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Trump administration has separated dozens of children from their parents for a second time, AP finds

(AP) Eleven-year-old Ederson Galicia Alva had just stepped off the plane and into the Miami airport’s dim hallways when federal agents pulled his mother aside for questioning. Again. ... Panic welled up. His excitement at soon being back at recess with his Florida classmates fell away. Would the government take her away again? This was not his first trauma. In 2018, when he was just 3 years old, Ederson was taken from his mother’s arms at the U.S.-Mexico border under the first Trump administration’s family separation policy and kept apart from her in a government facility for months.

mahatmakanejeeves

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent refuses to say whether Trump remains exempt from IRS audits

(AP) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent refused to say Wednesday whether President Donald Trump and his family would still get immunity from IRS audits after the administration abandoned plans for a $1.776 billion compensation fund that would have benefited the president’s allies. “There’s continuing litigation, and I’m unable to comment on ongoing litigation,” Bessent told lawmakers at the Senate Finance Committee hearing.

mahatmakanejeeves

President Trump says he will nominate Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general

(NPR) President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will nominate Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general, tapping his former personal lawyer who has aggressively pursued the Republican president's agenda while leading the Justice Department in an acting role. Trump said at a dinner at the White House that he plans to nominate Blanche formally on Thursday, according to a video of the event posted on social media by a White House aide. ... "We are going to make him permanent attorney general," Trump said at the Rose Garden event.

everyonematters

Republicans see trouble with independents for Trump

(The Hill) Republican senators are growing increasingly concerned about President Trump’s weak polling numbers with independent voters and warn that the GOP may be headed for a political wipeout in the November election because Trump’s popularity with Republican primary voters isn’t translating across the broader electorate. Several Republican senators told The Hill that polling data shared at a Tuesday conference meeting by Senate Republican Conference Committee Chair Tom Cotton (Ark.) indicated Democrats have a significant polling lead among independents five months before the general election.

KS Toronado

Thursday's Condensed News Cartoons

mahatmakanejeeves

Plans for a Trump family-linked resort spark protests in Albania

(NPR) A massive coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, is facing growing resistance from protesters in Albania. The government says the development on the Adriatic coast would be transformational for the former communist nation as it seeks to enter the high-end tourism market and pushes for European Union membership. But the venture, spanning an abandoned island and a nearby stretch of seafront on Albania's southern coast, has drawn opposition from environmental campaigners and critics of long-time Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.

mahatmakanejeeves

Trump plans $700 million to build coal plants, export site

(Mining.com) President Donald Trump is preparing to use Cold War-era authorities to dole hundreds of millions of federal dollars to support coal-fired electricity as well as US exports of the fossil fuel. ... Trump is expected to announce he’s delivering much of the funding for US coal plants and an American export terminal under the 1950 Defense Production Act during an Oval Office event Thursday, according to a White House official who asked for anonymity because the plan isn’t yet public.

riversedge

Democrats see the stars aligning in Iowa

(Politico) The economic turmoil of the past year-and-a-half has been felt acutely in Iowa, where the agriculture-heavy economy has been jolted by tariffs. Medicaid cuts in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act are ransacking rural health facilities, Democrats say, and several clinics in the state have closed. And the Iran war has spiked prices for fertilizer and diesel — critical supplies for the farm state. That’s all creating a dynamic that Democrats feel will propel voters their way in the midterms, giving them a shot at their first major statewide wins since the Obama era.

LetMyPeopleVote

DOJ Secures Updated Southern Poverty Law Center Indictment

(Bloomberg Law) The Justice Department filed a superseding indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center in an apparent attempt to address deficiencies lawyers flagged with an earlier document levying fraud charges against the group. The grand jury indictment filed Tuesday by the US attorney’s office in the Middle District of Alabama, adds more detail in defense of the Trump administration’s claim that the SPLC misled donors and banks by concealing payments to informants infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and other extremist groups.

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Republicans probe China's influence in data center opposition

15 min ago - House Energy and Commerce Republicans are claiming there is "strong evidence" that growing opposition to data centers in communities across the country is due, at least in part, to foreign influence campaigns linked to China. Chair Brett Guthrie (R-K ... (Politico)

ICE to stop reporting deaths of newly released detainees, internal memo says

30 min ago - WP Exclusive ICE to stop reporting deaths of newly released detainees, internal memo says The agency is facing pressure to improve medical care in its facilities after reporting the deaths of 18 detainees in the first five months of this year. June 4 ... (Washington Post)

Water begins flowing into Reflecting Pool with blue paint job complete

1 hr ago - Water begins flowing into Reflecting Pool with blue paint job complete Will Vitka | will.vitka@wtop.com June 4, 2026, 2:11 PM (1/5) The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool began refilling Thursday with water bubbling up through pipes at the center of th ... (WTOP)

Spain's reckoning with clergy abuse enters a new chapter as Pope Leo visits

2 hrs ago - By SUMAN NAISHADHAM Updated 1:43 PM CDT, June 4, 2026 Leer en español MADRID (AP) — In the 1970s, in a devoutly Catholic Spain still ruled by dictator Francisco Franco, Paula Alonso-Pimentel was sent for catechism at age 8 to a religious ... (AP)

Corporate Donors to Trump's White House Ballroom have Received $50 Billion in Government Contracts Since the East Wing w

3 hrs ago - Over half of corporate ballroom donors – 14 out of 27 – have received new or increased government contracts over the last 6 months totaling over $50 billion. -snip- Most of the corporate donors – 16 out of 27 – are facing federal ... (Public Citizen)

Trump delivers $700M boost to coal, including wartime authority funds

3 hrs ago - Energy & Environment Trump delivers $700M boost to coal, including wartime authority funds by Rachel Frazin 06/04/26 04:15 PM ET The Trump administration is putting nearly $700 million toward coal, one of the president's favorite energy sources. ... (The Hill)

Kevin O'Leary's gargantuan data center cut down by half after battle with Utah lawmakers

4 hrs ago - Shark Tank celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary has decided to join the data center gold rush, but Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams is mucking up his claim. O'Leary's proposed data center — to be built in Box Elder County, Utah — is called ... (Independent)

DOD Officially Drops 180 Faiths From Military's Recognized Religion List

4 hrs ago - Military.com has learned that the Department of Defense, for the first time in almost 10 years, has dramatically reduced its number of recognized religious faiths and belief systems by approximately 180. The reforms mark the first time the list has b ... (Military.com)

Trump administration probes 15 medical schools over admissions policy

4 hrs ago - WASHINGTON, June 4 (Reuters) - The ‌U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday it had opened civil rights investigations into 15 medical schools examining potential race discrimination over their alleged ⁠use of race in ... (Reuters)

Bright City Lights Might Be Making Your Allergies Worse

4 hrs ago - If you live in a big, brightly lit city and you feel like allergy season just never ends, you might be right: New research shows that light pollution prompts plants to shed pollen longer, increases the growth of notoriously allergenic ragweed and mak ... (NYT)

Marjane Satrapi Dies: Iranian-French 'Persepolis' & 'Radioactive' Director Was 56

5 hrs ago - Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French artist, animator and Oscar-nominated director best known internationally for her 2007 biographical animated feature Persepolis and Rosamund Pike-starring film Radioactive, has died. She was 56. “Marjane Satrap ... (Deadline)

Meta Silently Added Face-Recognition Code for Its Smart Glasses to Millions of Phones

5 hrs ago - Meta has quietly embedded face-recognition technology for its smart glasses into an app downloaded to millions of phones, according to a WIRED analysis of the company's software. Code discreetly added to Meta’s AI app over multiple updates this ... (Wired)

Hezbollah's Fiber-Optic Drones Expose Cracks in Israeli Defenses

6 hrs ago - An explosive drone snaked between the hills of southern Lebanon before striking an Israeli armored personnel carrier. Two days later, another slammed into a tank. Three days after that, a third pounded into a missile-defense system. Each day, multipl ... (New York Times)

Ex-national security adviser John Bolton will plead guilty in classified information case: AP source

6 hrs ago - WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information under a deal with the Justice Department that could allow him to avoid prison ti ... (AP)

Trump hits back at 'unpatriotic' vote after House rebukes him over Iran

6 hrs ago - US President Donald Trump has hit back at lawmakers who voted to send him a rebuke over the war in Iran, calling them "unpatriotic". On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a measure seeking to halt Trump from taking further military act ... (BBC)

Supreme Court sides with FCC in clash with wireless carriers over fines

7 hrs ago - Supreme Court (U.S.) Supreme Court sides with FCC in clash with wireless carriers over fines Published Thu, Jun 4 202611:09 AM EDT Reuters The exterior of Verizon and AT&T stores, Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida. Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images G ... (Reuters, via CNBC)

Police warn families of Tiananmen crackdown dead not to visit graves on 37th anniversary

9 hrs ago - By KEN MORITSUGU and KANIS LEUNG Updated 9:25 AM CDT, June 4, 2026 Leer en español BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities are snuffing out any remembrance of the deadly 1989 military crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in Tiananm ... (AP)

Flesh-eating screwworm returns to U.S. after 60 years, threatening cattle herd

9 hrs ago - A flesh-eating parasite that had been kept out of U.S. livestock for decades has been detected in Texas, threatening the nation’s cattle industry and food supply at a time when prices are already high. The case of New World screwworm was confirm ... (NBC)

National Guard has done little to reduce violent crime in D.C., a new study finds

10 hrs ago - June 4, 20265:00 AM ET By Kat Lonsdorf President Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C. has reduced petty property crimes, but has had little to no effect on violent crime, despite the high cost to taxpayers, according to a ... (npr)

Trump's 'big beautiful bill' has a 'double taxation' trap for top earners, tax lawyers say

10 hrs ago - Inside Wealth Trump's 'big beautiful bill' has a 'double taxation' trap for top earners, tax lawyers say Published Thu, Jun 4 2026 7:45 AM EDT Updated 41 Min Ago Hayley Cuccinello @HCuccinello @in/hayleycuccinello/ KEY POINTS * The One Big Beautiful ... (CNBC)