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In mid-January, intense flooding across South Africa’s Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces forced Kruger National Park to briefly close to day visitors. Now, South African National Parks (SANParks) says it has reopened some roads and camp infrastructure. “Restoration efforts are ongoing, and visitor safety remains our highest priority,” the agency wrote in a Feb. 2 update. […]

Rep. Matt Windschitl, former Iowa House majority leader, was the latest candidate to announce his congressional campaign suspension Friday. Fields are narrowing in races for federal offices in Iowa, as fundraising reports show some candidates pulling ahead of primary challengers. Windschitl, who began his bid for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District in July 2025, announced Friday […]

A focus on addressing climate change, including by producing wind and solar energy, has not helped Americans keep their electricity and heat on during winter storms, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Friday. Ahead of another major cold snap on the East Coast, Wright briefed reporters at the agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., on the […]

President Donald Trump’s calls this week to “nationalize” elections capped a year of efforts by his administration to exercise authority over state-run elections. The demands now have some state and local election officials fearing — and preparing for — a tumultuous year ahead. “I don’t think we can put anything past this administration,” Oregon Democratic […]

Judge Daniel Will would likely not recuse himself from a challenge to New Hampshire’s school funding model if confirmed to the state Supreme Court, he said Friday, despite having previously argued against a similar lawsuit for the Attorney General’s Office. “I can’t sit on any case that I participated in,” Will said. “But that doesn’t […]

The Idaho House of Representatives on Friday narrowly passed a resolution that calls for a never-before-used method of amending the U.S. Constitution to balance the federal budget.  Debate between Idaho lawmakers largely centered around whether a constitutional convention would be a runaway process that risks upending the entire U.S. Constitution. The proposal, House Concurrent Resolution […]

Two Iowa nursing home administrators have been sanctioned for recurring quality-of-care issues at the homes they have managed. The Iowa Board of Nursing Home Administrators recently charged Mitchell Worcester with negligence in the practice of the profession, a charge that is based on a failure to exercise due care. State and federal records show that […]

(The Center Square) – Gas prices have dropped across the country in recent months, but the Illinois Fuel and Retail Association is warning that higher prices may be on the way in the Land of Lincoln. Illinois and five other Midwestern states opted out of a federal waiver regarding the weight of E10 gasoline, hoping the federal government would require year-round sales of E15. Gov. J.B. Pritzker renewed his call for year-round E15 sales last month, saying the fuel blend with 15% ethanol would increase demand for corn by 2 billion bushels a year. Illinois Fuel & Retail Association CEO Nate Harris said Illinois is stuck in the middle of a fight between the refining and ethanol industries. “If current regulations go into effect in the summer, we’re likely to see 25 to 30 cent per gallon price increases,” Harris told TCS. Harris said the IFRA supports year-round E15, but until a federal fix is enacted, Pritzker should follow Ohio’s lead by opting back into the E10 waiver. “The governor can make that request to the U.S. [Environmental Protection Agency], and it’s our understanding that that would most likely be accepted. That would avoid the price increases as well as the headaches for operators,” Harris said. Harris said the state could wait for emergency waivers instead of requesting the standard E10 waiver. “The problem with waiting for the emergency waiver is that prices will start to increase for consumers until the waivers are issued,” Harris said. Harris said operators would buy lighter-waited gas during the waiting period. “When the emergency waiver comes in, they’ll be stuck with more expensive product. Then they’ll have to compete with states like Indiana or all the other states in the Midwest that are not opting out of this E10 waiver,” Harris said. Doing nothing and and allowing the op-out to take effect, Harris said, would cause 25 to 30 cent increases. The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Harris said if prices go up and volume goes down, tax revenues would also decrease. At 48.3 cents per gallon, Illinois has one of the highest motor fuel taxes in the United States. According to AAA, the average per-gallon price for regular unleaded in Illinois climbed back over $3 this week to $3.035 on Friday. The national average was $2.90. One year ago at this time, the average Illinois price for regular unleaded was $3.26 per gallon. ###

A focus on addressing climate change, including by producing wind and solar energy, has not helped Americans keep their electricity and heat on during winter storms, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Friday. Ahead of another major cold snap on the East Coast, Wright briefed reporters at the agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., on the […]

Grande analista da geopolítica global sustenta: EUA veem na América Latina um alvo fácil e humilha a Europa, mas sabe que disputa pelo poder global não será decidida aí. Como pretende derrotar Beijing? Por que as suas disputas subordinam-se a esta? The post Streeck: “O alvo do Trump é a China” appeared first on Outras Palavras.

Algunos usuarios en X pusieron en duda que el presidente Donald Trump hubiese publicado un video en su red social TruthSocial que muestra al expreside...

Le révérend pasteur Ntumi renonce à être candidat à la présidentielle du 15 mars. L’annonce a été faite ce vendredi par le Conseil national des républicains (CNR) via un  communiqué lu par le secrétaire national du parti, Philippe Ané.

A focus on addressing climate change, including by producing wind and solar energy, has not helped Americans keep their electricity and heat on during winter storms, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Friday. Ahead of another major cold snap on the East Coast, Wright briefed reporters at the agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., on the […]

President Donald Trump on Friday announced his approval of $60.6 million in aid for Tennessee following severe winter storms that left hundreds of thousands of residents without power.  Trump posted the announcement on Truth Social, a social media platform owned by Trump Media & Technology Group. “Incredible people, that I know will rebuild, FAST!” Trump […]

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC’s public schools delivered to your inbox. Before Kamar Samuels took the helm of the nation’s largest school system, he set in motion plans to shutter three small middle school programs and relocate another coveted school in the Manhattan district he supervised. Now, those nascent plans in District 3 — which includes the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, and parts of Harlem — are generating pushback from families who are hoping to persuade Samuels and other top officials to reconsider. How the Education Department reacts will represent the first stress test of a major campaign promise from Mayor Zohran Mamdani to give communities a greater voice in decisions that affect their schools. It is also a high-stakes moment for Samuels, who indicated he might ramp up mergers and other significant changes, moves that often spark strong reactions. Education officials argue the plans, which have been discussed with parent leaders but not yet released publicly, would help address broad systemic issues, including the growing number of tiny campuses that are difficult to sustain and the need to reshuffle school space to comply with the state’s class size mandate. To families, the moves represent grave threats to beloved community institutions, including a campus that is known for welcoming students with disabilities and another with an emphasis on social emotional learning. “I’m hopeful about the messages that the mayor and chancellor put forward,” said Olivia Greer, a parent who has children at two schools that would be significantly altered by the proposals. But she worries about what will be lost if the current plans go through. District 3 plans represent broader issues facing the school system Enrollment in the city’s public schools has been declining for years, with losses accelerating during the pandemic. That’s resulted in a growing number of schools that officials say are too small to sustain. At the Joan of Arc campus on West 93rd Street, two of the building’s three middle schools welcomed fewer than 200 students this year. Schools below that threshold may lead district officials to “question the sustainability of offerings for students,” Mariela Graham, the deputy superintendent in District 3, told families at a community meeting this week. Schools are funded on a per-student basis and could struggle to afford basic programs without healthy rosters. The city is looking to close the campus’ two smallest middle schools: the Community Action School and the middle school grades of the Manhattan School for Children. Officials hope to phase out the programs over three years, according to district officials and families briefed on the plans. The building’s third middle school, Lafayette Academy, had already merged with a school on a different campus in 2023, despite parent opposition. District officials also are planning to relocate the Center School, a popular grades 5-8 program, from its West 84th Street home shared with P.S. 9. The elementary school needs more space to comply with the state’s class size law. With pressure to shrink all classes by 2028, these kinds of moves could become increasingly common. The city would relocate the Center School a mile and half south into a building occupied by P.S./I.S. 191, which would then lose its middle school grades, which enrolled 151 students last year. Samuels has pulled off controversial school moves, but parents are deeply concerned During his time as a local superintendent in Brooklyn and Manhattan, Samuels built a reputation for successfully completing mergers and relocations, even as some of them proved contentious. These four proposals will likely face additional scrutiny, as Samuels set them in motion as the District 3 superintendent before Mamdani elevated him to lead the system. Families have launched petitions against the plans and are packing community meetings to voice their opposition. “We’re not taking this sitting down,” said Tiffany Rodriguez-Noel, a parent at P.S./I.S. 191. She said the school took on many asylum-seeking families and contends the Education Department has not properly supported the program. Parents at the Center School have also raised strong objections to the move. They contend their school’s flourishing theater program would struggle because their new campus does not have a proper space for it and that the move would require other programmatic changes. The Manhattan School for Children, which enrolled 130 students this fall in the middle school grades, has developed a reputation for including students with disabilities in classes alongside their general education peers. Families worry it would be difficult to find similarly welcoming communities elsewhere. Meanwhile, at the Community Action School, dozens of parents and educators pleaded with district leaders not to close the school during a virtual community meeting this week. They stressed that the school’s small size has advantages, and it boasts strong social emotional support and restorative justice programs. Plus, enrollment shot up to 171 students this fall up from 131 last year. When District 3 officials suggested the school’s below average reading and math scores also factored into the closure proposal, families were quick to counter that the vast majority of students come from low-income families and many arrive behind grade level. Nicki Holtzman, a Bronx parent of a sixth grader who was bullied at his previous school, said the family sought out the program after an extensive search for a campus with the right support. “All of the teachers are highly engaged,” she said. “My child went from having no self-esteem academically to making honor roll twice.” The closure plan, she added, “feels like a punch to the stomach — it feels rushed.” District officials told families during the town hall they began deliberations about the district’s changes more than a year ago and included parent leaders and other representatives from each school. But that argument did not sit well with some who said details about the plans were largely kept to a district-led working group and only trickled out to wider school communities in the last couple months. In some cases, parents heard rumors of the plans just before the December middle school admissions deadline, causing confusion and last-minute application overhauls to avoid listing schools that could soon close. Andrew Sullivan, the principal of the Community Action School, noted during the town hall meeting that working group meetings took place during the day, making it difficult for parents to attend. (Mamdani has said he wants to rethink when meetings with parent leaders are held so “working parents can actually attend them.”) Greer, a parent with children at the Center School and Manhattan School for Children, acknowledged that district officials have incorporated some feedback, such as phasing out middle school programs over three years rather than shutting them down outright. “It’s not that there has been no listening and incorporation of feedback,” she said. But “my sense is that there has been a plan in place from the beginning and a view about what the preferred outcome is.” Reginald Higgins, the acting superintendent in District 3, acknowledged in the town hall meeting that families felt the process was opaque and frustrating and suggested the process left room for improvement. He stressed that the proposals were formed before he was appointed and vowed to hear school communities out. “I want to ensure that whatever we do moving forward, that that is a different experience for all of us,” he said. Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein noted that District 3 has held several meetings with families, parent leaders, and elected officials since December and said the superintendent plans to “schedule additional engagements.” “Creating space for community voice is critical to this administration,” she wrote. Fight over school closures comes at an awkward time for Mamdani How Higgins manages the process could offer an early window into the new administration’s approach to community engagement, and it comes at a politically delicate moment for Mamdani. On the campaign trail, the mayor vowed to cede his substantial power over the school system to give families and educators more voice. But he recently abandoned that proposal and is now pushing lawmakers to extend mayoral control of the school system, which expires this summer and is dictated by state law. Mamdani pledged his version of mayoral control will give communities more of a say without giving up his power. That could be an awkward sell while scores of parents from District 3 are protesting decisions to close their middle schools. Making matters more complicated, Mamdani has not been able to appoint the majority of the members of the Panel for Educational Policy, the board that makes the final decision on school closures and relocations and has historically voted in line with City Hall’s wishes. The terms of the current members, including appointees of former Mayor Eric Adams, don’t end until June. But if the Education Department moves forward with the plans in District 3, they would likely come up for a vote by the panel in April. Board members are already paying close attention, with several attending community meetings in District 3 to learn more about the plans. Panel chair Greg Faulker said he expects the board to carefully weigh the Education Department’s proposals, offering no guarantee of their fate. “The DOE has to work harder because they have to convince us,” Faulkner said. “I don’t think the days of ramming things through really exist anymore.” On the campaign trail, Mamdani’s critique of mayoral control invoked the image of parents protesting plans to upend their children’s schools in hourslong meetings, only for the panel to vote in line with City Hall’s wishes. In the coming months, the mayor that families might be protesting is Mamdani. Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Women with breast cancer living in states that expanded Medicaid eligibility were less likely to die from the disease — but not everyone benefited equally, according to a recent study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. Researchers from Howard University, the University of Alabama, Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan, and others looked at […]

El Paso is a strategic location for the Trump administration because of Biggs Army Airfield, from which deportation flights have increasingly taken place. The mega facility is among several nationwide. The post DHS buys El Paso warehouses for $123 million ICE mega detention center as deportation capacity expands nationwide appeared first on El Paso Matters.

Service Employees International Union Local 2015, a statewide union representing dozens of nursing home workers in Fresno and thousands across California, rallied to finalize a new contract outside Keystone Post Acute in Fresno on Thursday. A group of about a dozen organizers, participants and elected officials who made an appearance at Fresno’s rally described the […] The post SEIU Local 2015 rallies outside of Fresno nursing home as statewide contract talks come to a close appeared first on Fresnoland.

The EPA's proposal to revoke a Biden-era FOIA provision threatens transparency for communities facing high pollution, sparking concerns over environmental justice.

El cierre de campaña del PP para las elecciones autonómicas reúne a un grupo que reivindica la vuelta a 1936 con el activista a sueldo de Alvise Feijóo apela a no “fragmentar” el voto con Vox en el cierre de campaña: “No vale ir a votar cabreado si se traduce en bloqueo” Además de Quiles, uno de los principales protagonistas de la fista posterior al cierre de campaña del PP, que se ha celebrado en la sala Multiusos del Auditorio de Zaragoza, han participado también Los Meconios, un dúo musical ultra. Los Meconios ya han participado en otros actos políticos, como el que protagonizaron con Vox cantando “vamos a volver al 36”. Esta vez han cargado contra Pedro Sánchez, Yolanda Díaz, Gabriel Rufián, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero o el periodista de RTVE Xabier Fortes. Ante los jóvenes de Nuevas Generaciones, el activista ultra ha agradecido al PP que le hayan invitado. Quiles ha aprovechado su intervención para volver a cargar contra el PSOE. Se ha referido al ministro de Transportes, Óscar Puente, como “el simio” y le ha culpado de un supuesto retraso en el tren que le ha llevado de Madrid a Zaragoza. Además, se ha referido a Sánchez como “autócrata” por querer, según él, las redes sociales. Quiles, que ha estado charlando con Isaac Claver, presidente de la Diputación de Huesca, ha animado a los jóvenes de NNGG del PP a seguir “defendiendo las libertades”. La presencia de Quiles en la campaña del PP supone un contrapunto para la política española. El activista ultra siempre había mostrado una afinidad, tanto persona como ideológica y personal, con Alvise Pérez, el líder de Se Acabó la Fiesta (SALF). Quiles llegó a ser considerado jefe de prensa de Alvise y formó parte de las listas de SALF en las elecciones europeas. Además, este periódico ha tenido acceso a una factura girada por el primero al segundo en concepto de “servicio de colaboración promoción” por un importe de 4.477 euros, IVA incluido. Quiles colabora con el canal ultra EDATV, creado por Javier Negre. Este pseudomedio no había cobrado del Gobierno de Aragón en concepto de publicidad institucional hasta la llegada de Jorge Azcón al poder; desde entonces, y pese a no tener presencia en la comunidad, ha percibido en total 60.801,85 euros por campañas como promoción de la nieve, fomento del uso eficiente del agua, promoción de festejos populares o divulgación de una exposición sobre Goya en las Cortes de Aragón. Quien no se ha olvidado del acto del agitador en Zaragoza ha sido Pedro Sánchez. En su mitin en Zaragoza junto a Pilar Alegría, el presidente del Gobierno, que ha definido a Quiles como alguien “que va persiguiendo políticos que no piensan como él”, ha recordado asimismo al grupo El Meconio: “Es un grupo, que no conocía, que aparte de insultarme reivindica el golpe de estado y la Guerra Civil del 36. Es muy grave, y lo dicen sin ningún tipo de rubor”, ha señalado. Y ha sentenciado: “Que lo sepa la gente: el domingo, los votos del PP van a la extrema derecha y los votos de la extrema derecha, al PP”. Antes, durante el acto, tanto Azcón como Feijóo han llamado a concentrar el voto y evitar un desgaste por la extrema derecha. Para el candidato popular, el PSOE tiene mucho que ver con ello, porque sería el pañuelo de lágrimas de Pedro Sánchez, conscientes de su derrota, pero alentando que Vox frene al PP. No ha dudado en llamar populista a Abascal, molesto por haber llamado estafadores a los populares, y en asegurar que el voto de Vox es inútil. En sus andanadas a Vox, Azcón ha remarcado que mientras “sea presidente de la comunidad autónoma no habrá un trasvase del Ebro”. Y ha criticado a la formación de extrema derecha por “engañar a los agricultores en Aragón” con este asunto. En cuanto al PSOE, ha considerado que vive un “proceso de podredumbre”. “Estas elecciones van de que sepamos unir el voto. Abascal, el populista, nos llama estafadores y su voto es el inútil”, ha proclamado.