Open Newswire

New York, Jan. 28, 2026 — A judge reportedly granted asylum today to Guan Heng, a whistleblower who secretly filmed Uyghur internment camps in China and shared his footage online after arriving in the United States. The footage he captured became crucial evidence for journalists reporting on the camps, including the team at BuzzFeed News that won a Pulitzer Prize. The Department of Homeland Security has 30 days to appeal, during which time Guan will remain in detention. Guan and his relatives have said that if he is deported to China, his life would be in serious jeopardy. Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern said: “This ruling is evidence that even in today’s environment, public pressure still works. All of the journalists, activists, editorial board members, and others who spoke out about Guan’s case deserve enormous credit. They should carry that momentum to other fronts in the very active battles for the rights of whistleblowers, journalists, and people who film government wrongdoing, whether in China or Minneapolis. DHS should not wait the full 30 days to drop this case. It should announce immediately that it will not appeal, so Guan can walk free. And it should give serious thought to why an immigration crackdown supposedly intended to target the worst of the worst is endangering the best of the best.” Please contact us if you would like further comment.

A San Diego City Council committee on Wednesday opted against making it free to park in Balboa Park on Sundays — but it's clearer than ever that city officials are considering unwinding paid parking in the city's crown jewel, amid widespread public backlash.

Durante el último año las fuerzas gubernamentales sirias han consolidado su control sobre amplias zonas del norte y este del país, Kobane es la última frontera La entrada Siria, Kobane y la población kurda aparece primero en LADO B.

(The Center Square) - Nevada will conduct its unsheltered Point-In-Time count of the state’s homeless residents Thursday. Limitations in the national Housing and Urban Development’s count means the number is likely to be an undercount, according to a Nevada official. “The criticisms of the Point-In-Time Count are that it doesn't count people who are living in a motel they’re paying for themselves, or are doubled up with family and living in some of those, kind of more marginal living situations,” said Catrina Peters, human services coordinator for the Washoe County Human Services Agency, “We're here to be absolutely transparent, to follow the HUD methodology, but I would say broadly across the country, that's a consistent concern," Peters told The Center Square. The HUD methodology counts unsheltered people on a single night within the last 10 days of January, but does not include people staying over at somebody else’s home, in a motel, hospital or jail for a short period, even if some people in those positions are likely to return to homelessness. Nevada’s PIT count will begin at 3 a.m. Thursday in the Las Vegas area, which is in Clark County in southern Nevada. Washoe County, which is in northwest Nevada, will begin counting at 4 a.m., with 60 people who have experience working with the county’s homeless population set to conduct the count, who they call enumerators. “We're very lucky in that we have an amazing community of folks doing that work who rise to the challenge of getting together at 4 a.m. to start this work,” said Peters. “Folks who are already working as a street outreach worker – one, know where encampments are, and two, oftentimes already have relationships established with folks who are unsheltered.” But the winter can present an additional risk of undercount, as it can be an especially dangerous time of year to be homeless. The National Coalition for the Homeless estimated that 700 homeless people die annually across the U.S. from hyperthermia. “Occasionally we have some winter weather to navigate but [we] are looking pretty good for this year," Peters told The Center Square. Across the country, annual Point-In-Time Counts are required by HUD, but only have to account for people who are sheltered. This includes areas such as emergency shelters and transitional houses. But the annual PIT counts do not include unsheltered homeless people, who are required to be counted at least every other year. The last unsheltered count took place January 2024 and listed 7,906 homeless people in Nevada, a 20% increase from the previous year. Peters did not say exactly whether this year’s PIT count was likely to show an increase in the homeless population. “It’s just so hard to say,” she said, later adding, “There have been quite a few changes in the community over the last two years.”

No es solo lo que comes: lo que bebes puede inflamar —o calmar— tu abdomen. La ciencia ya tiene respuestas.

Alaska’s population rose slightly between 2024 and 2025 and is now at its highest level since 2017, the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced Wednesday. Alaska had an estimated 738,737 people as of July 1, 2025, the department said in its annual state population estimate. The rise comes despite a revision that erased […]

PIERRE — New legislation could outlaw lab-grown meat in South Dakota. It passed 45-22 in the state House on Wednesday and will now go to the Senate. Rep. Julie Auch, R-Lesterville, said Tuesday during the bill’s first committee hearing that she proposed the legislation with concern for “the takeover of the livestock industry here in […]

As he has hinted in recent weeks, state Rep. Dixon McMakin, R-Baton Rouge, said Wednesday he will enter the race for Louisiana’s 5th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. McMakin, 39, has represented House District 68 in the Louisiana Legislature since January 2024. His professional background includes work as a financial adviser, insurance […]

Fort Worth-based Elbit Systems of America teamed up with Collins Aerospace of North Carolina to produce a helmet-mounted display system.

The 8-1 vote will allow two of the location’s 55 studios to offer the services at Town North Shopping Center.

White coats abounded at the Roundhouse Wednesday, with doctors and medical students roaming the halls in medical garb and lobbying for proposals, including House Bill 99, sponsored by Reps. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos) and Gail Armstrong (R-Magdalena). HB99, if passed, would remove a provision in state law that allows for punitive damages in medical malpractice lawsuits to come from personal liability of health care providers.

Protestos contra as políticas violentas de Trump ocorreram em 13 cidades brasileiras Fogo nos fascistas: ato em São Paulo denuncia agressão dos EUA à Venezuela apareceu primeiro no Brasil de Fato.

A judicial panel on Wednesday heard the case of a judge booted off the bench for erupting at students and their parents during truancy hearings in Bound Brook.

The longtime community advocate and philanthropist was named the 2025 Stocktonian of the Year, honoring nearly four decades of service to the city. A birthday surprise: John Vera named 2025 Stocktonian of the Year is a story from Stocktonia News, a rigorous and factual newsroom covering Greater Stockton, California. Please consider making a charitable contribution to support our journalism.

(The Center Square) – The Los Angeles Unified School District announced this week that students and staff are returning to the campus of Palisades Charter High School after a devastating year following the Palisades Fire in January 2025. Since the start of the 2025-26 school year, students used temporary facilities to attend classes while LAUSD sought to rebuild the damaged Palisades schools. Over 30% of the classrooms on campus were destroyed in the fire. “We're very excited to see the enthusiasm and excitement for students and parents coming back to their home campus," Palisades Charter High School Principal Dr. Pamela Magee said. A spokesperson for LA Unified told The Center Square that the Board of Education unanimously approved the funding to rebuild the three Pacific Palisades schools: Palisades Charter High School, Palisades Charter Elementary School and Marquez Charter Elementary School. The total cost was approximately $604 million, largely funded by the Measure US Facilities bond passed in November 2024. Recovery efforts still continue with the permanent rebuilding, aimed for a 2028 completion, which will replace classroom buildings, restore athletic facilities and incorporate wildfire-resilient design features. “Los Angeles Unified remains fully committed to rebuilding this campus and the two other district schools destroyed in the fire,” Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said. “While we celebrate the return of learning, connection and school spirit, we also reaffirm our commitment to ensuring every affected school community is made whole again.” Aside from its schools, the Palisades Fire heavily affected the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, near Malibu, but the area continues to rebuild. The Palisades Fire burned over 23,000 acres along coastal Los Angeles County, destroyed over 6,000 buildings and caused 12 deaths.

Under a new bill introduced Wednesday, the Idaho Legislature would ban local policies in more than a dozen cities that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  The bill, written by the Idaho Family Policy Center, a conservative Christian group, and sponsored by Nampa Republican state Rep. Bruce Skaug, would block […]

The lights are slowly returning in regions of north Mississippi and the lower Delta in the aftermath of this past weekend's ice storm. But officials say obstacles remain for restoring power, clearing roads and providing water.

The Colorado Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee reversed course on its denial of more funding for prison beds.  The committee voted 5-1 Wednesday to approve funding for more than 900 prison beds in the Colorado Department of Corrections after hearing more from the department and the governor’s office earlier this week about why the beds are […]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday detailed the “common sense” changes they want to implement for federal immigration enforcement, saying reforms must be added to a funding package that needs to become law before the weekend to avoid a partial government shutdown.  Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after a closed-door lunch that lawmakers […]

(The Center Square) – California lawmakers called Wednesday for the state’s “insurer of last resort,” the California FAIR Plan, to evolve to insure more properties throughout the state. The remarks come after years of the number of FAIR Plan policyholders climbing because of many private insurance companies declining to renew existing policies or pulling out of doing business in the Golden State altogether. This has pushed more and more homeowners in the state to turn to the California FAIR Plan. “I’ve kind of reached a point where I prefer to call the FAIR Plan ‘the California safety net’ than the ‘insurer of last resort,’” said Assemblymember Lisa Calderon, D-City of Industry and the chair of the Assembly Insurance Committee, during the panel’s meeting Wednesday. “I feel like the FAIR Plan is no longer the insurer of last resort. When the voluntary insurance market abandons our constituents, the FAIR Plan is there to pick up those policies.” There is a growing need to make sure the FAIR Plan works for California’s homeowners who can’t get home insurance policies anywhere else, Calderon said. “Until the numbers stabilize, preferably decrease, it is our obligation that the FAIR Plan serves its purpose, and possibly expand their purpose,” Calderon added. According to the Assembly Insurance Committee, the California FAIR Plan was originally created in 1968 to provide property insurance to California’s property owners in urban areas when they couldn’t get insurance from conventional insurance companies. However, after the 1994 Northridge earthquake caused a homeowners’ insurance crisis, the coverage area eligible for insurance through the California FAIR Plan expanded to include the whole state. The Eaton and Pacific Palisades wildfires in January 2025 caused between $28 billion and $53.8 billion in property damage, according to a study published by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. and the Southern California Leadership Council. Homeowners whose homes were damaged or lost in those fires reported average losses of $668,000 on claims that are closed or settled, while those who have open claims reported average net losses of more than $1 million, according to a report released this month from the nonprofit Department of Angels. Data from the California FAIR Plan shows that between September and December 2025, exposure has increased 4% to $724 billion – a 230% increase since December 2022. Much of that increased risk is from insuring homes in the state’s wildfire zones, accounting for roughly $670.5 billion of potential payouts for claims from policyholders, according to the data. “We don’t manage our exposure,” Victoria Roach, president of the California FAIR Plan Association, testified during the insurance committee meeting. “Whereas other carriers can say they have a lot of exposure in one particular geographic area, so they don’t write [policies] more in that area, they write more [policies] over there instead, we don’t do that. We take people regardless of our exposure, which means we have areas in the state where we may have 50% or more in the market for those areas.” Despite the increase in homeowners relying on the FAIR Plan to insure their homes, the FAIR Plan still doesn’t provide full homeowners insurance policies the way convention insurance companies do, Roach testified. “If we go to provide a full policy, we’re looking at basically standing up another division of the company,” Roach said during the meeting. “We don’t have that infrastructure. We don’t have the vendors. We don’t have the staff. We don’t have claims people throughout the state to handle claims, so it’s a huge undertaking for us.” A 30% to 50% increase in insurance rates for policyholders through the FAIR Plan would be necessary to be able to provide full property insurance policies, Roach added. Some insurance industry officials spoke out against the FAIR Plan expanding, claiming that policyholders can get insurance for less than what they can get from standard insurance carriers. “What we’re learning today is that the FAIR Plan is competing with the admitted market,” testified Terry McHale, a partner and legislative advocate for Aaron Read & Associates, a Sacramento-based lobbying firm. “That is wrong. It is exactly what we did not want to happen with the FAIR Plan, and that is absolutely something that must be addressed.”