Stories

Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 24, 2026

A Guatemalan Construction Worker Dies in a Fiery Crash After ICE Tries to Pull Over the Wrong Man in Grand Rapids — Hillary Scholten Says "No Traffic Stop Should End With a Fatality," Gretchen Whitmer Orders a State Police Review, and Rashida Tlaib Says "These Killings Have to Stop"

Around 7 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, ICE officers attempted a traffic stop near Hall Street and Century Avenue in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The driver, Mario David Coronado Juárez, a Guatemalan construction worker who had lived in the city for about seven years, fled at high speed and crashed into a tree about a mile away; the car caught fire and he died at the scene. DHS later confirmed that he was not the vehicle's registered owner — the person ICE was looking for — and said officers "immediately discontinued the enforcement action." Rep. Hillary Scholten, who represents Grand Rapids, wrote to ICE demanding answers, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer directed the Michigan State Police to conduct an independent review alongside the Grand Rapids Police Department's investigation.

“ICE killed another man. His name is Mario David Coronado Juarez. Mario lived and worked in Michigan for 7 years as a construction worker, sending money home to his kids in Guatemala. ICE pursued him in an unmarked car, causing a fatal car crash. These killings have to stop.”
Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) · Sep 24, 2026

ICE

immigration enforcement

Michigan

3 statements

Sep 24, 2026

The California Supreme Court Rules Unanimously That Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco Broke the Law When He Seized 650,000 Ballots From the Redistricting Election — Rob Bonta Says He "Willfully Defied My Direct Orders," Gavin Newsom Says "in California We Will Defend Democracy — Using Every Branch of Government," and Bianco Says "Sacramento Shut It Down"

On Sept. 24, 2026, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously, in two cases, that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco acted unlawfully. In February he seized about 650,000 ballots from the November 2025 Prop 50 redistricting special election for an investigation into unsubstantiated fraud claims. The court ordered the ballots returned to county election officials and told him to stop the investigation. Attorney General Rob Bonta said Bianco "willfully defied my direct orders" and promised "criminal consequences" for such conduct in the future. Gov. Gavin Newsom tied the ruling to the election-protection laws he signed a week earlier, which make ballot seizure a felony. Bianco, a Republican who ran for governor earlier this year, said "Sacramento shut it down" and suggested he might go to federal court. The ruling came six weeks before the midterms.

“He willfully defied my direct orders, misused criminal investigative tools and created a constitutional emergency in the process. … Going forward, there will also be criminal consequences to conduct such as this exhibited by Sheriff Bianco. … Whether it's a sheriff in Riverside or the President of the United States, we won't let anyone take away Californians' voice in our democracy. Come November, we're ready for whatever comes our way.”
Rob Bonta (D-CA) · Sep 24, 2026

ICE Arrests at Least 31 People in New Bedford, Dartmouth and Fall River — Most of Them Asylum Seekers on Their Way to Work — and Maura Healey Asks "Who Have They Arrested and Why?", Fall River's Mayor Says "That's Where They Overreach," and Jake Auchincloss Says the Operations Are "Designed to Intimidate Our Friends and Our Neighbors"

Beginning Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, ICE arrested at least 31 people across New Bedford, Dartmouth and Fall River on Massachusetts' South Coast. Advocates say most have pending asylum cases and were picked up on their way to jobs at fishing plants and supermarkets, and two Fall River students may be among them. ICE has not released names or numbers, and New Bedford's mayor says local police were not notified. Gov. Maura Healey demanded that ICE "provide information immediately." At a Sept. 24 news conference, Rep. Jake Auchincloss and Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan condemned the operation as a dragnet aimed at working residents rather than public-safety threats.

“This administration insists on pursuing mass arrests and dragnet operations that are not targeted towards individuals who are a threat to public safety, but are instead designed to intimidate our friends and our neighbors. … Every time the public responds negatively to his illegal or unwise actions, he turns around and launches a wave of mass deportations.”
Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) · Sep 24, 2026

ICE

immigration enforcement

Massachusetts

4 statements

Sep 24, 2026

Trump Greets Xi Jinping With a 21-Gun Salute and a Bomber Flyover and Toasts Their "Truly Great Friendship" — the Same Week Senators Are Briefed That China Helped Iran Target U.S. Troops, Thom Tillis Calls It "a WTF Moment" and Lisa Murkowski Says It Was "a Little Bit Over the Top"

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, for his first visit to the United States in more than a decade. President Trump gave him a full state welcome: a 21-gun salute, a military flyover and an arrival ceremony at the White House on September 24, followed by a state dinner attended by tech executives. At the arrival ceremony Trump said the two men had "forged a friendship, a truly great friendship." The welcome drew open criticism from Senate Republicans. Earlier in September it was reported that Iran had used Chinese satellite imagery to target U.S. troops in Jordan, and on Thursday Republican senators got a closed-door national security briefing on deepening military cooperation between China and Iran. Thom Tillis of North Carolina told CBS News the red carpet was "a WTF moment" and contrasted it with how Trump has treated democratic allies. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska called the military honors "a little bit over the top," and John Cornyn of Texas said China, Russia, Iran and North Korea were "pretty clearly" an axis. Several Republicans said they hoped Trump would raise China's help to Iran with Xi. Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker said before the visit that he would have advised against the invitation (see the Taiwan arms-sale story). The summit itself produced little. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a two-month extension of the U.S.-China trade truce as Xi landed. Two pandas are going to the Atlanta zoo, and work continues on a U.S.-China "Board of Trade" for non-sensitive goods. There was no public movement on Taiwan arms sales, on China's support for Iran, or on AI.

“Such a great honor. In May, we had the great privilege of visiting you in Beijing. … From the time of my first election in 2016, President Xi and I have forged a friendship, a truly great friendship. … May all of our people know a future of harmony, peace and success.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 24, 2026

ICE Sweeps the Meatpacking Towns of Southwest Kansas Without Telling Local Police — Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal Say They Got No Warning, and Both of the State's Republican Senators Say ICE "Needs to Coordinate With Our Local Law Enforcement"

Beginning before dawn on Tuesday, September 23, 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in unmarked vans set up on the roads around the big beef-packing plants in Liberal, Garden City and Dodge City, stopping vehicles and questioning passengers at shift change. The four plants employ more than 10,000 people in the region, many of them immigrants. National Beef in Liberal delayed shifts the next day, Dodge City Public Schools warned families that "we may have students whose family members have been detained," and county buildings were used as staging areas. The three cities issued a joint statement saying their governing bodies and police "were not notified in advance" and "do not have operational information regarding these federal enforcement activities." The Finney County sheriff said his office was "in no way assisting." Kansas's two Republican senators — Roger Marshall, who is on the ballot in November in a race that has tightened, and Jerry Moran — both responded by calling on ICE to work with local law enforcement, and both said they had been in contact with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. CNN noted that Marshall had previously praised ICE agents and defended their practices, and grouped the statements with other Republicans in competitive races who have begun distancing themselves from the administration's immigration enforcement.

“I am hearing from Kansans about the increased federal law enforcement presence in southwest Kansas as ICE agents carry out warrants in the area. … [Moran said he visited with Secretary Mullin to stress] the importance of DHS working with our local law enforcement to safely execute these warrants.”
Jerry Moran (R-KS) · Sep 24, 2026

Six Weeks Before the Midterms, the Senate Rejects the House-Passed Resolution to End the Iran War 49-50 — Thom Tillis Joins Paul, Collins and Murkowski, Saying "We've Got to Break the Cycle," While Tim Kaine Says Republicans Have Been "Carrying Water for This Ridiculous and Illegal War"

On Thursday, September 24, 2026, the Senate voted 49-50 against H.Con.Res. 89, the House-passed concurrent resolution directing President Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress authorizes the war. It was the 14th time the Senate has taken up an Iran war powers measure since the war began on February 28. Because it is a concurrent resolution, the measure would not have gone to the president and would not have had the force of law. The vote was mostly symbolic, but it was one of the Senate's last votes before the November elections. Four Republicans voted yes: Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Tillis is retiring, and he said he doesn't usually back "show votes" but wanted to signal that it is time to engage Congress. Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted no, and Democrat Angela Alsobrooks missed the vote. Together those two votes decided the outcome. The vote came two days after Trump's U.N. speech asking whether to make a deal with Iran "or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic." Diesel prices are above $6 a gallon, and several Republicans who voted no have said publicly that the war needs to end. The White House said Congress cannot force the president to end the campaign this way and that Trump has sufficient authority under Article II. Pentagon figures put the toll at 19 U.S. service members killed and more than 820 wounded, and the cost at about $43.5 billion.

“I think there are a lot of Republican members, yes, obviously. Everybody wants to see wars come to a conclusion. We are hopeful that the administration's efforts will lead to getting … the shipping lanes open and taking some of the pressure off of the American peoples' pocketbooks via a lower price at the pump for gasoline. … It's an economic frustration. That's why again I hope that the administration is laser-focused on trying to get the strait open. [Thune called the Democratic-forced vote "political."]”
John Thune (R-SD) · Sep 24, 2026

Sep 24, 2026· Updated

The Day After Trump Tells the U.N. "Welcome to the New World of Super Intelligence," Bernie Sanders and Greg Casar Introduce a Bill to Ban It — Sanders Says "When You Are Racing Towards a Cliff … You Hit the Brakes," While John Kennedy Says "I'm Not Going to Support That Right Now" and Rick Scott Calls Controlling AI by Statute "a Joke"

On September 23, 2026, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which they first announced on September 3. The bill would permanently ban the development and deployment of artificial superintelligence, impose an immediate pause on advanced "frontier" AI development until a federal regulator writes safety rules, create a cabinet-level Department of Artificial Intelligence to enforce it, and direct the United States to pursue international agreements — including with China — so that no one builds AI "too powerful for humans to control." Violations would carry corporate dissolution and up to 20 years in prison. The bill landed a day after President Trump told the U.N. General Assembly that U.S. documents would now call AI "super intelligence," rejected any "globalist scheme of control" and said the United States would encourage the technology rather than rein it in. Casar's statement answered him directly: "Donald Trump says he wants to encourage it. Something has to change." It faces long odds in a Republican-controlled Congress. Asked by the Daily Caller the week before whether they would back a ban on AI that surpasses human intelligence, Sen. John Kennedy said "No," Sen. Rick Scott called the idea of passing a bill to control AI "a joke," and Sen. Josh Hawley said he was "really worried about superintelligence" but would not commit to a ban.

“A big day with President Xi of China. Super Intelligence (SI) will be a big topic of discussion, but I want to leave it exactly where it is. That is China's position also. Our guardrail is the DOJ!”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 24, 2026

artificial-intelligence

ai-safety

legislation

9 statements

Sep 24, 2026· Updated

Diesel Hits a Record $6.51 and Farm-State Republicans Tell Trump to Stop Exporting It — Chuck Grassley Posts That Prices "ARE KILLING FARMERS INCOME," Trump-Backed Senate Nominees in Iowa and Michigan Say the Iran War "Needs to End," John Cornyn Calls a Ban "a Gimmick," and Trump Says "I've Called for It Within My People"

The national average price of diesel reached a record $6.51 a gallon on September 21, 2026, up roughly 80% on the year, as the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, together with the war in Ukraine, cut refinery output and fuel shipments worldwide. Iowa diesel passed $6.50 and Michigan reached $6.81. Farm-state Republicans have spent the past week pressing President Trump to embargo U.S. diesel exports to keep more supply at home. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) filed two bills on September 17, one banning diesel exports through January 2027 and one that would trigger a ban whenever the national average tops $5. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on September 15 that he was "open to exploring it," and later that the export ban "makes probably more sense to me" than suspending the federal gas tax. On Saturday, September 19, Sen. Chuck Grassley posted that "High diesel prices ARE KILLING FARMERS INCOME" and asked why Trump didn't embargo diesel the way 1970s presidents embargoed farm exports. On Monday, September 21, two Trump-backed Republican Senate nominees, Rep. Ashley Hinson of Iowa and former Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, each called for a diesel export pause and a gas-tax suspension, and each said the Iran war needed to end. Hinson has voted against every House resolution to halt the war. Their Democratic opponents, Josh Turek and Abdul El-Sayed, answered that the two were reversing themselves weeks before the election. Oil-state Republicans and the administration's own energy officials pushed back. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas called a ban "a gimmick," Sen. Lisa Murkowski said it "doesn't really move the needle," and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the administration would consider one only "if we thought that actually might lower prices, but that's not the case." Refiners and analysts warned that the United States already produces more diesel than it uses, so a ban could glut the Gulf Coast while prices rose elsewhere. Then on September 22, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Trump said he had pushed for a ban inside his administration, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration was "examining" whether it was feasible.

“We are working with the industry … to increase the supply of diesel … without using blunt instruments. … Nobody wants a full blanket ban or zero exports of diesel. … What's being discussed is what's the most efficient way to get more diesel into the United States.”
Chris Wright (R-CO) · Sep 24, 2026

Sep 24, 2026· Updated

Trump Nominates White House Aide Heidi Overton to Run the FDA Nine Days After She Helped Write the Childhood Vaccine Order — and the Republican Chairman of the Senate Health Committee Calls That "Almost Disqualifying"

On August 19, 2026, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he was nominating Dr. Heidi Overton — a physician and deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council — as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, filling the vacancy left when Marty Makary was forced out in May after 13 months. Trump called her a "ROCKSTAR" and said she would work with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz to deliver "faster Cures, increased American Innovation, major Clinical Trial Reforms, lower Drug Prices, and even more MAHA wins." Kennedy said Overton brings "exceptional judgment, professionalism, discipline." Speaker Mike Johnson called her "a woman of deep faith, an accomplished physician and a champion of the America First agenda." The trouble came from her own party's health chairman. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the physician who chairs the Senate HELP Committee and who had already called Trump's August 10 childhood vaccine executive order "a stupid thing to do," said he had "strong concerns" about Overton — citing both her lack of managerial experience and her "active role in last week's nonsensical vaccine executive order," which he said "alone is almost disqualifying." Democrats attacked her record on abortion. Overton has written that abortion is "corrosive" to women and, in a 2023 brief, called the prescribing and mailing of abortion pills across state lines "Skype abortions" and urged the federal government to end the practice. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a HELP Committee member, called her "a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who has no business leading the FDA" and said she would vote no. With a 53-seat majority, Senate Republicans can lose only three votes. Overton's confirmation runs through Cassidy's committee.

“It's well past time for the FDA to push back against the false claims of mifepristone's alleged safety. … We've got to make sure that she is committed to ending the abortion drugs' availability in the state of Missouri. … I want to get to the bottom of this. I want to be sure that the FDA is not changing its position. I think this could be news to the court.”
Josh Hawley (R-MO) · Sep 24, 2026

Sep 24, 2026· Updated

The Justice Department Says It Will Send a Record ~1,000 Monitors to the Midterm Polls — and a Senator Asks the Pentagon to Put in Writing That It Will Not Send Troops or Seize Ballots

Two announcements eleven weeks before the November 2026 midterms put the question of federal presence at American polling places back in front of Congress. On Monday, August 17, 2026, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who runs the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, told Bloomberg Law that the department would deploy roughly 1,000 election monitors in November — "probably going to be a historic number for a Republican administration." Dhillon said the monitors would observe rather than intervene, would be trained on the same materials used by previous administrations, and would watch for language-access and disability-access barriers as well as suspected fraud. The number is many times what the department has typically fielded, and it lands as President Trump repeatedly predicts Democrats will "cheat" to retake Congress and after his call for Republicans to "nationalize" elections. The next day, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), a former CIA analyst and Pentagon official, wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine asking them to confirm in writing that the Defense Department "will not send Federal troops to the polls or to seize election materials of any kind." She pointed to Trump's 2020-era consideration of using the military to seize voting machines, his National Guard deployments to cities over Democratic governors' objections, and the 2025 deployment of active-duty Marines to Los Angeles. The Pentagon said it would respond through normal congressional correspondence channels; the Joint Chiefs did not comment. Hegseth, asked a version of the same question at an April 2026 hearing, called it a "gotcha hypothetical" but said he had never been ordered to do anything illegal and would not follow such an order. Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee had earlier blocked a Democratic amendment to strengthen the existing statutory bar on federal troops at polling places. Democrats had already gone to the department about the monitors: on August 3, 2026, Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine led a ten-senator letter pressing DOJ to confirm the program would stay within its statutory limits and would not target jurisdictions on partisan lines. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, whose state saw monitors during the summer primary, has filed public records requests seeking the factual basis for the deployments.

“We are taking strong, joint legal action to block Donald Trump's threats to deploy federal agents, including ICE and FBI agents, to polling places this November. Sending armed federal agents into American neighborhoods to intimidate voters is not only wrong – it's illegal and would mark a new and extremely dangerous escalation of this administration's disregard for the rule of law and repeated attempts to rig the midterms. … Federal law explicitly forbids voter intimidation and stationing armed federal agents at polling places. Our case is clear, and we're confident we'll defeat Trump in court yet again.”
Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) · Sep 24, 2026

Sep 24, 2026· Updated

Kennedy Center Board Votes 20-3 to Carve Trump's Name Into the Facade and Close the Main Building for Two Years, Three Months After a Judge Ordered the Name Removed

On Thursday, August 13, 2026, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board of trustees — chaired by President Trump and composed mostly of his appointees — voted 20-3 during a roughly two-hour Zoom meeting to close the center's main building for a two-year, $250 million renovation and to attach Trump's name to the building again. The board approved changing the building's name to "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump," to be realized as an inscription reading "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump" placed below the existing marquee bearing President Kennedy's name. The board separately voted to rename the physical site "President Donald J. Trump Plaza." The REACH, a 2019 addition, stays open for limited programming and as a memorial to Kennedy. Reopening is targeted for summer 2028. The vote came three months after U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper ruled in May 2026 that the board's earlier renaming of the venue the "Trump-Kennedy Center" was unlawful, writing that "Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it," and separately blocking a planned closure as "ill-informed and preordained." A D.C. Circuit panel declined to stay that ruling. Federal law establishes the center as a memorial to Kennedy and bars renaming it — or adding "memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials" — without an act of Congress. The three votes against came from the congressional ex officio trustees: Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH-3), the plaintiff in the underlying lawsuit *Beatty v. Trump*, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA-2). Whitehouse said Trump called into the meeting and gave a speech for several minutes, after which the president's vote — and that of chief of staff Susie Wiles, a board member — were texted in. Democratic trustees said they still had not been given the assessments of what a closure would mean for the institution. The White House defended the plan; Beatty's counsel called the vote an effort to evade the court's ruling, setting up a likely contempt fight.

“What was not authorized is a demolition of the Kennedy Center. … If a federal facility is going to be demolished, it cannot be without congressional oversight here.”
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) · Sep 24, 2026

Chuck Grassley Opens a Senate Judiciary Hearing on Transgender Athletes Six Weeks Before the Midterms and Every Democrat but One Stays Away — Dick Durbin Says He Refuses "to Treat This Hearing Like a Responsible Exercise of This Committee" and Walks Out, While Katie Britt Says "Not One Member on the Other Side of the Aisle Has Had the Respect for Women to Come in Here and Ask Questions"

On Sept. 23, 2026, the Senate Judiciary Committee under Chairman Chuck Grassley held a hearing titled "Standing Up for Women in Sports: Ensuring Opportunity, Fairness and Safety for Female Athletes." Grassley opened by saying that allowing "biological men to play in women's sports breaks the promise of Title IX." Ranking Member Dick Durbin gave an opening statement calling the hearing a distraction from cost-of-living concerns and a "vendetta against a small number of people in the trans community." He said he had called no witnesses and would ask no questions, then left. None of the committee's other Democrats attended. Republicans Katie Britt, John Kennedy and Ashley Moody pointed to the empty seats. The hearing is part of a Republican push on the issue ahead of the midterms.

“It shouldn't be complicated. Men do not belong in women's sports.”
Ashley Moody (R-FL) · Sep 23, 2026

PreviousPage 3 of 31Next