is a marvel of ancient engineering, stretching from the Pool of Siloam in the south to the foot of the Temple Mount in the north. Eight meters wide and paved with massive limestone slabs, it features a unique stepped design — two shallow steps followed by a long landing — specifically crafted to facilitate a slow, meditative ascent for the millions of pilgrims who once thronged its path. While long attributed to Herod the Great, recent coin evidence found beneath the paving stones suggests the road was actually completed around 30–31 CE under Pontius Pilate. This places its activity squarely within the era of Jesus’ ministry, making it the literal surface upon which he and his disciples likely walked after ritual purification at the Pool of Siloam. The New Testament records Jesus performing a famous miracle with a blind man at the pool of Siloam, which sits at the very bottom of this road: John 9:7 states, “And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.” Managed by the Ir David (City of David) Foundation, the excavation of the road is a modern engineering triumph. Because the ancient street is buried beneath the modern neighborhood of Silwan, it has been excavated horizontally using high-tech steel supports. This subterranean “tunnel” method allows visitors to experience the bustling commercial hub of the past — where remains of shops, market stalls, and even an elevated preaching podium have been found — while the modern city continues to thrive above. The opening of this route fulfills a long-held vision to connect the Pool of Siloam directly to the Western Wall. For visitors, it offers more than a history lesson; it provides a tangible connection to the “DNA of Jerusalem.” From the drainage channels where Jewish rebels once hid to the massive stones polished by millions of ancient footsteps, the Pilgrimage Road is the “opening act” of a new era of discovery. It stands as a bridge across two millennia, inviting the world to walk the ceremonial way that once served as the primary gateway to the House of God.