Dubai — British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech said Tuesday that a U.S.-flagged tanker was approached by Iranian gunboats, which threatened to board the vessel, in the Strait of Hormuz, before continuing on its way under military escort. The incident comes amid a tense standoff between the U.S. and Iran, and just days ahead of expected negotiations.
The Stena Imperative was approached by three pairs of small armed boats belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, approximately 16 nautical miles north of Oman’s coast, the company said.
The gunboats hailed the tanker by radio, ordering the captain, “to stop the engines and prepare to be boarded,” but the ship increased speed and maintained course, the firm added, stressing that it never entered Iranian territorial waters.
“The vessel is now being escorted by a U.S. warship,” Vanguard Tech said.
The U.S.-flagged tanker was still on course for its destination in Bahrain on Tuesday afternoon, scheduled to arrive at the port Sitrah on Feb. 5, information from the MarineTraffic website showed.
The U.S. tanker Stena Imperative is seen in a Feb. 4, 2024 file photo.
MarineTraffic.com/V. Tonic
The British maritime security agency UKMTO had reported the incident earlier, without specifying the nationality of the ship nor of the boats that approached it, saying only that it had been “hailed on VHF by numerous small armed vessels,” but ignored the request to stop and “continued on its planned route.”
“Authorities are investigating,” UKMTO said in its statement, warning all vessels in the Strait of Hormuz “to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity.”
The Strait of Hormuz is a key passage for global transport of oil and liquefied natural gas, and it has been the scene of several incidents in the past amid tension between Iran and the West.
Iran’s Fars news agency, which is closely linked to the Revolutionary Guards, cited unnamed government officials on Tuesday as denying the report by Vanguard Tech, claiming a vessel was intercepted after it entered Iran’s territorial waters without permission.
A map shows the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, with Iran to the north and the UAE and Oman exclave Musandam to the south.
Getty/iStockphoto
Tracking data from MarineTraffic showed the Imperative remained within Oman’s maritime economic zone as it traversed the Strait.
A senior Iranian official from the Revolutionary Guards threatened last week to block passage of the Strait in the event of a U.S. attack, and the Guards also held military exercises over the weekend in the strategic waterway.
President Trump has threatened repeatedly that he could launch a new military strike on Iran over the country’s brutal suppression of recent protests, or if it declines to negotiate a new deal on its nuclear program.
Speaking to CBS News last week, Mr. Trump said “I have had” conversations with Iran in the last few days, and “I am planning” to have more.
Mr. Trump said that, in those conversations, he “told them two things. No. 1, no nuclear. And No. 2, stop killing protesters. They’re killing them by the thousands.”
At least 10 U.S. warships — including an aircraft carrier and at least five destroyers — were heading toward Iran’s coastal waters as of last week, a deployment Mr. Trump has called an “armada,” which he said he hopes he doesn’t need to use.
U.S. and Iranian officials are expected to hold talks at the end of this week.
Super Bowl week is underway as thousands of journalists, analysts and fans went to the San Jose convention center Monday to ask players and coaches about Super Bowl LX. Kris Van Cleave reports.
A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from revoking legal protections for Haitians enrolled in the Temporary Protected Status program, granting a last-minute reprieve to 350,000 immigrants who were set to lose their deportation protections on Tuesday.
U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes indefinitely paused the planned termination of Haiti’s TPS program, explicitly barring the federal government from invalidating the legal status and work permits of active enrollees and from arresting and deporting them.
In an opinion accompanying her order, Reyes issued a forceful rebuke of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to end the TPS policy for Haitians.
Reyes concluded Noem’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious” and in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act, writing that it failed to fully consider “overwhelming evidence of present danger” in crisis-stricken Haiti, which remains plagued by political instability, gang violence and widespread poverty.
Reyes also found Noem’s decision was “in part” rooted in “racial animus,” citing disparaging remarks that the secretary and President Trump have made about Haiti and immigrants.
“Kristi Noem has a First Amendment right to call immigrants killers, leeches, entitlement junkies, and any other inapt name she wants,” Reyes wrote. “Secretary Noem, however, is constrained by both our Constitution and the APA to apply faithfully the facts to the law in implementing the TPS program. The record to-date shows she has yet to do that.”
In a statement, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin suggested the Trump administration would ask the Supreme Court to intervene in the case.
“Supreme Court, here we come,” she said. “This is lawless activism that we will be vindicated on.”
“Haiti’s TPS was granted following an earthquake that took place over 15 years ago, it was never intended to be a de facto amnesty program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades,” McLaughlin added.
TPS was created by Congress in 1990. Since then, Democratic and Republican administrations have used the policy to provide temporary legal refuge to foreigners from countries facing armed conflict, an environmental disaster or another emergency that makes their return unsafe.
The Trump administration has moved to dismantle most TPS programs, raising the specter of deportation for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Venezuela.
The Trump administration argues these programs attract illegal immigration and that they have been abused and extended for too long by Democratic administrations.
Moltbook was launched last week by a software developer and mirrors the template of Reddit, but it’s not for humans. Instead, it allows artificial intelligence agents to post written content and interact with other chatbots through comments, up-votes and down-votes. Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason University, joins CBS News to discuss.
The Georgia Senate Public Safety Committee held another hearing for House Bill 61, known as the “Georgia Anti-Squatting Act of 2026”, which aims to hasten the removal of unauthorized occupants from residential properties, including hotels and cars, allowing immediate lockouts and treating nonpayment as criminal trespass.
The bill was passed by the committee (7-2) in March 2025, which sets up a process for requiring law enforcement officers to remove people accused of illegally staying at a residential property. However, a “zombie bill” resurfaced that would make it easier for extended-stay hotels to evict long-term residents on the spot.
Under House Bill 61, people who stay in residential properties, hotels, or cars without the owner’s express permission are guilty of misdemeanor unlawful squatting. Any person violating the law would be subject to having law enforcement officers remove them from the property within 10 days of notification.
Photo by Isaiah Singleton/The Atlanta Voice
Section 5 of HB 61 says if an extended-stay resident fails to pay the hotel fee (or the hotel refuses to accept payment), they can immediately be denied access to the room, their personal property can be seized, and held until any past-due fees are paid, and law enforcement can be summoned to arrest them if they do not immediately vacate the property).
Housing rights advocates argue it harms low-income, long-term residents in extended-stay hotels, especially with children. The bill would change how long-term residents of extended-stay hotels are treated under Georgia law by:
· Allowing immediate lockouts
· Requiring removal without a court process
· Treating nonpayment as criminal trespass
· Reversing the Georgia Supreme Court’s 2023 Efficiency Lodge decision, which recognized long-term residents as tenants entitled to judicial eviction
Many working families, including families with children, use extended-stay hotels as a last housing possibility. These changes could result in removal without sufficient time or legal process to secure alternative housing. Families often pay more than traditional apartment rents for these rooms. Other research shows many residents stay in these settings for extended periods, often years.
A 2026 Georgia State University study found that in DeKalb County alone, over 4,600 people, including 1,635+ children, live in extended-stay hotels as “shelters of last resort”. Families spend an average of 77% of their income on rent, with 45% of households staying for 1-5 years, and 16% staying over five years.
Last year, senate republicans implanted the extended-stay eviction provisions from a failed bill, HB 183, into HB 61, which regulates license plates for hearses and ambulances, so the altered HB 61 never passed through any House committee.
Additionally, over 8,800 Georgia kids live in extended-stay hotels, according to Marietta Republican Representative Devan Seabaugh (District 34).
“House Bill 61 is a targeted, balanced, public safety and property rights measure that closes critical loopholes in Georgia law that have been exploited by squatters, fraudsters, and individuals unlawfully occupying property,” he said.
“Importantly, House Bill 61 creates a new felony offense for presenting a fake lease deed or rental agreement to remain in possession of a property. This address is one of the most common tactics used to delay removal,” he said. “This bill is carefully balanced and preserves due process, protects legitimate tenants with valid leases, provides civil remedies for wrongful removal, and includes clear safeguards for both property owners and law enforcement officers.”
House Bill 61, Seabaugh said, is not about eviction reform, but is about addressing situations where no lawful tenancy exists, where property is being occupied through trespass or fraud, and where public safety and property rights are at risk for these reasons.
“House Bill 61 stands for a necessary refinement of Georgia’s squatting laws that reflects the input of law enforcement and industry stakeholders and provides clear constitutional tools to address a growing problem,” he said.
Senator Rick Williams says his concern is about some families living in hotels because they cannot pay the first or last month’s rent.
“They may have been evicted before, they are in hard times, and they have small children,” Williams said. “I would hate to see an innkeeper put a family out with small children during this extremely freezing weather, and these people have nowhere else to go. These are people who are helpless, so how do we help them without hurting them?”
CEO of Explore Gwinnett, Lisa Anders, says in her experience, most people they are currently struggling with are individuals who are systematically abusing the system because they are aware they can.
“We have some support with nonprofit organizations, and I’ve got a lot of hotels that, out of their compassion, work with their families because they know their paycheck to paycheck,” she said. “They let them pay weekly, but the problem children, as we’ll call them, are the ones who know the system doesn’t really offer an opportunity for the hotels to force them to leave, and they are primarily male individuals. That’s our consistent demographic.”
The Senate Public Safety Committee voted 7-2, and the motion was passed to go forward for due process to the Senate Rules Committee.
How to Act:
· Contact Key Lawmakers: Focus on members of the Georgia Senate Public Safety Committee, which is reviewing the bill.
· Voice Concerns: Argue the bill does not distinguish between criminals and tenants/residents struggling with rent, risking homelessness for vulnerable families.
· Monitor Legislative Activity: The bill was recently under consideration in early 2026, meaning prompt action is necessary to influence its progress.
No public comments or testimonies were made during this hearing.
As abortion access continues to narrow across much of the United States, Spelman College created space Monday for students and the public to confront the issue through film, conversation, and lived experience.
The historically Black college for women hosted a screening of the HBO documentary short “The Devil Is Busy,” followed by a Q&A with director Christalyn Hampton and executive producer Soledad O’Brien. The 30-minute film, nominated for an Academy Award, follows Tracii (last name not disclosed), the head of security at Feminist Women’s Health Center in Atlanta, over the course of a single day as new legal restrictions and constant protests surround the clinic.
The 30-minute film, nominated for an Academy Award, follows Tracii (last name not disclosed), the head of security at Feminist Women’s Health Centerin Atlanta, over the course of a single day as new legal restrictions and constant protests surround the clinic. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice
The event was introduced by Shola Lynch, the Diana King Endowed Professor of filmmaking and director of Spelman’s documentary film program. Lynch, who leads the college’s effort to educate what she called “the next generation of narrative nonfiction storytellers,” framed the screening as both a professional opportunity and a deeply personal one for the students in attendance.
Shot in a cinéma vérité style, the film offers a direct look at the daily reality inside the clinic. Patients arrive seeking abortions and other medical services, including routine checkups and preventive care. Tracii and the staff respond with a series of safety measures: checking the building for intruders, coordinating with security guards who escort patients in and out, and using numbered systems to keep identities private. Tracii also shares her own background, supports nervous patients and deals with protesters who gather outside, quoting scripture in a tone that the film conveys as judgmental rather than compassionate.
Shola Lynch, the Diana King Endowed Professor of filmmaking and director of Spelman’s documentary film program. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice
The Q&A was moderated by Simone Hammond, president of the Spelman Film Fusion club, and Lydia Scott, a junior documentary filmmaking major and the club’s vice president. Additionally, two Spelman documentary students also worked on the production of the film.
Hampton, an Atlanta native who took her first dance class at Spelman before building a career in choreography and then documentary filmmaking, said the decision to center the film on Tracii came naturally once the crew arrived at the clinic.
“The first person you meet is Tracii, because she’s the security, and she and I clicked,” Hampton said during the Q&A. “And then you have the protesters, and I was like, this is an interesting dynamic.”
Hampton described an early moment on the job that made the dynamic unmistakable. During a phone call with her team, the noise in the background drew questions. “They were like, could you go somewhere where it’s quiet,” she said. “I said, no, that’s the protesters, and I’m in an office.”
The film was shot entirely by a crew of women of color, a deliberate choice that Hampton and O’Brien say shaped both the access they were granted and the intimacy of the story they were able to tell. Nearly two-thirds of abortion patients nationally are Black or Latina women, according to the filmmakers, yet those experiences rarely receive sustained media attention. Hampton said the goal was to follow Tracii and the women at the clinic and “make it an immersive experience for the audience.”
O’Brien, a veteran TV journalist marking roughly her 40th year in the industry, said the project grew out of a decision the team made well before the Supreme Court acted. “We knew that Roe v. Wade was gonna die, even though people would say we don’t know,” O’Brien said. “We knew.” The Ford Foundation provided early funding to help the team figure out what story to tell once the ruling came down.
O’Brien said the project also represented a departure from her usual role in an era when, she noted, “journalists are so not trusted.”
Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, which took effect after the Dobbs decision, looms over the events depicted in the film, adding urgency to every interaction inside the clinic. The documentary highlights the challenges faced by clinics and the people who work to keep patients safe in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.
During the film, a line from one of the women at the clinic captures the story’s on-screen stakes.
“I never thought I’d have more rights 25 years ago than my daughter does now.”
Atlanta Peach Movers vans (above) were getting loaded up during the morning of Monday, February 2. It was “Truck Day.” Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
On the morning of Monday, Feb. 2, several moving trucks were idling in the bowels of Truist Park. The trucks, courtesy of Atlanta Peach Movers, were in the process of being loaded with the necessary gear the Atlanta Braves players, coaches, and staff will need while at spring training.
Monday was “Truck Day,” and the Braves are headed to their spring training home in North Port, Florida, to prepare for the 2026 season.
Spring training officially begins on Saturday, February 21, with the Braves beginning the schedule on Feb. 22, against the Minnesota Twins, but the tools of the trade need to make it down to the Sunshine State before the team arrives.
There are also new items. The “Crossover Collection” will have a Drake Baldwin hockey jersey (above), a Michael Harris II football jersey, and a Ronald Acuna, Jr. basketball jersey. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
Later in the day, the Braves marketing department allowed local press to take a look at some of the promotional giveaways scheduled for the 2026 season. The items on the list include a replica Dale Murphy jersey, a Braves straw cowboy hat, and bobbleheads of former Braves Javy Lopez and future Cooperstown inductee Andruw Jones, 1995 World Series hero David Justice, and current Braves stars Michael Harris II and Ha-Seong Kim. The Ha-Seong Kim bobblehead (far right) has his name in Korean (above) and in English.
There are also new items. The “Crossover Collection” will have a Drake Baldwin hockey jersey, a Michael Harris II football jersey, and a Ronald Acuna, Jr. basketball jersey.
“We got 81 games, so we have a lot of opportunities to bring fans some new items,” Jori Palmer, the Braves’ senior director of marketing and advertising. “We try to keep it fresh, keep it relevant.”
The Ha-Seong Kim bobblehead (far right) has his name in Korean (above) and in English. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
The Bobblecards, a combination of a bobblehead and a baseball card, will be another surprise giveaway item. The bobblecards are half the height of a traditional bobblehead and come with the complete stats of the players, similar to a baseball card.
“It’s kind of like a 3-D baseball card,” Palmer said. “It’s a neat spin on a bobblehead.”
(CNN) — Men develop a greater risk of cardiovascular disease years earlier than women — starting at around age 35, according to a new long-term study.
The report, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, followed more than 5,000 adults from young adulthood and found that men reached clinically significant levels of cardiovascular disease about seven years earlier than women.
Experts advise both men and women to monitor their heart health in early adulthood and to see their doctor regularly.
“Heart disease doesn’t happen overnight; it develops over years. One of the things I think oftentimes people aren’t aware of is that it can start really early in your 30s or 40s,” said study coauthor Dr. Sadiya Khan, professor of cardiovascular epidemiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
“Even if you don’t have heart disease at that time, your risk can start at that time.”
A long-cited “10-year gap” in cardiovascular disease between men and women is driven mostly by coronary heart disease, a narrowing or clogging of the heart’s arteries caused by plaque buildup, in men.
“The 10-year-gap is a commonly cited statistic that men develop heart disease about 10 years before women. A lot of the initial research on that looked specifically at coronary heart disease, a subtype of cardiovascular disease,” said senior study author Alexa Freedman, assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
The mix of risk factors for cardiovascular disease has changed over time, Freedman noted. “Smoking rates were higher for men, and they have lowered and are now more similar between men and women. Hypertension is now more similar between men and women,” she said.
Freedman’s team wanted to find out whether the gap exists in other types of cardiovascular disease, such as heart failure and stroke. The team examined premature cardiovascular disease, defined as disease occurring before age 65, and analyzed both overall cardiovascular disease and specific subtypes of coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure.
Tracking heart health from young adulthood
The analysis draws on data from 5,112 Black and White adults across four US states who were enrolled in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study between 1985 and 1986, when they were between 18 and 30 years old.
All participants were healthy and free of cardiovascular disease when they enrolled in the study. Participants have been followed for a median of 34.1 years, with regular clinical exams and surveys; 160 women and 227 men experienced cardiovascular disease events.
Freedman said that participants entered the study well before the onset of most cardiovascular risk, so researchers were able to precisely measure when disease emerged — a major advantage over studies that enroll patients later in life.
The risk gap widens by the mid-30s
One of the study’s most striking findings came from an analysis of rolling 10-year risk windows. Rather than estimating a single lifetime risk, the researchers calculated the probability of developing cardiovascular disease over the next decade at each age.
Up until their early 30s, men and women had similar short-term cardiovascular risk. But at around age 35, the risk began to diverge. Men began to face a consistently higher 10-year risk than women. Case in point: By age 50, the 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease was about 6% for men, compared with roughly 3% for women.
Over the follow-up period, men developed cardiovascular disease earlier than women. By about age 50, 5% of men had developed cardiovascular disease — nearly seven years earlier than women, who reached the same level around age 57.
Specifically for coronary heart disease, the difference in risk between men and women was even more pronounced. “In our study, about 2% of men had developed coronary heart disease by age 48 or so, and for women, they didn’t reach that incidence until closer to 58, so we saw that 10-year gap,” Freedman said.
The study found that this difference was not explained by traditional risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol or smoking. However, Dr. Iris Jaffe, the executive director of the Molecular Cardiology Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center, explained that there are still other “social determinants that are hard to factor in.” She was not involved in the new research.
“Women do different kinds of work than men. Women are under different kinds of stress. Those kinds of things were not accounted for,” she said.
Jaffe also said that more research should be done to understand these biological differences. “I study the biology behind all of this, and I think that there’s certainly some biological difference between men and women that explain some of this that we’re only starting to begin to scratch the surface to understand.”
By contrast, the researchers found no meaningful sex difference in stroke risk; men and women reached similar stroke incidence at nearly the same ages. Heart failure also showed little difference early on, but men had a slightly higher incidence rate by age 65.
Despite the results of this paper, Jaffe emphasized that women should still monitor their heart health.
“I worry that a study like this will make women think that they don’t have to worry about their heart health. Ultimately, heart disease is a leading cause of death for women also,” she said. “Everyone should pay more attention in young adulthood to their health and to preventing heart disease.”
This is especially important because women’s risk for heart disease can accelerate after menopause, Khan explained.
“The hypothesis is that estrogen can be protective, so that women may develop risk for heart disease later, by about 10 years, but then after menopause, it catches up,” Khan said. “After menopause, and particularly during that perimenopause period for women, that risk can accelerate.”
The study arrives as cardiovascular guidelines are slowly shifting toward earlier risk assessment. Updated American Heart Association risk equations now allow clinicians to estimate cardiovascular risk starting at age 30, rather than 40, a move Freedman said is supported by their findings.
The results also raise questions about health care access and utilization. Young adult women tend to have far more preventive care visits than men, largely due to reproductive health care, which may facilitate earlier risk detection and counseling, the study authors wrote.
“Young men are much less likely to see a doctor for routine care in their mid 30s and 40s, so increasing the preventive care visits, particularly for young men, is one way that we could potentially promote heart health and reduce cardiovascular disease risk,” Freedman said.
Jaffe recommended that young adults see a physician at least once a year and have their blood pressure and cholesterol checked. Need more guidance? She suggested that young adults follow the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8, which are actions people can take to maintain healthy cardiovascular health.
“Most of them are to manage the traditional risk factors, like avoiding tobacco, managing your weight, managing blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, but then it includes eating better, being more active and getting healthy sleep,” Jaffe said. “Those are the things that everyone can do to decrease the risk of heart disease.”
Khan added that everyone should track their cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. “Know where your risk factors are, you know where your risk is, and then you can act on it,” she said.
Ed Martin has been removed from his role as the head of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Weaponization Working Group, multiple sources told CBS News.
Martin, a close ally to President Trump, was tapped to lead the working group after he failed to garner enough support from the Republican-controlled Senate to win confirmation as D.C.’s U.S. attorney, largely due to his history of political advocacy in supporting the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Martin was also named pardon attorney — an advisory role to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that entails reviewing clemency applications and making recommendations. Later, he was separately deputized as a special assistant U.S. attorney who was tasked with helping to investigate mortgage fraud cases involving public officials.
He remains on staff as pardon attorney, according to a Justice Department spokesperson. CNN first reported Martin’s removal as weaponization czar.
Behind the scenes, Martin was involved in the mortgage-related investigations into Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California, New York Attorney General Letitica James and Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, sources familiar told CBS News, though his exact role remains unclear.
All of those probes were initially referred to the Justice Department by William Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a staunch Trump ally.
CBS News could not immediately determine why Martin is no longer involved with the Weaponization Working Group. One source told CBS he was informed of the change in December, and it took effect in early January.
Martin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Martin has at times clashed with officials inside Blanche’s office since he started working there last year over his lack of productivity on the working group and his controversial social media posts, several sources told CBS News.
In late 2025, the Justice Department began scrutinizing Martin and Pulte’s role in the Schiff investigation, after prosecutors issued a grand jury subpoena to a key witness in the case.
The witness, California politician and real estate agent Christine Bash, was asked to provide information about her communications with Martin, Pulte and anyone who might have been acting at their behest — including Robert Bowes and Scott Strauss, according to a copy of the subpoena seen by CBS News.
Bondi in mid-December denied in a post on X that Pulte was being investigated, calling it “Fake news.”
Bowes previously served in the first Trump administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and also held positions at Chase Manhattan Bank and Fannie Mae.
One source briefed on the matter told CBS News that prosecutors were trying to ascertain whether Pulte and Martin had improperly deputized Bowes and Strauss to assist on the Schiff investigation.
CBS News could not determine the status of that investigation. Schiff, who has denied any wrongdoing, has not been charged in the case.
Martin’s brief tenure as interim U.S. attorney in Washington was fraught with controversy. Career lawyers blocked him from opening a criminal investigation into Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer over political comments he made in 2020 in which Schumer said that several conservative Supreme Court justices would “pay the price” over actions that scaled back abortion rights.
He also drew scrutiny for a series of threatening letters he sent to a variety of Mr. Trump’s political enemies, for his omission on Senate committee paperwork about his prior paid appearances on Russia state-owned media outlets and his prior public praise for a Nazi sympathizer who was prosecuted for storming the Capitol.
Shortly before Martin started his new role as the head of the Weaponization Working Group, he disclosed to lawyers in the U.S. Attorney’s office that he was facing a professional ethics investigation by the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel. CBS News could not immediately determine the status of that probe.
The weaponization working group was tasked with reviewing a variety of cases that were brought during former President Joe Biden’s tenure, including the Jan. 6 prosecutions, the FACE Act prosecutions against people who tried to obstruct abortion clinics and alleged retaliation against whistleblowers.
Although the group is required to issue reports to the White House, little has been accomplished since it formed last year, several sources say.
(CNN) — Recent outbreaks of measles in the United States are driving up case counts and raising alarm among public health experts, especially as vaccination rates among children lag.
The concern this year comes after the first reported deaths in the US since 2015 and following a significant increase in the number of cases in 2024. CNN is monitoring these cases and updating this page each week as new national data is collected and released from state health departments by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A large outbreak in West Texas is largely responsible for the spike in the national cases in 2025. However, the United States is now facing its second surge, with cases accumulating nearly as quickly as when the West Texas outbreak was at its peak this spring. Large outbreaks in Utah, Arizona and South Carolina are continuing to grow.
Texas hasn’t reported any new measles cases since state officials declared that the outbreak there was over in mid-August.
Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease. It can cause serious health consequences or death, especially for young and unvaccinated children. Most of the cases involve people younger than age 20.
General symptoms may include fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes and a rash of red spots. About 1 in 5 unvaccinated people in the US who get measles will be hospitalized, according to the CDC.
About 1 in every 20 children will develop pneumonia, and others may develop a dangerous swelling in the brain called encephalitis. Up to 3 of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles may die from respiratory and neurologic complications.
National data compiled by the CDC lags behind reports collected by state health agencies. Here’s the latest national snapshot of which states have reported cases so far. Cases have been reported in nearly every state.
Measles is preventable, thanks to a highly effective vaccine. Experts recommend that children get the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine in two doses: the first between 12 months and 15 months of age, and a second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is about 93% effective at preventing measles infection; two doses are about 97% effective.
The increased concern about measles cases can be attributed to falling vaccination rates and to increased travel, which can result in unvaccinated people acquiring measles abroad and bringing it back to the US, according to the CDC, which occurred in 2019.
Here’s how the cases this year compare to the past.
Measles was eliminated in the US in 2000. Imported cases are expected, but when vaccination rates are high, the risk remains low and outbreaks are rare. Outbreaks in 2019, particularly two in underimmunized Orthodox Jewish communities in New York, threatened measles elimination status in the US.
“If a measles outbreak continues for a year or more, the United States could lose its measles elimination status,” according to the CDC.
Because measles is so contagious, a high level of vaccination coverage is key to minimizing spread. The US has set a target vaccination rate of 95%, but coverage among kindergarteners has dipped below that in recent years.
MMR vaccine series completion among kindergarteners decreased from 95.2% during the 2019–2020 school year to 92.7% in the 2023–2024 school year, leaving about 280,000 at risk, according to the CDC.
Chef Wellington Onyenwe’s fusion menu for Chow Club in January 2024 reimagined Japanese dishes using Nigerian ingredients.
Photograph by Adrienne Bruce
I loveto play restaurant at Chow Club Atlanta. The monthly pop-up dinner series, cofounded by Amanda Plumb and Yohana Solomon, features local chefs with international roots: Some are home cooks learning the ropes of feeding more than 50 people, while others are professionals with their own restaurants, such as chef Amal Alaoui of Marrakech Express.
The Chow Club cofounders met in the 2010s, when Amanda, a creative strategist and author of Unique Eats and Eateries of Atlanta, volunteered at Yohana’s Atlanta Underground Market, where Yohana and other emerging chefs served meals at “secret” locations. Yohana then prepared a traditional Ethiopian meal for Amanda’s friends, to rave reviews; afterward, the two brainstormed how to keep connecting these two worlds. What if Yohana invited chefs she knew to cook for Amanda’s friends and other culinary explorers? The monthly Chow Club was born, starting at Amanda’s house in 2017 and ultimately expanding to Uptown Test Kitchen near the Lindbergh MARTA station. Today, Yohana also runs Chow Á La Carte there, a micro food hall that features small menus offered by weekly rotating chefs.
I heard about Chow Club four years ago while attending Amanda’s book talk. I was intrigued, but the upcoming dinner was sold out. Instead, Amanda suggested I volunteer. Since then, I’ve helped to serve meals or plate dishes every month I’m in town.
On a memorable evening several Chow Club dinners ago, I arrived at Uptown Test Kitchen to assist with a Botswana Chow, helmed by chef Keletso Thaga, aka Chef Kepla. He perfected his peri-peri wings at his former West End ghost kitchen and now pops up regularly at Chow Á La Carte.
Yohana waved me into the kitchen to start prepping 55 small plates. Like a golfer’s caddie, she assisted Chef Kepla through the first of his five courses of Botswanan cuisine, acting as his kitchen expeditor.
Meanwhile Amanda, who oversees Chow Club’s front of house, called all of us volunteers—ranging from high schoolers to baby boomers—to the dining area to set the tables while she explained the evening’s flow. I teamed up with another volunteer, Raven, to fill ice water glasses before ushering guests to their assigned tables. At Table Four, I stopped to reminisce with a few regulars about Yohana’s Friendsgiving potluck, discussing what we’d make next time.
Chow Club is the best of Atlanta. It’s a foodie’s paradise: Chef Wellington—that’s Wellington Onyenwe, a veteran chef who won Food Network’s Supermarket Stakeout—once prepared a Nigerian-Japanese fusion menu, including thick ramen served in a Nigerian pepper soup, blending his ancestral heritage and travels to Japan. Guests sit at communal tables, arriving as strangers and leaving as friends. Chefs often explain to diners how each course reflects their own family’s culture or traditions.
I prefer to take this all in from the back of the house. From this vantage point, I watched that night as Amanda worked her clipboard like an air traffic controller, directing servers with full platters; as Yohana set up an assembly line to plate each course; as guests cheered on Chef Kepla.
After the dining area emptied, fellow volunteers and I paused to enjoy the leftovers together. I helped clean up, filled Tupperware for tomorrow’s lunch, and left with a full belly and a fuller spirit, already looking forward to my next Chow Club shift.
The shine is coming off gold and silver. Prices for the precious metals, which last week soared to record highs, are extending their slide after a sharp selloff on Friday.
Gold, which topped $5,500 last week, dipped below $4,500 per ounce in overnight trading. Friday’s decline amounted to the biggest one-day drop in the shiny metal’s price since 2013, noted Pepperstone senior research strategist Michael Brown. Silver also suffered its worst daily loss, tumbling more than 31%.
As of 10:30 a.m. EDT, gold and silver had rebounded to $4,779 and $81.
What’s behind the metals meltdown?
Investors have poured into the metals in the last year amid concerns about mounting global geopolitical uncertainty and government borrowing, as debt levels across the U.S. and other major economies continue to rise.
The sell-off on Friday came after President Trump announced Kevin Warsh as his nominee to succeed Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve. Although Warsh has over the last year argued in favor of lowering interest rates, he is generally viewed as “hawkish” on inflation.
With consumer prices still running above the Fed’s annual 2% target, that could incline Warsh against the kind of aggressive rate-cutting that President Trump has demanded, according to Wall Street analysts. Gold prices often (though not always) fall as interest rates rise because holdings of the metal don’t pay interest, leading investors to rotate into stocks and other risk assets in search of higher returns.
The plunge in precious metal prices was also fueled by a rebound in the dollar, which had fallen to its lowest level in four years before Warsh was nominated as Fed chair, according to JPMorgan analysts. The values of gold and the dollar typically move in opposite directions.
“We get a catalyst of a rebound in the U.S. dollar, to some degree on the back of the nomination of Warsh, and from that perspective, that’s really the trigger that leads to very swift, significant de-risking… and the real sharp rollover into Friday,” Gregory Shearer, executive director of global commodities research at J.P. Morgan, in a call with clients on Monday.
Other factors also fed into the sell-off. Investors had borrowed heavily capitalize on the run-up in gold over the last year. But once prices began to slide, many of those same investors faced rising margin requirements, the minimum amount set by brokerage firms to maintain their leveraged position, according to Nigel Green, CEO of financial consulting firm deVere Group.
“Many chose, or were forced, to sell,” Green said in an email. “This process pushes prices lower regardless of fundamentals.”
Where are precious metal prices headed now?
On Wall Street, opinions are mixed on where gold and silver prices go from here.
“The recovery may not be immediate or dramatic, but we believe the mechanics favor a bounce rather than continued freefall once the forced phase ends,” Green said.
JPMorgan analysts also think the hard assets are likely to recover. In a research note, commodities analysts with the bank lifted their year-end target for gold to $6,300.
But Neil Shearing, group chief economist at investment advisory firm Oxford Economics, said in a research note that he expects gold to end the year “well below current levels.”
“While some market participants may be buying gold due to genuine concerns about the global economic and political backdrop, our sense is that market exuberance and a dose of FOMO are inflating a bubble in gold,” he added.
Johnson says he expects House to fund the government by Tuesday
Johnson expressed confidence in a pair of interviews Sunday that the House will pass the funding package to reopen the government by Tuesday, despite a number of hurdles ahead.
“We have a logistical challenge of getting everyone in town,” Johnson said Sunday on “Meet the Press.” “And because of the conversation I had with Hakeem Jeffries, I know that we’ve got to pass a rule and probably do this mostly on our own.”
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said “Republicans are going to do the responsible thing and fund the government.” But he acknowledged that he may face some opposition among members of his own party as well.
“I have a lot of conversations to have with individual Republican members over the next 24 hours or so,” Johnson said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Still, Johnson added, “we’ll get all this done by Tuesday, I’m convinced.”
“I don’t understand why anybody would have a problem with this,” Johnson said, noting that the bulk of the funding package has already passed the House.
Johnson said “we’re going to do it again,” calling the approval a “formality at this point.”
House Rules Committee to take up funding package Monday afternoon
With the House back in Washington, the package will first go to the Rules Committee, which is set to meet Monday afternoon to consider the legislation after Democrats informed GOP leadership that they would not help fast-track the bill.
Though the Rules Committee route requires a simple majority for passage on the House floor, the legislation will need to pass several procedural hurdles where votes are typically along party-lines.
First, it’s unclear whether the funding package can clear the Rules Committee, where at least one Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, has said he has his own demands for DHS funding. Second, if it advances out of the committee, there are questions about whether Johnson can keep his party united in a procedural vote before final passage.
On the floor, Johnson can only afford to lose two votes if all members are present and voting. Attendance has already created issues for Republicans this year.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, has said that she’ll withhold her support unless legislation that would require Americans to show proof of citizenship in person to register to vote in federal elections is attached.
Any changes to the package would require sending it back to the Senate, prolonging the shutdown.
House Democrats not expected to help GOP fast-track funding deal
House Democrats conveyed to GOP leadership over the weekend that they wouldn’t provide the votes to help pass the funding package under suspension of the rules — a maneuver that would fast track the legislation’s passage.
“We need a full and complete debate,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on MSNOW Saturday. “And what I’ve made clear to House Republicans is that they cannot simply move forward with legislation taking a ‘my way or the highway’ approach.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke Saturday, two sources familiar with the conversation confirmed to CBS News.
Johnson acknowledged on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that after his call with Jeffries, he expects Republicans will “probably do this mostly on our own.”
The dynamic means Johnson will have to shepherd the legislation through the Rules Committee before it goes to the floor for a simple majority vote. GOP leaders, with a narrow majority in the chamber, must have near unanimous support among Republicans — and could still face hurdles from conservatives on the Rules Committee and otherwise.
Here’s what’s behind the partial government shutdown
The Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement has been the focus of this funding fight.
Since the longest shutdown in U.S. history last fall, lawmakers have been working to pass individual spending bills to fund federal agencies through September 2026. Congress has passed six of those bills already, and they have been signed by the president. The other six are the focus of the current funding fight.
While the funding measures had been on track to pass ahead of the deadline earlier this month, the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis changed things for Democrats. They came out fiercely against funding for DHS without further reforms, and in the Senate, Democrats pledged not to provide the votes to move forward on the funding package unless the DHS money was stripped out.
(CNN) — It was a history-making night at the Grammy Awards.
This year’s Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny took home album of the year for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos (I Should Have Taken More Photos),” which became the first-ever Spanish-language album to nab the top prize. Amidst an effusive and emotional acceptance speech in Spanish, the Puerto Rican superstar said in English, “I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country to follow their dreams.”
Earlier in the show, Bad Bunny won for best música urbana album, and took a moment on stage to make a political statement, starting with a declaration of “ICE out,” which was met with extended, lengthy applause.
“We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans,” Bad Bunny continued. “I also want to say to the people, I know it’s tough not to hate on these days and I was thinking, sometimes we get contaminados…. The hate get more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So please, we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. If we don’t hate them, we love our people. We love our family and that’s the way to do it. Don’t forget that please.”
Another pre-show winner included last year’s Super Bowl halftime show headliner Kendrick Lamar, who took home three Grammys before the show even started, nabbing another in the first hour of the telecast. With it, he broke the record previously held by Jay-Z and became the most awarded rapper in Grammys history. His wins this weekend included one for best rap album, for “GNX,” as well as record of the year alongside SZA for “luther.”
Like Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish – winner for song of the year for “Wildflower” – also made unfiltered statements about ICE while accepting a Grammy.
Standing on stage alongside her brother and producing partner Finneas O’Connell, Eilish, who has been an outspoken critic of actions made by ICE officials in recent weeks, said “no one is illegal on stolen land.”
Eilish’s final statement on stage was bleeped by television censors, but according to video footage posted online by those in attendance, she said, “F**k ICE.”
Going into Sunday’s show, Lamar led with nine nominations, including for album of the year for his “GNX.”
Feted filmmaker Steven Spielberg clinched a Grammy before the show as well, joining the elite ranks of EGOTs (winners of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award) when he was awarded a statuette for best music film for the documentary “Music by John Williams,” which he coproduced alongside Ron Howard and many others.
Performances included the likes of Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter and all eight best new artist nominees – Addison Rae, Alex Warren, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, Lola Young, Olivia Dean, SOMBR and The Marías.
Below is a partial list of nominees, with the winners denoted in bold:
Album of the year
“DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” Bad Bunny – *WINNER
“SWAG,” Justin Bieber
“Man’s Best Friend,” Sabrina Carpenter
“Let God Sort Em Out,” Clipse, Pusha T and Malice
“Mayhem,” Lady Gaga
“GNX,” Kendrick Lamar
“MUTT,” Leon Thomas
“CHROMAKOPIA,” Tyler, the Creator
Song of the year
“Abracadabra,” Lady Gaga
“Anxiety,” Doechii
“DtMF,” Bad Bunny
“Golden,” KPop Demon Hunters
“luther,” Kendrick Lamar w/ SZA
“Manchild,” Sabrina Carpenter
“WILDFLOWER,” Billie Eilish – *WINNER
Record of the year
“DtMF,” Bad Bunny
“Manchild,” Sabrina Carpenter
“Anxiety,” Doechii
“WILDFLOWER,” Billie Eilish
“Abracadabra,” Lady Gaga
“luther,” Kendrick Lamar w/ SZA – *WINNER
“The Subway,” Chappell Roan
“APT.” Rosé and Bruno Mars
Best new artist
Olivia Dean – *WINNER
Katseye
The Marias
Addison Rae
sombr
Leon Thomas
Alex Warren
Lola Young
Best pop solo performance
“Daises,” Justin Bieber
“Manchild,” Sabrina Carpenter
“Disease,” Lady Gaga
“The Subway,” Chappell Roan
“Messy,” Lola Young – *WINNER
Best pop duo/group performance
“Defying Gravity,” Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande – *WINNER
“Golden,” HUNTR/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna, REI AMI
“Gabriela,” Katseye
“APT.” Rosé and Bruno Mars
“30 for 30,” SZA w/ Kendrick Lamar
Best rap album
“Let God Sort Em Out,” Clipse, Pusha T and Malice
“Glorious,” GloRilla
“God Does Like Ugly,” JID
“GNX,” Kendrick Lamar – *WINNER
“Chromakopia,” Tyler, The Creator
Best rap performance
“Outside,” Cardi B
“Chains & Whips,” Clipse, Pusha T & Malice f/ Kendrick Lamar & Pharrell Williams – *WINNER
“Anxiety,” Doechii
“tv off,” Kenrick Lamar f/Lefty Gunplay
“Darling, I,” Tyler, the Creator f/ Teezo Touchdown
Best contemporary country album
“Patterns,” Kelsea Ballerini
“Snipe Hunter,” Tyler Childers
“Evangeline Vs. The Machine,” Eric Church
“Beautifully Broken,” Jelly Roll – *WINNER
“Postcards From Texas,” Miranda Lambert
Best country solo performance
“Nose on the Grindstone,” Tyler Childers
“Good News,” Shaboozey
“Bad As I Used to Be,” Chris Stapleton – *WINNER
“I Never Lie,” Zach Top
“Somewhere Over Laredo,” Lainey Wilson
Best rock album
“private music,” Deftones
“I Quit,” HAIM
“From Zero,” Linkin Park
“NEVER ENOUGH,” Turnstile – *WINNER
“Idols,” YUNGBLUD
Best rock performance
“U Should Not Be Doing That,” Amyl and The Sniffers
“The Emptiness Machine,” Linkin Park
“NEVER ENOUGH,” Turnstile
“Mirtazapine,” Hayley Williams
“Changes (Live From Villa Park) Back To The Beginning,” YUNGBLUD f/ Nuno Bettencourt, Frank Bello, Adam Wakeman, II – *WINNER
The 68th annual Grammy Awards returned Sunday night to honor the best in the music business with some big-name performances, new awards, and Kendrick Lamar leading the pack with nine nominations.
These Grammys saw the addition of two new categories: Best Traditional Country Album and Best Album Cover, bringing the total number of awards doled out to 95. The category formerly known as Best Country Album is now named Best Contemporary Country Album.
Where to watch the Grammys with cable
The 68th annual Grammy Awards were broadcast live on Sun. Feb. 1, on CBS television stations starting at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (5 p.m. Pacific Time). Find your local CBS station here.
How to stream the Grammys live
The Grammy Awards were streamed live and on-demand on Paramount+ in the U.S. The show is available live and on-demand for Paramount+ Premium subscribers. Paramount+ Essential subscribers can stream the show on-demand beginning Monday.
How to watch the Grammy Awards red carpet
CBS Los Angeles’ red carpet special will began at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (4 p.m. Pacific), hosted by anchor Kalyna Astrinos and entertainment journalist Grae Drake. It was streamed live on CBS News Los Angeles, and those in the L.A. market could also watch the broadcast on the KCAL channel.
Who are the Grammy nominees?
Among Lamar’s nine nominations is a nod for Album of the Year for “GNX.” It’s his fifth consecutive studio album to be nominated for the award, something no other artist has ever done, but the award ultimately went to Bad Bunny.
Lady Gaga, Jack Antonoff and Canadian producer and songwriter Cirkut received seven nominations each. Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Leon Thomas and Canadian audio engineer Serban Ghenea all received six nods.
Bad Bunny is the first Spanish-language artist to be nominated for song, record and album of the year in the same year, according to Variety.
The eight artists nominated for Best New Artist — Addison Rae, Alex Warren, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, Lola Young, Olivia Dean, Sombr and The Marías — all performed at the Grammy Awards on Sunday.
The show also featured performances from Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Clipse and Pharrell Williams.
Lauryn Hill led a tribute to D’Angelo, who died of cancer in October at the age of 51, and Roberta Flack, who died in February at age 88.
Post Malone, Duff McKagan, Slash, Chad Smith and Andrew Watt paid tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne.
Who is presenting at the Grammy Awards?
Three-time Grammy Award winner Harry Styles was among the stars who presented awards at the show. Doechii, who already has a Grammy Award under her belt and is nominated for five awards on Sunday, was also a presenter at this year’s ceremony. Other presenters included Cher, Teyana Taylor, Jeff Golblum and more.
Who is hosting the Grammy Awards?
Comedian and former “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah returnined to host the Grammy Awards for a sixth consecutive year.
Host Trevor Noah at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 2, 2025.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
First, calls grow for an independent probe into Minneapolis shootings. Then, NASA’s journey to the far side of the moon. And, the Amsterdam improv club behind comedy legends.
The mayor of Portland, Oregon, demanded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leave his city after federal agents launched tear gas at a crowd of demonstrators — including young children — outside an ICE facility during a weekend protest that he and others characterized as peaceful.
Thousands of people attended the “ICE out” protest on Saturday in South Portland, according to the Portland Police Bureau. The protest began near Elizabeth Caruthers Park, and demonstrators later moved to an ICE facility a few blocks away, CBS affiliate KOIN reported. That’s where witnesses said agents deployed tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets.
Erin Hoover Barnett, a former OregonLive reporter who joined the protest, said she was about 100 yards from the building in Portland’s South Waterfront when “what looked like two guys with rocket launchers” started dousing the crowd with gas.
“To be among parents frantically trying to tend to little children in strollers, people using motorized carts trying to navigate as the rest of us staggered in retreat, unsure of how to get to safety, was terrifying,” Barnett wrote in an email to OregonLive.
The use of tear gas continued intermittently through the night as the group of protesters dwindled, KOIN reported.
The federal government “must, and will, be held accountable,” Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said Saturday night. “To those who continue to make these sickening decisions, go home, look in a mirror, and ask yourselves why you have gassed children.
Wilson also said the city would be imposing a fee on detention facilities that use chemical agents.
The mayor said the daytime demonstration was peaceful, “where the vast majority of those present violated no laws, made no threat and posed no danger” to federal agents.
“To those who continue to work for ICE: Resign. To those who control this facility: Leave,” Wilson wrote in his statement Saturday night. “Through your use of violence and the trampling of the Constitution, you have lost all legitimacy and replaced it with shame.”
The Portland Fire Bureau sent paramedics to treat people at the scene, police said. Police officers monitored the crowd but made no arrests on Saturday.
In a statement posted Sunday to social media, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek condemned the presence of ICE in the state.
“Trump’s ICE has no place in Oregon,” Kotek wrote. “The use of tear gas against families, children, and peaceful demonstrators yesterday is a horrific abuse of authority that undermines public safety and violates constitutional rights. Federal agents must stand down and be held accountable.”
The Portland protest was one of many similar demonstrations nationwide against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in cities like Minneapolis, where in recent weeks federal agents killed two residents, Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
In downtown Los Angeles, federal officers also deployed tear gas into the crowd on Saturday after local police issued an unlawful assembly order, CBS LA reported. At least eight people were arrested, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Federal agents in Eugene, Oregon, deployed tear gas on Friday when protesters tried to get inside the Federal Building near downtown. City police declared a riot and ordered the crowd to disperse.
President Trump posted Saturday on social media that it was up to local law enforcement agencies to police protests in their cities. However, Mr. Trump said he has instructed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to have federal agents be vigilant in guarding U.S. government facilities.
“Please be aware that I have instructed ICE and/or Border Patrol to be very forceful in this protection of Federal Government Property. There will be no spitting in the faces of our Officers, there will be no punching or kicking the headlights of our cars, and there will be no rock or brick throwing at our vehicles, or at our Patriot Warriors,” Mr. Trump wrote. “If there is, those people will suffer an equal, or more, consequence.”
What began as a search for a place to work has become a new Midtown destination for Atlanta’s art crowd.
Gallery Anderson Smith celebrated its grand re-opening Saturday, January 31, at its new location in West Midtown, with attendees braving the winter frost to take part in the festivities.
Raymond Pickens, Walkman, 2026, acrylic on canvas. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice
For Anderson Smith, the night also marked a reset, not just for his own practice, but for the kind of gallery experience he wants to offer in a city he’s been navigating for decades.
Smith moved from Chicago to Atlanta in 1998 and said he spent years finding his footing in the local art market, first through photography and eventually through exhibiting work and building community ties.
“Being an artist, I was into photography for a minute, just kind of planting my flag,” Smith said. A trip to New York City, he added, helped sharpen his perspective and pushed him to take his work more seriously. Not long after, he participated in an art show in Brookhaven, where he realized he wasn’t just making images, but beginning to define his artistic voice
That sense of direction eventually led to a first gallery chapter in Buckhead. Smith said he opened a space there in September 2022, though at the time, he wasn’t chasing the title of “gallery owner.” He was looking for a studio.
“I wasn’t really looking to open a gallery at all,” Smith said. “I just wanted a space, a studio space.”
DL Warfield, Black Magic (CYPHER), 2025, canvas giclee with diamond dust 36×36. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice
For years, he worked out of the Goat Farm until it closed, forcing him back into the market searching for somewhere to create. That search overlapped with his growing dissatisfaction with the gallery he was exhibiting with at the time.
A decisive push came from Brandon Franklin, owner of B.M. Franklin & Co., who encouraged Smith to stop hesitating and take concrete steps toward securing his first gallery space. Smith said Franklin urged him to reach out to contacts in Buckhead and ultimately connected him with the right people after growing impatient with what Smith described as his own overthinking.
“He got tired of me talking and talking and talking and complaining,” Smith said. “So he put me in contact with the people.”
Franklin said Smith already understood both the artistic and business sides of the work.
“He knows how to sell himself. He knows how to sell his art,” Franklin said, describing Smith as “a student of the game” who remains committed to learning.
Smith’s Buckhead gallery operated through June 2025, he said. From there, he began searching for a space that better aligned with his evolving vision, a search that ultimately led him to Midtown and the gallery’s current home.
The new gallery is the former home of the UTA artist space, and he first learned it was vacant through his friend Troy Gibbins, who mentioned it after hearing about the transition out of Buckhead. Smith said Gibbons initially raised the possibility in May, then again in June, and that the team spent months, from late spring through December, working to get the new location ready.
What sold him, Smith said, was how “ready-made” the space felt. The downstairs gallery, he said, was essentially turnkey, and the structure allowed for two distinct moods: a boutique-style upstairs and a more traditional exhibition space below.
“The beauty of the upstairs and downstairs, the dichotomy of it all, I was like, OK, this can work,” Smith said.
That split-level identity speaks directly to Smith’s larger goal: to build a gallery that feels like culture, not ceremony.
He described the Midtown location as part of what he sees as Atlanta’s art hub, positioned near SCAD Atlanta, MODA, and the High Museum of Art, where students, visitors, and longtime locals can realistically walk in off the street.
“It makes me feel great being right here,” Smith said. “It makes me feel good that people recognize and want to come in and experience not only the art, but the whole vibe in itself.”
Smith said the gallery aims to create space for younger artists while also recognizing established artists who want to stretch beyond what audiences expect from them. The gallery is currently displaying selected works, including pieces by DL Warfield and Jiggykorean.
Saturday’s grand opening marked the official public launch of the gallery. Smith said the doors are now open, with visitors welcome to come in, spend time with the work, and engage with the space without needing an invitation.
“People have been coming in beforehand,” he said. “But after tonight, doors are open. People are welcome to come in and just look around and really engage with the artwork.”
Asked what he hopes first-time visitors leave with, Smith didn’t talk about status or sales. He talked about feeling.
“I hope they leave with an experience, a vibe,” he said.
And when he was asked what Gallery Anderson Smith brings that other spaces do not, he pointed again to atmosphere and to an intentional rejection of the stiffness he says can define traditional art rooms.
“Art galleries can be pretentious at times,” Smith said. “But we try to bring a whole different dynamic.”
With much of the United States facing freezing temperatures, many are hoping for an early spring forecast come Groundhog Day 2026 on Monday.
Last year, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Groundhog Day 2025 — predicting that there would be six more weeks of winter. Phil’s forecast was wrong last year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There were near average temperatures in February 2025 and above average temperatures in March 2025 in the contiguous U.S.
But just how accurate has Phil been since he started being used for weather predictions more than 130 years ago?
According to the legend, if Phil sees his shadow on Feb. 2, he predicts six additional weeks of winter. But if he doesn’t see his shadow, he predicts an early spring. Unfortunately, his forecasting track record since 1887 has been a bit spotty.
“Predicting the arrival of springtime for an entire country, especially one with such varied regional climates as the United States, isn’t easy! Phil’s track record is evidence of that,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
What has Phil predicted on Groundhog Day?
Phil makes his prediction every year on Feb. 2, halfway between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. More often than not, Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, a sign of more winter.
Between 1887 and 2023, the forecasting groundhog saw its shadow 107 times, according to NOAA. There was no shadow to be seen 20 times. During the late 1800s, 10 years were lost because no records were kept, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. In 1942, Phil had a partial shadow, and the following year, he didn’t make an appearance. Records do not specify why Phil skipped his 1943 appearance.
Groundhog handler AJ Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, who did not see his shadow, during the 134th annual Groundhog Day festivities on Feb. 2, 2020, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
Are Phil’s Groundhog Day predictions accurate?
Punxsutawney Phil is a groundhog, not a meteorologist. Between 2013 and 2023, he saw his shadow seven times, and of those seven, he was correct only once.
NOAA’s determinations on Phil’s accuracy are based on temperatures in February and March. Here’s how it breaks down:
2013: No shadow — His prediction was right.
2014: Shadow — His prediction was right.
2015: Shadow — His prediction was wrong.
2016: No shadow — His prediction was right.
2017: Shadow — His prediction was wrong.
2018: Shadow — His prediction was wrong.
2019: No shadow — His prediction was wrong.
2020: No shadow — His prediction was right.
2021: Shadow — His prediction was wrong.
2022: Shadow — His prediction was wrong.
2023: Shadow — His prediction was wrong.
2024: No shadow — His prediction was right.
2025: Shadow – His prediction was wrong.
2026: We’ll find out
On average, Phil has gotten it right 30% of the time over the past decade, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Overall, the Stormfax Almanac says, Phil has only been right 39% of the time going back to his first recorded prediction in 1887.
Where did the Groundhog Day tradition even come from?
Groundhog Day has its roots in both pagan and Christian traditions, including Imbolc and Candlemas. Early Christians believed that clear skies on Candlemas Day, which falls on Feb. 2, meant a longer winter was ahead, according to the National Weather Service. They believed a cloudy day foreshadowed the end of winter.
European weather lore details using a badger to predict the weather during the mid-winter holidays. When Germans came to America and settled in Pennsylvania, they brought along the tradition, but not the badger, the NWS said. They began using a groundhog as a replacement.
The tradition was formalized as Groundhog Day thanks to Clymer H. Freas, the editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit Newspaper, according to the NWS. Freas proclaimed Punxsutawney Phil, the local groundhog, as the official weather forecasting groundhog.
He now makes his prediction each year from Gobbler’s Knob and shares it with what the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club describes as his “Inner Circle.”
“After Phil emerges from his burrow on February 2, he speaks to the Groundhog Club president in ‘Groundhogese’ (a language only understood by the current president of the Inner Circle). His proclamation is then translated for the world,” according to the club.
